Book Review :: The Hawthorne Legacy, by Jennifer Lynn Barnes

The Hawthorne Legacy by Jennifer Lynn Barnes
Series: The Inheritance Games #2
Also in this series: The Inheritance Games, The Final Gambit, The Brothers Hawthorne
on 2021-09-07
Genres: Mystery, Young Adult
Pages: 368
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The Inheritance Games ended with a bombshell, and now heiress Avery Grambs has to pick up the pieces and find the man who might hold the answers to all of her questions - including why Tobias Hawthorne left his entire fortune to Avery, a virtual stranger, rather than to his own daughters or grandsons.

Thanks to a DNA test, Avery knows that she's not a Hawthorne by blood, but clues pile up hinting at a deeper connection to the family than she had ever imagined. As the mystery grows and the plot thickens, Grayson and Jameson, the enigmatic and magnetic Hawthorne grandsons, continue to pull Avery in different directions. And there are threats lurking around every corner, as adversaries emerge who will stop at nothing to see Avery out of the picture - by any means necessary.

Last updated on 13 February 2023

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My thoughts on The Hawthorne Legacy

Keeping this book review of The Hawthorne Legacy short and snappy so I don’t give anything away for The Inheritance Games, the first in the trilogy. That is the downside to mystery novels; you can’t talk about them in detail for fear of giving something away for future readers (you?).

But what I will say is that was another wonderful book by Jennifer Lynn Barnes. I so enjoyed The Inheritance Games that as soon as I had finished it, I went to my Kindle and got a hold of The Hawthorne Legacy straight away. I read them both in the space of a long weekend.

The Hawthorne Legacy continues the story of Avery as she discovers that she’s the main heir to Tobias Hawthorne’s multi-billion-dollar legacy, with no link to the old man at all. As Avery and the Hawthorne grandsons continue to put together the pieces of the puzzle, even stranger things come to light as they dive deep into the history of the Hawthorne family.

“The trick to being abandoned was to never let yourself long for anyone who left.”

I mentioned in my review of The Inheritance Games how much I enjoy the characters in this series, and the same can be said for The Hawthorne Legacy. There are a few new characters that join the book as side characters but on the whole, the same characters are carried through. Max, Avery’s best friend, also joins as more of a main-character role, as she heads to Hawthorne House to stay with Avery as they continue to unravel the mystery. Max is really fun and I liked her a lot as a character.

The story, like the first book, clips along at a nice pace, and once again, I never wanted for more of something – more action, more dialogue, more prose. It’s written in such a way that it keeps you engaged the whole time, all while providing a good mix of action, mystery, a bit of romance, comedy and joy.

While I have bumped this book down a star from the first one, that’s only because I managed to call a few things before they happened. But other than that, absolutely loving this series and can’t wait for the final book, The Final Gambit, which is out in 2022.

Have you read The Hawthorne Legacy? Or The Inheritance Games? Without spoilers, what did you think?