In Ali Hazelwood's debut YA novel, Mallory Greenleaf is done with chess. After four years of the game destroying her family, she has decided to dedicate herself to her mother, her siblings, and her dead-end job. When she begrudgingly accepts to play in a charity tournament, she surprisingly beats world champion and reigning bad-ass Nolan Sawyer. Nolan's loss to a novice shocks the chess world. He wants a rematch. The smartest thing to do would be to walk away, but she could win some money, and she cannot deny the attraction she feels. As she rises in the ranks, she wants to shield her family from the game that cost them dearly. While loving a game that she tried so hard to despise, she learns that not all games are played on boards.