Ali Hazelwood's YA debut, Check & Mate, was everything I was hoping for and more. I first fell in love with Ali's writing after reading The Love Hypothesis back in 2021 and have since read all of her books. She hits the mark every single time and thankfully her first YA novel was no exception. Ali has a way of writing quirky, interesting and well developed characters that you can not only relate to but also continue to root for throughout her stories. Check & Mate has a very similar feel to both The Love Hypothesis and Love, Theoretically with both the characters and storyline having similar themes. I would love to see something completely different from Ali but she does this type of book so well that it is hard to complain. Another thing Ali does so well is covers, her books always have the cutest covers that look so nice together on my shelf. Overall, I would highly recommend this book!