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.
The Inheritance Games
(The Inheritance Games #1)
by Jennifer Lynn Barnes
Pages: 376
Publishing Date: September 1st, 2020
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
MY THOUGHTS
I’ve avoided this series for 2 years, I had this feeling that I should binge-read it. I’ve come to know about this trilogy through different social media platforms. Almost, all of the reviews were positive but this trilogy didn’t get the same hype other books to get and that is the reason I was leaning toward it.
“Everything’s a game, Avery Grambs. The only thing we get to decide in this life is if we play to win.”
Avery lives with her step-sister since her mother has passed. She is trying to make most of what she has to build a stable future, from living in a car to working several jobs. Avery is not your typical sorry type of MC, she has aims and knows what to do. She doesn’t know who is Tobias Hawthorne-one of the richest men in the USA – but he left her a huge fortune, that too by disinheriting his family including four more than capable grandsons.
“Sometimes things that appear very different on the surface are actually exactly the same at their core.”
The life of Hawthorne’s house is just like a dream that Avery never bothered to see. Money doesn’t come alone same is the case with Avery’s inheritance.
The best thing about this book is that story is original and fresh. Nothing felt borrowed or inspired. It’s rare nowadays to read a completely new story. I wanted to absorb everything that stopped me from guessing any future event which is not what I usually do. The plot was no doubt intriguing but the characters were too. I love morally gray characters because they felt more realistic. I was happily pleased with the way characters were introduced-nothing was rushed- the author didn’t try to throw all of the characters in the reader’s face at once nor everything was served on the plate without leaving any space for interpretation.
“As awful as it sounds, money is power, and power is magnetic.”
I can’t enunciate enough how much I like the character development of all four hawthorn brothers, along with other characters. The love triangle is not the typical one plus the romance element didn’t undermine the mystery. Parallel mysteries made the story more interesting. I am so glad to not read it before as it ended with cliffhangers and I tend to forget most of the details in a year, and I have this feeling that each small detail is going to play an important role.
This book was not perfect by any means. The story was unrealistic but the writing made up for all of the shortcomings of the plot. The thing that bothered me most was the people blaming their actions on a dead person like you are grown up stop with this nonsense *if you have read the book, you know what I am talking about*.
Overall, it is my favorite read of the year so far.
“Better the devil you do know than the devil you don’t”
