Name: The Final Gambit
ISBN: 9780316371124

Jennifer Lynn Barnes

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. Secrets upon secrets. Riddles upon riddles. In this game, there are hearts and lives at stake—and there is nothing more Hawthorne than winning.

The Inheritance Games #3

The Final Gambit

Rayane Rabaa

"The world is the board, Heiress. We just have to keep rolling the dice."

hayley

I just know she still likes him. I just wish she ended up with him </3

Keira 💫

Weeks passed in a blur of charity galas and prep school exams, nights talking to Jameson and too much time spent wondering whether Grayson would ever pick up a damn phone.

“Jameson Winchester Hawthorne. I ran like the ball gown wasn’t weighing me down, like I didn’t have a knife strapped to my thigh.

Jameson caught me, our bodies colliding. “Happy birthday, Heiress.”

Some kisses were soft and gentle—and some were like fire.

Eventually, the realization that we had an audience managed to penetrate my brain. Oren was discreet. He wasn’t looking at us, but my head of security clearly wasn’t about to let Jameson Hawthorne fly off with me alone.

Reluctantly, I pulled back. “A hot-air balloon?” I asked Jameson dryly. “Really?”

“I should warn you, Heiress…” Jameson swung himself up onto the edge of the basket, landing in a crouch. “I am dangerously good at birthdays.”

Damn, I want to hate them as a couple but I can’t. 

This material may be protected by copyright.

“The balloon was just the beginning. Jameson Hawthorne didn’t do anything halfway.

The ocean. A cliff. A wager. A race. A dare. I’m going to remember this”

“Max replied, but before I could process what she was saying, 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. “Ferris Wheel Leapfrog Death Match,” he said calmly. “This never ends well.”

SHE CAN FEEL HIM. WHY ISN’T SHE WITH HIM 😭😭

“You know what you would do in my position.” I would have bet my entire fortune that somewhere, he had a journal—and a plan—of his own.

Grayson’s eyes found their way back to mine. “You aren’t me.”

I wondered if there was anyone at Harvard—a single person—who knew him even a tenth as well as his brothers and I did. “You promised you would help me.” The words escaped before I could stop them. “You said you would teach me everything I needed to know.”

I knew better than to remind Grayson Hawthorne of a broken promise. I didn’t have the right to ask this of him, to ask anything of him. I was with Jameson. I loved Jameson. And, Grayson’s entire life, everyone had expected too damn much.

“I’m sorry,” I said. “This isn’t your problem.”

“Don’t,” Grayson ordered roughly, “look at me like I’m broken.”

You are not broken. I’d said those words to him. He hadn’t believed me then. He wouldn’t now, either.”

Yo… what happened?? Did I miss something 😃

Great. Now Avery is 100% choose Jameson. Yay 😃 

When will it be Grayson's turn 😔 Eh, it's okay, I'll love him lolol. 

“You know that this isn’t about Grayson and me,” I said, forcing the image of Grayson walking away out of my mind. “Tell me you know that, Jameson.”

“I know,” he replied, “that I love you, and despite all odds, you love me.” Jameson’s smile was smaller but no less crooked than usual. “I also know that Gray’s the better man. He always has been. The better son, the better grandson, the better Hawthorne. I think that’s why I wanted so badly for Emily to choose me. For once, I wanted to be the one. But it was always him, Heiress. I was a game to her. She loved him.”

What so now when she TRIES to tell you how much she loves you, you say this? It’s like you WANT her to be with him. 

“I moved on from Emily,” he said. “Gray didn’t. And I know in my soul that if he had, he could have loved you. He would have. With everything you are, Heiress, what other choice would he have had?”

“It was always going to be you,” I told Jameson. He needed to hear it. I needed to say it, even though always painted over so much.

In response, Jameson gave me another crooked smile. “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."

“No matter what I was or what I did—it was never enough. The old man was always there, pushing for better, for more.”

I’d thought once that he had bulletproof confidence. That he was arrogant and incapable of second-guessing himself and utterly sure of his own power.

