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The Inheritance Games #3
The Final Gambit
Goodreads Choice Award
Winner for Best Young Adult Fiction (2022)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.
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.
400 pages, ebook
First published August 30, 2022
About the author
Jennifer Lynn Barnes
37 books32.5k followersJennifer Lynn Barnes (who mostly goes by Jen) was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma. She has been, in turn, a competitive cheerleader, a volleyball player, a dancer, a debutante, a primate cognition researcher, a teen model, a comic book geek, and a lemur aficionado. She's been writing for as long as she can remember, finished her first full book (which she now refers to as a "practice book" and which none of you will ever see) when she was still in high school, and then wrote Golden the summer after her freshman year in college, when she was nineteen.
Jen graduated high school in 2002, and from Yale University with a degree in cognitive science (the study of the brain and thought) in May of 2006. She'll be spending the 2006-2007 school year abroad, doing autism research at the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom.
Jen graduated high school in 2002, and from Yale University with a degree in cognitive science (the study of the brain and thought) in May of 2006. She'll be spending the 2006-2007 school year abroad, doing autism research at the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 34,233 reviews
August 29, 2023
been team grayson since the minute my king stepped into that principal's office. i still love u jameson <3
REVIEW
ok before i get into my thoughts i just want to mention how i am actually incredibly sad bc this series is over. GENUINELY had such an amazing time reading this entire trilogy and i kid u not i literally LOVE this universe with my whole being. whole heartedly reccommend to everyone! OK NOW my thoughts which DEF HAVE SPOILERS SO BEWARE
8/6/2021:
2ND BOOK ISNT EVEN OUT YET BUT I NEED THIS ONE
UPDATE 8/29/2022
1 MORE DAY TILL RELEASE DATE I CANT BELIEVE IT IM CRYING
REVIEW
ok before i get into my thoughts i just want to mention how i am actually incredibly sad bc this series is over. GENUINELY had such an amazing time reading this entire trilogy and i kid u not i literally LOVE this universe with my whole being. whole heartedly reccommend to everyone! OK NOW my thoughts which DEF HAVE SPOILERS SO BEWARE
8/6/2021:
2ND BOOK ISNT EVEN OUT YET BUT I NEED THIS ONE
UPDATE 8/29/2022
1 MORE DAY TILL RELEASE DATE I CANT BELIEVE IT IM CRYING
September 2, 2022
holy FUCK that was incredible! this final installment gave me everything i wanted and more! i would rip my own intestines out of my body, blend them up, and drink them in a smoothie if it meant feeling what i did the first time reading this series!!
the mystery was 10x more interesting in this one and hard to predict at times so i gave up trying and just read till my eyes burned. but that’s what happens when you take a very risky gamble…hehehehe
this series as a whole made me feel like i was teleported to the top of a skyscraper, had a barrel in my mouth, and had dopamine fill my veins as my water logged lungs breathed their last breath 💀and it felt fucking amazing
AVERY KYLIE GRAMBS AND THE HAWTHORNE BROTHERS WILL ALWAYS BE FAMOUS!!
the mystery was 10x more interesting in this one and hard to predict at times so i gave up trying and just read till my eyes burned. but that’s what happens when you take a very risky gamble…hehehehe
this series as a whole made me feel like i was teleported to the top of a skyscraper, had a barrel in my mouth, and had dopamine fill my veins as my water logged lungs breathed their last breath 💀and it felt fucking amazing
AVERY KYLIE GRAMBS AND THE HAWTHORNE BROTHERS WILL ALWAYS BE FAMOUS!!
Want to read
October 12, 2021WE HAVE A TITLE. THE FINAL GAMBIT OMG
Also Jameson supremacy thank you
AND NOW A COVER it’s gorgeous guys
Also Jameson supremacy thank you
AND NOW A COVER it’s gorgeous guys
August 27, 2021
Averygraysons get out this is not a safe space for you
Want to read
August 31, 2021if it's not Grayson Hawthorne endgame i don't want it ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
August 21, 2022
#justiceforgraysonhawthorne
Currently reading
October 31, 2022Team Grayson forever i will protect my beloved king with my life 🗡
August 30, 2022
i am finally free from the mediocre rich white boys
December 23, 2023
homegirl is stronger than me because if i had been avery, i would have left the dumpster fire to my lawyers and taken a nap
Want to read
August 5, 2021Love triangle better be over. Waiting for a sweet #AveryJameson romance <3
June 16, 2023
4.5 stars! I love this series sm!! I cannot wait for the 4th book to come out. The ending of this book felt SO perfect to me. It couldn't have ended any other way🥹 love Avery & the 4 Hawthorne boys🫶🏼
October 25, 2023
2/5⭐️’s
༺♡༻ spoiler free review ༺♡༻
it breaks my heart to tell you guys that i went from loving the first book, to loving the second one even more, to absolutely hating this one, and then to questioning myself why i even loved the first two books in the first place. it makes me so sad. knowing everything that i know now…if i went back to reread books one and two, they would be rated much lower. i’m not going to go back and change my ratings simply because my reviews for those are genuine and it doesn’t feel fair to re rate them just because the third book was disappointing.
would you guys believe me if i told you that at one point in this book, i was dead set on rating it 4 stars? no? after all my updates on this book, i wouldn’t believe me either. let me tell you why this book went from 4 stars down to 2.
♡ the characters:
the smartest person in the world could sit and explain the family tree to me and i would STILL be confused. there are a LOT of characters and it was so hard to remember who is who, who’s related to who, and how they all connect. i read three whole books and i could really not tell you a whole lot about anyone except for avery, libby, and the hawthorne brothers. i feel so embarrassed for admitting that, but it’s so true. i mean…maybe if i sat and thought about all the characters…i’d be able to go through them one by one and figure it out, but as i was reading!? i was confused the whole time. i had no time to think about who they were connected to especially because there was so much going on so i was focused more on the plot. i really don’t know how to explain it…maybe it’s just me? idk😭but this book was the most confusing when it came to characters and i’m really not sure why. i think because most of the characters are side characters…i forget about them if they’re not being talked about or if they don’t have dialogue with the main characters for awhile.
♡ the plot:
unlike the first two books…this one was so predictable. the mystery aspect was good. i’d say it was one of the only reasons that i didn’t dnf this book. my other reason being grasyon🫦the mystery definitely kept me turning the pages, but once everything was said and done in the end…it was the most underwhelming and most predictable shit ever😭i wasn’t enjoying the book at the beginning, then it started getting good, and then once we got to the end i was so disappointed. i get that it was the end of the main trilogy and that we wouldn’t get a crazy cliffhanger or something like that, but the ending still left me so unsatisfied. it’s not even that i wanted more…i just expected something different. it seriously makes me wonder what the fourth book is about but UMMMM WHO WAS GONNA TELL ME THAT THE FOURTH BOOK IS IN THIRD PERSON…? when i tell you that had me so upset because at the end of this book, there was a little sneak peak and i was like ooooo okay okay let me take a look. i turn the page and i see “grayson’s pov”…when i tell you guys i pulled the book to my chest and screamed😭but then i continue and notice that it’s not first person. i immediately slammed the book shut and threw it because not only was this book shit, but then the switching to third person in the fourth book pissed me off because why do authors do that. why. sorry i’m totally just rambling now, but damn! i will read the next book…just not for awhile. i need a break.
♡ the writing:
the writing and plot definitely go hand in hand. i feel that jennifer ran out of good ideas for the third book because the first two were just so good and unpredictable! i definitely feel that the writing was so different. she made me hate avery when i absolutely loved her in the first two books. jennifer also TRIED to make me hate grayson. i felt that she wrote shit that he did that was so out of character for him. some of the things just didn’t make any sense. also let’s not forget about the wine cellar scene that i spent 20-30 minutes trying to figure out if i missed something in the second book. i literally skimmed a lot of the second book to see if i could find the scene because it was just randomly being talked about throughout the third book. so after i skimmed the second book and didn’t find anything…i had to google it. once i googled it, i found out the the wine cellar scene is a flashback memory in book three! also i noticed that i definitely was not the only one confused about it too, so i really don’t know why jennifer did it like that😭the way it was written in the book too made it seem like we were already supposed to know what that scene was. i wish you guys could understand just how confused i really was lmao. the only person who knows is bruna because i literally sent her like MULTIPLE 2-5 minutes long audio messages talking about how confused i was and asking her what was going on (she did not remember hahahahah) i love her sm🫂anyways yeah the writing just wasn’t good like the first two books😔just a clusterfuck of confusion.
