Jennifer Lynn Barnes’s recent social media sensation The Inheritance Games is a young adult book series that follows the life of a poor schoolgirl who suddenly inherits the fortune of a billionaire. Avery Kylie Grambs, a seventeen year old from New Castle, Connecticut, works at a hole-in-the-wall diner to help pay rent as she and her half-sister Libby are just scraping by. Mysteriously though, one day Avery is summoned to the reading of Tobias Hawthorne’s will, formerly known as the richest man in the state of Texas with a net worth of 46.2 billion dollars.  The terms of his will state that in order to claim her inheritance, Avery must go to Texas and live in the Hawthorne House for exactly one year. However, she must live alongside Tobias Hawthorne’s four grandsons: Xander, Jameson, Nash, and the apparent heir Grayson, who feels cheated over receiving none of his grandfather’s fortune. As she settles into what should be her new paradise, Avery slowly realizes what Tobias Hawthorne actually left her and his grandsons is a game full of riddles and mysteries to be played in order to figure out the truth. 

The Hawthorne family is divided: is Avery a skilled con-woman or is she their grandfather’s last twisted riddle and a puzzle to be solved? Along with wealth, Avery has acquired a large target on her back, leading her to become the victim of several attacks from the media and even assassination attempts. 

While looking for the answer to her questions, Avery dives into the dark history of the Hawthorne family: the missing son of Tobias Hawthorne, the death of Emily Laughlin, the strained relationship between Grayson and Jameson. She even catches herself falling for the two brothers, but the warning, “… never lose your heart to a Hawthorne,” is said for a reason. Avery will have to play the game herself while working with the Hawthorne brothers to unravel the ultimate truth: Why did Tobias Hawthorne leave her his fortune?

Released August 29, 2023, The Inheritance Games consists of three books: The Inheritance Games, The Hawthorne Legacy, The Final Gambit, and The Brothers Hawthorne. It was announced that rights to the series were claimed by Sony Pictures in 2020, and a movie adaptation is currently in the works. Though the release date is currently unknown, and there are no details yet for casting.

My favorite book of this series is the first, The Inheritance Games. From the start it is captivating, in less than 30 pages Barnes already engages her audience in her first plot twist. Each book has around 80 chapters, but not to be alarmed, as each chapter ranges from two to seven pages long. I appreciate this division of pages, as I find it to be a major inconvenience closing a book mid-chapter. It made reading on the go much simpler, as I could easily read a chapter in less than five minutes. 

Since the beginning I’ve developed a strong appreciation for the way Barnes created Avery’s character. She is an intelligent woman whose talents go unrecognized to the rest of the world. For example, when Avery received a perfect score on her physics final, she was brought to the principal’s office and accused of cheating. Even when she first arrives at the Hawthorne house, the Hawthorne family immediately believes that Avery must have seduced her way into achieving their grandfather’s fortune. But even with the weight of a new world on her shoulders, Avery is able to prove how much she can accomplish, how many riddles she can solve, and how far she can push herself.

This doesn’t mean Avery is perfect, she is still a human being. I love how Barnes makes sure to tie in Avery’s weaknesses constantly throughout her inner-monologue. The audience sees moments where she is unsure of herself, where she makes mistakes, and when she is scared in an unfamiliar playing field. Barnes doesn’t allow readers to forget that Avery is only seventeen and lacks a support system. 

Although I enjoyed the first book, my love for this series as a whole gradually declines as it progresses. The second book, The Hawthorne Legacy, loses my attention as the characters hit more and more dead ends in diving through the history of Tobias Hawthorne’s missing son. It felt as if some parts of the Hawthorne game were useless and ultimately filler pages. But, as the second book slowly transitions to its ending, where the mystery of Tobias Hawthorne’s son begins to unravel itself, I found myself with a new wave of motivation to finish the series.

Then comes The Final Gambit, and if you found The Hawthorne Legacy hard to get through, this might be the end of your journey with the series. I cannot stand leaving a book unfinished, so I pulled through the first half of this book, and stayed for the ending. By this time, Barnes seems to have run out of new riddles and situations for Avery and the Hawthorne brothers to complete. Two hundred pages in, and I felt as if I was reading the written equivalent of a broken record player. It took me two weeks to finish The Final Gambit, as it pushed me into what the media calls a “reading slump.” I was tired of hearing about Grayson and Jameson’s same problems and how Avery still couldn’t make up her mind about which brother she truly wanted to be with. But once the book finally reached its last one hundred pages, I found myself audibly squealing with excitement in my chair. I was anticipating that any moment Barnes could have pulled a new plot twist, and alas she had a few more tricks up her sleeve.

In late August, the fourth book, The Brothers Hawthorne, was released, though I can’t say I am particularly excited to read this. I already feel as if The Final Gambit was too long for comfort, and seeing that this book is another four hundred twenty-four pages long is frightening. The Final Gambit finished on a strong ending, I cannot believe there is anything left to be said. I hope that this book was not written for the sole purpose of generating more profit off of this successful series. This could ruin The Inheritance Games as a whole for me, and it would crush my spirits in doing so.

Jennifer Lynn Barnes’s The Inheritance Games series is a thrilling roller coaster of mysteries, riddles, and romance that begins with a bang in the first book. The story of Avery Kylie Grambs and her unexpected inheritance of a billionaire’s fortune, along with the challenges set by Tobias Hawthorne, makes for a captivating read. If I were to recommend this read to any young adult readers who enjoy mysteries with elements of romance out there, I’d say give at least the first book a try. As the series progresses, it may lose some momentum, especially in the second and third books, but it manages to deliver satisfying surprises in the end. Let’s see how well you do in playing Tobias Hawthorne’s ultimate game.