Author: Jennifer Lynn Barnes
Genre: Mystery, Young Adult, Fiction
Personal Rating: ⭐⭐⭐ / ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (3.5 out of 5 stars)
In this second installment of The Inheritance Games trilogy, we still follow the now heiress of the late Tobias Hawthorne’s 46.2-billion dollar estate – Avery Kylie Grambs – as she tries to solve the mystery of why the deceased billionaire chose her to inherit the massive fortune despite having daughters and four capable grandsons.
In the previous book, we learn that Avery’s homeless chess partner in her old life was the late billionaire’s son, Tobias Hawthorne II. He has supposedly passed away after an ‘accident’ on an island that caused his friend’s deaths. As she tries to find him, deeper Hawthorne secrets relating to the Hawthorne daughters, as well as the four grandsons, began to surface. A simple question of her inheritance turned into a complicated puzzle.
What was Tobias the Second doing homeless and playing chess with Avery in disguise? Why did he disappear? What does the grandson’s different paternity have to do with all of this? What does Avery have to do with any of this?
Avery’s mother would be the key to solving this puzzle but as she already passed away with no known relatives, she’ll have to rely on the clues her mother embedded in her memories. It turns out, similar to how Tobias Hawthorne trained his grandsons to solve puzzles, her own mother likes to play games too.
I stand by what I said in the previous book: I would’ve loved this if I was a 16-year old but as a 20+ adult the level of planning Tobias Hawthorne did to lay out these puzzles just feels unrealistic. Plus, having unlimited resources at Avery’s disposal just felt unfair to ‘the game.’ More than that, having three of the four magnetic grandsons – Grayson, Jameson, and Xander – circle their life around you and cater to your every whim feels childish and unrealistic. I can totally see my teenage self loving all of it though.
Again, what made me stay is the well-roundedness of the characters, the excellence in writing, and the mystery at every turn. The exposition of the clues had great timing and set a good pace for the book. Avery’s personal circle has also been more involved and they’re really colorful characters.
Favorite Quote(s):
“The trick to being abandoned was to never let yourself long enough for anyone who left.”
― Avery Kylie Grambs, The Inheritance Games
The Stray Reader 
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