“And then,” Grayson said, “the old man was gone. And then… there was you.”

“Grayson.” His name caught in my throat.

Grayson just looked at me, his light eyes shadowed. “Sometimes, you have an idea of a person—about who they are, about what you’d be like together. But sometimes that’s all it is: an idea. And for so long, I have been afraid that I loved the idea of Emily more than I will ever be capable of loving anyone real.”

That was a confession and self-condemnation and a curse. “That’s not true, Grayson.”

He looked at me like the act of doing so was painful and sweet. “It was never just the idea of you, Avery.”

I tried not to feel like the ground was suddenly moving underneath my feet. “You hated the idea of me.”

“But not you.” The words were just as sweet, just as painful. “Never you.”

I want them to be together so can’t but this is the outcome? FML. 

“I wanted Eve to be different,” Grayson told me. “I wanted her to be you.”

🫠🫠 I really hoped she’d be with Grayson. Damn. 

“Letting you in,” I told Jameson, the two of us crouched feet apart, “becoming us—it changed me. You taught me to want.”

“You made me hungry,” I told Jameson, “for everything. I want the world now.” I held his gaze in a way that dared him to look away. “And I want it with you.”

Maybe I should focus on Nash more. He’s always been right there for me. 

“You going to put a stop to this, Oren?” Nash ambled toward us, clearly having overheard our exchange. “Because if you don’t, I will.”

As if drawn by the chaos, Xander chose that moment to pop in, too.

“This doesn’t concern you,” I told Nash.

“Nice try, kid.” Nash’s tone never advertised the fact that he was pulling rank, but no matter how casual the delivery, it was always one hundred percent clear when that was what he was doing. “This ain’t happening.”

Nash didn’t care that I was eighteen, that I owned the House, that I wasn’t actually his sister, or that I would put up one hell of a fight if he tried to stop me.

“You can’t protect the four of us forever,” I told him.

“I can damn well try. You don’t want to test me on this one, darlin’.”

I glanced at Jameson, who was well-acquainted with the pitfalls of testing Nash. Jameson met my gaze, then glanced at Xander.

“Hidden mongoose!” Xander replied, and an instant later, they were crashing into Nash in a truly impressive synchronized flying tackle.

In a one-on-one fight, Nash could take either one of them. But it was hard to get the upper hand when you had one brother on your torso and another pinning your legs and feet.

“We should go,” I told Oren. Nash was cursing up a storm behind us. Xander began serenading him with a brotherly limerick.

My head of security didn’t so much as hint at any amusement he might have felt. “Sorry, Nash. I know better than to get in the middle of a Hawthorne brawl.”

“Alisa—” Nash started to say, but I interjected.

“I want you with me,” I told my lawyer. “You’ll wait with Oren, right outside.”

Nash must have smelled defeat because he stopped trying to dislodge Xander from his feet. “Kid?” he called. “You sure as hell better play dirty.”

Harley Rae

Jameson Hawthorne was dangerously good at a lot of things. 

“And now that Gray is okay,” Jameson said close behind me, “now that he’s so delightfully human and ready to move on from Emily…”

I hit the center of the maze and turned around to face Jameson. “Don’t finish that question.”

I knew what he was going to ask. I knew he wasn’t wrong to ask. But still, it stung. And the only way that he was ever going to stop asking—himself, me, Grayson—was if I gave him the full, unvarnished truth.

The truth I hadn’t let myself think too often or too clearly.

“You were right before when you called my bluff,” I told Jameson. “I can’t say that it was always going to be you.”

"On a scale from boring to brooding," Jameson quipped, "how's he holding up?”

Heaven forbid Jameson Hawthorne get caught openly caring about his brother. 

Ghina Alameddine

"How does that classic proverb go?" Jameson mused. "You’re not the boss of me? It's something like that. No, wait, I remember! It’s Youre not the boss of me, wanker." 

"Excellent use of British slang," Xander commented.

