Reviews tagging 'Toxic friendship'

The Hawthorne Legacy by Jennifer Lynn Barnes

3 reviews

viireads's review against another edition

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mysterious reflective tense 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? No

3.0


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lovelymisanthrope's review

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adventurous emotional funny mysterious sad tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

I bought the first three books of this series as a FairyLoot exclusive set, and I have been making my way through them.
"The Hawthorne Legacy" is the fast-paced sequel to "The Inheritance Games". The mystery as to why Tobias Hawthorne left the majority of his fortune to Avery still needs to be solved, but luckily there are new leads for Avery to follow. Through a DNA test, she knows she is not a Hawthorne by blood, but she quickly learns that she has a connection to the Hawthornes that dates back over a decade. The three Hawthorne brothers are still not in agreement about what to do, but Avery wants to utilize all three of their expertise to get to the bottom of this mystery.
I was so excited to pick up this book as soon as I finished "The Inheritance Games", but I had to wait because I wanted to listen to the audiobook and there was a bit of a wait on Libby. I do HIGHLY recommend the audiobooks for this series. Avery is such a likable and relatable main character, and it is her approachable personality that makes this story so enjoyable for me. The rest of the Hawthorne clan definitely contribute to this story and continue to make this story intoxicating. The brothers are all interesting in their own ways, and I love how much they are taking Avery under their wing. 
This book does get much more violent than the first, and there are serious threats to Avery's life. Some of these instances felt a little too action movie-y to me, but it was not too cheesy that it felt unreal. 
We do get to see more of Max in this book, which I was so excited for. Max is the epitome of a best friend and I love seeing her pure love and support for Avery. 
I am really enjoying all of the nuances to the mystery. Every time I think I have figured out what is going on, there is a curveball and I feel like I am back in the dark. This mystery is not straight forward, and this family has decades old secrets that weave a web that is difficult to break through. I do not know what will happen in the third book, but I do know I need to pick it up ASAP. 

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michellemaas's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny lighthearted mysterious 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? Yes

4.0

The Hawthorne Legacy is considerably better than The Inheritance Games (and that's saying something since I really enjoyed The Inheritance Games).

I didn't realize how lost I was with the first book until I read the second book and things finally started clicking into place. The Hawthrone Legacy did a good job of answering nearly all the questions sparked from its predecessor and it's always a good feeling to get answers to questions that have been burning since your first read.

Furthermore, I want to commend Jennifer Lynn Barnes for creating a love triangle that wasn't annoying. Typically being a fantasy reader, there is little that irks me as much as a love triangle but she wrote in a way where it didn't feel like an unnecessary trope to set the drama in motion but more so a natural repetition of history (and most likely a manifestation of Jameson and Grayson's unresolved guilt over Emily's death).

Like with the first book, the plot twists were also really an insane man. I kept expecting Jennifer Lynn Barnes to go in the typical plot twist territory but she specifically wrote in a way that lead your mind there to yank the rug from under your feet.
Examples of this were when she set up Avery's father being Toby (which is quite the executed, almost cliche thing to do), only to reveal that he wasn't her father!?
I was quaking.
Even the part of Toby being adopted was unexpected and last (but not least) the love triangle?
It was the first time I genuinely couldn't tell who the MC was going to pick.
It was obvious that Avery had a more serious relationship with Jameson, but I kept expecting Jennifer Lynn Barens to do the "obvious and unexpected" thing by making her end up with Grayson. Only that didn't happen?
The best way to keep things unexpected when using popular storylines is to do the expected since the reader expects the author to do the unexpected thing (which is no longer unexpected since it gets done so much). 

I don't know if you got any of that but the book was good and I was entertained, so what more can I ask?

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