Review – The Brothers Hawthorne (The Inheritance Games, Book 4) by Jennifer Lynn Barnes (5/5 stars)
Reading Level: Young Adult
Genre: Contemporary Mystery/Thriller
Length: 470 pages
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Release Date: August 29, 2023
ASIN: B0BGHFGT3F
Stand Alone or Series: 4th book in The Inheritance Games series
Source: Borrowed ebook from Library
Rating: 5/5 stars
“Grayson Hawthorne was raised as the heir apparent to his billionaire grandfather, taught from the cradle to put family first. Now the great Tobias Hawthorne is dead and his family disinherited, but some lessons linger. When Grayson’s half-sisters find themselves in trouble, he swoops in to do what he does best: take care of the problem—efficiently, effectively, mercilessly. And without getting bogged down in emotional entanglements.
Jameson Hawthorne is a risk-taker, a sensation-seeker, a player of games. When his mysterious father appears and asks for a favor, Jameson can’t resist the challenge. Now he must infiltrate London’s most exclusive underground gambling club, which caters to the rich, the powerful, and the aristocratic, and win an impossible game of greatest stakes. Luckily, Jameson Hawthorne lives for impossible.
Drawn into twisted games on opposite sides of the globe, Grayson and Jameson—with the help of their brothers and the girl who inherited their grandfather’s fortune—must dig deep to decide who they want to be and what each of them will sacrifice to win.”
Series Info/Source: This is the 4th (companion novel) to The Inheritance Games trilogy. I borrowed this on ebook through the library.
Thoughts: I wasn’t sure if I would like another book in the Inheritance Game from Grayson and Jameson’s POV. I shouldn’t have worried, I ended up loving this. This book takes place some time after The Inheritance Games trilogy ends and alternates POV between Grayson and Jameson.
Grayson finds out that one of his half-sisters is in trouble and swoops in to help. When he gets there he finds out his two half-sisters are trying to solve the mystery of their father’s disappearance, something Grayson can’t let them do. Things end up getting very complicated as you can imagine, as Grayson tries to balance his new-found family with the lies he must tell.
Jameson is asked for a favor from his father that draws both him and Avery into an exclusive underground gaming club where the stakes are ridiculously high. Jameson will have to decide what he wants more, to please his father or win for himself.
I was a bit nervous about this spin-off book because I love the first three books so much. I shouldn’t have worried. We bounce between Grayson’s and Jameson’s viewpoints flawlessly and smoothly, the story never felt fractured to me. This was completely engrossing and hard to put down as well. There is a lot at stake for both Grayson and Jameson and they need to balance the needs of the Hawthorne family with the needs of their newfound families, while staying true to themselves. This was full of amazing puzzles and wonderful twists and turns.
Avery is in the story quite a bit and I loved that we got to see some of Xander and Nash as well. The new characters introduced were as amazing as the ones already in the series, and I really enjoyed them all.
The way this ended it looks like there is another book planned in this series now.
My Summary (5/5): Overall I absolutely loved this, it was well written, engaging, and kept me guessing. It was so much fun to spend time with our favorite characters and I adored the new characters that were introduced. This was filled with wonderful puzzles, mysteries, and twists and turns. I am excited to hear that there’s going to be another book in this series!
