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A review by smokedshelves
Check & Mate by Ali Hazelwood
4.0
thank you to penguin teen for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
i honestly enjoyed this way more than i was expecting. given this is (somehow) my first ali hazelwood, its her ya (but really new adult, imo) debut, and i’ve heard a lot about her writing feeling like a fanfiction. i was… well, i was worried. and honestly yeah it kind of read that way but also i do understand why so many people love her stories??
like, it was funny, it was quick and and it was digestible. i know the book is short. but i really do feel like i devoured it anyways. were there a lot of pop culture references… yeah. but i genuinely got so into the romance and the chess storyline that none of it truly bothered me, per se. but also, i’ve always been a fan of chess (i mean, i’m ukranian, it was like a birth right to be taught to play by my grandpa when i was a child) so i’m definitely biased on that front.
of note, i know a lot of people have been and will ask about the spice levels of this story. personally, i wish publishing companies recognized new adult as an age range because this would fit perfectly into it. our characters are 18 (mallory) and 20 (nolan) throughout the majority of the book. they are fully adults. hazelwood mentions a lot of discussions about sex, often in relation to mallory hooking up with people.
(on a huge side note, mallory is bi or pan or poly. they never label her exactly. but she has sexual relationships with multiple genders. and i did not expect that going in and was pleasantly surprised. nolan… well i’m going to headcanon him as demi. i don’t know if she ever mentions their exact labels anywhere. but given the man acts like i do about sexual relationships, i’m going to presume. okay, back on track!)
so, i mentioned that mallory has a lot of very casual discussions about her hook-ups, including using dating apps, etc etc. they talk about how she grew up in a house that wasn’t bothered by sex and chastity. so that, their ages, plus the few fade to black sex scene(s) in the book, i personally think it should be classified as new adult, not ya. but that’s on publishing. but yeah. if anyone was wondering. no, there’s nothing explicit on page. and i firmly believe that it should stay that way because it will be published as a ya book. which usually features minors (i know it’s different in this case, it’s still icky to me, this could be a whole conversation).
anywho. tl;dr, i really enjoyed this story way more than i was expecting. it was one of those books that was a true palette cleanser. a book that reminds you how fun it can feel to swoon over some humans figuring their life out, finding their person, and ultimately learning from their mistakes.
i honestly enjoyed this way more than i was expecting. given this is (somehow) my first ali hazelwood, its her ya (but really new adult, imo) debut, and i’ve heard a lot about her writing feeling like a fanfiction. i was… well, i was worried. and honestly yeah it kind of read that way but also i do understand why so many people love her stories??
like, it was funny, it was quick and and it was digestible. i know the book is short. but i really do feel like i devoured it anyways. were there a lot of pop culture references… yeah. but i genuinely got so into the romance and the chess storyline that none of it truly bothered me, per se. but also, i’ve always been a fan of chess (i mean, i’m ukranian, it was like a birth right to be taught to play by my grandpa when i was a child) so i’m definitely biased on that front.
of note, i know a lot of people have been and will ask about the spice levels of this story. personally, i wish publishing companies recognized new adult as an age range because this would fit perfectly into it. our characters are 18 (mallory) and 20 (nolan) throughout the majority of the book. they are fully adults. hazelwood mentions a lot of discussions about sex, often in relation to mallory hooking up with people.
(on a huge side note, mallory is bi or pan or poly. they never label her exactly. but she has sexual relationships with multiple genders. and i did not expect that going in and was pleasantly surprised. nolan… well i’m going to headcanon him as demi. i don’t know if she ever mentions their exact labels anywhere. but given the man acts like i do about sexual relationships, i’m going to presume. okay, back on track!)
so, i mentioned that mallory has a lot of very casual discussions about her hook-ups, including using dating apps, etc etc. they talk about how she grew up in a house that wasn’t bothered by sex and chastity. so that, their ages, plus the few fade to black sex scene(s) in the book, i personally think it should be classified as new adult, not ya. but that’s on publishing. but yeah. if anyone was wondering. no, there’s nothing explicit on page. and i firmly believe that it should stay that way because it will be published as a ya book. which usually features minors (i know it’s different in this case, it’s still icky to me, this could be a whole conversation).
anywho. tl;dr, i really enjoyed this story way more than i was expecting. it was one of those books that was a true palette cleanser. a book that reminds you how fun it can feel to swoon over some humans figuring their life out, finding their person, and ultimately learning from their mistakes.