Checkmate (Noughts and Crosses, 3)

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if you are the burnt out older sibling, this book is for you 🫵🏽 mallory is such a relatable character. I enjoyed that the characters are older than most YA, being in that sort of anxiety-ridden purgatory between high school and “being an adult”. this poor boy has had it enough, he’s tired, he’s bored, he’s almost entering an existencial mid life crisis in his teenage years - like can you imagine being so intelligent and gifted that playing chess with other grandmasters (they’re like the cool and talented kids of chess) put’s you into a sleeping coma since their moves are so predictable to you. The second really felt like a lull for me, suffering from the classic ‘filler’ feeling second books in series sometimes have. anyways here is my message to Ali Hazelwood on book ideas she could use while still staying in the relm of science.

Hotjar sets this cookie to know whether a user is included in the data sampling defined by the site's daily session limit. Students have the pleasure and satisfaction of reading these stories in English, and at the same time develop a broader vocabulary, greater comprehension and reading fluency, improved grammar, and greater confidence and ability to express themselves. Perhaps the lack of sex in the book also helped focus on ensuring the plot held up and was engaging. We've been with Sephy for three books now, and we've seen her grow from a carefree child, to a bitter teenager, to a dissipated woman; she's so clear on the pages its impressive.

While Hazelwood is known for being pretty spicy she tones it back a lot here to suit a YA audience in ways that never feel like self-censorship.

Anyway before my mind runs away with me on the possibility of what might have been and what if’s let me tell you that the ending… well its happy on one front and gasp worthy on the other. You either fade to black, have a short but non descriptive- tasteful scene, or just let it be for an educational and learning purpose. Growing up dual heritage in a world where bitter prejudice divides Noughts and Crosses has meant she’s an outsider wherever she turns.this book reminded me why i love this genre so much and why i will continue to love it, even as i enter my twenties. The tension between them was pretty well created, and some of their scenes actually made me giggle, which is the best thing ever in a romance book. while i dont hugely mind pop culture referance it definitely dates your book, when all these things are no longer relevent people most likely will not read this book because of that fact, therefore it is always wise to leave out pop culture referances so it will be timeless.

It also helps raise the stakes in this book because chess matches are covered like they are the Super Bowl and the cash prize is enormous. Her work has appeared on screen, with Pig-Heart Boy, which was shortlisted for the Carnegie Medal, being adapted into a BAFTA-award-winning TV serial.All that being said- TikTok, AO3, OnlyFans, Timothee Chalamet, BTS, Billie Eilish, Jeff Bezos, Discord, Taylor Swift, Cole Sprouse, “Do they have a manager I can pull a Karen with? the only other book i’ve read by ali hazelwood is the love hypothesis, which i liked but found especially forgettable. My favourite things in this book were Nolan Sawyer, the romance part and Mallory's little sister Darcy. As Rose takes her first steps away from Sephy and into her father’s world, she finds herself drawn inexorably into a dangerous, deadly game – a game of very high stakes that can have only one winner .