A review by overflowingshelf
Check & Mate by Ali Hazelwood

lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

CW: Sexism; misogyny; death of a parent (off-page); chronic illness; grief; references to car accident; drunk driving, infidelity, Alzheimer’s/dementia, and forced institutionalization

What’s this? Is this an Ali Hazelwood book I sort of liked? Yes, yes, it is.

Now, this wasn’t a perfect book by any means, but I still found myself sort of enjoying it.

Did I have issues with it? Yes, but I think YA really is the right genre for Hazelwood’s writing style and stories. Her writing, characters, and plots work so much better when the characters are 18/20.

However, you may be a bit disappointed if you go into this book thinking it’s primarily a romance. This is a book about chess with a bit of romance sprinkled in.

Let’s dive into what I liked and didn’t like!

WRITING

I’ve always said that I think Ali Hazelwood’s writing would work better for YA books, so Check & Mate was the ultimate test of that hypothesis. And I think that hypothesis proved to be correct.

Now, I still have issues with Hazelwood’s writing, but the tone and style work so much better when the character is 18 than in her late 20s! This book also felt like it was trying less hard to be cutesy and quirky, something that has grated on me in Hazelwood’s adult novels as it makes her main characters come off as juvenile. But with younger characters, the quirkiness doesn’t feel as forced, and the dialogue and the character choices feel way more believable.

However, some of Hazelwood’s writing traits that I don’t like – namely, the excessive number of italics (700 in a book that is just over 360 pages) – still exist in this. The sheer volume of italics is so in your face that I always get fixated on it! I’m still baffled at how many there are, as you can show emphasis on certain words through your writing in other ways.

I also felt like there were A LOT of pop culture references in this, almost like an adult trying to fit in with the cool kids. I’m genuinely curious how that resonates with a younger audience, but all I could think about was how dated it could make this book feel in a year or two, given how quickly our pop culture moves on to the hot new thing.

I still would love for Hazelwood to be a bit more descriptive with her characters and the adjectives she uses to describe them. I would LOVE for her to use an adjective different from TALL, BIG, or HUGE for her main male characters. She’s really married to the big guy/small girl trope, and I would love to see her mix it up once, as it feels like the same thing every time.

CHARACTERS

Speaking of characters, I have very complicated feelings about Mallory, our female main character.

On one hand, Mallory feels like an 18-year-old, dealing with all the complex emotions you feel at that age. Did I agree with everything Mallory did and how she acted? Heck no, but they were believable (something I’ve always struggled with in other Hazelwood books).

There were two things in particular that I struggled a bit with Mallory on. The first was her acting like she’s the mother/parental figure in her family, even though her Mom is literally right there. Yes, her mom has a chronic illness that can make it hard to work and do basic tasks, but Mallory acts as if she has to do and control everything in the family. I just wanted to be like girl, your mom can still parent, and you can still be a teenager. You don’t have to shoulder every burden in the family.

The second thing I struggled with was that when she lashes out, she gets mean. I expect some emotional outbursts to happen with characters, but with Mallory, it felt unnecessarily cruel and harsh. It was really ugly, and I’m still a bit in shock at what she said to Nolan and the names she called her sisters. And her apology is a bit lukewarm at best.

With Nolan, I liked him as he had more depth than I expected, though I still felt he wasn’t 100% fully fleshed out. However, he’s so far gone for Mallory, and Mallory’s the only one who doesn’t see it, which I loved. He can read Mallory better than she can read herself, which she doesn’t like, but I appreciate it as he always said what I was thinking. Despite his reputation in the chess world, Nolan is a big softy at heart, and I loved that. He’s charismatic and charming, and that really came through as I couldn’t help but like him.

PLOT

For a book marketed as a romance, the romance seems a bit like an afterthought. This is really a book about chess. Personally, I liked all the chess stuff, as well as Mallory’s complicated relationship with the sport, so that was okay with me!

Mallory clearly has a natural talent for it, but her feelings about the sport are deeply intertwined with her relationship and feelings about her father, so she convinced herself to give it up and keep chess a secret from her family. But as she gets back into the game and realizes it’s something she enjoys, she has to face those feelings related to her father (though I also wish she would get some therapy to deal with them because, oh boy, they’re a lot).

However, I found it exciting to watch her chess journey. I loved seeing her reach some of the highest levels of the sport. I was rooting for her and deeply invested in her success. I got excited seeing her play tournaments and was on the edge of my seat, waiting for the outcome of each game.

Chess is a very male-dominated sport, and I like how Mallory grappled with being one of the few women to break through its top tiers. It’s not easy to balance being the first woman to do anything, as it’s a lot of stress on someone, and I think Hazelwood explored and balanced that really well.

ROMANCE

As I said, if you go into this book thinking this will be a pure romance, I think you’ll be disappointed. The romance is secondary to all the chess.

For example, Nolan and Mallory don’t have a real conversation until about 40% into the book. And their relationship only develops in the last third of the book, making it feel rushed.

This book is also marketed as rivals-to-lovers, but it definitely doesn’t feel that way. Sure, they’re a bit of rivals in the chess world, but their relationship throughout the book is pretty supportive.

Now, I did like that Nolan was so into Mallory. It’s so apparent to everyone but her. And she’s clearly into him as more than a hookup. They had a connection and chemistry, which I liked. I also appreciated that we have a virgin male character while our female character is the more experienced one, as it’s a nice change of pace.

I’m also so glad that this book is fade to black. Yes, there are plenty of references to sex, but I honestly was so happy I didn’t have to read a sex scene. I find most of Hazelwood’s sex scenes to be super cringe and the least sexy things ever (see here, here, and here for examples), so it actually helped not to have to read it play out on the page.

Despite some of my issues with the romance feeling rushed and taking a back seat to the chess, I still found this to be cute.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Check & Mate definitely surprised me, as I went in with relatively low expectations. You’ll know why if you’ve seen my reviews of The Love Hypothesis, Love on the Brain, or Love, Theoretically.

But despite some of its flaws, I found myself sort of liking it? Shocking, I know.

I think Hazelwood’s writing is suited for YA, and I wish she’d focus more on that than adult romances. I would definitely read another YA book by her.

Now you may be wondering – will you still read her adult romances given this? The answer is probably because I always hope one of them will work for me, as I feel like Hazelwood has a lot of potential with her premises, but the execution doesn’t work for me.

I still would love to see Hazelwood try something new, so I’m curious about her next adult book, Bride, since she’s venturing into vampires and werewolves with that. It could be really great or really terrible! Time will tell.