Not that I would've expected any less from Ali Hazelwood, but Check & Mate was absolutely the adorable and delightful romcom I needed.

Mallory used to love playing chess, but she hasn't played a single game in four years. So when she accidentally faces the #1 ranked player in the world and completely annihilates him, she's rightfully shocked. But it's one thing to stumble into a one-time win, it's another thing altogether to actually commit to playing the game. So what if she can't get Nolan out of her head and he wants a rematch? Mallory has disavowed chess, and she has no intention of changing her mind.

What can I say here that I haven't said about Ali Hazelwood a thousand times before? I read her books for the banter, the snark, and the puns, and she delivers every single time. I feel like I always have a permanent smile affixed to my face, just grinning like an idiot, every time I pick up one of her stories. And let me tell you, I'm not above having a good time.

Instead of being the usual STEM representatives, this time our characters are chess players. Now I know next to nothing about the game, but that didn't stop me from fully connecting with the characters and clapping and cheering for their successes. In particular, Mallory was an easy heroine to root for, and I was so there for her.

In terms of conflicts, I was happy to see that Hazelwood didn't rely on her default miscommunication trope like usual. Instead, Mallory was knocking on the doors of martyrdom, and while that did cause my eyes to roll a few times, the story moved along speedily enough that I didn't end up suffering any permanent eye damage.

Since this is YA, my biggest concern going in was whether this would feel too young to me. But that totally ended up being a nonissue. The story reads just like any other Hazelwood, but with the spicy scenes removed. It even contained the obligatory main character who wasn't into sex until they met "the one," a staple of Hazelwood's at this point. But if your concern is coming from the other direction (i.e. should I let my teen read this?), well that's a different conversation altogether.

It's so nice to have an author you can rely on anytime you're slumping and in need of a frothy, fun, but never frivolous read. And so Ali Hazelwood delivers again, just when I need her the most.

Readaroo Rating: 4 stars

I feel like to really enjoy Ali Hazelwood and her brand of romance, you have to be someone who loves nerdy science talk and wacky banter, the more the better and preferably all in the same sentence. Lucky for me, that's exactly the sort of thing I enjoy.

Let's start with the science here. Hannah and Ian both work for NASA on engineering teams that land rovers on Mars. Yeah, I pretty much hyperventilated when I realized that was the setting of their romance. It harkens back to my youth when I dreamed of working for NASA, so you can understand my excitement. Then you add in the copious amounts of technical jargon that Hazelwood always sprinkles into her stories and my space-loving heart was just blown into smithereens.

Of course as always, the dialogue was on point and had me in stitches from beginning to end. It's not just the conversation between our two mains. It's also all the side chatter and even the inner dialogue. Everything felt so sharp and witty and thoroughly delightful.

One thing is that Hazelwood's stories do tend to rely excessively on the miscommunication trope. So it's with relief that I report the conflicts in here actually make sense and it's not just two people deciding not to say simple things to each other. And since it's a novella, the conflicts don't drag on and on, but rather is resolved swiftly and with satisfaction.

I loved this story so much! I only wish Hazelwood had saved the premise for a full-length novel instead so I could've had more of it.

Readaroo Rating: 4.5 stars

This was such a cute, short story. It was the perfect way to kick off the holiday reading season, or if you're like me, scrambling to fit in even one seasonal read, then you'd have successfully met your quota.

This has got everything I'd want in a romcom—tension, sizzle, romance, and absolutely hilarious banter. Honestly, I don't think anyone does banter quite like Ali Hazelwood. She often has me in stitches, and this time, I was at the library, so I had to stifle my laughter and do the silent shakes, for fear of being kicked out.

I will say, having read quite a few books by Hazelwood now, I've come to recognize what seems to be her excessive reliance on the miscommunication trope. Yes, the guy has professed every which way how much he loves the girl, and yet, she doth protest. But since this is a novella, it doesn't go on and on past the point of believability like it would in a full-length novel. Instead, we get it all sorted out pretty quickly, and that makes this reader very happy.

I can't think of anything bad to say about this other than it's short and I want more. But then that's my problem with every short story. Anyhoo, definitely recommend if you're a fan of Ali Hazelwood and looking for a fun way to spend an hour or two.

Readaroo Rating: 4 stars

I love Ali Hazelwood, but this one stretched my incredulity to the limit. No one can possibly be this much of a doormat, can they?

Elsie is slaving away as an adjunct professor teaching too many classes to make ends meet. She supplements her meager earnings by being a fake girlfriend, putting her people-pleasing tendencies to good use. When a chance at her dream job arises, the only thing standing in her way is Jack, the annoying older brother of someone she's fake-dating, who also happens to be on her interview committee. But do they really hate each other or is it more like they secretly have the hots for each other? Ha!

