The Inheritance Games (Inheritance Games, #1)

A Cinderella story with deadly stakes and thrilling twists, perfect for fans of One of Us is Lying and Knives Out.

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.

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Perfect for readers who want:

• Fast-paced thriller mystery
• Books along the lines of Knives Out
• Lots of riddles and clues to solve
• A Cinderella story turned on its side
• Sibling bonds
• Lots of adorable characters – guaranteed there’ll be one you love
• Books where you’re never quite sure where anyone stands and who might stab you in the back … maybe literally

Many thanks to Little, Brown Books for Young Readers and The Write Reads for a copy in exchange for an honest, unbiased review and for inclusion on this tour.

I’m always excited when The Write Reads comes out with new tours, because Dave has an amazing track record of steering me towards awesome books. So when I heard about The Inheritance Games, between him and Susan @ Novel Lives telling me I wanted to read this, I just went with it. Boy am I glad I did.

The Inheritance Games is basically a Knives Out for a YA audience, with a compelling mystery filled with puzzles, complicated characters you’ll love, and plenty of twists and action!

Am I going to use this review to whip out aaall the Knives Out GIFs I’ve always wanted to use and never had an excuse to? Maaaybe (read: yes, absolutely). So forgive me, but the opportunity is just too good to pass up.

This book introduces the Hawthorne family, which is … a bundle of laughs? They’re a little dark, scary, and definitely too used to lying and getting their way.

Sooo … lots of fun, right? Just the family you want to realize has been duped out of their inheritance in favor of you, a nobody, who has no connection to their father/grandfather. Wow, I can’t see where this could go wrong!

The Hawthorne family is by no means going down quietly. They’re clinging to the inheritance they think they deserve and looking for whatever loopholes they might think they can find.

Well, not everyone in the Hawthorne family, but still. Trust no one. Because everyone stands to gain something. This is a family who’s used to getting their way, to having everything, to being able to buy, bribe, or cheat to get the outcome they want.

If you think this doesn’t bode well for Avery … you’d be right. There’s definitely more nuance than that to the family, but it’s also clear that Avery stands to lose as much as she stands to gain. Maybe even more.

The four main characters, aside from Avery of course, are the Hawthorne boys, who are an enigma in and of themselves.

Though they’re all related, of course (half-siblings, with different fathers), each boy is wildly different. It was hard not to fall in love with all of them, though.

Look. I don’t even know what’s wrong with my brain, but for some reason, as I was reading this book, I kept thinking of all these characters as characters from Fruits Basket. Why? Pffft, your guess is as good as mine. I suppose they sort of have a similar dynamic, in some ways? These comparisons are absolutely based on their personalities and not on the way they look.

Xander is the youngest, and by far the most charming. I kept picturing him as an older Momiji. He’s always so cheery and adorable and charming. He seems like the peacekeeper of the family—able to keep his two older brothers from destroying each other and just aloof enough to seem like a neutral party. Make no mistakes, though … Xander isn’t nearly as innocent as he seems. Like the other Hawthornes, he’s working plenty of things behind the scenes.

Then there’s Grayson, who is so obviously Yuki Sohma. He’s always dressed up in a suit, very formal, very protective of his family. Comes off a bit old-soul and stuffy, but there’s definitely another side to him. For reasons that I’m sure the boys don’t understand, he’s always competing with Jameson in a game of one-upmanship that has continued to leave them ever more broken over the years.

Which, of course, brings us to the other half of that equation … Jameson. Anyone who knows Fruits Basket will obviously see this one coming, but I definitely pictured him as Kyoya Sohma. He’s a bit of a rebel, a bit of an outcast. Tries to tell himself he doesn’t care and that it doesn’t bother him, but of course it does. Plays the tough guy and is all cocky and sure of himself (including drinking, skipping school, etc), but is really just a bundle of insecurity, wrapped in a thin layer of cranky aloofness.

And the family wouldn’t be at all complete without the oldest brother, Nash, who seems apart from all the others even though he isn’t that much older than them. He’s been around a bit. He’s seen more, knows more. Is more self-assured and less willing to play the game. In fact, he couldn’t care less about the game, and he’s happy to let everyone know that. He’s the emotional keeper of the family, trying to keep everyone balanced and together, but also protecting all parties involved … including protecting others from his family, if need be. He’s also terribly charming and genuinely helpful.

Okay, that was actually kind of fun. If you don’t know Fruits Baskets … well, these comparisons probably mean nothing to you, and you should disregard them (but also, you should totally go watch the anime, too). And if you do … congrats! Now you know everything you need to about the apparent (but not quite) heirs of the Hawthorne family.

As I’m sure you can imagine, not everything is sunshine and roses now that Avery’s inherited the Hawthorne estate. In fact, things are just getting started for her.

In case you’ve missed all the news stories about it, like, ever … coming into a ton of money is really just earning yourself a boatload of problems. You know, one for every million dollars you now find yourself with. It wasn’t like Avery was just going to inherit the money and then live happily ever after. Oh-ho-ho, no.

There are so many forces at work attempting to stop Avery from getting the money, from keeping the money, even from wanting it. I mean, Avery’s young, and can you imagine the stress of now being the most talked-about person in the state? Possibly the nation? Going from nobody to being in the limelight? That definitely comes with its own set of issues that Avery may or may not be prepared to face. And all hinging on one simple question: why her?

This book is absolutely full of riddles and puzzles and things to be solved, and it’ll keep you guessing.

Tobias Hawthorne, apparently, is a known gamer. No, not that kind. He enjoys setting up puzzles and riddles for his grandsons and has since they can remember. So when he dies, of course he’d leave them one last game, right? Except that the stakes are so high, can it really even be considered a game?

If you’re a fan of riddles and puzzles, boy does this book deliver! I wasn’t entirely sure I got all of them, if I’m honest. I was confused here and there, and there’s not really much explanation as to them. For the most part, though, they really kept me guessing and added a level of difficulty to sussing out the twists and turns that I was not prepared for. No, I for sure didn’t see the ending coming at all.

And that end?! *chef’s kiss* There’s obviously going to be another book, and I can’t wait for it, because things are about to get even more interesting and convoluted.

There’s a love triangle in this book that, while I understand the role it plays in the story, I wasn’t really feeling.

It’s no secret that love triangles are one of my least favorite romance tropes ever. They can absolutely be done well, in such a way that I’m as confused as the character and their confusion makes perfect sense, but those tend to be the exceptions.

I’m afraid that wasn’t the case here. The love triangle almost served as more of a distraction than anything else. I didn’t feel like a romance was particularly necessary in this book to start with, but I was fine with it. Just … not the love triangle. Anything but a love triangle. This book is complicated enough that it doesn’t need that on top of everything else.

I know I did the character comparisons to Fruits Basket up above as a kind of joke, buuuut … you know, the love triangle in that show? Definitely fits here, too. Which makes sense if Jameson and Grayson are basically Kyoya and Yuki, I suppose. For fear of spoiling either, I won’t say more than that.

The love triangle and romance never come fully to fruition in this book, so it makes me wonder if maybe it’ll be touched on more in the second book and if the love triangle might yet die the horrible death it deserves. I guess this is going to be a wait-and-see instance.

Other Reviews:

• Vee Bookish
• What Miss T Read
• The Eclectic Critic
• Melting Pages

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