♡ the romance subplot:
i was promised a love triangle and i honestly don’t feel that i got one at all. it was giving the summer i turned pretty, but WORSE. oh and when i say that…it doesn’t mean the summer i turned pretty series was better because it definitely wasn’t. i’m only referring to the love triangle. so the “love triangle” started off really great in the first book! as most of you know…i literally could not choose which man, i couldn’t. it felt impossible, that’s how well jennifer wrote both men…but then i finally was able to clearly choose a side at the beginning of book two! NOW, that’s when everything went downhill and i’m not even saying that based on the side i chose…the fmc was just so insufferable when it came to both men and i literally just wanted to punch her in the face the entire time. i’m forever team grayson deserving better (me🫦) and forever team avery being single forever bc fuck her😭also can i just say that as a romance girly…i was really focused on the romance subplot and that’s also most likely why i had problems grasping the whole family tree because i was consumed in a romance that wasn’t even THERE.
♡ overall thoughts on the trilogy:
do i still recommend reading this series? of course i do. i truly enjoyed books one and two. the mystery was so good! very unpredictable and very confusing at times, but jennifer made me understand everything at the end so it was really satisfying. i obviously still had troubles with the family tree, but it’s okay. my opinion on the final gambit i’m not sure is a popular one? it might even be 50/50 so please don’t let my review convince you not to read the third book because you might have the exact opposite opinion as me!!<3 i would just recommend going into book three with very low expectations! i really wish i could’ve given you guys a better review for this book…but i just genuinely hated it when i wanted so badly to love it as much as the first two😔😔😔
༺♡༻ spoiler review ༺♡༻
this review will be dedicated to my obsession with grayson and my hatred for avery.
jennifer…first of all let me just start with you. quick question! how are you going to create a character like grayson and then just absolutely shit on him??? i’m genuinely so curious. your characters should be your babies😭but you did grayson so fucking dirty and then you made me hate avery when i absolutely LOVED her. like? i’m just so confused🥲why did you do this to me😔i was enjoying this series so much. i’ll probably forgive you when i read the naturals series tho hehe i heard that’s better than this one!
okay. avery, bitch wtf. first of all fuck you and your happiness. she literally picked jameson at the end of book two. as a grayson girly…yeah i was obviously upset by it, but i was definitely going to be fine with it because there’s nothing i can do😂but then this bitch just decided to have grayson on her mind 24/7 which you think as a grayson girly i would’ve enjoyed that right?! WRONG. so wrong because i KNEW i just knew avery wasn’t going to change her mind and choose grayson. this is what i mean when i said i wanted a love triangle but did not get one. for me a love triangle means the girl dates both guys…is that not how it works!? so basically when i felt that there was a wayyyyy stronger connection between avery and gray…i couldn’t get excited about it knowing that they’re not endgame when they truly should have been.
jameson and avery. i could’ve loved them together. i have nothing again jameson. the only thing i felt about him was that he was a bit selfish in the beginning of the series because all he cared about was playing his grandfather’s game and didn’t really care if he was treating avery as just a part of the game. they literally had a “no strings attached” relationship so tell me how am i supposed to root for them!? there was no chemistry at all😩yeah it was clearly a physical attraction, but that was it. to me they just don’t fit, but then we have grayson who is way too good for her. at least i felt a strong connection between her and gray tho. it was their intimate bond i was holding onto, but it sucks holding onto something that’s going absolutely nowhere in the end lmao. jameson was getting disrespected pretty much the ENTIRE fucking book. this bitch avery is just like belly i SWEAR.
♡ avery’s thoughts:
"and too much time spent wondering whether grayson would ever pick up a damn phone.”
“i saw movement out of the corner of my eye or maybe i sensed it. sensed him. clad entirely in black, wearing a ten-thousand-dollar tuxedo the way other guys wore ratty sweatshirts, grayson hawthorne stepped onto the dance floor. he came home. that thought was accompanied by a memory of the last time i’d seen him: grayson, broken. me, beside him. back in the present, grayson hawthorne let his eyes linger on mine for just a moment, then swept them over the rest of the party.”
~~~their connection🤌i can’t😩
"i knew better than to remind grayson hawthorne of a broken promise. i didn't have a right to ask this of him, to ask anything of him. i was with jameson. i loved jameson."
~~~literally felt like she was trying to convince herself that she loved jamie and chose the right brother.
“what's he talking about? i'd never said a word to jameson about the things that his brother had admitted to me in the dark of the night.”
~~~THAT’S SUSPICIOUS…that’s weird.
"so when grayson said she was one of them, that they owed her protection, all i could think was that he'd once spoken similar words about me. est unus ex nobis. nos defendat eius"
“heaven forbid jameson hawthorne get caught openly caring about his brother.”
~~~lmao the difference between her thoughts about jamie vs gray. yikes.
"it’s oren's job to make sure i stay safe." i didn't point out that under other circumstances, grayson would have considered that his job, too. est unus ex nobis. nos defendat eius.
~~~rent free! gray baby, you and your words live in her mind rent free!
"i kissed a girl at harvard."
he…no, i wasn't going to finish that thought. what grayson hawthorne did with his lips was none of my business.
~~~LMAO just wait for the next thought of hers i write…
"i thought about grayson kissing a girl at harvard."
~~~bahahah😂not her thinking about gray kissing me after she said what he did with his lips was none of her business😗
“jameson wasn't the hawthorne i usually associated with protection.”
~~~yikes lol.
“seeing her would kill grayson. it might hurt jameson, but it would kill grayson.”
~~~hm.
"evie," grayson murmured. "we need to be careful." evie?
~~~lmao it’s giving jealousy
this miserable bitch😭OKAY so there are tons more of her thoughts like these, but i think you guys get the gist of it! i don’t wanna keep writing her stupid thoughts because they just annoy me. she annoys me. she was like this basically the entire book. dating jamie, but had grayson on her mind the entire fucking time i can’t. ALSO THE AMOUNT OF TIMES JAMIE CALLED HER OUT ABOUT GRAYSON because this bitch would observe grayson joe goldberg style😭
"it wouldn't be the worst time to tell me that you aren't jealous of eve standing that close to grayson."
"i'm not jealous," i said.
jameson looked me right in the eyes.
"okay," i said roughly. "maybe i am, but it's not just about grayson.”
jameson pushed past me and looked down. i took that as permission to look again, too. to see grayson placing an arm around eve. he's wet. she doesn't care.
"how long would you have stood here, watching them, if i hadn't come?"
“it was always going to be you,” i told jameson.
“it’s times like this, heiress, that i wish i’d fallen in love with a girl who wasn’t quite so good at bluffing.”
"i'm not going to stay locked up here, and it is not your place to lock me up. i don't need your protection."
"this is what you want! it's what you've always wanted. an arrogant, duty bound asshole who tries to be honorable and would die to protect the girl he loves.
i froze.
"i'm not grayson."
"i don't want you to be."
"yes, you do."
~~~LOLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL
yeah so basically i have no fucking idea why jameson wants that. but to each their own, good luck to ya buddy!!!
♡ grayson, aka the father of my children
🫦🤰:
i just want to end this review talking about my gray obsession. to say he deserves better is honestly such an understatement. this man deserves more than better after EVERYTHING…are you kidding me!??😭😭
"how're you really doing." i expected him to look away, but he didn't. silvery gray eyes stayed locked on mine, never blinking, never wavering.
"everything hurts." only grayson hawthorne could say that and still sound utterly bulletproof.
"it hurts all the time, avery, but i know the man i was raised to be.”
“don’t,” grayson said roughly, “look at me like i’m broken.”
"i saved that girl, i didn't save emily." that's a statement of fact, a truth carved into his soul. "i didn't save you." he looks up at me. "a bomb went off, and you were lying on the ground, and i just stood there.”
~~~fuck this was so sad.
"i'm supposed to be stronger than this. i wanted to be stronger than this. for you."
those last two words nearly undo me. "you don't have to be anything for me, grayson." i wait until he's looking at me. "this," i say. "you. it's enough." he dropped from the chair to his knees. i kneel, wrap my arms around him.
"you're enough."
"it will never be enough."
