This reinvigorated my obsession with online chess. And I'm not saying it made me a better player, but I'm just saying I was dominating the blitz games I played while listening lol
It was super corny, but Ali Hazelwood writes cheesy in a way that makes me laugh and smile anyways (although there were times that even I couldn't help but cringe). As for the tropes, don't go into this looking for rivals to lovers. I know it's in the description, but they are not rivals. He is on her side and helping her from the beginning, so it feels wild to me that they would call it that. There is a sick/ caretaking scene which was superb, and as all of Ali Hazelwood's romances go, male hero is a ginormous and muscly man (which is mentioned over and over so you know he's huge) and he has a big nose (because I'm pretty sure they're all always based off of Adam Driver). I think Mallory is petite in this one too but it wasn't as emphasized as in The Love Hypothesis. There was also friendship troubles that felt realistic and I was glad to see them represented here. I especially loved Oz, I thought his speech was great and cathartic to hear because he was saying everything I felt to Mallory. And the bitchfest (iykyk) was my absolute favorite part of the book. So raw and real.
I do want to add that I don't know if I would classify this as a YA. The smut scene is fade to black but the characters are 18-20 I think, and the biggest thing for me is that she graduated high school and was working full time so it felt adult (or new adult I guess). I feel like the only reason this was classed as YA is because of the fade to black sex scenes, and not the actual content of the story.
Now onto something that may seem like nothing to you, but actually means a lot to me: Georgia (the country). There was one Georgian side character (which was exciting to get any air time in popular media) but I honestly was really disappointed with the way it was done.
#1 Georgia is a country that is really great at chess, and we actually have a lot of *female* grandmasters, which is particularly important to this story. The hit Netflix show (and book) The Queen's Gambit is based off of a female Georgian grandmaster, Nona Gaprindashvili (as a nod to her they actually included her name in the show- the only real chess player mentioned in it). Not only was she a grandmaster, but she was actually the FIRST woman in the world to be awarded with the title grandmaster by FIDE and she played and WON championships against men in the 60s. Truly such a badass. So when the only Georgian mentioned was a fake male grandmaster it was a little annoying.
#2 But moreso than that, his name set me off. Andreas Antonov. That is SUCH a Russian name. And equating Georgia with Russia is a particular sore spot because they bombed, invaded, and are still currently occupying my country and have been for decades. Because of Russia, Georgia is on the path of not existing as a country at all in the near future. And names in Georgian mean a lot. They all share a very similar structure and make it easy to tell who is Georgian and who is not. A simple google search of "georgian grandmasters" will show an incredibly obvious pattern where 80% of them have a last name ending in "-shvili" or "-dze" (and the other 20% also follow normal Georgian structure, none end in the Russian onov). So I know Ali Hazelwood didn't even google Georgian grandmasters and in her head, like many other people, just equated Georgia with Russia. It's a common occurance I experience, but it doesn't make it hurt any less when it does.
I don't like to end on a bad note, especially when it's not a book that I enjoyed majority of it, so I will leave you with a quote I loved that took me aback by how simple yet profound it felt.
“But life is too long to be afraid.”
“Too short, you mean.”
“No. Years spent carrying grudges, talking yourself out of things that might make you happy? They go slowly.”
It was super corny, but Ali Hazelwood writes cheesy in a way that makes me laugh and smile anyways (although there were times that even I couldn't help but cringe). As for the tropes, don't go into this looking for rivals to lovers. I know it's in the description, but they are not rivals. He is on her side and helping her from the beginning, so it feels wild to me that they would call it that. There is a sick/ caretaking scene which was superb, and as all of Ali Hazelwood's romances go, male hero is a ginormous and muscly man (which is mentioned over and over so you know he's huge) and he has a big nose (because I'm pretty sure they're all always based off of Adam Driver). I think Mallory is petite in this one too but it wasn't as emphasized as in The Love Hypothesis. There was also friendship troubles that felt realistic and I was glad to see them represented here. I especially loved Oz, I thought his speech was great and cathartic to hear because he was saying everything I felt to Mallory. And the bitchfest (iykyk) was my absolute favorite part of the book. So raw and real.
I do want to add that I don't know if I would classify this as a YA. The smut scene is fade to black but the characters are 18-20 I think, and the biggest thing for me is that she graduated high school and was working full time so it felt adult (or new adult I guess). I feel like the only reason this was classed as YA is because of the fade to black sex scenes, and not the actual content of the story.
Now onto something that may seem like nothing to you, but actually means a lot to me: Georgia (the country). There was one Georgian side character (which was exciting to get any air time in popular media) but I honestly was really disappointed with the way it was done.
#1 Georgia is a country that is really great at chess, and we actually have a lot of *female* grandmasters, which is particularly important to this story. The hit Netflix show (and book) The Queen's Gambit is based off of a female Georgian grandmaster, Nona Gaprindashvili (as a nod to her they actually included her name in the show- the only real chess player mentioned in it). Not only was she a grandmaster, but she was actually the FIRST woman in the world to be awarded with the title grandmaster by FIDE and she played and WON championships against men in the 60s. Truly such a badass. So when the only Georgian mentioned was a fake male grandmaster it was a little annoying.
#2 But moreso than that, his name set me off. Andreas Antonov. That is SUCH a Russian name. And equating Georgia with Russia is a particular sore spot because they bombed, invaded, and are still currently occupying my country and have been for decades. Because of Russia, Georgia is on the path of not existing as a country at all in the near future. And names in Georgian mean a lot. They all share a very similar structure and make it easy to tell who is Georgian and who is not. A simple google search of "georgian grandmasters" will show an incredibly obvious pattern where 80% of them have a last name ending in "-shvili" or "-dze" (and the other 20% also follow normal Georgian structure, none end in the Russian onov). So I know Ali Hazelwood didn't even google Georgian grandmasters and in her head, like many other people, just equated Georgia with Russia. It's a common occurance I experience, but it doesn't make it hurt any less when it does.
I don't like to end on a bad note, especially when it's not a book that I enjoyed majority of it, so I will leave you with a quote I loved that took me aback by how simple yet profound it felt.
“But life is too long to be afraid.”
“Too short, you mean.”
“No. Years spent carrying grudges, talking yourself out of things that might make you happy? They go slowly.”