The Final Gambit by Jennifer Lynn Barnes

Summary from Goodreads:

Avery’s fortune, life, and loves are on the line in the game that everyone will be talking about.

To inherit billions, all Avery Kylie Grambs has to do is survive a few more weeks living in Hawthorne House. The paparazzi are dogging her every step. Financial pressures are building. Danger is a fact of life. And the only thing getting Avery through it all is the Hawthorne brothers. Her life is intertwined with theirs. She knows their secrets and they know her.

But as the clock ticks down to the moment when Avery will become the richest teenager on the planet, trouble arrives in the form of a visitor who needs her help—and whose presence in Hawthorne House could change everything. It soon becomes clear that there is one last puzzle to solve, and Avery and the Hawthorne brothers are drawn into a dangerous game against an unknown and powerful player.

Review:

Part of what drew me to these books to begin with is the fact that this particular installment won the 2022 Goodreads Choice Award: Winner for Best Young Adult Fiction. I was like  oh, I really do need to read these books. The second book had a crazy, crazy ending. I can’t even believe I said before that I had trouble remembering it. In remembering this book, I am remembering how the one before ended…What is wrong with me? Book 2 was crazy. Seriously crazy.

I of course kind of predicted that a certain character would have to show up in this book. How could she not? I did not, however, predict her involvement in the plot. Just when you think you heard it all about one rich family and their schemes/games, then you learn about another one! There’s this chess match at the end that is so intense, I was literally standing up, reading it.

This author knows how to write suspense. Avery has gotten smarter. She does pick a boy in her triangle, finally…Questions are finally answered….And it reads like a final installment book. So, I was very surprised to learn that there appears to be one more book coming? Am I misreading this news? Maybe I’m wrong….But,  I think more is somehow coming out! Either way, I’ll read it because apparently this author knows how to write books that I just eat up like popcorn. It’s hard to just review her books 1 at a time and not for the series at large.

I’ve also been reading other books for a banned book club that are a little darker and I’ve been listening to some Adult audiobooks that are kind of sad, so having these fun YA books to keep me guessing have really been such a treat. I’m so glad I’ve had these books these past few weeks while moving and going through everything. YA books really have this ability to just relax my mind and keep me happy, and these books have really done that for me. I give this one a 10/10.