Book Review :: The Inheritance Games by Jennifer Lynn Barnes

The Inheritance Games by Jennifer Lynn Barnes
ISBN: 1368052401
Series: The Inheritance Games #1
Also in this series: The Hawthorne Legacy, The Final Gambit, The Brothers Hawthorne
on 2020-09-01
Genres: Mystery, Young Adult
Pages: 384
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A Cinderella story with deadly stakes and thrilling twists.

Avery Grambs has a plan for a better future: survive high school, win a scholarship, and get out. But her fortunes change in an instant when billionaire Tobias Hawthorne dies and leaves Avery virtually his entire fortune. The catch? Avery has no idea why--or even who Tobias Hawthorne is. To receive her inheritance, Avery must move into sprawling, secret passage-filled Hawthorne House, where every room bears the old man's touch--and his love of puzzles, riddles, and codes.

Unfortunately for Avery, Hawthorne House is also occupied by the family that Tobias Hawthorne just dispossessed. This includes the four Hawthorne grandsons: dangerous, magnetic, brilliant boys who grew up with every expectation that one day, they would inherit billions. Heir apparent Grayson Hawthorne is convinced that Avery must be a con-woman, and he's determined to take her down. His brother, Jameson, views her as their grandfather's last hurrah: a twisted riddle, a puzzle to be solved. Caught in a world of wealth and privilege, with danger around every turn, Avery will have to play the game herself just to survive.

Last updated on 13 February 2023

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Overview of The Inheritance Games

This book. The Inheritance Games was brilliant. I loved every second of this young adult mystery novel. I hadn’t read anything by Jennifer Lynn Barnes before, but I’m so glad I picked up this book. The second in the series, The Hawthorne Legacy, was also out at the time of this review and I read both books over the course of the weekend. They were that good.

I haven’t read a mystery book in a little while (Truly Devious was a GREAT series for YA mystery, though, high recommend), so it was so much fun to dive into this one.

“Everything’s a game, Avery Grambs. The only thing we get to decide in this life is if we play to win.”

Without going into too much detail about the story (spoilers!), Avery is suddenly thrown into a life that she never in a million years expected: the heir to Tobias Hawthorne’s multi-billion-dollar estate, companies, hotels … everything but a few hundred grand given to his actual family.

The Inheritance Games follows Avery and the four Hawthorn grandsons as they try to piece together why Tobias Hawthorn left Avery, a random teen girl who he had never met, his entire life.

My thoughts on The Inheritance Games

What a whirlwind of a book! The characters were superb, and while there’s a hint at love triangle (which can either be really well done or just ‘urgh a love triangle’) it’s not so much to put you off the story. The little bits that Barnes does indicate are pretty low-key in this book. The Hawthorne brothers are so different from each other, just like Avery and her own sister Libby, which makes for some brilliantly crafted conversations and discoveries throughout the story.

“Sometimes things that appear very different on the surface are actually exactly the same at their core.”

The plot clipped along nicely, and there was never a moment where I thought ‘just get to the point’ or ‘just figure it out already!’. The setting is glorious, and I would love to visit the Hawthorne House; it sounds incredibly grand and magical, and as it’s full of hidden passageways and secrets, you could occupy yourselves for months (years?!) on end and not even know everything about the house.

I really enjoyed Avery as a character and while I have thoughts about who I think she should end up with (and I suspect it might be heading that way eventually but we’ll need to wait to book three … 👀), it was really fun to discover the estate with her and meet all these crazy characters that come with the Hawthorne name.

If you’re looking for a Young Adult mystery with great characters, brilliant settings, a multitude of secret rooms, hidden passageways, clues and puzzles, games and riddles … this is the book for you!

Have you read The Inheritance Games? What did you think?