Check & Mate

Mallory Greenleaf is done with chess.

Yes, it was her reason to live from ages 6 to 14. No, she'd rather not talk about what changed that. With her grandmaster dad out of the picture, a chronically-ill mom, two younger sisters, and an auto-mechanic job that pays the ever-accumulating bills, she has no time for games. And yet, when her best friend Easton guilts her into pinch-hitting for a charity chess tournament, Mallory cannot refuse. In the name of a decade-long friendship, Mallory sucks it up, agrees to play one last time, and... inadvertently defeats the current world champion. Oops.

Holden Sawyer is only 20, but he's been dominating the world of chess for years. Hailed as one of the best players in history, he's handsome, the heir to a chess dynasty, and a household name who once dated a Kardashian. (Kind of. Technically, it was a Jenner.) His loss to a nobody like Mallory is inexplicable, and leads to a tiny problem: Holden has a... reputation. As a not-exactly-good-tempered loser. Terrified of how Holden might take her win, Mallory does the one thing she can think of: she runs away, determined to never think of what happened again. Phew!

But as her victory grabs the attention of grandmasters everywhere, Mallory realises that she might be done with chess, but it's in no way done with her. Besides, a rematch against Holden might not be a bad thing. She's been thinking about him a lot lately...