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Book Review: The Hawthorne Legacy

August 3, 2021 / / 0 Comments

The Hawthorne Legacy

 

The Hawthorne Legacy

– Jennifer Lynn Barnes –

The Inheritance Games #2

Little, Brown Books for Young Readers

Published 7 September 2021

♥♥♥♥♥

 

The Hawthorne Legacy is the brilliant and thrilling sequel to The Inheritance Games by the incomparable Jennifer Lynn Barnes. It is perhaps no secret that I ADORE her writing, complex characters and skill for piecing together a compelling plot that twists, turns and endlessly surprises.

Once again, Jennifer Lynn Barnes has crafted a novel that is totally addictive and she makes me like – nay love – things I usually hate. Like love triangles. Of course, it is a love triangle involving two Hawthorne boys and a girl who doesn’t have time for either of them, so what’s not to love. But the romance is really just a small part of the book. We readers are taken on a thrilling ride as Avery recovers from the news she received in the last book. One puzzle might have been solved, but there are so many more still to unravel.

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Book Review: The Infamous Frankie Lorde – Stealing Greenwich

October 7, 2020 / / 0 Comments

The Infamous Frankie Lorde: Stealing Greenwich – Brittany Geragotelis – Pixel+ink – Published 6 October 2020

 

♥♥♥♥/♥

 

Synopsis

Frankie Lorde and her dad have been a team for as long as Frankie can remember. Being a tutor under the man responsible for some of the world’s biggest heists has given Frankie a unique perspective on the world. And a special set of life skills. Frankie can spot an FBI agent in a second. Pick a lock in two seconds. Steal a Bugatti in three. Then dad is arrested.

Frankie is sent to live with her uncle, her dad’s brother who she barely knows, and is, ironically a cop. Now Frankie has to go to middle school, learn what suburban kids wear and eat. But also ironically, Frankie is in Greenwich, CT, one of the richest towns in America. Seeing the starkness of super rich and the super not rich who support the community gives Frankie an idea. How to use her skills for doing good, to even the score…

My thoughts

Looking for a middle grade heist novel? Stealing Greenwich is a whole lot of fun and Frankie Lorde might just be the heroine you are looking for. She’s smart, clever, very good at disguises and knows how to run a con. This is the first book in a new and exciting series. With a good moral understory to justify the heists, this is a fun story for middle-grade readers, perfect for fans of Ally Carter’s Heist Society and heist novels.

Frankie Lorde and her dad are a team, taking on heists all around the world. When her father is captured and jailed, Frankie is sent to live with her uncle. Her uncle who is a cop. He has just a few house rules, one of which is no illegal activity. For Frankie, the plan is to stay off everyone’s radar, survive middle school and wait until her dad is released. But when her uncle takes a case that seems horribly unfair, Frankie decides to do a bit of investigating. Maybe she can turn her skills to a good cause?

I really enjoyed this novel. It is clearly the first in a series and sets up what we need to know about Frankie. The heist action doesn’t start until much later in the story. I did like that, while Frankie and her dad steal for profit, the case Frankie takes on in Greenwich is for the greater good, with no personal gain for herself. It raises a point about morals – stealing from the rich to benefit the poor, stealing from someone who is corrupt, opens up some great points that would be perfect for discussion.

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Book Review: The Inheritance Games

September 7, 2020 / / 0 Comments

The Inheritance Games – Jennifer Lynn Barnes – The Inheritance Games #1 – Little, Brown Books, – Published 1 September 2020

 

♥♥♥♥♥

 

Synopsis

Avery Grambs has a plan for a better future: survive high school, win a scholarship, and get out. But her fortunes change in an instant when billionaire Tobias Hawthorne dies and leaves Avery virtually his entire fortune. The catch? Avery has no idea why–or even who Tobias Hawthorne is. To receive her inheritance, Avery must move into sprawling, secret passage-filled Hawthorne House, where every room bears the old man’s touch–and his love of puzzles, riddles, and codes.

Unfortunately for Avery, Hawthorne House is also occupied by the family that Tobias Hawthorne just dispossessed. This includes the four Hawthorne grandsons: dangerous, magnetic, brilliant boys who grew up with every expectation that one day, they would inherit billions. Heir apparent Grayson Hawthorne is convinced that Avery must be a con-woman, and he’s determined to take her down. His brother, Jameson, views her as their grandfather’s last hurrah: a twisted riddle, a puzzle to be solved. Caught in a world of wealth and privilege, with danger around every turn, Avery will have to play the game herself just to survive.

My thoughts

And once again Jennifer Lynn Barnes proves why she is one of my top favourite authors. The Inheritance Games just grabbed me right from the first page and didn’t let go until, before I knew it, the book was over, my mind was blown and I wanted to start all over again.

Mystery, secrets, hidden passage ways, billions and billions of dollars, murder, revenge, cute boys (who are, thankfully, not Avery’s half-brothers) and a treasure hunt that promises answers…maybe.

Avery Grambs knows how to stay invisible. Do well in school but not so well that people notice her or notice that she is currently sleeping in her car to stay away from her sister’s boyfriend. She has a plan for college and a secure job for the future. Then a mysterious boy appears and demands her presence at a will reading. She has been left an inheritance by one of the richest men in America. He has left his billions of dollars to her and not his two daughters or four grandsons. To claim her inheritance, Avery must live for a year in his massive mansion, complete with more secret tunnels, passageways and compartments than a girl knows what to do with, and a family who would rather see her dead than living in the house they thought was theirs.

