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…)

©2023 Ali Hazelwood (P)2023 Listening Library

Critic reviews

"Ali Hazelwood is the queen of smart rom-coms, and Check & Mate is her best book yet. Filled with snappy banter, clever characters, and crackling tension (and lots of chess!), this is the perfect rivals-to-lovers romance. Check & Mate will have you swooning, laughing, staying up all night, and smiling so much your face hurts. This book is my new obsession. Who knew chess could be so romantic?" —Alex Aster, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Lightlark

"Ali Hazelwood brings her signature wit to YA and the result is nothing short of delightful! Check & Mate stole my heart from the first page — it's at once an irresistible romance, compelling character study, and fascinating peek into the world of chess. I couldn't put it down!" —Rachel Lynn Solomon, New York Times bestselling author of We Can't Keep Meeting Like This

★ "Hazelwood has captured many a reader’s heart with her adult rom-coms. Now, she makes her YA debut with a story that sparkles with her signature wit and relatable characters. . . . This highly enjoyable, emotion-filled romance will attract teens and even loyal fans of her adult novels as it blends wit and wisdom with love’s tendency to make pawns of us all." —Booklist, starred review

Amazing.

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

The Narrator!

Wow, the book was fantastic, everything Ali writes is golden. I loved discovering a new narrator! Her different voices, on point, her intonation - I felt their feelings. She reminded me of my fave Julia Whelan!

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

So good

"Sometimes I’m scared that I imagined you. Sometimes I think you’re only in my head.”

So cute!

Mallory Greenleaf is done with chess. It used to be her favorite thing and she was really good at it until it led to destruction of her family four years earlier. Now she takes care of her mum and her sisters and she hasn't thought about chess ever since. That's until her best friend asks her to play in her team for a charity event and Mallory wins against the best player in the world Nolan Sawyer.

This is Ali's debut in YA and it's so good. Ali's writing is fantastic, it hooks you from the start and, when it's over, you still want to know more.

Mallory's story here is heartbreaking and frustrating too.

I could barely put it down. The romance is so sweet, I love it when he falls first.

It was really interesting seing the world of the chess competitions, I didn't know much about them.

This was a fantastic first YA book.

Chess mates

I had been considering this book since it was released. But because it was designated as YA and I am far from that age group, i was convinced I wouldn't like it. However, I have read the author's other books and enjoyed them so I gave it a try. The FC is definately an adolescent and her growing pains were hard to relate to ( to remember ..lol). But I was intrigued with the story of chess competitors and the MC was very interesting. Actually I wish the author had spent more time on his story. The romance was well done and engaging. Perfomance was excellent and once the FC grew up some the story got much better.

Loved it!! But wanted more!!

This story made me want to play chess!! I loved Nolan SO much!! I laught so much at Malory and her sisters!! I loved them both so much that the only critique I have is that I wanted more of their love story…

Very Enjoyable RomCom!

This is my second Ali Hazelwood book and I really enjoyed it! An excellent YA Debut! A beautiful He Falls First book set in the world of chess with a HEA ending.

This is an “invisible string” story that helps save our protagonist, Mallory Greenleaf, from a life of repressed anger and needless codependence and sees her flourish into the chess master she was born to be.

With sassy sisters, a ride-or-die childhood friend, the sweetest cinnamon roll “rival”, and a great cast of characters, this lovely foray into the world of chess was very enlightening and very entertaining!

Karissa Vacker gives an excellent performance!