Check & Mate
Ali Hazelwood, 2023
Romance Young adultContemporary fiction
A nineteen-year-old former chess prodigy, broke and swearing off the game, gets dragged back to a board—and into the orbit of the world champion she once watched on her phone. A witty, fast-talking romance with longing under the banter, ambition in the chess scenes, and a tender pull toward family.
Feels like longing, tenderness and hope. About ambition, love and family.
Who it’s for
You may enjoy this if you like witty contemporary romance with family pressure and a chess backdrop. The narration is blunt and occasionally crude—one sample line lands a sharp insult—so it may not suit you if you want a gentler, more polished voice.
Why read it
It gives you sharp banter, a second chance at a game that once hurt, and a romance that keeps its stakes personal.
A page from the book
The most inventive way anyone has ever said I'd rather not sit here.
I’d rather drink a can of Axe body spray while feral raccoons feast on my exposed bone marrow than sit across from this twat. Ali Hazelwood.Hazelwood has a PhD in neuroscience and taught as a professor; her debut novel began as Star Wars fanfiction posted online before it became a bestseller.
Books that feel like this
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To convince her best friend she is over a crush, a graduate student kisses a stranger in a lab hallway — who turns out to be the most feared professor in her department.
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A Vampyre raised among Humans is summoned home and offered up as a bride to a Werewolf alpha. Fangs, snark, and a very reluctant alliance.
Love, Theoretically
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A theoretical physicist pays her student loans by working as a professional fake girlfriend, then meets the one person who seems to see through every version of her.
Where to get it
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Questions readers ask
- Is Check & Mate for me?
- You may enjoy this if you like witty contemporary romance with family pressure and a chess backdrop. The narration is blunt and occasionally crude—one sample line lands a sharp insult—so it may not suit you if you want a gentler, more polished voice.
- What is Check & Mate like?
- A witty, fast-talking romance with longing under the banter, ambition in the chess scenes, and a tender pull toward family. Feels like longing, tenderness and hope. About ambition, love and family.
- What should I read after Check & Mate?
- If you liked Check & Mate, try Divine Rivals (Rebecca Ross), Better Than the Movies (Lynn Painter) and The Summer of Broken Rules (K.L. Walther).
A taste of the feed
Whose offhand verdict about you did you overhear and never forget?
It hadn’t taken long for Iris to learn what he truly thought of her. In fact, it had taken only half an hour after she had first met Roman. She had overheard him saying to one of the editors, “She’ll give me no competition. None at all. She dropped out of Windy Grove School in her final year.”
Divine Rivals · Rebecca Ross
A mother, a sundress, a stolen base: the anatomy of a kept memory.
All the neighborhood kids played kickball in the street for hours that night, and the adults even joined us for a game. At one point, my mother was high-fiving Michael after stealing home base in her floral sundress and wedge sandals. That moment was pressed in my memories like a yellowed photograph in an antique album.
Better Than the Movies · Lynn Painter
What you say when a perfect week is almost over.
Let’s pretend that time doesn’t exist. Let’s pretend that this week isn’t ending. Let’s pretend that we will always be us—happy, sunburnt, and tangled up together.
The Summer of Broken Rules · K.L. Walther
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