The Final Gambit by Jennifer Lynn Barnes

|Synopsis|

Avery’s fortune, life, and loves are on the line in the game that everyone will be talking about.

To inherit billions, all Avery Kylie Grambs has to do is survive a few more weeks living in Hawthorne House. The paparazzi are dogging her every step. Financial pressures are building. Danger is a fact of life. And the only thing getting Avery through it all is the Hawthorne brothers. Her life is intertwined with theirs. She knows their secrets, and they know her.

But as the clock ticks down to the moment when Avery will become the richest teenager on the planet, trouble arrives in the form of a visitor who needs her help—and whose presence in Hawthorne House could change everything. It soon becomes clear that there is one last puzzle to solve, and Avery and the Hawthorne brothers are drawn into a dangerous game against an unknown and powerful player.

Secrets upon secrets. Riddles upon riddles. In this game, there are hearts and lives at stake—and there is nothing more Hawthorne than winning.

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|Review|

In the review for my The Inheritance Games I complained about three different things; not really knowing any of the characters, the romance feeling like one of situational opportunity and no big gotcha moment at the end. Well Jennifer Lynn Barnes has made me eat my words because this series was phenomenal with an ending no one, not even Tobias Hawthorne himself, could’ve predicted.

Avery and the boys are back but this time the stakes are higher than ever along with the tension between all of them. How does one even begin plotting a story like this? The twists and turns it took were just above and beyond. Like Tobias, Barnes was steps ahead and killing twelve birds with one stone. The puzzles were more difficult and trust no one was the motto of this book. We finally got answers we’ve been wanting since book one and they didn’t disappoint, but instead added another layer to the game.

Now, I know we’re all here for the Avery, Greyson, Jameson love games and again you won’t be disappointed. As someone who didn’t care for Greyson book one, he really grew on me. The triangle was done so well and didn’t distract but added to this intense and crazy life Avery was leading. At the end of the day both boys supported her and were there for her no matter what she decided and that’s truly beautiful.

We get to see more of Nash in this book and get to know him a bit better which was something I’d been wanting. Xander was back with his crazy ideas and even crazier games. He truly was the BHFF to Avery and I’m glad we got some moments of them together being silly but also there for each other. Overall all our favorites side characters were back and greatly enriched this story and all got their stories wrapped up in ways I was happy about.

Saying goodbye to this series will be hard and I don’t think we’ll ever see anything quite like it again. It continuously kept me on the edge of my seat, on my toes and attempting to play like a Hawthorne.