Check & Mate

By: Ali Hazelwood

Narrated by: Karissa Vacker

In this clever and swoonworthy YA debut from the New York Times bestselling author of The Love Hypothesis, life’s moving pieces bring rival chess players together in a match for the heart.

Mallory Greenleaf is done with chess. Every move counts nowadays; after the sport led to the destruction of her family four years earlier, Mallory’s focus is on her mom, her sisters, and the dead-end job that keeps the lights on. That is, until she begrudgingly agrees to play in one last charity tournament and inadvertently wipes the board with notorious “Kingkiller” Nolan Sawyer: current world champion and reigning Bad Boy of chess.

Nolan’s loss to an unknown rook-ie shocks everyone. What’s even more confusing? His desire to cross pawns again. What kind of gambit is Nolan playing? The smart move would be to walk away. Resign. Game over. But Mallory’s victory opens the door to sorely needed cash-prizes and despite everything, she can’t help feeling drawn to the enigmatic strategist....

As she rockets up the ranks, Mallory struggles to keep her family safely separated from the game that wrecked it in the first place. And as her love for the sport she so desperately wanted to hate begins to rekindle, Mallory quickly realizes that the games aren’t only on the board, the spotlight is brighter than she imagined, and the competition can be fierce (-ly attractive. And intelligent…and infuriating…)

Amazing.

Had such a great time listening to this story. It was cute, funny and sad at times. But aveall I enjoyed it.

I love Ali’s books

Everything she writes is golden! I just need her to write more ❤️ and more and more!!! She has the best characters.

Loved!

This was such a breath of fresh air! It was wonderful and exactly what I was wanting!

Favorite book of the year (so far!)

I love all Ali Hazelwoods books, but this one stands out - the protagonist is younger (technically it’s a YA, I think?) so her “dumber” decisions feel more forgivable, rather than annoying me. The chess is fun to hear about and inspires me to pick up a set again, and the love interest is perfection. Layered, imperfect, nuanced, just great. I loved the performance too! All in all, I couldn’t stop listening to this book and I’m very sad it’s over! Can’t wait for what Hazelwood comes up with next ❤️

One of my top 20 favorite books

But I’m still left wondering what Jimmy said about Tina’s Pepto pink shirt… total cliff hanger, middle school drama moment the author slid in there. “And what did Jimmy say?” Then nothing… (Sigh.) The world may never know. LOL