Tag Archive | YA Mystery

Review: The Inheritance Games by Jennifer Lynn Barnes

Apr14
The Inheritance Games Book Cover The Inheritance Games
The Inheritance Games #1
Jennifer Lynn Barnes
YA Mystery
Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
September 1, 2020
Audiobook
384
March 30 - April 4, 2023

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 conwoman, 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.
 
 

Review

If you’ve seen the movie Knives Out, The Inheritance Games is a little like that. This book released about a year after the movie, so I wouldn’t be surprised if she was inspired by the film. It’s absolutely not a carbon copy knock off though. In fact, I liked the book better than the movie.

Teenager Avery inherits like, a bajillion dollars, from a random old man she’s never met named Tobias Hawthorne. Not only did he give her his money, house, and most of his worldly possessions, he all but disinherited his own children and grandchildren!

The stipulation of her inheritance? She must live in the estate she’s inherited for one full year. The catch? None of Hawthorne’s family, who live there, are to be evicted…unless given good cause. 

Let the games begin.

Going from living in her car to being thrown into a world of excess and luxury, Avery must navigate her new surroundings (they say Hawthorne added a new room or wing to the house every year!) and watch her back, all while trying to figure out why she was left this fortune, and could it have anything to do with her dead mother?

Living in the house with her are Hawthorne’s four grandsons, each one displaying varying degrees of hostility toward her. Listening to the audiobook, I’m not going to lie, they were fairly interchangeable to me. I’m hoping that changes with books 2 and 3. This did make me wish I’d been reading the ebook or print book, but alas… I’m a slow reader and am committed to reading my NetGalley e-ARCs, I can’t spend that “eyeball reading” time on other books!

Overall, despite my getting the grandsons confused, I really enjoyed this book. I did wonder how this would end, knowing there are 2 more books to come. I hate books that end abruptly with no satisfying conclusion. This one ended beautifully. There was enough information revealed to satisfy me (for now) while also making new revelations/opening new questions to make me come back for book 2. I absolutely recommend this book to fans of YA books.