Recent Reads: The Final Gambit by Jennifer Lynn Barnes

The Final Gambit by Jennifer Lynn Barnes  

Series: The Inheritance Games #3
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Publication Date:  August 30, 2022

 

Format: Audiobook
Source: Bought on Audible with credits

Rating:


Goodreads 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.

Review: 

I pre-ordered this audiobook because I have loved this series so much, sadly it took forever for me to get to it. Mostly because I wasn't feeling audiobooks for a while, but this helped break that slump.

Book 3 of the Inheritance Games is action packed, full of puzzles, riddles, and games, and made for a fun ending to the trilogy. Avery has come into her own at the Hawthorne residence and 'the boys' are accepting of her now but there are so many secrets and so much drama at every turn. Avery has to ensure that she is safe, her friends are safe, and that she has completed her time at the house in order to become the billionaire, but she can't really trust anyone. Even immediate family, read as Hawthorne family I guess, can be an issue. 

As with the other books, I loved the puzzles and games that were played. They kept the reader guessing. I would still appreciate a map of this giant estate. I could have done without a lot of the love-triangle bits between Avery, Jameson, and Grayson, but understand that swoon sells, and it was a part of the series. 

The plot was paced well with a lot of layers and weird twists and turns. Lots of secrets revealed too! It was always frustrating how underestimated Avery was and still is in this book too. I wanted more for her in that respect because she has shown again and again how capable she is and that she can keep up in this world she was thrown into.  I also would have liked to see more of an outcome for Rebecca - her mom was so UUUUGGGH and I wanted someone to slap sense into her or Rebecca to really blow up, but i felt she directed that energy badly. That being said, I really enjoyed this ending. It was bittersweet, this was such a fun series!