Prompt 25 – An author “everyone” has read except you

The Inheritance Games by Jennifer Lynn Barnes has been all over Bookstagram and Booktok. I’m surprised it has taken me this long to read it because it is absolutely up my street – a  YA thriller full of puzzles.

What it’s about?

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.

What I think:

This was a joy of a read.

It’s fun, fast-paced and completely compelling.

Avery’s life is thrown into complete chaos when she is named as the heir to a staggering fortune.

Becoming the heiress throws her into the path of the Hawthorne family and their complex web of relationships. Tobias Hawthorne’s four grandsons are gorgeous and clever but troubled.

Avery has no idea why she has been left the money and has a very complex puzzle to solve.

The Hawthorne estate is huge and secretive. The fragmented family live together but apart and the house is built around secrets and riddles. There are passages and hidden doors, clues and mysteries throughout the estate.

Avery has to settle into her new reality which includes a new, exclusive boarding school, media training and getting to know the ins and outs of the family all while trying to work out why she is there.

I loved this – pure entertaining escapism! And I will be definitely be reading the rest of the series.