Check & Mate
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Narrated by:
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Karissa Vacker
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By:
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Ali Hazelwood
About this listen
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…)
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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
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Performance
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Viola Bowen has the chance of a lifetime: to design a video game based on her all-time favorite book series. The only problem? Her co-lead is Jesse F-ing Andrews, a.k.a. her arch-nemesis. Jesse has made it abundantly clear over the years that he wants nothing to do with her–and Viola has no idea why. When their bosses insist a wintery retreat is the perfect team-building exercise, Viola can’t think of anything worse. Being freezing cold in a remote mountain lodge knowing Jesse is right next door? No, thank you.
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💜🎮💜
- By Kelly Mobley on 10-21-24
By: Ali Hazelwood
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Bride
- By: Ali Hazelwood
- Narrated by: Thérèse Plummer, Will Damron
- Length: 12 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
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Misery Lark, the only daughter of the most powerful Vampyre councilman of the Southwest, is an outcast—again. Her days of living in anonymity among the Humans are over: she has been called upon to uphold a historic peacekeeping alliance between the Vampyres and their mortal enemies, the Weres, and she sees little choice but to surrender herself in the exchange—again...
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I loved this!
- By Margaret Samora on 02-14-24
By: Ali Hazelwood
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Betting on You
- By: Lynn Painter
- Narrated by: Jesse Vilinsky, Zachary Webber
- Length: 11 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
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When seventeen-year-old Bailey starts a new job at a hotel waterpark, she is less than thrilled to see an old acquaintance is one of her coworkers. Bailey met Charlie a year ago on the long flight to Omaha, where she moved after her parents’ divorce. Charlie’s cynicism didn’t mix well with Bailey’s carefully well-behaved temperament, and his endless commentary was the irritating cherry on top of an already emotionally fraught trip. Now, Bailey and Charlie are still polar opposites, but instead of everything about him rubbing Bailey the wrong way, she starts to look forward to hanging out.
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The moral of the story - learn to talk to people you love
- By Anonymous User on 12-09-23
By: Lynn Painter
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Reasons to Go Outside
- By: Esme King
- Narrated by: Rachel Atkins
- Length: 9 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
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Pearl Winter hasn't been outside in 43 years. Since she arrived in Dartmoor as a teenager, her isolated cottage has been her whole world. A place of safety. But now Pearl is utterly alone—except for the postman, the local crows, and her memories of the summer when her life turned upside down. Connor Matthews feels like a stranger in his own home. Since his mother's death, he's been adrift from his remaining family and the life that's always been mapped out for him. But when Connor takes a summer job as Pearl's gardener, their unexpected friendship opens the door to a fresh start.
By: Esme King
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Under the Mistletoe
- Spice Up the Holidays with Five Short Stories (Under the Mistletoe Collection)
- By: Ali Hazelwood, Tessa Bailey, Olivia Dade, and others
- Narrated by: Vivienne LaRue, Summer Morton, Connor Crais, and others
- Length: 7 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
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Curl up by the fire with some of today’s hottest authors as they serve up enough holiday sweetness and sizzling spice to melt the frostiest heart. As the temperature drops, friends and neighbors might need to turn up the heat, and even old enemies just might get a second chance. Get ready to tingle all the way ...
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A bridge mix of Christmas novellas
- By 🔥 Phx17 🔥 on 12-08-24
By: Ali Hazelwood, and others
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The Fake Mate
- By: Lana Ferguson
- Narrated by: Samantha Summers, Joe Arden
- Length: 11 hrs
- Unabridged
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Mackenzie Carter has had some very bad dates lately. Model train experts, mansplainers, guys weirdly obsessed with her tail—she hasn’t had a successful date in months. Only a year out of residency, her grandmother’s obsession with Mackenzie finding the perfect mate to settle down with threatens to drive Mackenzie barking mad. Out of options, it feels like a small thing to tell her grandmother that she’s met someone. That is, until she blurts out the name of the first man she sees and the last man she would ever date: Noah Taylor, the big bad wolf of Denver General.
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Fun cozy story
- By Anonymous User on 05-22-24
By: Lana Ferguson
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The Do-Over
- By: Lynn Painter
- Narrated by: Jesse Vilinsky
- Length: 8 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
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After living through a dumpster fire of a Valentine’s Day, Emilie Hornby escapes to her grandmother’s house for some comfort and a consolation pint of Ben & Jerry’s. She passes out on the couch, but when she wakes up, she’s back home in her own bed—and it’s Valentine’s Day all over again. And the next day? Another horrendous V-Day. Emilie is stuck in some sort of time loop nightmare that she can’t wake up from as she re-watches her boyfriend, Josh, cheat on her day after day.
