Reviews

this rating is simply my enjoyment not how i would’ve rated it if i like actually critiqued it. this book is kind of my guilty pleasure (the series will probably be one if i continue it) idk like it had me giggling and kicking my feet. i cringed at some parts ngl and the writing isn’t like god send but it’s fun. i do wish there was more riddle solving and less outfit description and whatever alisa or whatever her name is had avery do like i wanted games why are the games almost non existent <\3.

avialia's review against another edition

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informative fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? N/A
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.75

I started reading this, having no expectations what so ever. I had seen it a few times on tiktok and thought that since somone here wanted to read it I might aswell join.
I am not sure if that was a great idea or not to be honest, like it was a quick and nice mental break from this all. But I am not sure if I will ever think about it later.

I guess we can say that the story was kinda... wealth-porn, yes a great word that I just made up. What I mean is that there is obviously wealth in this book. A lot of it, and it does make the entire mystery element alot better. I am generally not a fan of mystery books, but the wealth part made it feel like it was way more beareble.

The book generally went realy fast and like I agreed to somone earlier, I was spoonfed everything. I am also not a fan of being spoonfed, I like to be abel to make my own conclutions and such. So that did bring this whole book down for me.

On the other hand it was a nice break to not need to think, so I am really unsure what to even rate this book. I am torn when desideding what to rate this and what I really think of it. But I have landed and it has to be a 2.75/5

scpereiros's review against another edition

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4.5

“Everything’s a game, Avery Grambs. The only thing we get to decide in this life is if we play to win.”

É um YA? Sim. Mas está cheio de enigmas e mistérios, com umas pitadas de romance.
Quero ler o segundo já de seguida! #TeamGrayson

ss_reads's review against another edition

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adventurous inspiring mysterious fast-paced

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

5.0

ITS AN AMAZING BOOK AND YOU SHOULD DEFINITELY READ IT!!!!!

yuzuhiro's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious tense fast-paced

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

2.5

sheisinquisitive's review against another edition

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2.0

To be clear, at least 1.5 stars are for that book cover alone. I mean, come on. It's stunning! You'd think you're entering a world of luxury and fantasy, wealth and envy. The book cover alone shouts "The Hunger Games" meets "The Selection." What a waste.

I'm going to keep this short because the one comment I liked pretty much explains my thoughts on the book.

Having an idea is a great first step to creation. Sometimes, the potential is so foreseeable, so possible that you can almost hold the idea in your palm. It feels real, and with the right execution, an idea can become something remarkable. Unfortunately, Barnes only had a good idea but failed at its execution. I'm sorry to say this, but this supposed fan favourite that's taken over BookTok is one of the worst texts I've ever read.

The writing is average at best, though part of me is fighting to say it is less than average. Albeit, the dialogue is inviting at times, though a book cannot run on dialogue alone. This isn't a script (and that, too, requires some description). Now that I think of it, so much of the dialogue was redundant and pointless (I'm truly traumatized by this line about a butter knife or a ballerina, whatever that was, it had to stop). Quite a waste of pages that she could've used for world-building. For a world that is claimed to be so extravagant, so disgustingly wealthy and privileged, so far away from the mundane life of the average person, I saw none of it in the text. I relied on my imagination to invent the setting since Barnes failed to do so. A smart move would have been to include a map of the Hawthorne family's land. At the very least, a reader could see what our protagonist, Avery I-forget-her-last-name-which-is-rather-hilarious-considering--never mind, fails to describe.

As for the characters, I can forget the lack of diversity (or rather, the little amount of force-fed diversity thrown at us as if it were written by a millennial white man writing a coming-of-age Netflix series with corny and out-of-pocket dialogue). What I can't forget about is how often I saw a blurred face in my mind when I had to imagine every damn character in this text. Isn't the onus on the author to describe the characters enough so that their readers can imagine them clearly? Or was I just reading books that successfully did that, but weren't meant to? It's truly ridiculous to me that I was imagining the most bland, basic and average-looking American white girls and boys for each character because I had little to rely on. News flash: Telling me he's tall and biracial doesn't help and plays on a lot of stereotypes. And why make a gray-eyed, blonde-hair dude wear a gray suit and name him Grayson? What is that... how can you not tell how much that combination would wash him out? Make him look pale and lifeless? It truly makes zero sense to me. Finally, if I wanted to read such cookie-cutter, cliche characters, I'd rather watch a 00's movie. At least there's some entertainment there.

I won't even comment on the romance. LADIES: Please do not be easily impressed by boys that resemble these characters. I've met them in real life and it's not cute. It never is. Go watch a K-drama and remind yourself of the standard you all deserve.

Oh, and those plot twists everyone talks about? Were they wearing an invisibility cloak? Because I'm afraid I missed them because nothing, absolutely nothing was a plot twist. It was lame and predictable (though there wasn't much to predict). BookTok made this place, this story, the characters and their little band of detectives sound like Harry, Ron, and Hermione on a modern-day quest in Elon Musk's house of insanity in the real world. How dare you insult such craft with this parody? It seems like Barnes didn't try to create a mystery/thriller after all. She published whatever was sitting in her drafts and sprinkled in some 2014 middle-school literature vibes. It seems that aesthetics alone run this world.

As I said, there is a lot of potential in an idea. But, it's all in the execution and Barnes missed the mark.

Anyways, I can go on and on about how much this book failed me. I can't believe I read this. I remember when I was reading it on the train and a girl, who sat in front of me, said that the book looks really interesting. I was halfway through and my response, quite instantly, was "It's really not that good, I wouldn't recommend it." The excitement in her eyes faded, but I can confidently say that I did her a service. In its place, she recommended something else to me, and I her. I'm sure those books are much better than what I held in my hands that day.

I said I'd keep this short. My bad. I guess I have a lot to say about this terribly written book. I understand that I'm in the minority (nothing new there considering I literally am a minority), so it's completely fine if you disagree with me. It's important to have different opinions on everything. Both positive and negative reviews help writers (and readers!) improve their next project. And I won't say Barnes is a terrible writer (it wouldn't be fair to comment on that), only that this text was poorly written, and I'm not exactly keen to pick up one of her books any time soon.

For those of you who enjoyed it, that's great! I'm glad this book was for you and I love when people love books. It's just not a book for me.

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