~~~the wine cellar scene will forever have me BROKEN.
"i wanted eve to be different," grayson told me. "i wanted her to be you."
"don't say that," i whispered.
he looked at me one last time. "there are so many things that i will never say."
~~~just kill me.
♡ me swooning over gray:
“what if i can’t do this on me own?” i asked.
“you aren’t on your own.” grayson let his eyes linger on mine, then carefully and deliberately broke eye contact.
~~~i’d simply die if he made eye contact with me🫠🫠
"i glance toward the pool. there's a toddler balanced precariously on the edge. she leans forward, topples over, and goes under, and doesn't come up. before i can move or even yell, grayson is running. in one liquid motion, he dives into the pool, fully clothed."
~~~marry me. i know we are already married, but marry me AGAIN🫦🫦
"you owe avery nothing." -eve
grayson's eyes met mine. "i owe her more than she realizes."
~~~🫠🫠🫠
"you hated the idea of me." -avery
"but not you." the words were just as sweet, just as painful. "never you." -gray
~~~avery is so dumb. i would’ve immediately kissed him.
well in conclusion…these two stars are for gray and gray only of course. really i’d give him five stars, but i cannot give this book as a whole, 5 stars. this review is so painfully long and took so fucking long to write🥲i’m free.
♡ old updates:
♡10/22/23♡
hi my lovelies i’m very much hungover and will try and get my review up sometime later or tomorrow😭in the mean time let me stalk all my interactive besties💋💋
♡10/21/23♡
if i’m not talking about my baby daddy, grayson….don’t expect me to have a single nice thing to say about this book.
to say that i’m upset would be an understatement. i’ve never wanted to beat the shit out of a fictional character so much in my LIFE. avery, bitch…side fucking eye. sleep with both eyes open😗🔪
rtc soon? i really don’t know how long it’ll take me to write this review because i literally have so much to say...🥲🥲my review won’t be up today because i’m going to a halloween costume party and i need the whole day to get ready🤗
♡10/16/23♡
i’m here to protect my hubby grayson at all costs🤗🔪since some of you said i’d hate him in this one??? i could never🥹🥹
why do i have a feeling this will be my least favorite tho?🥲
༺♡༻ spoiler free review ༺♡༻
it breaks my heart to tell you guys that i went from loving the first book, to loving the second one even more, to absolutely hating this one, and then to questioning myself why i even loved the first two books in the first place. it makes me so sad. knowing everything that i know now…if i went back to reread books one and two, they would be rated much lower. i’m not going to go back and change my ratings simply because my reviews for those are genuine and it doesn’t feel fair to re rate them just because the third book was disappointing.
would you guys believe me if i told you that at one point in this book, i was dead set on rating it 4 stars? no? after all my updates on this book, i wouldn’t believe me either. let me tell you why this book went from 4 stars down to 2.
♡ the characters:
the smartest person in the world could sit and explain the family tree to me and i would STILL be confused. there are a LOT of characters and it was so hard to remember who is who, who’s related to who, and how they all connect. i read three whole books and i could really not tell you a whole lot about anyone except for avery, libby, and the hawthorne brothers. i feel so embarrassed for admitting that, but it’s so true. i mean…maybe if i sat and thought about all the characters…i’d be able to go through them one by one and figure it out, but as i was reading!? i was confused the whole time. i had no time to think about who they were connected to especially because there was so much going on so i was focused more on the plot. i really don’t know how to explain it…maybe it’s just me? idk😭but this book was the most confusing when it came to characters and i’m really not sure why. i think because most of the characters are side characters…i forget about them if they’re not being talked about or if they don’t have dialogue with the main characters for awhile.
♡ the plot:
unlike the first two books…this one was so predictable. the mystery aspect was good. i’d say it was one of the only reasons that i didn’t dnf this book. my other reason being grasyon🫦the mystery definitely kept me turning the pages, but once everything was said and done in the end…it was the most underwhelming and most predictable shit ever😭i wasn’t enjoying the book at the beginning, then it started getting good, and then once we got to the end i was so disappointed. i get that it was the end of the main trilogy and that we wouldn’t get a crazy cliffhanger or something like that, but the ending still left me so unsatisfied. it’s not even that i wanted more…i just expected something different. it seriously makes me wonder what the fourth book is about but UMMMM WHO WAS GONNA TELL ME THAT THE FOURTH BOOK IS IN THIRD PERSON…? when i tell you that had me so upset because at the end of this book, there was a little sneak peak and i was like ooooo okay okay let me take a look. i turn the page and i see “grayson’s pov”…when i tell you guys i pulled the book to my chest and screamed😭but then i continue and notice that it’s not first person. i immediately slammed the book shut and threw it because not only was this book shit, but then the switching to third person in the fourth book pissed me off because why do authors do that. why. sorry i’m totally just rambling now, but damn! i will read the next book…just not for awhile. i need a break.
♡ the writing:
the writing and plot definitely go hand in hand. i feel that jennifer ran out of good ideas for the third book because the first two were just so good and unpredictable! i definitely feel that the writing was so different. she made me hate avery when i absolutely loved her in the first two books. jennifer also TRIED to make me hate grayson. i felt that she wrote shit that he did that was so out of character for him. some of the things just didn’t make any sense. also let’s not forget about the wine cellar scene that i spent 20-30 minutes trying to figure out if i missed something in the second book. i literally skimmed a lot of the second book to see if i could find the scene because it was just randomly being talked about throughout the third book. so after i skimmed the second book and didn’t find anything…i had to google it. once i googled it, i found out the the wine cellar scene is a flashback memory in book three! also i noticed that i definitely was not the only one confused about it too, so i really don’t know why jennifer did it like that😭the way it was written in the book too made it seem like we were already supposed to know what that scene was. i wish you guys could understand just how confused i really was lmao. the only person who knows is bruna because i literally sent her like MULTIPLE 2-5 minutes long audio messages talking about how confused i was and asking her what was going on (she did not remember hahahahah) i love her sm🫂anyways yeah the writing just wasn’t good like the first two books😔just a clusterfuck of confusion.
♡ the romance subplot:
i was promised a love triangle and i honestly don’t feel that i got one at all. it was giving the summer i turned pretty, but WORSE. oh and when i say that…it doesn’t mean the summer i turned pretty series was better because it definitely wasn’t. i’m only referring to the love triangle. so the “love triangle” started off really great in the first book! as most of you know…i literally could not choose which man, i couldn’t. it felt impossible, that’s how well jennifer wrote both men…but then i finally was able to clearly choose a side at the beginning of book two! NOW, that’s when everything went downhill and i’m not even saying that based on the side i chose…the fmc was just so insufferable when it came to both men and i literally just wanted to punch her in the face the entire time. i’m forever team grayson deserving better (me🫦) and forever team avery being single forever bc fuck her😭also can i just say that as a romance girly…i was really focused on the romance subplot and that’s also most likely why i had problems grasping the whole family tree because i was consumed in a romance that wasn’t even THERE.
♡ overall thoughts on the trilogy:
do i still recommend reading this series? of course i do. i truly enjoyed books one and two. the mystery was so good! very unpredictable and very confusing at times, but jennifer made me understand everything at the end so it was really satisfying. i obviously still had troubles with the family tree, but it’s okay. my opinion on the final gambit i’m not sure is a popular one? it might even be 50/50 so please don’t let my review convince you not to read the third book because you might have the exact opposite opinion as me!!<3 i would just recommend going into book three with very low expectations! i really wish i could’ve given you guys a better review for this book…but i just genuinely hated it when i wanted so badly to love it as much as the first two😔😔😔
༺♡༻ spoiler review ༺♡༻
this review will be dedicated to my obsession with grayson and my hatred for avery.
jennifer…first of all let me just start with you. quick question! how are you going to create a character like grayson and then just absolutely shit on him??? i’m genuinely so curious. your characters should be your babies😭but you did grayson so fucking dirty and then you made me hate avery when i absolutely LOVED her. like? i’m just so confused🥲why did you do this to me😔i was enjoying this series so much. i’ll probably forgive you when i read the naturals series tho hehe i heard that’s better than this one!
okay. avery, bitch wtf. first of all fuck you and your happiness. she literally picked jameson at the end of book two. as a grayson girly…yeah i was obviously upset by it, but i was definitely going to be fine with it because there’s nothing i can do😂but then this bitch just decided to have grayson on her mind 24/7 which you think as a grayson girly i would’ve enjoyed that right?! WRONG. so wrong because i KNEW i just knew avery wasn’t going to change her mind and choose grayson. this is what i mean when i said i wanted a love triangle but did not get one. for me a love triangle means the girl dates both guys…is that not how it works!? so basically when i felt that there was a wayyyyy stronger connection between avery and gray…i couldn’t get excited about it knowing that they’re not endgame when they truly should have been.
jameson and avery. i could’ve loved them together. i have nothing again jameson. the only thing i felt about him was that he was a bit selfish in the beginning of the series because all he cared about was playing his grandfather’s game and didn’t really care if he was treating avery as just a part of the game. they literally had a “no strings attached” relationship so tell me how am i supposed to root for them!? there was no chemistry at all😩yeah it was clearly a physical attraction, but that was it. to me they just don’t fit, but then we have grayson who is way too good for her. at least i felt a strong connection between her and gray tho. it was their intimate bond i was holding onto, but it sucks holding onto something that’s going absolutely nowhere in the end lmao. jameson was getting disrespected pretty much the ENTIRE fucking book. this bitch avery is just like belly i SWEAR.