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Do-Overing done right
- By Jeanie Lemon on 07-19-23
By: Lynn Painter
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Cruel Winter with You
- Under the Mistletoe Collection
- By: Ali Hazelwood
- Narrated by: Vivienne LaRue
- Length: 2 hrs
- Unabridged
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All newly minted pediatrician Jamie Malek wants is to borrow a roasting pan for Christmas dinner. Unfortunately, that requires her to interact with Marc—her best friend’s troublemaking brother, who’s now a tech billionaire. He’s the one who got away. She’s the one who broke his heart. Outside, a howling blizzard. Inside, a crackling fire. Suddenly, being snowbound with the man she never expected to see again might not be such a bad way to spend a winter’s night.
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Endless insecurities and translation fails
- By 🔥 Phx17 🔥 on 11-12-24
By: Ali Hazelwood
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The Cheat Sheet
- By: Sarah Adams
- Narrated by: Renee Dorian, Teddy Hamilton
- Length: 8 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
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Hi, my name is Bree Camden, and I’m hopelessly in love with my best friend and star quarterback Nathan Donelson (so is half of America, judging by the tabloids and how much the guy dates). The first step is admitting it, right? Except, I can never admit it to him because he clearly doesn’t see me that way, and the last thing I want is for things to get weird between us. Nothing but good old-fashioned no-touching-the-sexiest-man-alive platonic friendship for us! Everything is exactly how I like it! Yes. Good. (I’m not crying; I’m just peeling an onion.)
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Teddy Hamilton is great, but the rest…
- By Nicole Caliro on 04-01-22
By: Sarah Adams
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Enter the Body
- By: Joy McCullough
- Narrated by: Joy McCullough, Valerie Rose Lohman, Annie Q, and others
- Length: 4 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
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In the room beneath a stage's trapdoor, Shakespeare’s dead teenage girls compare their experiences and retell the stories of their lives, their loves, and their fates in their own words. Bestselling author Joy McCullough offers a brilliant testament to how young women can support each other and reclaim their stories in the aftermath of trauma.
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A Fresh Take
- By Leezie77 on 08-01-24
By: Joy McCullough
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Better Than the Movies
- By: Lynn Painter
- Narrated by: Jesse Vilinsky
- Length: 10 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
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Perpetual daydreamer Liz Buxbaum gave her heart to Michael a long time ago. But her cool, aloof forever crush never really saw her before he moved away. Now that he’s back in town, Liz will do whatever it takes to get on his radar - and maybe snag him as a prom date - even befriend Wes Bennet. The annoyingly attractive next-door neighbor might seem like a prime candidate for romantic-comedy fantasies, but Wes has only been a pain in Liz’s butt since they were kids. Yet, somehow, Wes and Michael are hitting it off, which means Wes is Liz’s in.
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Adorable!
- By KH0511 on 07-22-21
By: Lynn Painter
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Mr. Wrong Number
- By: Lynn Painter
- Narrated by: Callie Dalton, Andrew Eiden
- Length: 8 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
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Bad luck has always followed Olivia Marshall...or maybe she's just the screw-up her family thinks she is. But when a "What are you wearing?" text from a random wrong number turns into the hottest, most entertaining - albeit anonymous - relationship of her life, she thinks things might be on the upswing.
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Unsatisfying
- By Kalena on 08-24-22
By: Lynn Painter
What listeners say about Check & Mate
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Meredith Spencer
- 11-10-23
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!
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- Amazon Customer
- 11-14-23
Amazing.
Had such a great time listening to this story. It was cute, funny and sad at times. But aveall I enjoyed it.
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- Michelle
- 12-28-23
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.
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- The_Reading_Pantry
- 02-01-24
Loved!
This was such a breath of fresh air! It was wonderful and exactly what I was wanting!
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- Jessica
- 02-16-24
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 ❤️
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- Jenny Red
- 05-05-24
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
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- Marina
- 07-02-24
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.
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- Jamamama
- 08-09-24
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.
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- MARIA ANDREA DE LEON
- 11-09-23
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…
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- CrimsonRoseReads
- 11-19-23
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!
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