The Inheritance Games- A Riveting Thriller

Avery Kylie Grambs is just trying to get through high school with her head down and her grades decent. Becoming a billionaire overnight wasn’t on the five year plan she had set for herself. In the series The Inheritance Games written by Jennifer Lynn Barnes, Avery gets thrust into stardom after inheriting $46.2 billion dollars from Tobias Hawthorne, a world famous philanthropist. The only condition: Avery has to live at Hawthorne House for one year with Tobias’ family, one year in the infamous, passage-filled, colossal mansion with his four grandsons, two daughters, and close staff. 

Avery works alongside Tobias’ grandsons to try and figure out: why her? Why did she become the heiress to someone who was basically a stranger? Why was Grayson Davenport Hawthorne, the second oldest grandson, raised by his grandfather to be the heir apparent when Avery got all of the money? How does Jameson Winchester Hawthorne, the third oldest grandson, possess almost all of Tobias’ traits and still not become the heir? (You’ll understand why I’m referring to them by their full names after reading because apparently middle names play a very important role in the Hawthorne family.) And as they solve the games and riddles their old man left for them one last time, they learn that Avery becoming the heiress of the family is so much more than all of them could ever know. 

In this incredibly written labyrinth of a novel, the puzzles and interactive riddles are what draw you in, but the lovable characters are what keep you there. One thing I love about Barnes’s books that is apparent in all of them, is the relationships between friends, family, and lovers. All of the characters are smart and quick witted and that is intertwined into their interactions. There is humor in the darkest of moments when Xander Blackwood Hawthorne, the youngest grandson, is around, and there is a deep older-brother protective spirit when Nash Westbrook Hawthorne, the oldest grandson, is around. Everything from character names to book covers is a riddle to solve and Jennifer Lynn Barnes does such an amazing job with putting readers through an emotional roller coaster in this series.