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Mallory Greenwood used to be a chess prodigy. But that’s in her past; right now, she’s busy working at an auto repair shop and trying to help support her ill mom and younger sisters. She’s saying goodbye to her best friend, who’s headed off to college across the country, and lying to her mom about wanting to attend college too.
When she agrees to play in a chess tournament to benefit charity, Mallory just happens to win a match against the world’s top player, “Kingkiller” Nolan Sawyer. Suddenly, everyone is aware of her, the girl who came out of nowhere to defeat the “bad boy” of chess. Most interested in her is Nolan himself. He wants to play more games with her. And when a chess club approaches her with a paid fellowship to play chess full time for a year, Mallory wants to say no. But the pay is good, and she can’t turn down the opportunity to provide better for her mom and sometimes-annoying sisters. She’s just going to lie about what her new job is.
It’s just a job. It’s just a job. Mallory refuses to admit that she’s enjoying being back playing a game she loves. Because chess broke up her family. But as she continues to win tournaments and play in proximity to Nolan, it’s getting more difficult to convince herself. It’s also getting more difficult to resist the allure of Nolan, who is hot and smart and has a lot in common with her. Argh. How is she supposed to deal with all these feelings, these new (and uncomfortable) opportunities, this potential romance?
Check and Mate hooked me from the very beginning. I was a little surprised to find myself riveted by the chess. The book is a romance, but chess plays a bigger part in the story than romance. Readers get to learn about the chess community, tournaments and rankings, some top players, and types of strategies. We also learn how strongly the chess world is dominated by males; stereotypes about women still make it extremely unfriendly to female players. So it’s fun and satisfying to watch the heroine blast through some of those and make a name for herself despite the stereotypes and some really ghastly male players.
The romance builds slowly throughout, and it’s clear the two main characters have strong feelings, but they take their time getting to know each other and building a tentative friendship. Again, while the romance is a part of the story, it’s secondary to the characters’ (particularly Mallory’s) individual development. Mallory especially has been hurt and is carrying around a lot of feelings and behaviors that don’t serve her, so we see her slowly move through some of that to a better place. Hazelwood just makes the characters — and the game/world of chess — come alive. I really enjoyed it all.
Rated: High. Profanity includes about 40 uses of strong language, almost 100 instances of moderate profanity, about 30 uses of mild language, and almost 50 instances of the name of Deity in vain. Sexual content includes frequent talk about sex and the narrator/main character saying she has frequent hookups, with people of both genders. There are some kissing scenes and brief but somewhat detailed sex scenes.
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