The Inheritance Games

When I was a kid, I devoured mysteries, particularly ones that involved figuring out the answers to complicated puzzles, like The Westing Game.

This clever YA series by Jennifer Lynn Barnes, which starts with the novel The Inheritance Games, is a smart and contemporary set of adventures in a similar vein...and, oh, it’s such a page turner! I quite literally could not stop reading and was so glad there were books 2, 3, and 4 to look forward to afterward, with more in the series on the way.

The characters were intriguing, the situations they found themselves in were unusual,… show more.

Jennifer Lynn Barnes’ The Inheritance Games reads like a YA contemporary version of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, and we were bewitched.

This book combines so many story elements we love: a mysterious invitation, found family, secrets, and a scrappy, inventive heroine. The setting, the Hawthorne House, is its own character, too, chock full of traps, tunnels, codes, and puzzles to crack. Barnes also balances her mystery beautifully with a romantic subplot—a mix we strove for in our book.

A monstrously large mansion full of mysteries and puzzles to be solved. A large cast of vivid, diverse characters, including four rich hot brothers. A rags-to-riches story with a likable kick-butt heroine. And a twisting turning plot that kept me guessing to the end. Those are just some of the reasons I loved this book, besides the masterful writing. 

Fun fact—I’ve seen the author of this book speak at writers’ conferences and she was such a compelling speaker that I checked out her book. But I bought her book (all three in the series actually and I have her next… show more.

What young adult novel is complete without an orphan, or several? This book follows Avery Grambs, who (like our Finn Mallory) is getting through high school on scholarship without a dollar to her name until she’s mysteriously bequeathed an entire fortune by some random, deceased millionaire. Here’s the rub: Avery has to move into this mysterious benefactor’s estate, which she’ll be sharing with his dispossessed family, who are none too happy to see her. Riddles, puzzles, and codes abound (as well as all kinds of tropey goodness) in this young adult first-in-series. 

The Inheritance Games has recently become a favorite novel of mine. While Avery, an unassuming teenage heiress, isn’t dropped in another time or consumed by a foreign culture, she is chosen by a stranger to inherit a fortune. There’s a stipulation from the moment the will is read, and Avery is cast into a labyrinth filled with quirky characters, misleading puzzles, and a possible murderer. I had a hard time putting this book down!

It’d be wrong to start with any book other than The Inheritance Games by Jennifer Lynn Barnes. The story is about an average girl who is told that she’s inherited an enormous amount of money from a man who just passed away—a man who she doesn’t know and who ignored his entire family to give her this inheritance. The stipulation? She must live at the mansion with the bitter family, including some very handsome grandsons, for an entire year. And that’s just the beginning. Things get really crazy from there.

This is set in modern-day, very fast-paced, and perfect for… show more.

AKA yet another book I wish I’d written, but I hadn’t yet ventured into writing YA yet; oh, and there’s the matter of the huge and, somehow, believable premise.

As a kid, I would knock on walls, hoping to find a hidey-hole for something valuable or, at least, mysterious. The Inheritance Games, set in a vast estate with secret passageways and even more secrets, lets me experience that dream vicariously… and safely, unlike the main character, who must live there for one year if she is to inherit $46.2 billion left to her by a total stranger. The setting, the… show more.