The Inheritance Games (The Inheritance Games, 1)

"Everything's a game, Avery Grambs. The only thing we get to decide in this life is if we play to win." I will start by saying that, when this book was released, I had zero interest in reading it. Over time, I have seen so many people reading and reviewing this series over on Goodreads, that my mind was changed! 4.5 stars, rounded up. This was a really quick read! I was engaged immediately and the short chapters made it very readable. Having said that, the length of the chapters (or lack thereof) was rather jarring to start with, and took some getting used to. The reason I rated this 4.5 stars (as opposed to 5) was due to the predictability of the plot. I didn't guess everything per se, but when certain characters emerged, I gathered that they would be important to the plot in some integral way. The characters were fantastic, especially the four grandsons. "They were a twisted, broken mess before you got here, and they'll be a twisted, broken mess once you're gone." This book had the potential to be a character driven book on the strength of those four alone. However, I am very glad that it was not, and that there was a plot. I feel we have only scratched the surface of the Hawthorne brothers, and cannot wait to find out more as the series progresses. I'm torn as to whether to read The Hawthorne Legacy #2 yet, or whether to wait, as the third (and final) book, The Final Gambit, is not due to be released until August 2022.

Avery is broke and living in her car after an argument with her half-sister, Libby. She is at rock bottom when she is contacted by Grayson Hawthorne who informs Avery that she has been left a bequest in his grandfather's will. Avery is nonplussed but attends the will reading where she, and everyone else, is stunned to find out that Avery has been left almost the entire estate which is worth billions. The kicker is that she will have to live in the Hawthorne Mansion for a year in order to inherit, and that means living with the very attractive Grayson and his equally attractive three brothers: Nate, Jameson, and Xander, alongside other Hawthorne relatives. Can Avery survive and can she solve the puzzles which may explain why she was named as a beneficiary? I find with this author's books, I either love them or hate them - and I loved this one. You just have to suspend your disbelief and go with the flow, that a grandfather would disinherit his grandsons for a stranger none of them had ever met before, and then leave clues around the mansion. If you can do that, it's a enthralling read. I mean, this is a house with six - count 'em - six libraries, and its own bowling alley. The brothers are also intriguing characters, and I was initially drawn to Jameson which means he'll no doubt turn out to be the 'big bad' at the end. This is the first in a series of two? three? books so it does end on a cliffhanger. All I can say is, hurry up and write the next one. Please!

The Inheritance Games is a deliciously twisted and engrossing, none stop roller coaster ride, that is impossible to put down. Mystery, intrigue, angst, romance, and puzzles galore, it has it all. Blended together to make a fantastic and original read. Jennifer Lynn Barnes is an absolute genius when it comes to crafting complex plots, that have so many layers and puzzles with them, you become breathless turning the pages with eager anticipation to solve the puzzles and mystery unfolding as if you are stood next to the characters as it all unfolds. Absolutely fantastic read!

This book is poorly written. For someone so educated and who has been writing since she was a teenager, it shows no maturity in character development, the plot line was thin, the paragraphs and sentences did not flow together naturally. My pre teen daughter in a preparatory school hated the book as well. She even added that the author clearly doesn’t research many things she speaks of in the book. The authority clumsily described a violin and could not describe it correctly. Those are not s shapes on the top of the violin and they are not there for decoration. They are f holes and they exist to help the violin project its’ sound. If this is the kind of books being published and pushed on the masses these days, it stands as another witness of how poor our education system has become. Also, the cynic in me says the author and publisher are riding on the coat tails of the book the Hunger Games for the name of the title and it basically tries to mimic the 70s book the Westing Games. Both are a sign of no creativity. Also, looking at the author’s other titles, it is clear most of her books simply ride the overly produced paperbacks that are a current trend - another sign of no creativity. It’s sad we are destroying so many trees for this garbage called “literature”! I kindly suggest people skip this book, encourage your children to read something like the Iliad, Adventures of Tom Sawyer or Huckleberry Finn, pure classics that teach history as well. The author would do us a favor by focusing on her teaching psychology at OU and leave the fiction writing to more suited minds and hands. The publishing industry would do the world a favor as well and stop its’ mass production of such books.

This novel tried too much to be the classic "Westing Game," one of the best children's books ever published. The riddles in "Inheritance Games" are dull. The characters, especially Avery and the Hawthorne crew, are poorly drawn. The teen angst was laughable. The "surprise" ending was telegraphed to me at the beginning. The author only maintained my attention by keeping chapters short. I'm a senior citizen, and I always read YA and children's books. But I'm finding them less and less well-written. Not recommended.