Lieke Nieuwlaat 

Smerige spelletjes bestaan niet, zolang je maar wint. 

Grace Sinks

"I should warn you, Heiress..." Jameson swung himself up onto the edge of the basket, landing in a crouch. "I am dangerously good at birthdays." 

 "I also may have vetoed a few names on that list."

 And by a few, I realized a moment later, he meant almost all of them. 

The final book is the best of the trilogy in my opinion! Entertaining, good twists, puzzles and riddles, the trilogy is fun to read in between 2 more demanding readings. (Not so enthusiastic about romance or character development though)

Barbara

I’ve been loving this series can’t believe I’m almost done with it. Love the characters & the pace of the books.

Edna Aviles

i fear we realllllyyy lost the plot on this one

Leah

Tobias Hawthorne spent a lot of his life creating clues to hide all his secrets. I thought the game of uncovering secrets would never end and the character map was getting more and more complicated. Everyone and everything was connected. But it was a fun and thrilling read and I couldn't put the book down because I wanted to know how every character was connected and how they played into the chess game.

Naomi P

Didn’t enjoy as much as the other two but still a good easy read 

Katie Roberts

Entertaining. I wish I had a map of all the characters tho

Kass

justice for grayson hawthorne lol. i feel like some things wrapped up super nicely, but yeah...some characters got completely ruined. also some of the puzzles and solves were just...LOL.

this series is super fun, but i honestly feel like after reading all these books, i think that not everything needs to be a series. the first one was so great, and wished we just left it there.

alice l

justice for grayson hawthorne lol. i feel like some things wrapped up super nicely, but yeah...some characters got completely ruined. also some of the puzzles and solves were just...LOL.

this series is super fun, but i honestly feel like after reading all these books, i think that not everything needs to be a series. the first one was so great, and wished we just left it there.

wowowowowowowoow that was a good book some parts were hard to keep up with

Payton L

Jennifer Gosnell

I feel like this series is really a 4 star series. It’s really fun, good, and interesting — but it’s missing the depth of both plot and character development to make it a 5-star series.

Linara K.S

I'm screaming!!!
This whole trilogy was an EXPERIENCE— a journey. It was a page-turner that I found myself obsessed with. The storytelling was the main reason I kept on reading and I thoroughly recommend this to anyone wanting a risky gamble of a story (see what i did there?).

The Final Gambit (The Inheritance Games #3)

This series got really confusing. The whole family tree is a mess and hard to follow but I still like the characters lol!

Camron Swartzendruber

Kaitlin Slaughter

4.5 that got rounded to a 5 with the ending. Very excited for The Grandest Game, can’t decide if I want to read The Brothers Hawthorne.

Lauren R

The chess playing was very fitting. Hated the new character but im excited to read the next couple books.

It All comes down to this book, after loving the previous 2 I know that Book 3 was going to be huge and WOW, I was not expecting the twists and turns within this one. Once again there was lots of Twists, Turns and suspense throughout the entire book. It’s safe to say that it’s all been building to this, and it was such a roller coaster ride of emotions but once I picked it up, I found it incredibly hard to put this one down which was the perfect way to round the series off!

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.

It’s clear from the writing that the Author had a vision in mind and the final journey mapped out right from the start as it’s all been building to this and lots of the groundwork had already been completed! There were multiple reveals in this book branching off from clues left in the previous stories, culminating in an epic finale that felt perfectly fitting to who Avery and Hawthorne brothers were.

Riddles upon riddles, secrets upon secrets and this leads to the final chapter of The Inheritance Games. I wasn't disappointed & What a way to round off the series!

Ian Brakspear

It All comes down to this book, after loving the previous 2 I know that Book 3 was going to be huge and WOW, I was not expecting the twists and turns within this one. Once again there was lots of Twists, Turns and suspense throughout the entire book. It’s safe to say that it’s all been building to this, and it was such a roller coaster ride of emotions but once I picked it up, I found it incredibly hard to put this one down which was the perfect way to round the series off!

