The Inheritance Games – Jennifer Lynn Barnes

Thank you to the publisher for gifting me an e-ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. The book in the picture in this post I purchased myself.

She came from nothing. Avery has a plan: keep her head down, work hard for a better future. Then an eccentric billionaire dies, and leaves her almost his entire fortune. And no one, least of all Avery knows why.

They had everything. Now she must move into the mansion she’s inherited: Hawthorne House. It’s filled with secrets and codes, and the old man’s surviving relatives – a family hellbent on discovering how Avery got ‘their’ money.

Once I had this book in my hands I just had to read it immediately and I couldn’t put it down once I started it. I love stories like this and when a YA book is marketed as ‘Cinderella meets Knifes Out’ I am always going to pick that book up. What a book!

This book has one of those mysteries weaved throughout the pages that you just have to know the answer to. It consumes your mind when you aren’t reading and is all you can think about when reading. The plot just keeps twisting and turning and the narrative keeps you as a reader constantly guessing.

I enjoyed all the characters in this book. Yes they are your generic YA ‘rich’ characters and the generic ‘rich’ family dynamic but I loved it so much. The relationships between the characters are so complex and intriguing and I was a huge fan. Avery is so smart, determined and resourceful and I want to read more about Avery because she is an excellent main character. You feel the emotional upheaval that Avery feels and the shock she feels too. Personally, I was a huge fan of the secondary romance storyline between Avery and Jameson and I would have loved to see more of that. I’m really hoping that this is covered more in the sequel.

Jennifer Lynn Barnes is an author who I just want to read so many more books by because her writing is addictive. As soon as I picked this book up I didn’t want to put it down. I could go on about the plot and the mystery in this book forever but just know that it is out of this world. There were points when I thought I knew what was going to happen next but then the page after I was second guessing myself. Even when it gets to the epilogue, there are questions we still need the answer to. Questions I’m still trying to work out and I just cannot wait to read book 2 when it is out.

Overall, this book in incredible and addictive. I will be putting it into the hands of everyone I can for a long while. If you like mysteries and the idea of a book where Cinderella meets Knives Out then this is the book for you. It is extraordinary and I cannot recommend it enough!