♡ avery’s thoughts:
"and too much time spent wondering whether grayson would ever pick up a damn phone.”
“i saw movement out of the corner of my eye or maybe i sensed it. sensed him. clad entirely in black, wearing a ten-thousand-dollar tuxedo the way other guys wore ratty sweatshirts, grayson hawthorne stepped onto the dance floor. he came home. that thought was accompanied by a memory of the last time i’d seen him: grayson, broken. me, beside him. back in the present, grayson hawthorne let his eyes linger on mine for just a moment, then swept them over the rest of the party.”
~~~their connection🤌i can’t😩
"i knew better than to remind grayson hawthorne of a broken promise. i didn't have a right to ask this of him, to ask anything of him. i was with jameson. i loved jameson."
~~~literally felt like she was trying to convince herself that she loved jamie and chose the right brother.
“what's he talking about? i'd never said a word to jameson about the things that his brother had admitted to me in the dark of the night.”
~~~THAT’S SUSPICIOUS…that’s weird.
"so when grayson said she was one of them, that they owed her protection, all i could think was that he'd once spoken similar words about me. est unus ex nobis. nos defendat eius"
“heaven forbid jameson hawthorne get caught openly caring about his brother.”
~~~lmao the difference between her thoughts about jamie vs gray. yikes.
"it’s oren's job to make sure i stay safe." i didn't point out that under other circumstances, grayson would have considered that his job, too. est unus ex nobis. nos defendat eius.
~~~rent free! gray baby, you and your words live in her mind rent free!
"i kissed a girl at harvard."
he…no, i wasn't going to finish that thought. what grayson hawthorne did with his lips was none of my business.
~~~LMAO just wait for the next thought of hers i write…
"i thought about grayson kissing a girl at harvard."
~~~bahahah😂not her thinking about gray kissing me after she said what he did with his lips was none of her business😗
“jameson wasn't the hawthorne i usually associated with protection.”
~~~yikes lol.
“seeing her would kill grayson. it might hurt jameson, but it would kill grayson.”
~~~hm.
"evie," grayson murmured. "we need to be careful." evie?
~~~lmao it’s giving jealousy
this miserable bitch😭OKAY so there are tons more of her thoughts like these, but i think you guys get the gist of it! i don’t wanna keep writing her stupid thoughts because they just annoy me. she annoys me. she was like this basically the entire book. dating jamie, but had grayson on her mind the entire fucking time i can’t. ALSO THE AMOUNT OF TIMES JAMIE CALLED HER OUT ABOUT GRAYSON because this bitch would observe grayson joe goldberg style😭
"it wouldn't be the worst time to tell me that you aren't jealous of eve standing that close to grayson."
"i'm not jealous," i said.
jameson looked me right in the eyes.
"okay," i said roughly. "maybe i am, but it's not just about grayson.”
jameson pushed past me and looked down. i took that as permission to look again, too. to see grayson placing an arm around eve. he's wet. she doesn't care.
"how long would you have stood here, watching them, if i hadn't come?"
“it was always going to be you,” i told jameson.
“it’s times like this, heiress, that i wish i’d fallen in love with a girl who wasn’t quite so good at bluffing.”
"i'm not going to stay locked up here, and it is not your place to lock me up. i don't need your protection."
"this is what you want! it's what you've always wanted. an arrogant, duty bound asshole who tries to be honorable and would die to protect the girl he loves.
i froze.
"i'm not grayson."
"i don't want you to be."
"yes, you do."
~~~LOLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL
yeah so basically i have no fucking idea why jameson wants that. but to each their own, good luck to ya buddy!!!
♡ grayson, aka the father of my children
🫦🤰:
i just want to end this review talking about my gray obsession. to say he deserves better is honestly such an understatement. this man deserves more than better after EVERYTHING…are you kidding me!??😭😭
"how're you really doing." i expected him to look away, but he didn't. silvery gray eyes stayed locked on mine, never blinking, never wavering.
"everything hurts." only grayson hawthorne could say that and still sound utterly bulletproof.
"it hurts all the time, avery, but i know the man i was raised to be.”
“don’t,” grayson said roughly, “look at me like i’m broken.”
"i saved that girl, i didn't save emily." that's a statement of fact, a truth carved into his soul. "i didn't save you." he looks up at me. "a bomb went off, and you were lying on the ground, and i just stood there.”
~~~fuck this was so sad.
"i'm supposed to be stronger than this. i wanted to be stronger than this. for you."
those last two words nearly undo me. "you don't have to be anything for me, grayson." i wait until he's looking at me. "this," i say. "you. it's enough." he dropped from the chair to his knees. i kneel, wrap my arms around him.
"you're enough."
"it will never be enough."
~~~the wine cellar scene will forever have me BROKEN.
"i wanted eve to be different," grayson told me. "i wanted her to be you."
"don't say that," i whispered.
he looked at me one last time. "there are so many things that i will never say."
~~~just kill me.
♡ me swooning over gray:
“what if i can’t do this on me own?” i asked.
“you aren’t on your own.” grayson let his eyes linger on mine, then carefully and deliberately broke eye contact.
~~~i’d simply die if he made eye contact with me🫠🫠
"i glance toward the pool. there's a toddler balanced precariously on the edge. she leans forward, topples over, and goes under, and doesn't come up. before i can move or even yell, grayson is running. in one liquid motion, he dives into the pool, fully clothed."
~~~marry me. i know we are already married, but marry me AGAIN🫦🫦
"you owe avery nothing." -eve
grayson's eyes met mine. "i owe her more than she realizes."
~~~🫠🫠🫠
"you hated the idea of me." -avery
"but not you." the words were just as sweet, just as painful. "never you." -gray
~~~avery is so dumb. i would’ve immediately kissed him.
well in conclusion…these two stars are for gray and gray only of course. really i’d give him five stars, but i cannot give this book as a whole, 5 stars. this review is so painfully long and took so fucking long to write🥲i’m free.
♡ old updates:
♡10/22/23♡
hi my lovelies i’m very much hungover and will try and get my review up sometime later or tomorrow😭in the mean time let me stalk all my interactive besties💋💋
♡10/21/23♡
if i’m not talking about my baby daddy, grayson….don’t expect me to have a single nice thing to say about this book.
to say that i’m upset would be an understatement. i’ve never wanted to beat the shit out of a fictional character so much in my LIFE. avery, bitch…side fucking eye. sleep with both eyes open😗🔪
rtc soon? i really don’t know how long it’ll take me to write this review because i literally have so much to say...🥲🥲my review won’t be up today because i’m going to a halloween costume party and i need the whole day to get ready🤗
♡10/16/23♡
i’m here to protect my hubby grayson at all costs🤗🔪since some of you said i’d hate him in this one??? i could never🥹🥹
why do i have a feeling this will be my least favorite tho?🥲
September 13, 2021
This book had better have Grayson and Avery love all over it.
September 19, 2022
This is a team Grayson Hawthorne stan account & yes, he can step on my face for free with his expensive loafers.