 

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.

 

It’s clear from the writing that the Author had a vision in mind and the final journey mapped out right from the start as it’s all been building to this and lots of the groundwork had already been completed! There were multiple reveals in this book branching off from clues left in the previous stories, culminating in an epic finale that felt perfectly fitting to who Avery and Hawthorne brothers were.

 

Riddles upon riddles, secrets upon secrets and this leads to the final chapter of The Inheritance Games. I wasn't disappointed & What a way to round off the series!

Ellie M.

Jennifer Lynn-Barnes is a true mastermind with this third installment of The Inheritance Games. This book was written with incredible precision that the riddles upon riddles and games upon games will make you lose your mind. The very conclusion to the game that Avery and the boys are playing was perfectly laid out, and I appreciated Grayson finally opening up and acknowledging his imperfections and trauma. Gray will always be Gray, and Jameson and Avery will always love each other in the best way they know how. Avery’s character development in this book is unmatched and I liked her more than ever. For all the swifties, this book is Midnights coded! Anti Hero, Mastermind, and Karma are some tracks definitely up there. Moreover, the story is undoubtedly really good, with no loopholes to a perfect ending. This is now definitely one of my favorite YA series out there.

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. Secrets upon secrets. Riddles upon riddles. In this game, there are hearts and lives at stake--and there is nothing more Hawthorne than winning.

kait

holy crap, i can not believe that this series is over! this series got me back into reading after like a 10 year slump and this ending was so good. the mysteries and riddles in the finale felt so grand and i definitely loved this one just as much as the other books -- highly recommend this series

heartbreaking to see a series with such a good premise succumb to a boring ending... 

i think the trilogy has lost its momentum by this installment. blake and eve were editions that were completely out of place with the previous two novels. it also got to the point where i didn't really care how the riddles were solved—just that they were solved. still, i enjoyed xander's story. 

and please remind me never to read another love triangle again.

Christine

mediocre white boys.
shoutout to Xander and Max and Alisa and Nash and Libby tho thumbsup

using Bible passages as clues is kinda baller actually.
literally don't know WHAT happened in this book im not entirely sure i want to know the things i do when im sick!!!!!! help i have so much homework to do!!!!!!! instead i choose to read ab mediocre white boys and some convoluted Mystery(tm)

I absolutely loved this final book in the Inheritance Games trilogy, it just ties of the ends really well, but also leaves some room open for you to fill it in as you'd like!

I didn't really like Eve (big surprises there) but I liked how the plot twisted and twisted to come to the end like that. 

If you liked this book, I recommend: A good girl's guide to murder by Holly Jackson; The night circus by Erin Morgenstern.

Laura

Nash is a swiftie confirmed.

I absolutely loved this final book in the Inheritance Games trilogy, it just ties of the ends really well, but also leaves some room open for you to fill it in as you'd like!

I didn't really like Eve (big surprises there) but I liked how the plot twisted and twisted to come to the end like that. 

If you liked this book, I recommend: A good girl's guide to murder by Holly Jackson; The night circus by Erin Morgenstern.

romi

We all need a hawthorne boy in our lives 😍🤧

Sumaiya 

Catia

i loved it. it had many twists and it was very well written.5⭐️

OVER 1 MILLION COPIES SOLD OF THE #1 BESTSELLING SERIES! Avery's fortune, life, and loves are on the line in the game that everyone is 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. Secrets upon secrets. Riddles upon riddles. In this game, there are hearts and lives at stake--and there is nothing more Hawthorne than winning.

Ok this was good and enthralling but wow I simply couldn't keep up with this love triangle anymore. 

I am also so deeply annoyed at the lack of queer characters. 

Ok this was good and enthralling but wow I simply couldn't keep up with this love triangle anymore. 

I am also so deeply annoyed at the lack of queer characters. 

Saya Snyder 

Absolutely insane 

Loved every single second of it 

Am So so so so so sad it is over 

The Final Gambit The Inheritance Games #3