Review: The Inheritance Games by Jennifer Lynn Barnes

Author:  Jennifer Lynn Barnes
Published: September 1st 2020 
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers

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. 

The Inheritance Games is the first book in a new YA mystery series.  It involves Avery who finds out that she has inherited a vast fortune from a man she has never met.  The catch is that she has to live in the mansion she has also inherited for a year.  It would be easier if she didn't have to deal with the four grandsons of Hawthorne and their mothers  Oh and someone seems to be out to eliminate her permanently.

I thought this one was a lot of fun. I am a sucker for stories that involve puzzles and treasure hunts.  The book kind of reminded me of The Westing Game.  Only the prize at the end is the answers to a lot of questions that Avery has.  The puzzles were clever and interesting. The mystery was engaging and surprising.   Along with that, I enjoyed the characters.  I loved Avery. I thought her reactions to her situation were genuine.  She handled it far better than I probably would have done.    This is a series, so there are still some unanswered question and more puzzles to discover.  I look forward to the next book.