June 9, 2022
averygrayson a ship for intellectuals
only smart people get it
only smart people get it
December 25, 2022
If Avery doesn’t realize Grayson needs her and she needs Grayson then I, in all honesty, will be suing
Update: I feel like the cover is going to be red like I will bet on this
Update 2: Everyone shut up the COVER IS RED someone give me Avery’s inheritance for my superior brain and the fact I’ll give Grayson the love he deserves puhLEASE
Update 3: I finished it and I am very satisfied with the turn of events, surprisingly. I adore my babies and maybe Jameson grew on me, what can I say. Love love love.
Update: I feel like the cover is going to be red like I will bet on this
Update 2: Everyone shut up the COVER IS RED someone give me Avery’s inheritance for my superior brain and the fact I’ll give Grayson the love he deserves puhLEASE
Update 3: I finished it and I am very satisfied with the turn of events, surprisingly. I adore my babies and maybe Jameson grew on me, what can I say. Love love love.
Read
March 21, 2023#averyjameson2022
Want to read
November 2, 2021QUESTION OF THE DECADE
Jameson or Grayson
Its Grayson for mee❤😭
the guy with the suits<3
and omfg the coverrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
Jameson or Grayson
Its Grayson for mee❤😭
the guy with the suits<3
and omfg the coverrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
December 5, 2022
hello i need more jameson pls&thx
Shelved as 'zzz-dnf'
September 1, 2022she better fix the mess she did with book 2 or else
spoiler: she didn’t, I’m done with this shit
spoiler: she didn’t, I’m done with this shit
September 25, 2022
JLB makes a comment in the acknowledgements at the end that she wrote the first two books without a guarantee that a third book would even happen and, honestly, everything makes so much sense now.
it makes sense why the previous book felt directionless. why this conclusion feels so rushed and convenient. and why i just lost interest in the series overtime.
it must be rough writing a series without knowing if it would be finished, and i unfortunately think this final book suffers because of it.
that being said, everything is tied up by the end. whether you like how its wrapped up or not is up to you. im personally a little indifferent to it all. i have a feeling if you loved the previous book, you will enjoy this (with all the puzzles and codes and games) to bits.
↠ 3.5 stars
it makes sense why the previous book felt directionless. why this conclusion feels so rushed and convenient. and why i just lost interest in the series overtime.
it must be rough writing a series without knowing if it would be finished, and i unfortunately think this final book suffers because of it.
that being said, everything is tied up by the end. whether you like how its wrapped up or not is up to you. im personally a little indifferent to it all. i have a feeling if you loved the previous book, you will enjoy this (with all the puzzles and codes and games) to bits.
↠ 3.5 stars
December 11, 2022
Thank god, I’m done. I’m so happy it’s over! 🎉
I think I would’ve loved this book when I was 12, but I’m not.
I think the first book was really good! The second however was mediocre and this one just felt like a task to finish.
It would’ve been better as a standalone.
S P O I L E R !
For everyone asking who Avery ends up with:
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It’s Jameson.
⏤⏤⏤
Before I started reading:
Is it August 30th yettt? I need my Grayson Hawthorne fix.
Please let this be Avery-Grayson’s love letter ♡.
I think I would’ve loved this book when I was 12, but I’m not.
I think the first book was really good! The second however was mediocre and this one just felt like a task to finish.
It would’ve been better as a standalone.
S P O I L E R !
For everyone asking who Avery ends up with:
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It’s Jameson.
⏤⏤⏤
Before I started reading:
Is it August 30th yettt? I need my Grayson Hawthorne fix.
Please let this be Avery-Grayson’s love letter ♡.
September 6, 2022
this book was a waste of trees. but more importantly, it was a waste of my money and time.
warning: the spoiler part of this review will be a rant more than anything else in this review (i will be going through the five stages of grief without the bargaining or acceptance)
non spoilers:
there are so many things wrong with this which i can only explain in the spoilers but basically the mystery was okay, a bit underwhelming, but i personally don’t think a third book was necessary. she just wanted to create plot. which she did. successfully. and ruin characters. which she did. also successfully. good on her. the ending was awful i hated it (i’ll get more to it in the spoilers). xander served as usual. what an icon honestly. he was the best part of the book besides the actual loml grayson davenport hawthorne. i love that man with my entire being. unfortunately i can no longer listen to daylight or enchanted by taylor swift ever again without crying so for that i can never forgive jennifer lynn barnes.
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spoilers:
first off, i cannot even explain how many times i sobbed reading every scene with grayson my heart broke for him i love him so so much
"everything hurts." only grayson hawthorne could say that and still sound utterly bulletproof. "it hurts all the time, avery, but i know the man i was raised to be."
i’m freaking sobbing rn my tears truly are ricocheting. he deserves so so much my poor baby :’(((
i spent all this time thinking grayson was betty but turns out he’s augustine. i’m crying myself to sleep tonight. i simply cannot believe it.
first, the mystery was lowkey just not good?? idk it felt very rushed and like the author was just grasping at straws trying to get things to connect?? like it was just so convoluted and i felt like the mystery in this was a bit underwhelming ngl. like the way it ended was very anticlimactic for me. like a chess game?? nah it was too low stakes it just didn’t cut it for me. like the mystery in TIG was the best and in THL it started going downhill and this one just was the mystery at its worse. i wasn’t at the edge of my seat like i have been before reading her other books. no twists and it ends in a chess game?? the mystery in this book was the definition of underwhelming which kinda sucks for JLB bc it was marketed as a mystery with a love triangle and both those aspects were not good. the naturals did it better.
now i’m also so angry. i’ve never been more angry at something in my life. i don’t care that averygrayson isn’t endgame istg. but she didn’t have to freaking ruin grayson’s character?? like what the heck. literally why the heck would she sit and try to make jameson better so we’d be content with him and then literally pull a reverse character development on grayson. BS. when would grayson ever EVER drop out of harvard?? out of freaking HARVARD?? like what the heck was she thinking. i get that he was working on the charity but he’d never give up harvard. i think he’d probably do both. maybe that’s just me but that’s so out of character for him. and she just absolutely wrecked his character and FOR WHAT. for us to be happy w averyjameson endgame??? well i’m not happy with it and i never will be. jameson sucks. if she thinks one book of giving their characters a complete 180° is going to make me like jameson more she’s wrong. and if she thinks it’s going to make me okay with what she did to grayson, she’s also wrong. she’s trying to convince me that jameson and grayson’s characters completely flipped and i’m sorry it’s so STUPID. BS. she absolutely destroyed any character development gray had from the first two books. scratch that. she destroyed any character development he had throughout his entire life. absolutely stupid and pointless.
grayson deserved so much better. jameson gave us absolutely nothing as usual, and yet avery still picked him. the lack of taste is very obvious. grayson and avery are soulmates and are meant to be together. i’m disappointed in JLB but i’m more disappointed in myself for believing avery would make the right choice. JLB is a genius but i think she ruined grayson’s character so i’ll never forgive her for that. i’m not attacking JLB i swear i wouldn’t do that just bc i didn’t get what i wanted bc JLB is amazing and everything she writes is a masterpiece and i’ll read anything she writes. i’ll just never trust her to do my favorite characters justice anymore. i’m not rating this book low bc i’m mad that averygrayson isn’t endgame, i’m rating it low because it doesn’t make ANY sense to me, and i’ll explain why.
i’m mad because if averyjameson was always gonna be endgame, there was no point in a love triangle. there is still so much left to explore in avery and grayson’s relationship but only bc she decided to insert him as a second love interest (which she didn’t have to do). if nothing was going to come out of it and averygrayson wasn’t going to be endgame, there was no point in a love triangle. the love triangle was just UNNECESSARY. and that’s why averygrayson not being endgame makes zero sense to me. and if there is one thing i hate more than a love triangle, it’s an unnecessary one. not only that, but i hate when authors feel the need to completely wreck a character in order for the love triangle to be solved. if anything she should’ve destroyed jameson’s character; it’s not even like he had much character to begin with. in my mind, he’s one of those tiktok e-boys (??) and you know exactly what i mean. he’s BASIC. and honestly his name starts with a j. biggest red flag if i’ve ever seen one.
