The Inheritance Games (The Inheritance Games #1)

 Synopsis

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.

Loved

• The mystery. This is a non-murder mystery, which was actually quite refreshing that no one had to be murdered to create the plot :) This was a fascinating mystery- Avery is left billions, but doesn't know the billionaire, so why did she inherit everything? The story keeps us very engaged with other side plots as well, such as the mysterious death of a girl a year ago, who the Hawthorne's dads are, the mysterious uncle that disappeared, and other Hawthorne secrets. The twists and turns keep building up until we are bursting with questions, but we also find answers quickly, which makes the story fast-paced and exciting!

• The riddles. This story is full of riddles, codes, cyphers, and puzzles. The four Hawthorne brothers and Avery are brilliant figuring out these puzzles, and Tobias Hawthorne was even more ingenius to leave it all for them to decode. This is the ultimate scavenger hunt- with billions to fund it, and lives, secrets, history and hearts as the prize.

• The Hawthorne grandsons. Ah, these four are the best. I love how they are all so unique and quirky, but all alike in their brilliancy, ingenuity, and charm. Xander is personally my favorite because he is the least dramatic, the funniest, and possibly the smartest of them all ;) It's so fun to see Avery interact with them and help them recover their relationships after drama has torn them apart.

• The writing. This story is so fast-paced, we can barely keep up as the characters run from clue to clue and unscramble anagrams in three seconds in their minds. Meanwhile Avery is getting shot at, threatened, and romanced! Oh, and trying to figure out how to spend her BILLIONS of dollars. So much to process and keep up with, making this very entertaining and compelling from page one.

Didn't Love

• My only real complaint is that I don't like the romance in this story. I won't spoil who it's with, but I didn't like him and the whole thing felt quite shallow. And then at the very end it turned into a love triangle type thing? Weird. I guess it's more like normal teenage behavior, but it was a little distracting and it felt forced and insta-lovey for me.

Content

• Language: 
• Fairly frequent uses of "damn," "hell," and "ass."

• Sexual content: 
• One makeout scene- described as hands in each other's hair, kissing. Not a lot described and ends abruptly.
• Some innuendo- comments related to affairs and past relationships.

• Violence
• Main character is threatened throughout the book.
• Character is shot at, but not injured badly.
• Characters are in a car and someone in another car tries to hurt them by running them off the road.
• Domestic violence- a man beats his girlfriend and continually threatens her.


• Other themes:
• LGBTQIA: Two female secondary characters like each other, were in a relationship in the past. One of the characters talks about being bisexual.
• A teenage girl died a year before the story takes place- details surrounding her death (not a murder) and how it affected her family and friends.

Overall Thoughts

This is such a fun and unique mystery- I've never read anything quite like it. The puzzles and riddles are so interesting and clever, and the mystery just keeps twisting and turning, which keeps the plot going at break-neck speed. The four Hawthorne brothers are all so quirky and funny, but quite angsty and all processing different traumas and emotional issues- which makes them more real behind their brilliant, talented and extremely wealthy personas. Avery is no-nonsense and just as brilliant as the Hawthorne brothers, which makes her a good match for them, and it's fun to see her journey as she makes her way in this new world of wealth, secrets, and danger. I dare you to try and put this down- I promise it will keep you engaged and turning pages as fast as you can to figure out the answers to these riddles, puzzles, and ingeniously planted clues.