check & mate by ali hazelwood — a november book club review

I go through phases with the books I read; check my Goodreads and see it for yourself. From exclusively devouring cowboy romances to refusing to touch anything that isn’t enemies to lovers, I have been obsessively binging sub-genres for as long as I’ve been a reader. However, a fictional fixation that I never could have seen coming was chess. I don’t know how to play chess, I don’t know anything about chess and I didn’t even watch The Queen’s Gambit, but this year, two of my favourite reads have centred around the sport — Intermezzo by Sally Rooney and my latest read, Check & Mate by Ali Hazelwood.  

Ali Hazelwood is a fan-favourite romance author who is best known for her adult romances featuring women in STEM, the most notable being The Love Hypothesis. As someone who has never rated an Ali Hazelwood book below four stars, you can probably imagine how excited I was when my book club — That Romance Book Club — voted Check & Mate (Ali’s first YA romance) as our November read. And let me tell you, it did not disappoint.

The story follows Mallory Greenleaf, a recent high school graduate who is working overtime to provide for her sick mother and two younger sisters. She’s in the difficult position of having to watch the people around her, including her best friend Easton, move away to college while her family situation keeps her firmly rooted in the same spot. Another thing to know about Mallory is that she grew up playing chess with her Dad, a Grand Master, but after some destructive news about him came to light years before this story is set, Mallory vows never to play chess again.  That is until Easton needs her help competing in a charity tournament, and Mallory begrudgingly says yes — which is how she finds herself playing against the number one player in the world, Nolan Sawyer… and winning.   

Check & Mate is a romance between Mallory and Nolan. It is an angsty, slow-burn, rivals-to-lovers romance that combines calculated chess with unexplainable connection. The relationship between these two characters is unique because for a lot of the book, all Mallory sees when she looks at Nolan is chess — the sport that tore apart her family. This means that despite attraction and evident growing feelings, there is a real emotional barrier for Mallory that prevents her from getting close to Nolan and forces her to face up to elements of her childhood that she has been avoiding. Through this plot line, the book has a powerful emotional layer, which, in my experience, is often lacking in YA romances. Not only is the romance captivating to read about but seeing both Mallory and Nolan grow as individuals while growing together is really special.

Perhaps the most surprising part of reading this book for me was just how much I loved learning about chess. Ali Hazelwood writes very technically about the topic, reciting specific plays or using jargon, but this doesn’t mean that the chess ignorant among us won’t be able to understand the story. As I said, I know nothing about chess, but the competitive nature and tournament setting of Check & Mate is what I enjoyed the most. I think that having something to root for other than the characters ending up together makes it impossible to not become invested in the story.

Aside from the romance and the chess, another thing addressed within Check & Mate is the difficult family dynamics. The only reason that Mallory continues playing chess after the charity match is because it presents the opportunity to earn money to support her little sisters. And even though she is giving up all of her time to ensure bills are paid, and food is on the table, her sisters are textbook teenagers in their ungrateful attitudes. The selflessness of Mallory as a character is yet another reason why as a reader you want her to succeed, and Ali Hazelwood does a great job of portraying her as someone who deserves the world. 

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed my time with Check & Mate. The characters were beautifully crafted, the plot was unlike anything I’ve read before, and the rivalling love interests kept me entertained from start to end. Ali Hazelwood is definitely an auto-buy author for me, and I can’t wait to get my hands on her future releases.  I also am making ‘learn to play chess’ my 2025 New Year’s resolution — I’ll keep you posted.

If you would like to join us in our next book club read, you can join us on fable by clicking this link https://fable.co/club/that-romance-book-club-with-jess-land-462772473382 In December, we will be reading Window Shopping by Tessa Bailey!

We can’t wait to talk about books with you! 

This review was written by Jess, who you can follow on Instagram — https://www.instagram.com/thatromancebook for more bookish content.