Jennifer Lynn Barnes

The Hawthorne Legacy
Jennifer Lynn Barnes
2.5 Stars
Note: Book 1 I rated 4 Stars

The Hawthorne Legacy is the second novel in the Inheritance Games trilogy. It is a YA book recommended for ages 14-18 years old.

I didn't enjoy this book as much as the first. It followed the same format of follow a bunch of clues to figure out what was going on which I expected and was reasonably entertaining. There is, however, A LOT of invisible ink used which gets a bit annoying.

For the amount of bombshells there were, I feel like they could have been spread out a little more. Usually one at the end will hook me in to reading the next novel but there were so many that it is now out of control and not feasible to resolve everything in the final novel.

I will read the third novel but purely just to complete to trilogy, not because I particularly want to.… (mer)

Representation: N/A?
Trigger warnings: Deaths of characters, blood depiction, fire, car crash, grief and loss depiction
Score: Seven points out of ten.
This review can also be found on The StoryGraph.

A friend in real life recommended me this book but I've been putting this off for so long since 90% of the time I don't see the first book in this series however I just read this and this is a good crime book and I haven't seen one like this in ages since the last few crime books were disappointments. This was not.

It starts with the main character Avery Kylie Grambs or Avery for short and she lives her typical life trying to get impeccable results to go to college quickly when suddenly she is called to the principal's office since she got 100% on a test much to the principal's suspicion so she wants to take it again. Not long after Avery is called again and she hears that a billionaire died (but why?) Then she travels to Texas specifically Hawthorne House and let me tell you, it's mind-bogglingly massive, it's so big no one knows how big it is and that's where most of the book is set. The mystery itself takes so long to begin but I didn't mind as I was introduced to the will, the four Hawthorne brothers (I like Jameson most of all) and here's a twist, I don't know why but how did Avery get like 99% of the will? I don't get it. Soon enough, the riddle begins when Avery explores the mansion/estate thing alongside Grayson and Jameson when she stumbles upon the number 8 and also realises the middle names of the Hawthorne brothers were critical to the riddle as well, nice touch Barnes. Towards the latter half of the book, Avery solves the puzzle which I won't spoil for you only to find something that I can only describe as shocking, it seems that Avery is connected to the Hawthorne House somehow and her birth date is so critical however after that there's guess what, a cliffhanger! Wow! I can't wait to read the following three books in the series.… (mer)