I'm sure there's a good target audience for this book, but that target is not me. Between barely explaining the dad's backstory and WAY too many liberties taken with regards to how professional chess works, I had to pause reading this book for a month and a half before being able to restart. Also there ain't no way every single of Ali Hazelwood's love interests just happens to already be fully in love with the main character after one interaction, I need some fresh tropes.
Re the professional chess: of course since Mallory is the underdog, you need to have some way for her to randomly jump into the world of professional chess. But the problem is that they're completely unrealistic. Why couldn't you just create some new tournaments instead of butchering an existing structure in a way that makes no sense?
The romance: okay to be fair they're both young so maybe Nolan's "love" was just infatuation before it became love but still...
I loved the book at first read but after rereading it's gonna be a no from me yall.
Re the professional chess: of course since Mallory is the underdog, you need to have some way for her to randomly jump into the world of professional chess. But the problem is that they're completely unrealistic. Why couldn't you just create some new tournaments instead of butchering an existing structure in a way that makes no sense?
The romance: okay to be fair they're both young so maybe Nolan's "love" was just infatuation before it became love but still...
I loved the book at first read but after rereading it's gonna be a no from me yall.