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Book Review: Little White Lies

October 21, 2018 / / 7 Comments

Little White Lies – Jennifer Lynn Barnes – Freeform – Published 6 November 2018

♥♥♥♥

 

Synopsis

Eighteen-year-old auto mechanic Sawyer Taft did not expect her estranged grandmother to show up at her apartment door and offer her a six-figure contract to participate in debutante season. And she definitely never imagined she would accept. But when she realizes that immersing herself in her grandmother’s “society” might mean discovering the answer to the biggest mystery of her life-her father’s identity-she signs on the dotted line and braces herself for a year of makeovers, big dresses, bigger egos, and a whole lot of bless your heart. The one thing she doesn’t expect to find is friendship, but as she’s drawn into a group of debutantes with scandalous, dangerous secrets of their own, Sawyer quickly discovers that her family isn’t the only mainstay of high society with skeletons in their closet. There are people in her grandmother’s glittering world who are not what they appear, and no one wants Sawyer poking her nose into the past. As she navigates the twisted relationships between her new friends and their powerful parents, Sawyer’s search for the truth about her own origins is just the beginning.

My thoughts

I would usually steer away from books about Debutante balls and the drama that might accompany such events, but Little White Lies is written by Jennifer Lynn Barnes, so instead it became one of my most anticipated reads of 2018. And it did not disappoint. Only Barnes could create such a setting and accompany it with breathless tension and mystery, expertly combined with humour and good old insult-laden compliments.

Sawyer Taft has never known who her father is – her mother refused to speak of him or the life she left behind. But when Sawyer’s maternal grandmother makes a sudden appearance, she promises both answers and a whole lot of money if Sawyer will agree to live with her for nine months and become a Debutante. While trying to find her own answers about her mother’s past and her unknown father, Sawyer becomes entangled in another mystery, all while juggling brunch, dress fittings, and the special kind of horror that is a spa day.

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Book Review: Everless

November 29, 2017 / / 0 Comments

Everless – Sara Holland – Hachette Australia – Published 27 December 2017 (January 2018 US)

♥♥♥

 

Synopsis

 Time is a prison. She is the key. Packed with danger, temptation and desire – a perfect read for fans of The Red Queen. In the land of Sempera, the rich control everything – even time. Ever since the age of alchemy and sorcery, hours, days and years have been extracted from blood and bound to iron coins. The rich live for centuries; the poor bleed themselves dry.Jules and her father are behind on their rent and low on hours. To stop him from draining himself to clear their debts, Jules takes a job at Everless, the grand estate of the cruel Gerling family.

There, Jules encounters danger and temptation in the guise of the Gerling heir, Roan, who is soon to be married. But the web of secrets at Everless stretches beyond her desire, and the truths Jules must uncover will change her life for ever … and possibly the future of time itself.

My thoughts

What if time was money? What if the only way to pay your debts was to drain time from your body? Everless is a creative and original fantasy novel that takes alchemy and sorcery and speculates what would happen if it was possible to turn blood into coin.

Jules knows only hunger and a desperate fear that she will be unable to stop her father using the last of his time to pay off their mounting debts. It wasn’t always like this. Once, she and her father lived at the grand Everless estate – as servants, but never hungry or drained of their time. But they had to flee Everless and now her father insists they must stay hidden from the Gerling family. When the opportunity arises to return to Everless for work, Jules can’t resist, especially as she feels it is the only chance to save her father’s dwindling time. However, what she discovers at the Everless estate will change forever her life and how she views her family and her future.

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Book Review: Lucky In Love

June 30, 2017 / / 0 Comments

Lucky In Love – Kasie West – Scholastic – Published 25 July 2017

♥♥♥♥

 

 

Synopsis

Maddie doesn’t believe in luck. She’s all about hard work and planning ahead. But one night, on a whim, she buys a lottery ticket. And then, to her astonishment —

She wins!

In a flash, Maddie’s life is unrecognizable. No more stressing about college scholarships. Suddenly, she’s talking about renting a yacht. And being in the spotlight at school is fun… until rumors start flying, and random people ask her for loans. Now, Maddie isn’t sure who she can trust.

Except for Seth Nguyen, her funny, charming coworker at the local zoo. Seth doesn’t seem aware of Maddie’s big news. And, for some reason, she doesn’t want to tell him. But what will happen if he learns her secret?

My thoughts

Kasie West has, once again, given readers a simply delightful novel. One where you just have to smile and hug the novel (be it in paperback form or on one’s iPad) to your chest and spin around gleefully. I loved every second of this novel about a girl who wins everything but learns that the things truly worth winning come from hard work.

Maddie knows the meaning of hard work. She studies constantly, aiming for the best marks so she can go to college and hopefully earn a scholarship. She also works, trying to support her family both financially and emotionally. Alone on her birthday she is impulsively talked into buying a lottery ticket. And wins! Suddenly her life is completely different, her mother can quit her long-hours job, her father no longer has to worry about being unemployed, they won’t have to sell their family home, and her brother can go back to college. But soon, the problems start. Everyone wants something from her. Maddie doesn’t know who to trust. Her one solace is Seth, her work colleague at the zoo, friend, and someone who maybe, (dare she hope) likes her as much as she likes him. But she is scared to tell Seth about her lottery win for fear she will lose him, too.

I instantly connected with Maddie. We share the same nickname, after all. She is a hard working and studious girl, far more interested in her grades than her clothes and she constantly worries about her family. Winning the lottery is a curve ball for her. It’s not something she wants, but she does see how it could help the people around her, particularly her family. Maddie also has a wonderful, dry sense of humour.

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