Book Review | The Final Gambit #20booksofsummer23

Book 6 of my summer reading challenge and another book towards my RWDC challenge.

The Final Gambit
Jennifer Lynn Barnes

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 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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I always knew this was going to be a bittersweet book to read because I wanted to see what was going to happen next but also I was not looking forward to the journey ending for the characters (although I recently found out that it is not quite the end). I was pleased to enjoy one last puzzle hunt even though it was maybe the more outlandish of the books in the series it was still good fun.

There are even more issues that arise for Avery in this story which causes a lot of tension but I feel like the focus was geared slightly more towards the relationships on this occasion rather than it just being about the mystery. The love triangle kind of rears its head once again but in a way that sets the path toward a resolution, and there is an appearance by another outsider who puts a cat amongst the pigeons, so whilst there is the mystery to contend with I felt there was an even bigger personal element that all the characters were dealing with.

I quite liked the mystery throughout this one and that it wasn’t set by Tobias, it gave this book a slightly different tone, a darker edge, but still with the high stakes adrenaline that comes from the Hawthornes and Avery trying to figure out what the clues mean. This book delves a lot further into Tobias Hawthorne’s past, which causes some tension between the characters and really makes each of the boys question their upbringing. There are even more family secrets that get uncovered and that does make for a very thrilling and tense conclusion.

I won’t say too much about the romantic aspect because I know that may be a big spoiler for some but I was happy with how it ended, but there were some intense scenes that would have made me swither. I am also pleased that Libby and Nash made more of an appearance in this book because whilst Avery, Jameson and Grayson are a big part of the series I think it is the collection of characters that make this series special.

The only reason this book didn’t quite get that top rating like the previous two in the series is that the last thing that Avery had to do in the conclusion to the puzzle throughout this book I just found a bit lacking. There had been so much suspense throughout the book and the stakes felt really high and then when it all came down to it what happened didn’t quite capture it the way I expected, I could appreciate it though.

The Final Gambit is an amazing end to this chapter of the story for Avery and the Hawthorne brothers and I look forward to delving into more books by this author in the future.