Reviews with content warning for Kidnapping - The Brothers Hawthorne

Another very fast read, and it was very fun getting to see more about the Hawthorne brothers. With every book that has a split pov, I tend to reach a point where I strongly favor one character over the other and it's a slog to get through the one I care less about, but both Grayson and Jameson's stories kept me riveted the entire time. The only thing I took a half star off for is because, while I trust Jennifer Lynn Barnes, I do feel

that having another character who's been presumed dead for years not actually be dead is pushing it.

I trust that this will be resolved in a satisfactory way in the next book, but still.

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eowyn_zoe's review

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adventurous challenging dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

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colorful_lulu's review

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adventurous mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Look I need the author to add a “previously…” to summarize all the major plot points from the last mystery and an updated family tree from all of the new family drama from the previous book because without looking at this fan-made family tree from The Final Gambit I would’ve been so lost.

In general, I didn’t love this book. It took me 25 days to finish this book. I was able to finish The Final Gambit in 11 days. I found the book to be quite boring and lacked the mystery and major plot twist. Grayson’s mystery wasn’t really a mystery, it was more of Grayson feeling guilty about betraying people but the betrayal in question was just withholding information about Sheffield Grayson’s death from The Hawthorne Legacy (which I totally forgot OK, I read that book 2 years ago). The mystery was underwhelming and way too predictable for an Inheritance Game book. Jameson’s mystery was better, but not as entertaining or mysterious as the previous mystery.

They built up The Devil’s Mercy to be so mysterious to the point where it’s repetitive and disappointing in the end. The characters involved in The Game, besides Zella and eventually Branford didn’t stand out at all, they were just there.

Look my favorite Hawthorne is always and will always be Xander. But this book makes me actually like Nash because we actually see him do something in the book. Like he’s never really active on the surface during the past books. So that’s a win. The book connects to the next book, The Grandest Game, with a new secret revealed-ish and Avery decided to create The Grandest Game so I guess that’s good.

(please tell me the significance of Alice Hawthorne being alive. I get the surprise of realizing your dead grandmother was not dead is huge but is it that huge?)

Oh and can someone please tell me why Eve is back? No one likes you. Please stop. And please let Grayson move on from Emily and Avery in the next book, please.

And final thing, Jameson thinking “Let the rest of the player think I’m dealing with daddy issues. Hawthornes have granddaddy issues instead” on page 250, chapter 52 was so randomly hilarious. Like, thank you for acknowledging your issues with Tobias Hawthorne.

~~I’m not saying that we should pirate books. I’m just saying that I found this~~ ~~pirated audiobook on YouTube~~ ~~that helped me pick this book up when it was during its boring 3/4 part.~~

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livvmarks's review

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adventurous challenging informative inspiring mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.75

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