23. The Inheritance Games

By Jennifer Lynn Barnes (386 pp ebook)

I listened to an interview with the author who studies why people connect with stories and I wanted to read her fiction. This book is about a young woman, Avery Grambs, who learns she has been chosen to inherit billions from complete stranger, Tobias Hawthorne, who has chosen her over his own family. She is swooped up and taken to the family mansion where she has to live for 1 year to collect the fortune. The family is in the mansion, too. They need to solve riddles and puzzles to figure out why Avery was chosen and Avery needs to adapt to her new circumstances and the danger that comes with it. It's a fast read. I know the technique of short chapters ending on a question keeps readers going but after awhile it felt choppy and I thought the characters were a little thin. Still fun.