Reviews tagging 'Blood'

The Hawthorne Legacy by Jennifer Lynn Barnes

38 reviews

booklover93's review against another edition

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funny 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? It's complicated

5.0


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oddduck's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated

5.0

Jennifer Lynn Barnes is a very good suspense writer and this book is a perfect example of that. This is one of the fastest paced books I’ve read in a while. We picked up right where the previous book ended and did not stop moving forward until this one ended. The puzzles and developments were intriguing and made for some very good twists and turns. I’ve seen several people complaining about red herrings, but I personally loved that. It's a mystery and that's a common feature of the genre. The assumptions the characters made based on the information they had made perfect sense. I was almost fully on board with them as fact, though the reality also worked for me and didn’t necessarily come as a surprise either.
Though Toby’s real daughter was a bit of a surprise. I think it was foreshadowed well enough, though the connection with Mellie and Eli could have been on the page more.

The thing with Mellie and Eli as a whole made sense but also wasn’t foreshadowed enough for me. The explanation we got at the end gives us enough information to explain what happened and their motives, but it also came kind of late. Like, I never would have guessed any of what they said prior to them telling us. So that could have been executed better.

I love that we got to spend time with Max. She’s such a fun character, though I would have liked for her to have more of her own story. She kind of does, with her parents, but we really don’t know what’s going on with her. I would understand this if she and Avery had had a conversation when Max first arrived and Max had said she really didn’t want to talk about it, but we don’t get anything like that. Max is really just there to support Avery, but Avery doesn’t really do much for her in return, which is unfortunate. This is one of the few problems I had with this book, because I love Max and think she deserves better.

Same with Libby. She’s definitely going through something in this book, but we don’t see a whole lot of it. And yeah, it's Avery's story and Libby's problems should not fall to her to solve (or be in any way responsible for), but it doesn't really feel like we see enough of what's going on with her. And this wouldn't be a problem if they weren't reasonably close, but they are. So it's kind of weird that Avery doesn't seem to wonder about what Libby's dealing with or want to talk to her about it.

I’m very glad that we seem to be done with the love triangle. I’m really not a huge fan of love triangles, and it certainly seemed like Avery already knew who she wanted pretty early in this book, but then it got dragged out and I was not into those parts as much. I’ve also got mixed feelings about the whole Jameson or Grayson thing, just knowing their past with Emily. I can appreciate what it does in terms of parallelism, but I also think the whole thing is kind of dumb and a little sexist? Like, they’re fighting over who gets to date a girl and not taking into account what she might want. Which is kind of gross to me. It was skirted around with Emily, because her thing was causing problems, apparently, but it still doesn’t sit right with me. I think it was a little better with Avery, but it’s also just kind of a weird situation. I would like to move on and not revisit this in the final book, but I suspect we are likely not quite done with it, unfortunately.

On a related note, I liked Avery’s hesitance to get involved with either Jameson or Grayson. Avery has had to take care of herself in a lot of ways for many years, so she's not used to feeling like she can rely on people or be vulnerable with them. I'm so happy that this extends to potential love interests and that it isn't a case of Love Fixes Everything or the love interest is just So Special he's the Exception. Even when she makes her choice at the end, she's still nervous and a little scared. But she has made the choice to try this, so it works.

This was an excellent follow up to a fantastic start and I'm very excited to see how this trilogy gets wrapped up.

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jfield351's review against another edition

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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? It's complicated

3.5

This book was pretty good, but for me there were a few too many twists for me to handle. However it is extremely well written and extremely well thought out and I admire the author for that! Very interesting read.

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criticalbooks's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional funny mysterious sad tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.25


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hannibanani29's review against another edition

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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? It's complicated

4.0


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writtenbydnicole's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional mysterious medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Loveable characters? Yes

4.0


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emdashenthusiast's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional lighthearted tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

Surprisingly, I liked this book more than the first one. Now, I’m going to complain.

There is no way i’m going to believe that a family that powerful has refused to get the best therapy or any kind of help money can buy to deal with this horrible horrible trauma and guilt and loss and regret and god knows what else. They have all these professionals around them all the time and they think the thing that will help is pushing it down and larping an Agatha Christie book

The whole Eli and Mellie thing was so confusing not to mention throwing Eve in there, I have a feeling it’s going to matter somehow in the last book but it was almost too much all at once.

I am far more invested in whatever Xander and Max are insinuated to have going on than I am in whatever flippy-floppy Emily Laughlin relationship cosplay Avery is playing.

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rosegoes3's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional mysterious 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? It's complicated

3.75

I didn’t like the sequel as much as the original, aside from the gorgeous blue color. Intrigued about the third and final installment, but overall the pacing of this felt consistent until the end when there was just SO MUCH and even then I still feel like I missed something. 

If you like love triangles, this is a book for you. 

In terms of character development, it’s 90% Avery, 5% Libby 5% Jameson and i wish it was a little more even across the board. Unique, if confusing, plot. 

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charlottebreads's review against another edition

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lighthearted mysterious fast-paced

4.0

CW/TW: Blood, drug use/abuse, fire
Age Rating: 13+

- It should have been written from Xander's pov
- Max and Xander were my favourite.
- The romance was eh.
- Grayson: "Avery, don't tell everyone this really important thing that will definitely get you killed."
Avery: *proceeds to tell everyone* 

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azrah786's review against another edition

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4.5

 **I was provided with an ARC through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review**

CW: violence, gun violence, blood, death, death of a parent, drug use/addiction, suicidal thoughts, fire/fire injury, infertility, child death, kidnapping, murder

This book is just as addictive and fast paced as its predecessor!

I did have my doubts before reading as I saw that a lot of people didn’t enjoy this sequel and also I remember feeling like the first book worked well as a standalone. However, it wasn’t long before new twists started unravelling around Avery and her Hawthorne boys that I was hooked back in and determined to stay for the whole ride.

I didn’t do a reread of The Inheritance Games beforehand but I felt like the overarching storyline was a lot more interesting to follow in this one than the first book. I understand why so many people didn’t enjoy the romance side of things but I personally was so absorbed by the central mystery and the reveals that I wasn’t too bothered by it. Also I like both Jameson and Grayson so…

One thing I do pretty much agree with other people is why on earth is there another book? Again I don’t see the need to continue the story and this time round there isn’t really much for a third book to take off from.. Though with how ingenious and entertaining all the puzzles and clue hunting are I’m probably going to end up picking up the third book anyways.
Final Rating – 4.5/5 Stars 

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