Reviews with content warning for Domestic abuse - The Final Gambit

wowowoww what a finish. i think i thoroughly enjoyed this book as much as the others but it tended to drag on a bit in some places. the story itself was structured a lot differently than the other two and i think it was a Little jarring, but we got lots of great character development from so many of the characters!! the series overall i might give like a 4.5 ? a 5 stars ? i wonder if my ratings would get higher if i reread them. ik for a fact i did get so attached to these characters and i just want to soak up everything related to this series LMAO also

bc i want to brag, I FUCKING WONNNN I ALWAYS WINNNNNNN TEAM JAMESON LET'S GOOOOOO

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maisiepamela's review

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adventurous funny informative mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

hmm I kind of have mixed feelings on this book. It took me ages (and I mean ages) to get into the book and I just really found majority of the characters annoying (ESPECIALLY EVE ugh). They just made stupid decisions. However, once the book found its pace and we found out the secrets it was great. There wee so many plot twists I did not see coming. I really liked the climax but I thought it was a bit rushed. Now, the end. I was quite disappointed with the end and I like who she ended up with but I think the end could have been more like puzzling if that makes sense. For a book all about puzzles the end was not really one. I also had one big question that wasn’t answered by the end. WHAT HAPPENED TO TOBY? Like after all that stuff with

Blake

hejust disappeared and we never saw him again. That I did not like. I thought the ending was a good decision on averys part but it just wasn’t very puzzling or interesting for me.

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eri_off_the_shelf's review

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny inspiring mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This book including the rest of the series was absolutely amazing! A perfect series for the mystery genre. It was definitely complicated but it wasn't so out there that you couldn't play along. I could make predictions and it was actually possible to be right. The romances were perfectly complicated, and sometimes silent smile or squeal worthy. This book was an experience. Through Avery you could understand other and her own expressions and tones implication's. Amazingly written, a roller coaster, a thrill, an adventure. A gambit.

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colorful_lulu's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional mysterious sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

Overall I really liked the book. If you read the other two inheritance game books then you must read this. This is the final inheritance game novel where the protagonist is Avery and the ending concludes the series really well. We see more of Xander and Nash, both underrated Hawthorns brothers, as well as Rebecca and Thea. And 3 new characters that are really interesting.

Can’t wait for The Brother Hawthorne next year!

What I loved: Unlike the first two books where the main mystery was about finding out why Avery was chosen or about Toby, this book focuses on power and money that Avery is very close to inheriting. This brings us a whole different type of mystery for us to solve and Tobias Hawthorn’s shadow is always present everywhere Avery goes.

I the ending to be a perfect way to end the series but I want to know all the trips that Avery and Jameson went on as well as Xander working with Isaiah (and the obvious relationship between Xander and Max). Hopefully, The Brother Hawthorn will cover more about Jameson’s adventure with Avery and just overall give more details about the brothers. I understand how the amount of information that we know reflects Avery’s relationship with each brother but I wanna know more!

What I didn't like/wanted different: I personally found Grayson's quiet OOC during the middle of the book. I understand that Grayson is taking more time to process Emily's trauma but we never saw him break like this before, and the only reason why he breaks is that Avery chooses Jameson instead of him. I haven’t read the other 2 inheritance game in a while but Gray never acted like this before. Also, his reason why for becoming close to Eve was so weird. “I’m close to this stranger who claims to be Toby’s daughter not because she looks like Emily, the girl I feel responsible for letting die, but because my crush, the strange girl who inherited my rich grandfather's money, chose my brother instead!” His motivation to get close to Eve could’ve just been that she looks like Emily and he hasn’t moved on, which Jameson literally explained, but at last we must maintain this weird love triangle.

Minor complaint, maybe it’s because Tobias Hawthorn said “Don’t trust them” but I knew Eve was going to become evil. Maybe it was good foreshadowing that I was able to find but it was quite obvious from how Avery was suspicious of her while everyone told her that she shouldn’t be suspicious.

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3vannelsonrose's review

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adventurous dark emotional 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? Yes

5.0

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takarakei's review

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adventurous mysterious 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? No

3.5

A semi satisfying end to this series. I had to look up a synopsis of the second book and was still a bit confused by how some of the characters are literally related. However it’s not super critical imo to understand all that. I do wish the Hawthorne brothers would go to therapy.

I felt the actual end to the whole main plot (the chess game) was a bit anticlimactic. However I did enjoy what Avery does with her fortune, and it being a criticism of billionaires in general.

1/5🌶 (it’s a bit unclear to me whether any spice actually happens or if it’s just closed door. They literally could have just been sleeping in the same bed)

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kaitlynnnng's review

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adventurous dark 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

4.5

This entire review contains spoilers. I have too many thoughts and feelings, and I don’t have time to mark each spoiler individually.

Let me start by saying that I have been Team Jameson™️ since day one, and I love that he and Avery were endgame. I do like Grayson, and I wouldn’t have been furious if he and Avery ended up together, but I’m so glad it was Jameson. I love that man!

Speaking of Grayson…he deserved a happy ending (romantically), even if it wasn’t with Avery, but I do think that he got a different kind of happy ending. Toward the end, I feel like he finally let go of Emily, and he was finally free of the immense pressure other people always put on him (and that he put on himself).

Speaking of characters who deserved better: JUSTICE FOR TOBY! I know he did what he did to protect Avery because he loves her, and he doesn’t want her to suffer, but I wish he would’ve found a loophole or something and got a happier ending :/ I’m legitimately upset about it!

Vincent Blake is my arch nemesis. Although he is a fictional character, if I ever meet someone with the same name as him, it’s on sight. Can Eve just poison him? That way she gets his money and Toby can be free.

I like that we got to see more of Xander, Nash, and Rebecca in this book. I especially enjoyed seeing more of Xander and Avery’s friendship. I wish Max and Libby were there more, though!

I appreciate that we got to see the flaws of Tobias. His reason for picking Avery was messed up and made me mad, but I can’t say I blame him.

Overall, I enjoyed this book. The first book in the series was life-changing, which is something I wouldn’t say about this one. However, it kept me on my toes, and, even though I knew Eve or Toby were going to show up at the beginning, every other time I thought I knew what was happening, I was proven wrong. There were moments where I shook, where I cried, where I couldn’t stop looking over my shoulder, where I laughed, where I swooned…it had everything.

The ending was not what I expected, but I don’t hate what Avery did with the money and assets.

While I have some unanswered questions, this book did a good job of tying everything together. There were so many references to the previous books, so many prior hints and games that were drawn into this book, and I loved it.

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