averygrayson endgame is the definition of a missed opportunity. the heiress x heir apparent trope??? come ON. the fact that grayson travels the world and documents all the little moments and avery desperately wants to travel and see the world??? they’re soulmates. the fact that whenever avery kissed jameson she only ever felt fire but when she kissed grayson everything around her disappeared and the moment felt like an eternity. that’s the definition of “i once believed love would be burning red, but it’s golden, like daylight.” (i can no longer listen to daylight by taylor swift the same ever again) how about the fact that grayson has only ever showed vulnerability in front of avery??? or the fact that everyone thought she liked grayson more than jameson in the second book??? how about the fact that avery said a split second of contact with grayson gave her the same rush as driving 200 mph would when she had driven with jameson at 200 mph two chapters before that (in book 1)??? how about the fact that avery is very clearly jealous of eve bc grayson is giving her attention??? not to mention how she still admits she has some feelings for him. and mind you, jameson literally said he’s trying to act like grayson so that she can love him LMAO like what?? you mean jameson knows avery loves grayson so he starts acting like him like what the heck even is that?? like just put avery and grayson together if they love each other instead of making jameson be grayson LMAO. like JLB’s favoritism towards jameson is really showing. whatever. it seems to me like JLB decided to ignore every little hint she put for averygrayson endgame and decided to ignore the fact that they clearly have feelings for each other just for the sake of the love triangle being tied up in a nice little bow. it’s not a nice bow. it’s ugly. really ugly. but whatever at this point, i don’t even care about the love triangle; as long as grayson is happy.
long story short, i wish this book didn’t have romance, or at the very least a love triangle where it wasn’t necessary. focusing on the mystery would’ve made me less annoyed at this book.
now let’s talk about eve. you wanna freaking tell me gray knew her for two days and started calling her “evie” but knew avery for a whole year and doesn’t call her anything like “ave” or something?? like hell he’d actual call her evie. this is complete and utter BS. i get that she looks like emily but absolutely not. i’m not stupid but jlb certainly thinks so. there is no world in which he nicknamed eve in legit one day. especially after everything in the first two books and him moving on. that’s stupid and dumb and completely out of character. jlb decided to ignore that he was very clearly moving on and made it so that he had faced nothing which HE DID. JLB really did have a blast ruining grayson’s character. she had a marvelous time ruining everything.
to add on to all that about eve, you want to tell me eve looks exactly like her AUNT who has a different father than toby (her dad)?? like hold UP. they’re supposed to be twins and they even sound like each other??? listen i don’t need a PhD to know that for them to look and sound like literal twins is literally physically genetically IMPOSSIBLE. i liked that these books were rooted in reality but that made me have to suspend my disbelief for a sec bc like there is no way in hell this girl looks like her aunts twin and her aunt doesn’t even have the same dad as her dad. girl idk what JLB was trying to do but this was just so unbelievable i just physically couldn’t handle it.
and back to the triangle, i mean as long as avery’s happy then it’s fine, but like??? jameson is the fun temporary type. LMAO jameson and avery won’t last past the epilogue ngl and i’ll fight anyone on that. grayson is husband material. grayson is forever. and i just feel bad for avery bc she couldn’t see that. anyway gray deserves better than someone who can’t make up their mind. and yk what?? he deserves better and he deserves to not be a second choice. he deserves to have someone love him wholeheartedly without them thinking about someone else. i know he still loves her and maybe (in my mind at least) they’ll find their way back to each other someday. but for now, he’ll be able to love himself, in the sense that he’ll learn to accept his flaws and all that self-love stuff. honestly. but he didn’t get closure in the end which im mad about and im still mad jlb undid all his personal and character development he had in the first two books in moving on from emily. but whatever.
the ending of the book was the worst thing ever. i hated the one year later; we all could’ve done without it. like she started a charity called “hannah same backwards and forwards foundation” ??? LMAO PLEASE no one is gonna be taking the foundation seriously with a name like that. and she gave all her money away??? like i get that it was to start a charity but she did NOT have to give away all her money. honestly gray would’ve found a way to start the charity and keep most of the money at the same time, but girl wanted to go and choose jameson who knows absolutely nothing about anything, who’s getting himself thrown in jail every two seconds instead of someone who can actually support her in everything. mind you usually you pick a partner who’s on your level in different ways but avery decided to go with the guy who can’t even hold an intelligent conversation without talking about a puzzle. she ended up choosing a guy that knew she loved someone else so they decided to act like them instead of letting her go to the guy she liked. not only that, but he told her that if she did go to the guy she actually liked, he would make it a game bc he doesn’t like losing??? like avery’s standards for men (i’m not talking about gray he’s perfect i’m talking about jameson) are so low?? like her boyfriend her freaking BOYFRIEND told her he knew she was in love with grayson but no she decided to stay with said boyfriend like???? i’m at a loss hun. in any other love triangle, it would make sense for the mc to go to gray so that it’s ACTUALLY a love triangle but JLB loves jameson too much and decided i’m going to market this book as a love triangle but give the second love interest no shot at all so that it’s NOT actually a love triangle. and honestly avery from the first book was a girlboss but avery in this book was lowkey annoying ngl.
i’m don’t generally consider myself a petty person but averygrayson isn’t endgame (and it doesn’t make any sense from any standpoint; the love triangle ruined the series for me) and grayson was done dirty, so i’m being generous and giving it two stars until i’m over it then i’ll actually rate it.
now it’s time to to blast my tears ricochet and cry myself to sleep <3
(also grayson hawthorne singing freaking shake it off is my new favorite thing i love him with my whole heart and my whole soul and i just want him to be happy <3)
(also grayson has a puppy now they’re so cute i love him so much. i bet his camera is filled w pictures of her now. i love gray so much i’m happy if he’s happy)
and remember folks, #justiceforgraysonhawthorne
warning: the spoiler part of this review will be a rant more than anything else in this review (i will be going through the five stages of grief without the bargaining or acceptance)
non spoilers:
there are so many things wrong with this which i can only explain in the spoilers but basically the mystery was okay, a bit underwhelming, but i personally don’t think a third book was necessary. she just wanted to create plot. which she did. successfully. and ruin characters. which she did. also successfully. good on her. the ending was awful i hated it (i’ll get more to it in the spoilers). xander served as usual. what an icon honestly. he was the best part of the book besides the actual loml grayson davenport hawthorne. i love that man with my entire being. unfortunately i can no longer listen to daylight or enchanted by taylor swift ever again without crying so for that i can never forgive jennifer lynn barnes.
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spoilers:
first off, i cannot even explain how many times i sobbed reading every scene with grayson my heart broke for him i love him so so much
"everything hurts." only grayson hawthorne could say that and still sound utterly bulletproof. "it hurts all the time, avery, but i know the man i was raised to be."
i’m freaking sobbing rn my tears truly are ricocheting. he deserves so so much my poor baby :’(((
i spent all this time thinking grayson was betty but turns out he’s augustine. i’m crying myself to sleep tonight. i simply cannot believe it.
first, the mystery was lowkey just not good?? idk it felt very rushed and like the author was just grasping at straws trying to get things to connect?? like it was just so convoluted and i felt like the mystery in this was a bit underwhelming ngl. like the way it ended was very anticlimactic for me. like a chess game?? nah it was too low stakes it just didn’t cut it for me. like the mystery in TIG was the best and in THL it started going downhill and this one just was the mystery at its worse. i wasn’t at the edge of my seat like i have been before reading her other books. no twists and it ends in a chess game?? the mystery in this book was the definition of underwhelming which kinda sucks for JLB bc it was marketed as a mystery with a love triangle and both those aspects were not good. the naturals did it better.
now i’m also so angry. i’ve never been more angry at something in my life. i don’t care that averygrayson isn’t endgame istg. but she didn’t have to freaking ruin grayson’s character?? like what the heck. literally why the heck would she sit and try to make jameson better so we’d be content with him and then literally pull a reverse character development on grayson. BS. when would grayson ever EVER drop out of harvard?? out of freaking HARVARD?? like what the heck was she thinking. i get that he was working on the charity but he’d never give up harvard. i think he’d probably do both. maybe that’s just me but that’s so out of character for him. and she just absolutely wrecked his character and FOR WHAT. for us to be happy w averyjameson endgame??? well i’m not happy with it and i never will be. jameson sucks. if she thinks one book of giving their characters a complete 180° is going to make me like jameson more she’s wrong. and if she thinks it’s going to make me okay with what she did to grayson, she’s also wrong. she’s trying to convince me that jameson and grayson’s characters completely flipped and i’m sorry it’s so STUPID. BS. she absolutely destroyed any character development gray had from the first two books. scratch that. she destroyed any character development he had throughout his entire life. absolutely stupid and pointless.