I really enjoyed the first half of this story. It starts strong with all of the hallmarks I love from Ali Hazelwood—snark, banter, science, smart female in STEM, and puns. I was breezing through it, smiling and chuckling to myself on pretty much every sentence. No one does funny situations and dialogues quite like Hazelwood, and she had me in stitches.

I'll grant you that the premise is a bit out there. What are the odds that the guy Elsie is hating/lusting after, is also the brother of a guy she's fake-dating, while also being the only person who almost beat her at Go, while also being the guy who irreparably damaged her field of study back in the day, while also being the head of the physics department at MIT where she is interviewing? I'll tell you what, it's 100% according to this book.

But as the story went on, Elsie started to annoy me. First, she refuses to believe that Jack is attracted to her even though he tells her so on multiple occasions. At one point, she even interprets him saying "Can I take you out?" as he wants to murder her mob-style. Like what, girl?

Elsie also takes people-pleasing to heretofore-unseen heights. She lies to her roommate about pretty much every preference she has. She runs interference for her brothers at her mom's behest even though she doesn't want to. And she must get her mentor's approval before accepting a job offer that would give her several times her current salary and health insurance. Have mercy! My eyeballs were bruised from all the rolling.

It's no secret that I prefer my female characters to be strong and smart, ready to kick ass and save the world. Elsie is strong in her work, but the opposite in every other way. And slowly, over many demure "You can't possibly like me," it started to grate on my nerves. Not even Hazelwood's many comedic reliefs can save it from such never-ending waffling and meekness.

This may just have been a case where I wasn't a good fit for the book. Without being able to connect with Elsie, I never really invested in the story. Not to mention I couldn't feel any chemistry between Jack and Elsie, and it all made for a rather lackluster read by the end.

Readaroo Rating: 3 stars

This was a pick for my Book of the Month box. Get your first book for $5 here.

I am but a simple STEM girl. You throw some scientists in love my way, and of course I'm going to adore it.

Bee has a PhD in neuroscience, but she's struggling to find recognition and funding for her projects. So when she gets the call from NASA to work on one of their helmet prototypes, it sounds like a dream come true. The only catch: she has to work alongside Levi, her archnemesis from grad school. But as she spends more time with him, she starts to realize that maybe they don't really hate each other after all.

If I had to pick the one thing I enjoyed the most about this book, it isn't the romance. (Shocking, I know.) It's the writing. There's something about Ali Hazelwood's style, with its blend of snark and humor, that just completely has me in its thralls. I often found myself grinning from cheek to cheek, chuckling to myself as Bee held some amusing and sarcastic conversation or inner dialogue. I think it's because she says all the things I want to say, if only I were quick and clever enough to come up with it.

And there were so many puns! Science puns, cat puns, Marie Curie puns. I love me a good pun (or a bad one, I'm not that discerning), so I was in pun-heaven.

I have to mention the science in here. I don't know anything about neuroscience, but reading this book made me wish I did. I wanted so badly for the technology in here to be real, so that I could marvel at how cool it is and totally nerd out learning more about it. Add in the NASA/astronaut angle, and your resident space-science fangirl here was swooning.

In terms of the romance itself, I enjoyed it, but it wasn't my favorite thing about this book. I found the transition from we're-frenemies to we're-getting-it-on to be a bit sudden. It seemed like they were solidly in the former category, and then all of a sudden, they were in the latter category. I guess I wanted more of a slow progression and steamy anticipation than what I got.

Still, the coupling of Bee and Levi was a fun one. Of course due to their previous interactions, Bee would assume that Levi hates her. And of course she'd be slow to figure it out, resulting in rather funny misunderstandings between them. However, I can totally see the pitchforks coming out for this couple—how it's completely unrealistic, how there's no way it would take her this long to come to her senses. I mean, sure, it's unrealistic, but that feels like the entire romance genre to me. It always necessitates a certain suspension of disbelief to enjoy, which totally worked for me here. Your mileage may vary.

As an aside, I was checking out some articles about the author (I was super curious about her scientific research), and found out Ali Hazelwood is a pen name. Apparently, in her real life, none of her colleagues or students have mentioned her books to her, so she thinks no one has made the connection yet. Ha, imagine that!

At this point, I can safely add Ali Hazelwood to my list of must-read authors. I've loved both of her full-length novels (I'm a little iffier on her novellas, but I'm generally not a fan of novellas). I find her writing style to be supremely entertaining and her focus on science and women in STEM to be refreshing. It's always a joy to dig into one of her stories, and I can't wait for more.

