The Inheritance Games

The Inheritance Games

By: Jennifer Lynn Barnes
Published: 2020
# of pages: 376
Series: The Inheritance Games (#1)
Challenges: Alphabet Soup

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.

Goodreads

This was a fun read and the mystery was better than I was expecting! For some reason when I checked this out from the library I was thinking it was going to be a mixture of The Hunger Games (Suzanne Clark) and Legend (Marie Lu). Obviously I just skimmed the description and looked at the title! However, rather than taking place in the future and involving an organized and widespread competition, this book takes place in present day and the “game” is within a family.

I liked the character of Avery and the teenage angst and love interests didn’t bother me as much as some YA books do. It is the first in a series, but it could also work as a standalone because it wraps up at the end and doesn’t leave the reader too desperate to read the next. I will be reading the second book because of how much I enjoyed this book. Overall I recommend this to those who enjoy YA and/or these type of mystery/puzzle stories.

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