Reviews tagging 'Kidnapping'

The Final Gambit by Jennifer Lynn Barnes

170 reviews

lisa_m's review against another edition

4.25

adventurous funny mysterious fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Loveable characters: Yes

I am very glad that the finale of this trilogy did not disappoint me. It was just as fast paced as the other books in the series and just as fun to read. I didn't love the storyline as much as the ones from the other two books

(especially because I hate manipulators who pray on people's insecurities. That's like one of my biggest no-go's. I STRONGLY dislike Eve)

The ending was clichee but I still liked it and thought it was great. Honestly this whole series has just been so much fun to read I don't even want to over-analyse them. Are they the best books ever? No. There are a lot of things I didn't necessarily like but the whole thing was fast past, interesting and I just really enjoyed the puzzles. I did not need the things that I usually need from books here, because it was so strong in other aspects. As someone who LOVES secret rooms and secret doors and all of those things, this whole series feels like the absolute perfect fantasy of a younger me. What do you MEAN I could inherit billions and like 6(?) Libraries??? It's pretty much my dream. So yes, I very much enjoyed the escapism and fun-ness of this whole reading experience and if that is something you think you would like too, go read it :)

Content Warnings

andreamhi's review against another edition

4.5

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

This book to me couldn’t top the second one, but it was still a very good read. What I most liked about it is that even though you got a “happy” ending, it was still reasonable. The stakes were high, people who had to face consequences did, and the ending made sense. I guess that’s why it wasn’t better than the second one, this was a logical result to the surprising plot points from book two still very good. Unsure on whether I want to read the following books since this felt like a very good ending to the series, so I’m reading other books before deciding!

Content Warnings

guessgreenleaf's review against another edition

5.0

adventurous emotional funny hopeful lighthearted mysterious 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: No

Content Warnings

brooke_w's review against another edition

3.75

adventurous mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

Content Warnings

amp18's review against another edition

3.0

medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

This book didn't get good until like halfway in. When it stopped focusing so much on the romance

and Eve's "feelings".

I knew she was a rat from the start.

I liked Avery's solution to it lol even though that took place only over the last 50 pages or so. Obvious that the author wants you to keep going to the next books based on that last chapter. I know it's technically the end of a trilogy but it doesn't feel complet so hopefully the other books can help it feel that way.

Content Warnings

hummingmarie's review against another edition

3.0

adventurous challenging mysterious tense fast-paced

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: No

The Final Gambit by Jennifer Lynn Barnes. 3 out of 5 stars. I borrowed this book from my local library

This book was well written and had not grammatical errors. The plot was a little bit more tense than the first two and seemed more urgent than the first two.

Why it only got 3 stars: I have struggled so much with this series. It is so hard to like the characters. I get it that they are mostly just teenagers, but their interactions with each other are rather shallow and sometimes cliche. I did like the ending. That finally did make me like the characters. I do not think it was a waste of my time to read this book, nor was it difficult. However, I will not be rereading nor buying for my library.

Recommend for 14+. Good book overall.

Content Warnings

dramagirl2003's review against another edition

5.0

emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

i love the mystery of it all and i’m desperate to read The Brothers Hawthorne now

thoughts while reading

p19: oh dear

p104: it’s chess!

p125: he sounds a lot like tobias hawthorne

p133: NIV! why didn’t i catch that?!

p136: ok. who the heck is this?? is this bro tryna tell us

he’s tobias’ other son

or something??

p158: xander’s giving off joel vibes

p191: oh gosh what is eve doing there?

p252: if this isn’t the sweetest thing jameson has ever said 🥹

p253: uh huh, well i did wonder

p291: surely not…

p323: hmm, well this is a tricky situation

p329: i’m desperately trying to work out what even is the best outcome now that

toby’s thrown the first match

p340: she’s not gonna win is she

p358: yep that’s pretty much what i expected

quotes

"Yes, you do. And it doesn't even matter, because I'm not putting on a show here, Heiress. I'm not playing at being overprotective or pretending that, for once in my life, I want to do the right thing. I love you. I would die to protect you. I would make you hate me to keep you safe because damn it, Avery—some things are too precious to gamble. This is who I want to be, for you."

"You make me see myself as a person who's capable of anything. I would jump out of a plane with you, snowboard down the side of a volcano with you, bet everything that I have on you—on us, against the world. You don't get to run off and take risks and expect me to stay behind in a gilded cage of your making. That isn't who you are, and it's not what I want. You, have always made me bold. You're the one who pushes me out of my comfort zone. You don't get to box me back in now."

Content Warnings