Hello Bibliofriends!

I finally managed to make it into a real-live Waterstones shop a couple of weeks ago and came out with an absolute armful of books! I love those tables where they have the ‘buy one, get one half price’ deals (even though I miss 3 for 2 more). When I saw The Inheritance Games by Jennifer Lynn Barnes on one of those tables, I knew I had to buy it as I’d read lots of great reviews from some of my fellow book bloggers!

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Synopsis (from Goodreads)

An utterly addictive and twisty thriller, full of dark family secrets and deadly stakes. Perfect for fans of One of Us is Lying and Knives Out.

She came from nothing. 
Avery has a plan: keep her head down, work hard for a better future.
Then an eccentric billionaire dies, leaving 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. 
It’s filled with secrets and codes, and the old man’s surviving relatives – 
a family hell-bent on discovering why Avery got ‘their’ money.

Now there’s only one rule: winner takes all. 
Soon she is caught in a deadly game that everyone in this strange family is playing.
But just how far will they go to keep their fortune?

My Musings

There’s no doubt about it, if you liked the film Knives Out then there is a 99.9% chance that you’ll end up loving this book! It gave me so many flashbacks and feelings that led me to draw so many parallels between the two. 

I loved the way that Avery entered into the family and the inheritance as a complete unknown. My quizzical mind was already trying to find the breadcrumb trail of clues and solve the puzzles before they were revealed by the author – and on the whole, my attempts mostly backfired (except for one aspect, but that may be because I am a huge fan of Mr. Stink by David Walliams and I couldn’t help but associate two specific parts of both those books together).

Avery is a really easy character to get along with. The opening scene immediately made me like her and I enjoyed reading the story unfold from her perspective. Those Hawthorne brothers… 👀Having four of them brought lots of fun to the story as each of them had their own unique dynamic which would have been just too much for one or two other main characters to handle on their own. I have to admit, I did enjoy the very incredibly light love triangle that seemed to be hinted at, without it ever being really carried out. 
On the whole, I think each of the characters were developed well, giving me enough information about them to get to know them as part of the story, but not too much that it detracted away from the main plot. 

I am such a nerdigan for anything involving a treasure hunt, riddles, quizzes, puzzles or games of any variety so the premise of The Inheritance Games was right up my street. I’m so used to those ‘high stakes’ kind of mysteries and conspiracies such as Dan Brown and Scott Mariani, that I feel I would have liked a few more challenges within the story, but I guess it’s definitely a YA version of a mystery as opposed to something which is geared up to a more adult audience.This was such an enjoyable read for me that I read the whole thing in under 24 hours – I can’t quite remember the last time that happened! It was an incredibly fun read and the ‘big reveal’ at the end leads it nicely on the sequel which I am very much looking forward to reading.

Why Should I Read This?

For an intriguing mystery and gradually-revealed plot that will have you devouring page after page.
For Avery, who proves that smart girls have courage and integrity and can still come from disadvantaged/challenging backgrounds.
For a manor house filled to the brim of exciting clues and puzzles waiting to be solved.

Find out more about this book here:

Amazon | Penguin | Waterstones | Goodreads | Author’s Twitter | Author’s Website

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Twitter | Goodreads | Book Sloth: @thebiblioshelf |Email: thebiblioshelf@gmail.com