grayson deserved so much better. jameson gave us absolutely nothing as usual, and yet avery still picked him. the lack of taste is very obvious. grayson and avery are soulmates and are meant to be together. i’m disappointed in JLB but i’m more disappointed in myself for believing avery would make the right choice. JLB is a genius but i think she ruined grayson’s character so i’ll never forgive her for that. i’m not attacking JLB i swear i wouldn’t do that just bc i didn’t get what i wanted bc JLB is amazing and everything she writes is a masterpiece and i’ll read anything she writes. i’ll just never trust her to do my favorite characters justice anymore. i’m not rating this book low bc i’m mad that averygrayson isn’t endgame, i’m rating it low because it doesn’t make ANY sense to me, and i’ll explain why.
i’m mad because if averyjameson was always gonna be endgame, there was no point in a love triangle. there is still so much left to explore in avery and grayson’s relationship but only bc she decided to insert him as a second love interest (which she didn’t have to do). if nothing was going to come out of it and averygrayson wasn’t going to be endgame, there was no point in a love triangle. the love triangle was just UNNECESSARY. and that’s why averygrayson not being endgame makes zero sense to me. and if there is one thing i hate more than a love triangle, it’s an unnecessary one. not only that, but i hate when authors feel the need to completely wreck a character in order for the love triangle to be solved. if anything she should’ve destroyed jameson’s character; it’s not even like he had much character to begin with. in my mind, he’s one of those tiktok e-boys (??) and you know exactly what i mean. he’s BASIC. and honestly his name starts with a j. biggest red flag if i’ve ever seen one.
averygrayson endgame is the definition of a missed opportunity. the heiress x heir apparent trope??? come ON. the fact that grayson travels the world and documents all the little moments and avery desperately wants to travel and see the world??? they’re soulmates. the fact that whenever avery kissed jameson she only ever felt fire but when she kissed grayson everything around her disappeared and the moment felt like an eternity. that’s the definition of “i once believed love would be burning red, but it’s golden, like daylight.” (i can no longer listen to daylight by taylor swift the same ever again) how about the fact that grayson has only ever showed vulnerability in front of avery??? or the fact that everyone thought she liked grayson more than jameson in the second book??? how about the fact that avery said a split second of contact with grayson gave her the same rush as driving 200 mph would when she had driven with jameson at 200 mph two chapters before that (in book 1)??? how about the fact that avery is very clearly jealous of eve bc grayson is giving her attention??? not to mention how she still admits she has some feelings for him. and mind you, jameson literally said he’s trying to act like grayson so that she can love him LMAO like what?? you mean jameson knows avery loves grayson so he starts acting like him like what the heck even is that?? like just put avery and grayson together if they love each other instead of making jameson be grayson LMAO. like JLB’s favoritism towards jameson is really showing. whatever. it seems to me like JLB decided to ignore every little hint she put for averygrayson endgame and decided to ignore the fact that they clearly have feelings for each other just for the sake of the love triangle being tied up in a nice little bow. it’s not a nice bow. it’s ugly. really ugly. but whatever at this point, i don’t even care about the love triangle; as long as grayson is happy.
long story short, i wish this book didn’t have romance, or at the very least a love triangle where it wasn’t necessary. focusing on the mystery would’ve made me less annoyed at this book.
now let’s talk about eve. you wanna freaking tell me gray knew her for two days and started calling her “evie” but knew avery for a whole year and doesn’t call her anything like “ave” or something?? like hell he’d actual call her evie. this is complete and utter BS. i get that she looks like emily but absolutely not. i’m not stupid but jlb certainly thinks so. there is no world in which he nicknamed eve in legit one day. especially after everything in the first two books and him moving on. that’s stupid and dumb and completely out of character. jlb decided to ignore that he was very clearly moving on and made it so that he had faced nothing which HE DID. JLB really did have a blast ruining grayson’s character. she had a marvelous time ruining everything.
to add on to all that about eve, you want to tell me eve looks exactly like her AUNT who has a different father than toby (her dad)?? like hold UP. they’re supposed to be twins and they even sound like each other??? listen i don’t need a PhD to know that for them to look and sound like literal twins is literally physically genetically IMPOSSIBLE. i liked that these books were rooted in reality but that made me have to suspend my disbelief for a sec bc like there is no way in hell this girl looks like her aunts twin and her aunt doesn’t even have the same dad as her dad. girl idk what JLB was trying to do but this was just so unbelievable i just physically couldn’t handle it.
and back to the triangle, i mean as long as avery’s happy then it’s fine, but like??? jameson is the fun temporary type. LMAO jameson and avery won’t last past the epilogue ngl and i’ll fight anyone on that. grayson is husband material. grayson is forever. and i just feel bad for avery bc she couldn’t see that. anyway gray deserves better than someone who can’t make up their mind. and yk what?? he deserves better and he deserves to not be a second choice. he deserves to have someone love him wholeheartedly without them thinking about someone else. i know he still loves her and maybe (in my mind at least) they’ll find their way back to each other someday. but for now, he’ll be able to love himself, in the sense that he’ll learn to accept his flaws and all that self-love stuff. honestly. but he didn’t get closure in the end which im mad about and im still mad jlb undid all his personal and character development he had in the first two books in moving on from emily. but whatever.
the ending of the book was the worst thing ever. i hated the one year later; we all could’ve done without it. like she started a charity called “hannah same backwards and forwards foundation” ??? LMAO PLEASE no one is gonna be taking the foundation seriously with a name like that. and she gave all her money away??? like i get that it was to start a charity but she did NOT have to give away all her money. honestly gray would’ve found a way to start the charity and keep most of the money at the same time, but girl wanted to go and choose jameson who knows absolutely nothing about anything, who’s getting himself thrown in jail every two seconds instead of someone who can actually support her in everything. mind you usually you pick a partner who’s on your level in different ways but avery decided to go with the guy who can’t even hold an intelligent conversation without talking about a puzzle. she ended up choosing a guy that knew she loved someone else so they decided to act like them instead of letting her go to the guy she liked. not only that, but he told her that if she did go to the guy she actually liked, he would make it a game bc he doesn’t like losing??? like avery’s standards for men (i’m not talking about gray he’s perfect i’m talking about jameson) are so low?? like her boyfriend her freaking BOYFRIEND told her he knew she was in love with grayson but no she decided to stay with said boyfriend like???? i’m at a loss hun. in any other love triangle, it would make sense for the mc to go to gray so that it’s ACTUALLY a love triangle but JLB loves jameson too much and decided i’m going to market this book as a love triangle but give the second love interest no shot at all so that it’s NOT actually a love triangle. and honestly avery from the first book was a girlboss but avery in this book was lowkey annoying ngl.
i’m don’t generally consider myself a petty person but averygrayson isn’t endgame (and it doesn’t make any sense from any standpoint; the love triangle ruined the series for me) and grayson was done dirty, so i’m being generous and giving it two stars until i’m over it then i’ll actually rate it.
now it’s time to to blast my tears ricochet and cry myself to sleep <3
(also grayson hawthorne singing freaking shake it off is my new favorite thing i love him with my whole heart and my whole soul and i just want him to be happy <3)
(also grayson has a puppy now they’re so cute i love him so much. i bet his camera is filled w pictures of her now. i love gray so much i’m happy if he’s happy)
and remember folks, #justiceforgraysonhawthorne
September 6, 2022
team gdh always. 🫶
LIKE I DON’T MIND AVERYJAMESON BEING ENDGAME BUT TO RUIN GRAYSON’S CHARACTER???? GTFO!!! TIG GRAYSON COME BACK TO ME
y’all should stop pretending that jlb didn’t do grayson dirty in this book like please just stfu. i have the right to be disappointed in this conclusion for whatever fucking reason that i like. i just know that if aj weren’t endgame, y’all would be flooding this book one star reviews so stop being pretentious and just give us grayson stans a favor by staying out of our business.
LIKE I DON’T MIND AVERYJAMESON BEING ENDGAME BUT TO RUIN GRAYSON’S CHARACTER???? GTFO!!! TIG GRAYSON COME BACK TO ME
y’all should stop pretending that jlb didn’t do grayson dirty in this book like please just stfu. i have the right to be disappointed in this conclusion for whatever fucking reason that i like. i just know that if aj weren’t endgame, y’all would be flooding this book one star reviews so stop being pretentious and just give us grayson stans a favor by staying out of our business.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 14, 2022
3.5 stars✨
Conflicting thoughts about this one. There's so much good in it but the bad can't be ignored either. (I decided to round it up to four stars while writing the review).
