The Inheritance Game, by Jennifer Lynn Barnes, is the first book of the three books that are part of this series. This book is about Avery Grambs, an orphan girl that has a plan: survive high school, win a scholarship and get into a good college and leave her unfortunate life behind. However, everything will change when the billionaire Tobias Hawthorn leaves all his fortune to Avery and disinherits his whole family. However, Avery had never met Tobias Hawthorne, and this cause his family to not trust her and to be mad at her because he left his fortune to her.
In his will, Tobia says that Avery, to be able to inherit the fortune, has to live in the mansion, for a year. The mansion will also be occupied also by his family. However, nobody believes that Tobias had left his fortune to a stranger, Avery especially will not just stand there and be part of a big secret. Everything in that house was a big secret, made of elaborated riddles and complicated puzzles. This is what will make her start following clues that Tobias Hawthorne left before he died, playing a dangerous game that will lead her to false truth and hided secrets. She will not be alone in this twisted riddle. The Hawthorne brothers: captivating Nash, enigmatic Grayson, tormented Jameson, and sharp Xander. Each of the themes is different and plays a different role in this twisted story that will rotate around Avery. The Hawthorne brothers and the rest of the family, with their complicated past, dead friendships, and obscure relationships are part of this elaborate knot that will bring Avery and the four brothers to work together.
This book is fascinating in every way, the plot twist and the story itself make a wonderful escapism in a different reality, where I lived the adventure as if I was part of the story. The continuous turns of the story make it impossible to put down the book, I enjoyed being always on the edge and seeking the next answer to the continuous riddle that led always to the next clue. Everything in this book screams mystery. I also appreciate the romance that can be found the more your read, where we see the main character involved with more than one of the most fascinating characters and that made my heart itself accelerate. I was not expecting to enjoy romance in such a story that is only based on finding answers on the riddle which is already very complicated.
I highly recommend this read, if you enjoy finding complicated characters that are way more than what they want to show. This book has a good mix of characters and ambience, where both fights to have the reader’s attention and keep the story incredibly interesting. The atmosphere in the book is like the Hawthorne mansion, full of mystery and hidden truth.