3.5 stars
Obviously I enjoyed this, it’s an Ali Hazelwood novel. But I really wish she’d step out of her comfort zone and write a different pairing of character types... The flaws of those stereotypes were really highlighted in this young adult variant of her classic vibe. Concept: ★★★★ Romantic drama element: ★★ Characters: ★★★ So this review is going to be an odd one. Because I had an extremely good time reading this novel....But it's a three-star, and probably an easily forgettable blip on my reading journey. Welcome to Check and Mate, the young adult debut for romance titan Ali Hazelwood. If you're a YA reader who has not yet read Hazelwood, then welcome!! I think you are in for a fantastic reading experience with this story. But if you're a frequent Hazelwood reader who likes her adult work, I think you're in for a bit of a lighthearted-yet-regrettably-bland experience. This is the story of Mallory Greenleaf. She's a recent high school graduate who is stalling out with no prospects due to a series of life circumstances that leave her as the sole breadwinner of her family (mom and younger sisters). She can't afford college, and she can't afford to leave her family stranded. She's an extremely talented and intelligent woman eeking away as an under-the-table mechanic at the local garage. Oh, and fun fact: Mallory is a former childhood chess prodigy. So when a series of events sees Mallory attending a local charity chess competition with her friend, Mallory quickly rises to the top and ends up across the board from the bad-boy of chess stardom: Nolan Sawyer. The man who has never been beaten at chess. And Mallory...beats him. While Mallory might think this chess event is a one-time occurrence, the universe has other plans. Nolan has other plans. And the chess community, rocked for the first time in years by an unknown player—and a WOMAN player, no less— has other plans. Can Mallory dive into the world of chess and confront her past demons? Check and Mate is the kind of YA novel that I generally enjoy reading. It's not dumbed down for a younger audience, but it's also not aged up inappropriately in the odd "new adult" class that some YA romances are. It's also not a complex or overly traumatic time. It's here for a fun time, not a long time, and I can respect the heck out of that. Not every novel has to be deep, you know? But for all of those reasons that I enjoyed this reading experience...those are also the reasons why I found this latest Hazelwood to be forgettable. It was cute, but it wasn't earthshattering. My largest complaint actually comes from the author's favorite tropes themselves. Hazelwood LOVES an intelligent-yet-obscenely-oblivious/obtuse female main character. And she LOVES a large, taciturn, easily-misunderstood-by-female-character type of man with a heart of gold and an easily misreading/misleading lack of facial expression. I ate that UP in The Love Hypothesis. I ate that UPPPP in Love on the Brain. I thought those same architypes were....really kind of dumb and cheesy in this young adult context, though. Mallory was too obtuse to be believed—especially given her experience with sex/dating and complex relationships with family and friends. As a parentified child myself, you can't afford to be that socially obtuse. You get REAL good at reading the room emotionally. I couldn't buy her not seeing the truth of Nolan Sawyer much earlier. And even if I could buy that obtuseness for her interactions with Nolan, I couldn't buy her not seeing the dynamics of her family panning out the way that they did. (I know this is a personal bias of mine as a reader, but still, highlighting it for others who might feel the same.) I also couldn't quite get behind this otherworldly-mature adult atmosphere to Nolan Sawyer. Nolan read, to me, at the same level of maturity as Hazelwood's very adult male characters in her other romances. There was almost NO noticeable difference in maturity level between Nolan, the 21ish-year-old childhood chess prodigy who didn't have a normal socialized upbringing, and Adam Carlsen from The Love Hypothesis (who is at least in his 30s and a college professor, if I can remember correctly). There should have been a marked maturity difference between these two men in two very different written age groups. I should have been able to tell who was who if you removed the names. And I... could not. I see that as a problem for a book with a supposedly YA love interest? I don't know. It rubbed me wrong and made me question Hazelwood's versatility in this space. (I know she's pretty much one-note in her portrayals of characters, and that's fine with me as I love those traits in adult romances—but you've got to be able to write for different age groups if that's what you're doing.) Overall, a cute and fun read. But sadly, not a new favorite.
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