Queen's Gambit (Inheritance Games Book 3) - Jennifer Lynn Barnes

Publisher Summary:

"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."

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My Review

Rating: 8.5/10

Queen's Gambit is a stunning finish to the Inheritance Games trilogy, with an action packed finale to the mystery of the Hawthorne family. The book follows up on themes of love, revenge, and betrayal, as well as what tends to happen when you bet on a very risky gamble.

Barnes continues with high quality writing in this book, and the scenes are fluid and characters are consistent. I think the book was a little bit fast paced, but it's better than being slow paced. My only qualm with the book might be that I couldn't remember all the previous clues and follow Avery's train of thought too well as she found more clues, but this could be on me because I read the series as it was coming out, meaning there was a longer period of time between my reading of the books. I think if I read them closer together, this would be resolved.

I can easily say that the plot of the book had no lack of substance. Every chapter of the book was filled with excitement and new clues. The romance between Avery and Jameson was also present through the book, though I can't say I was too happy with it. I could see Avery with both Grayson and Jameson, though I understand that Barnes had to make a choice between the two, and it was a very hard choice. The romance did take a backseat in this book though, which I was thankful for. The next point to talk about is Eve, and I knew there was something going on behind the scenes there. One thing to be said about the plot for this book is that it was very unpredictable, full of twists that I honestly had no idea were coming. This book was more mystery heavy, and, as I said before, this didn't go over well for me because I had forgotten what happened in the previous book. Other than that though, since all the books have been released, when read close to each other the mystery should be easily followable.

Overall, this series was pretty good. I loved how Avery actually acted like a teenage girl and relied on the adults in her life to help her along the way, especially with the legal aspect of her inheritance. I also loved what she decided to do with her inheritance at the end of the book, and I felt that it was a reasonable thing to do. Most of the characters in the series have logical minds, something that it not common in the world of YA books, which I am grateful for. This whole series was honestly pretty good, and I would recommend!