Readaroo Rating: 4 stars

This was a pick for my Book of the Month box. Get your first book for $5 here.

I acted like a totally irrational, absurd, deranged person.

Yes, Sadie, you really did.

Miscommunication (a.k.a. no communication) isn't my favorite trope in any genre, but it particularly grates on my nerves in romances. Pretty much nothing irritates me more than reading about conflict that comes entirely from things unsaid. So it's no surprise that I didn't love this story nearly as much as Ali Hazelwood's other ones.

Add to that my inability to see myself in Sadie, who blabs work confidential information, jumps to conclusions, and thinks the worst in others, and this was a rather eye-rolling experience. The entire time, I felt so bad for Erik, who deserves so much better.

I do realize without all the miscommunication and misunderstanding, there wouldn't be a story at all. But what can I say—a girl wants what a girl wants. And this just wasn't the story for me.

Still, Ali Hazelwood always delivers a fun read, and the fact that this was a short novella made it a tolerable if not entirely enjoyable read for me.

Readaroo Rating: 3 stars

There's something about Ali Hazelwood's writing that just makes me so happy. All I want to do is smile and laugh, and then my cheeks are sore by the time I'm a few chapters in. Good thing this was a novella.

While Under One Roof doesn't exactly break the mold in terms of the story itself, I still had so much fun with it. It's because it has all the hallmarks I've come to associate with Hazelwood: slightly outrageous premise, two main characters who are loveable if a bit clueless, and endless snarky banter that has me in stitches.

With regards to the banter, Hazelwood really is my queen. Just like there are certain people you meet and instantly click with, that's exactly how I feel about her banter. It's witty, funny, slightly zany, and utterly delightful. It's exactly to my style and I just want to soak it all up.

I love Hazelwood's focus on STEM females, and Mara was a feisty one. She's an environmental engineer, which makes it all the more funny when she finds out that her hottie roommate is a big-shot corporate lawyer for an oil company. You can see how they would butt heads, to rather hilarious results.

I don't read a lot of novellas because I'm always afraid the shorter page length will leave me wanting more. And that's definitely the case here. Even though I enjoyed the story, there's something a little unsatisfying about how short it is. What can I say? I want more of Mara and Liam! But I guess it's a good thing when a story leaves you wanting more.

Now excuse me while I go wipe that silly smile off my face and do some cheek-relaxing exercises.

Readaroo Rating: 4 stars

Ah, scientists in love! Be still, my heart!

Olive is a third year Ph.D. candidate, filling her pipettes and titrating like a boss, when she somehow manages to land herself in a fake relationship with the ever glowering Dr. Adam Carlsen. She really can't believe her bad luck. Unfortunately, she has spun her lies, so she has no choice but to see them through. But the more time they spend together, the more Olive starts to realize he might just be the one she's been looking for all along.

This was just a hoot and a half! A lot of romcoms manage to get the romantic part exactly right, but The Love Hypothesis hits the comedy bit out of the park too. Olive's dialogues are witty and snarky, and she pretty much cracked me up from beginning to end. I couldn't stop giggling and snorting, even while reading in public, which definitely got me some weird looks from strangers.

I absolutely loved that Ali Hazelwood chose a woman in STEM as her main character and highlighted the difficulties they encounter as part of this story. As a woman in STEM myself, it warms my heart to see someone like me take center stage in a romance. A lot of what Olive went through, including how intimidating it is to be in a field surrounded by men and how unsure she is of her worth and her ability, I understand intimately.

The romance between Olive and Adam developed slowly, with plenty of tension and sizzle. The premise to set up the trope of fake dating was a little silly, but once you get past that, the rest is nothing short of sweet and satisfying. Adam is reticent in the beginning, but he soon thaws and warms up to Olive's relentless cheer and good-natured teasing. His support of her in their shared field is particularly touching and it made me root even harder for this couple.

With romances, there's always the question of whether it contains explicit, open-door scenes. And whichever way the book chooses to go, it inevitably alienates half of the readership who wants it the other way. That's why I was particularly fond of the way it was handled in this book. All those scenes are in one contiguous chunk (spread across two chapters), so it's easy to skip if that's not your thing and you can still enjoy the rest of the story without having to worry about missing anything crucial.

This story totally checks all the boxes for me. It's sweet, smart, and uproariously funny, and it touched my heart and my mind. No doubt about it, anything Ali Hazelwood writes from now on will be devoured by me posthaste.

Readaroo Rating: 5 stars!

This was a pick for my Book of the Month box. Get your first book for $5 here.