Inheritance Games

By: Jennifer Lynn Barnes

Narrated by: Christie Moreau

Don't miss this "impossible to put down" (Buzzfeed) novel with deadly stakes, thrilling twists, and juicy secrets - perfect for fans of One of Us Is Lying and Knives Out.

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.

©2020 Jennifer Lynn Barnes (P)2020 Little, Brown Young Readers

Critic reviews

"A thrilling blend of family secrets, illicit romance and high-stakes treasure hunt, set in the mysterious world of Texas billionaires. The nonstop twists kept me guessing until the very last page!" (Katharine McGee, New York Times best-selling author of American Royals)

"Part The Westing Game, part We Were Liars, completely entertaining." (Kirkus)

"This strong, Knives Out-esque series opener...provides ample enjoyment." (Publishers Weekly, starred review)

Not sure

Thiscouldbea stand alone work but Autjor does set up great hook to continue...
Really like all the treasure hunting in here.
Weird and totally screwed up family.
I do believe there could be more.
Not certain if was happy with the way it ended or not?
I do know I will be looking for other books by this author.
It was a fun ride.

Had great expectations but was disappointed

I had high expectations for this book and I wanted to like it so much because it sounded so cool. I even debated giving it 3.5/5 stars instead of 3/5 stars, but in the end I’m sorry I just can’t…

This book had an interesting plot idea but the execution was pretty poor. The beginning was interesting until they read the will, then it dragged on and on and nothing interesting happened until chapter 52, then it dragged again before finally having an anticlimatic discovery at the end and since this is the first book in the series of course it ended with a cliffhanger.

The author could have done so much with this book but everything was so boring and lacklustre. There is seriously something wrong with the pacing of this book, because it was so slowww…She described scenes upon scenes of Avery’s new life and it all sounds so mundane and repetitive. A lot of the conversations were a pain to get through because they were so banal. The puzzle solving and mystery felt so forced and contrived. The side characters - Libby, Alisa, Oren were all boring and were just there. The 2 evil people in the book were hardly there and were described more in the background. They don’t have much direct contact with Avery. The only girl who sounds like she might be an interesting villain is actually already dead in this story. Took me more than a month to get through reading this book and I just wanted to be done with it so I don’t have to DNF.

Then there’s the 4 Hawthorne brothers. From
the way the author writes the book it’s obvious that there is supposed to be a love triangle between Avery, Grayson and Jameson and it’s actually kinda obvious which brother she will end up with in the end. I actually like Xander the most out of the 4 brothers and maybe Nash second. Grayson is the typical arrogant, cold, mysterious, jackass kind of guy and Jameson is the typical angsty, rule breaker, thrill and adventure seeker kinda guy. Avery is actually kinda boring too, her whole character is about reacting to being a surprise heiress, or reacting to the Hawthorne brothers, especially Jameson and Grayson.

I know this is a YA book but overall the book just feels really teeny (like for 14 year olds) and not for 17 year olds till mid 20s like the characters in the book.

I will check out the 2nd and 3rd book because I do want to know the ending at least, I hate reading 1 book and not knowing the ending. I just hope the other books won’t be such a drag to read.

Oh yeah the audiobook of this book also has such a boring sounding voice narrator, I actually wonder if I should just read the next book without the audiobook.

Great Mystery Book

If you're a fan of modern day mystery books, look no further. This was a great story for those who are fans of Knives Out or Hide and Seek. It's even tailored for family friendly audiences.

great story

I loved this book and really enjoyed the surprises.at the end. I figured out how they met before it was revealed and the very very end the uncle bit. but it was quite fun!

GET IT.

I enjoyed this story, didn't drag on.No boring moments. There was always something
happening and the ending was somewhat of a plot twist. I couldn't stop listing.

Fun ride!

What a story. Great characters and lots of twists and turns, and mystery to keep me interested. I found the narrator was a great fit for the character’s voice as well.

Mysterious Fun

Very much enjoyed this book. Fun twists and turns to the story, not easily predictable. Great characters too!

Let the games begin

I could not put this one down. It exceeded my expectations tremendously. You have those characters you love and those characters you hate. Mixed in there though are the characters that you love to hate and that’s what really made this audiobook very very pleasing. Such a great story and has lots of hidden secrets along the way that people will enjoy. Our main characters I was just screaming at them at points and then really liking them at others. This book brought out a lot of emotions in me. Just when you think you know what’s coming next the author will pull out another curveball and send you on another wild goose chase. The narration of this was done very very well there’s such a range in our cast of characters that are narrator had to provide many many voices and it was so spot on. From older men to young teenage girls she did it all. Definitely looking forward to what comes next for a cast of characters.

A fun romp

but the narration was horrible. The main character.'s voice was ok but the accents of the rest of the people were awful.

What a fantastic story

We listened to this on a road trip in hopes of finding a family friendly option that the adults would enjoy and this surely met the bill. Every time we drove to one of the attractions we listened and the last night just had to finish.