Reviews with content warning for Kidnapping - The Final Gambit

Reviews tagging 'Kidnapping'

The Final Gambit by Jennifer Lynn Barnes

170 reviews

mcintyre's review against another edition

5.0

challenging emotional mysterious fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Content Warnings

stories's review against another edition

4.5

mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

I like the hopeful ending: it read a bit like a final instalment tbh.

A couple of different mysteries intertwining, and another raising of stakes.

Romance, and especially the love triangle, remains an idle tack-on, presumably for marketability.

Content Warnings

kawaii_rose's review against another edition

4.75

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Content Warnings

justagirlwithbooks's review against another edition

3.75

“I don’t believe in destiny or fate—I believe in choice. Love wasn’t just a choice—it was dozens, hundreds, thousands of choices. Every day was a choice.”

This book felt a bit... unnecessary. I wasn't sure how it would end, since The Hawthorne Legacy seemed to wrap up the majority of the loose ends. And then the ending happened and I understood. But it still felt a bit... contrived? I don't know how to explain it. I just preferred The Hawthorne Legacy and The Inheritance Games over this book. And yes, I see the intention of having the spin-off series being the Grandest Game. And I'm excited for that! But first... spoilers.

I don't understand the love triangle. I get Grayson and Jameson and Avery, but I thought that their love triangle was over in book 2. I was confused as to why Avery was getting jealous over Grayson hanging out with Eve when she had already chosen Jameson in the last book. It was getting annoying because I was already rooting for Jameson and Avery since the very beginning. Also, Xander and his dad were so wholesome together and I loved them so much. Xander is my favorite Hawthorne, and I'm not sure I can order the rest of them. I didn't really like the way things left off with Toby, with him becoming a Blake. And I thought that Tobias's final message to his grandsons (and Avery) was also kind of wholesome in a way since he doesn't want his grandsons to end up like him. The ending was also very wholesome and it was nice seeing all the brothers be where they want to be, away from societal expectations. I just wish I had more of Nash and Xander in this book series, especially Xander, since he's my favorite.

Overall, I think the Naturals Series that I read around the same time last year is better than The Inheritance Games.

Content Warnings

karly_ackley's review against another edition

4.25

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

Content Warnings

mossywossy's review against another edition

3.25

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious sad tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

I wanted to like this one more...but it had such a HUGE buildup, and was leading to SOOOO many things, and then boom it's over, the thing happened, and it's the end of the series. I just...some parts felt forgotten and left out, we didn't really get closure for some people.

Content Warnings

oceanbluetay's review against another edition

3.5

adventurous mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Content Warnings

christygsp's review against another edition

4.0

Great conclusion to the trilogy.
I wasn’t sure where some of the loose ends would wrap up, and if you can keep track of all the families and all the varying puzzles then it does weave together quite well.
As always, the game was afoot and it was great with twists I didn’t see, and some I did. The journey was fun.

Content Warnings

sadiebugreads's review against another edition

4.0

adventurous mysterious fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Yes

fast-paced and engaging, once you get into it you won’t want to put it down!

Content Warnings

louise_french_rider's review against another edition

4.75

adventurous mysterious medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

That third book was really good though not as good as the first one. I really enjoyed the last battle if I can say without spoiling. But the very end what on earth, not sure I liked it. That was just weird. The romance could have been more developed, at least on their feelings, what is going on with the brothers. There was an interesting plot at the beginning, the middle of the book was empty, I had a month reading slump because of it.
Yet I did enjoy the series, I might read the fourth one we’ll see.

Content Warnings

More...