Thanks for being exactly like Tobias Hawthorne miss Jennifer Lynn Barnes, you took a character everyone adores and twisted his personality into someone who's absolutely frustrating or unlovable. JLB knew that the character holds a special place in the majority of the fans' hearts but you'll find your heart breaking for him, not in a good way. JLB played us fans like pawns in her own game.
Anyway now that my mini rant is over...
What I liked
✔️The mystery aspect- it will keep you reading more and wanting more.
✔️Puzzles and riddles- JLB is brilliant there
✔️Satisfying end for almost everyone but one.
✔️Nash and Libby- I liked how Nash had more to contribute, especially his relationship with Avery and of course Libby.
✔️Jameson- Never thought I'd say this but Jameson Hawthorne actually matured in this one. He was the most likable one and kept the romance romantic. He got a MAJOR character development and at times it did feel a bit out of character for him.
✔️Xander- He's the Leo to this trilogy (Leo from Heroes of Olympus). He kept things funny, lighthearted, yet not losing his own backstory.
✔️Avery- While some people are genuinely annoyed with her. I didn't find her to be that at all. I could see where she's coming from, why she's acting the way she did. It wasn't inconsistent with her personality.
What I didn't like
❌The villain- Jennifer Lynn Barnes
❌Grayson- It hurts me so much to say that JLB destroyed his character COMPLETELY. The way Grayson acted throughout the book was very inconsistent to his personality. You will question that a lot when you read it. Even if you're not "Team Grayson" it'll be crystal clear.
❌Max- I'm sorry but what is her purpose in the books except for saying "Faxxxx" once in a while?! You take out her character and the books will still be the same as they were.
❌Eve- Throw the whole character away
I will not say who Avery ends up with due to the nature of the review being spoiler free.
Am I happy with whoever she ended up with? Yes.
Am I happy with how that happened? No. I don't want to elaborate on that further cause it will spoil.
Does Avery deserve either of them? No, she doesn't. Both of them are much better and selfless compared to Avery. Avery lacks emotional characteristics to herself.
I still will strongly recommend the series because it's actually very intriguing and worth reading. JLB despite her villainous, backstabbing nature writes quite well. I have been fair in my rating...even tho she wasn't in her writing.
Conflicting thoughts about this one. There's so much good in it but the bad can't be ignored either. (I decided to round it up to four stars while writing the review).
Thanks for being exactly like Tobias Hawthorne miss Jennifer Lynn Barnes, you took a character everyone adores and twisted his personality into someone who's absolutely frustrating or unlovable. JLB knew that the character holds a special place in the majority of the fans' hearts but you'll find your heart breaking for him, not in a good way. JLB played us fans like pawns in her own game.
Anyway now that my mini rant is over...
What I liked
✔️The mystery aspect- it will keep you reading more and wanting more.
✔️Puzzles and riddles- JLB is brilliant there
✔️Satisfying end for almost everyone but one.
✔️Nash and Libby- I liked how Nash had more to contribute, especially his relationship with Avery and of course Libby.
✔️Jameson- Never thought I'd say this but Jameson Hawthorne actually matured in this one. He was the most likable one and kept the romance romantic. He got a MAJOR character development and at times it did feel a bit out of character for him.
✔️Xander- He's the Leo to this trilogy (Leo from Heroes of Olympus). He kept things funny, lighthearted, yet not losing his own backstory.
✔️Avery- While some people are genuinely annoyed with her. I didn't find her to be that at all. I could see where she's coming from, why she's acting the way she did. It wasn't inconsistent with her personality.
What I didn't like
❌The villain- Jennifer Lynn Barnes
❌Grayson- It hurts me so much to say that JLB destroyed his character COMPLETELY. The way Grayson acted throughout the book was very inconsistent to his personality. You will question that a lot when you read it. Even if you're not "Team Grayson" it'll be crystal clear.
❌Max- I'm sorry but what is her purpose in the books except for saying "Faxxxx" once in a while?! You take out her character and the books will still be the same as they were.
❌Eve- Throw the whole character away
I will not say who Avery ends up with due to the nature of the review being spoiler free.
Am I happy with whoever she ended up with? Yes.
Am I happy with how that happened? No. I don't want to elaborate on that further cause it will spoil.
Does Avery deserve either of them? No, she doesn't. Both of them are much better and selfless compared to Avery. Avery lacks emotional characteristics to herself.
I still will strongly recommend the series because it's actually very intriguing and worth reading. JLB despite her villainous, backstabbing nature writes quite well. I have been fair in my rating...even tho she wasn't in her writing.
September 10, 2022
"I guess that's what happens when you take a very risky gamble."
i was actually expecting to be disappointed with all the reviews i saw but i actually enjoyed this !!
funny tho because the reason i adored this so much tho was not for the romance at all (thats what made me take away a star actually💀) BUT THE MYSTERY WAS SO GOOD. the tension, the way everything tied up with each other !! literally done so well i loved it (the ending though i did not love and felt a tad underwhelming after all the buildup), avery is such a genius tho.
now the romance. i cant believe im saying this where i once loved jameson and grayson this book made me... not care about them at all anymore. a lot of the things in their characters annoyed me throughout the book ngl💀 one of them felt out of character and just like they were done pretty dirty idk but the two of them actually frustrated me so much omg.
MY FAVS THO WERE FOR SURE XANDER, THEA, NASH AND OREN <33 literally adore them all so much especially shocked with nash because i didnt like him in TIG but here🥺 nash being like a brother to avery, xander (i swear this boy is literally THE most precious cinnamon roll) & avery having the sweetest friendship, thea being so snarky and caring, and oren the mvp !! best bodyguard out there.
the plot was chef's kiss, although there are some things i didnt like. but THL will forever be my fav of the series
spoilers below for some other thoughts:
(maybe more thoughts to come later)
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pre-read review:
no matter which ship it ends up being there will definitely be riots cri i just dont want either of my boys hurt😭
#TeamEveryoneIsHappy
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THAT COVER IS SO BEAUTIFUL OMG I NEED THIS RN
September 2, 2022
grayson i will avenge you
September 5, 2023
all i care about at this point is grayson. grayson supremacy all the way
September 8, 2022
I’M FINALLY FREE FROM THIS ATROCITY!!!
Let me tell you this book made me so angry I was ready to sue the author. Miss JLB, what have you done to Grayson? Are you sure it was the same character everyone liked in the previous two books? Girl???
Don’t get me wrong, I was team Jameson from the beginning. But this book did my boy Gray so dirty :/ I hated him at times and couldn’t believe his audacity. But again, he is a man so idk. He even turned on his brothers which is so not him AND FOR WHAT??
I couldn’t stand that bitch Eve at all. I waited for Avery to slap the shit out of her so many times but no🙂
From the start, I knew it was a sleazy lying hoe -.-
Toby broke my heart. I mean sure he had his reasons as a father and blah blah but come on. Sometimes kids deserve to die idc🤚🏻
The ending was actually not that bad. I expected to be more disappointed. It was a nice neutral and satisfying life that Avery chose for them all. And my Jamie boo💜
The Inheritance Games review
The Hawthorne Legacy review
Let me tell you this book made me so angry I was ready to sue the author. Miss JLB, what have you done to Grayson? Are you sure it was the same character everyone liked in the previous two books? Girl???
Don’t get me wrong, I was team Jameson from the beginning. But this book did my boy Gray so dirty :/ I hated him at times and couldn’t believe his audacity. But again, he is a man so idk. He even turned on his brothers which is so not him AND FOR WHAT??
I couldn’t stand that bitch Eve at all. I waited for Avery to slap the shit out of her so many times but no🙂
From the start, I knew it was a sleazy lying hoe -.-
Toby broke my heart. I mean sure he had his reasons as a father and blah blah but come on. Sometimes kids deserve to die idc🤚🏻
The ending was actually not that bad. I expected to be more disappointed. It was a nice neutral and satisfying life that Avery chose for them all. And my Jamie boo💜
The Inheritance Games review
The Hawthorne Legacy review
August 30, 2022
i loved the ending of this trilogy but what i loved more was nash being confirmed a swiftie
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