Reviews tagging 'Grief'

The Final Gambit by Jennifer Lynn Barnes

49 reviews


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adventurous challenging emotional funny hopeful mysterious 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

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

I think this has been my favorite of the series so far. I live a conclusion, especially a nice one all tied with a bow. At this point we know the characters, their flaws, their truths, their struggles, and that makes it all mean more. We see why things have to shake out the way they do/did and there’s less we don’t already know which I like. Trying to learn about Emily in the first book killed me, so I like already knowing. I love what Avery decided to do with her inheritance. 
This was the first time I tried to figure out what was going to happen instead of just reading, and I couldn’t figure it out. I had some suspicions and thoughts but ultimately I didn’t see all the connections, and I like it that way.
Having everything tie into who Toby’s father is, being kidnapped by his grandfather, Eve being in on it and much more cold hearted than I thought she would be. I did not think Rebecca’s mom would be so involved, or have killed Will Blake. Honestly the Laughlin’s are trouble, they’re too involved in everything. I did doubt Alisa and I’m glad she wasn’t part of it. It was maybe too easy for Avery to beat Blake in a chess match and have his threat just disappear, but I’m ok with that. I like a happy ending and didn’t want anything to happen to Oren or anyone else.

I would love a book about Nan! She’s got some stories to tell man. And learning more about Alice would be great! And seeing Zara and Skye as girls. I’ll keep devouring whatever is given by JLB. 

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
mysterious medium-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

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
adventurous funny mysterious fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: No
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: No

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
adventurous challenging emotional mysterious reflective 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: No

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
adventurous challenging mysterious 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

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
adventurous challenging mysterious tense fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

Read this book. This series is so good! It will leave you hungry for more puzzles, riddles, clues, and Hawthornes.

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
adventurous mysterious tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Strong character development: No
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: No



• After a YEAR and 5 months, I’ve finally finished the inheritance games series. Well, I guess not because there’s a fourth book coming but it was supposed to be a trilogy so I’m considering it done. Also the fact that I waited months to read this just to binge it in a day at the end made me furious at myself 😭

• I read the first two books in January of 2022. I absolutely loved them but by the time this came out, I’d completely forgotten everything and kept putting it off. I was finally over it & watched a recap of the first two on YouTube so I can read this.

• Right away, I was really bored. There didn’t seem to be much happening in the mystery aspect. A lot of it was focused on the love triangle and teenage drama that wasn’t even interesting. I thought I wouldn’t be able to put this down but I was dying for it to be over.

• Pretty much every review I’ve ever seen of this has been criticizing who Avery ends up with but to be honest, I couldn’t care less because she didn’t have chemistry with either of them & she  continued to make the dumbest decisions and then proceeded to act surprised when she was in danger.

• There were also a ton of time jumps. Every chapter would skip weeks to months and I just felt disoriented reading this.

• As with the first two books, I really disliked Max. The dialogue itself & the other characters were childish enough without her addition and I was cringing every time she talked. I also didn’t like the “trendy” references. It was clear that the targeted audience for this book was Tik tok, as it says on the cover. 

• The ending was so predictable and I just felt like I wasted my time reading about a bunch of clueless characters that can’t see what’s right in front of them.

• I think it’s safe to say I won’t be reading the fourth book. There’s another series by this author that I’m interested in reading though and I’ve heard good things about it



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