⭐⭐⭐⭐(4)
Genre: YA Romance
Format: Library Paperback
Published: November 07, 2023 by G.P. Putnam’s Sons Books for Young Readers
Soundtrack: Steal the Show – Lauv
Mallory Greenleaf no longer competes at chess, that is, until she enters a charity tournament as a favor to a friend and beats Noah Sawyer, the reigning king of chess. When Mallory refuses a rematch, Noah sets out to get her back to the board. It seems that Noah’s support might be what Mallory needs the most.
This novel completely enthralled me. Check & Mate’s rivals-to-lovers build felt organic with a slow burn that frankly had me questioning whether they would become lovers at all. There are a lot of chess references but I was able to follow along easily (my sole exposure to chess is reading The Queen’s Gambit).
This is YA but works well for adults who prefer closed-door or even those who just like slow burn. The characters are young but do not feel excessively immature. I have seen comments that this isn’t appropriate for teens due to references to alcohol and the closed-door scenes; to me those comments are misguided and I feel this book would be an excellent springboard to discuss these topics with teens. Those who feel these topics aren’t suitable for most teens must be quite out of touch with reality. The presentation felt compatible with real life to me and not glorified. Of note, there are multiple references to the death of a parent, a loss Mallory struggles with throughout.
I really relished the character development of Mallory. Mallory suffers from eldest child syndrome, one of my favorite micro-tropes where the female MC feels she can’t achieve her own dreams and instead must take care of her family. Hazelwood perfectly constructs Mallory’s inner turmoil. While I am the eldest, I am fortunate to have never felt that pressure; yet, it is easy to identify with her sense of familial duty and her internal guilt (personally I had a lot of pressure to perform academically). I certainly was less mature than Mallory at 18 yet I connected with her easily and feel my younger self would have as well.
Noah is easy to fall for and a perfect main male character. He is persistent and dedicated to Mallory without seeming possessive or demanding. He helps to bring Mallory out of shell and is incredibly generous. He reminds me of Ryan Shay and his acts of “quiet love” in The Right Move. His actions help propel Mallory’s growth and they complement each other well.
I truly enjoyed this book and look forward to reading more of Ali Hazelwood’s books.
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