The Inheritance Games by Jennifer Lynn Barnes
The Inheritance Games #1
(2020) 386 pages
Final Rating: 5/10 

Blurb:
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 conwoman, 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.

Review:
This book made me very emotionally confused.

The first quarter of the book contained mostly dull introductions of a main character that had nearly no personality despite being “smart” and a decent human being, brooding descriptions about the four eccentric and handsome grandsons of Tobias Hawthorne, and rather desperate attempts at making the side characters seem interesting and relatable. The amount of times curses, no excuse me, bad words, were censored, such as instead of f*ck they used fox, or instead of b*tch they used beach, or even instead of ass, they used asterisk, for a single character, actually ticked me off a lot more than the author intended.

Also, for the first hundred pages, the main character has so many descriptions about the Hawthorne house, and is still struggling to settle in as the Hawthorne heir, without any fascinating plot points or much pacing movement. I understand that the main character, Avery, needs time to adjust, but her adjustment should still occur while the plot is still moving fast enough to keep the reader engaged. For example, have her explore the Hawthorne house for a reason, such as solving the mystery of why Tobias Hawthorne chose her to be his heir, instead of just walking around, talking to lawyers, etc.

My next complaint is about the riddles.

Perhaps it was just me, but the book was not a thrilling mystery. It did not make my brain work in circles. This book was not made for readers to try to solve the mystery along with Avery, it was meant for the readers to simply watch Avery. Maybe that’s what some readers like to read, but for me, when I’m told there’s a there’s “a twisted riddle, a puzzle to be solved”, I for sure want to a book that has a blurb like that to make me think.

Now I can focus on the characters that live within the Hawthorne house.

I must say, in the beginning, I was very dubious about the love triangle in this story. I love love triangles, but only when they’re done right. When the romance is bland, with unlikeable or boringly monotonous characters that make up the relationships, a love triangle can be absolute torture. So when I met Jameson and Grayson Hawthorne, the inevitable love interests, I was not loving their characters.

Grayson was the everyday male lead who was cold and calculating all the time. Jameson was the everyday second male lead who was curious and spontaneous. That was definitely my first impression of them, and it did not change until halfway through the story.

Jameson and Grayson’s personalities and trauma are shaped by a backstory surrounded by a girl named Emily. I found myself actually emphasizing and rooting for their happiness once I understood why they act the way they do, and that they’re more than just a stolid man that is “so dark and handsome” and an outgoing and pondering shirtless guy that is “second male lead material”. I think Avery felt similarly, which is why I believe the love triangle can work in this story.

At the end of the day, I enjoyed reading this book, but it wasn’t amazing. I’m honestly scared to read the second book of the series because I’m worried that it’s going to ruin this series for me. But I’ve heard that Jameson is more loving towards Avery in this one, so I’m just gonna take the jump and hope I don’t crash and burn.