September 2023 Not First in a Series BOTM - The Brothers Hawthorne by Jennifer Lynn Barnes

[Alaina]

Four brothers. Two missions. One explosive read. Jennifer Lynn Barnes returns to the world of her #1 bestselling Inheritance Games trilogy, and the stakes have never been higher.

Grayson Hawthorne was raised as the heir apparent to his billionaire grandfather, taught from the cradle to put family first. Now the great Tobias Hawthorne is dead and his family disinherited, but some lessons linger. When Grayson’s half-sisters find themselves in trouble, he swoops in to do what he does best: take care of the problem—efficiently, effectively, mercilessly. And without getting bogged down in emotional entanglements.

Jameson Hawthorne is a risk-taker, a sensation-seeker, a player of games. When his mysterious father appears and asks for a favor, Jameson can’t resist the challenge. Now he must infiltrate London’s most exclusive underground gambling club, which caters to the rich, the powerful, and the aristocratic, and win an impossible game of greatest stakes. Luckily, Jameson Hawthorne lives for impossible.

Drawn into twisted games on opposite sides of the globe, Grayson and Jameson—with the help of their brothers and the girl who inherited their grandfather’s fortune—must dig deep to decide who they want to be and what each of them will sacrifice to win.

**This BOTM thread will be open until October 5th @ Midnight (in your time zone)**

[Jessica]

chapter fifteen
(view spoiler)[ this is an interesting set up. it's fun to be in Jamison and Grayon's heads. I'm curious and nervous about what's going on with Grayson's half sisters. As for Jamison I need to know what happened in Prague, but I know it would be too easy to tell me now and I'm sure I won't find out until right near the end. (hide spoiler)]
Even though I only read the series about a month ago I managed to forget a lot of things. It's slowly coming back as I read more but it wouldn't surprise me if I miss obvious things.

[Jessica]

I finished last night. Overall the pacing of this one was slower and I didn't have that same I must know what happens next that led me to inhale in the series originally. In my opinion, it's the weakest of the series, but I did still enjoy it.
(view spoiler)[ Well, I was right about the secret, the very last Jameson chapter. Honestly, it was a bit of a letdown we've already done the people who were thought dead are alive thing before. I thought it was something that was going to affect his relationship with Avery or he had done something bad. Not that. Clearly, it will have more of a role in the next book, and maybe that will change my mind on it, we will see.
I'm also not sure how I felt about the game, parts of it were fun but I didn't really feel the stakes. I'm also still not sure about some of the players and their motivations. What was the MP's endgame, who all had alliances? I also felt like in the other games things weren't as easy, but we got there along with the characters and then it made sense. Here they got the clues and Jameson near immediately figured it all out in a way that I was not following. (hide spoiler)]

[Jessica]

Now Grayson's POV was the highlight for me, and the story I enjoyed the most
(view spoiler)[ So I love the twins, Savannah's boyfriend sucks and I hope she dumps him. The lawyer trying to make Acacia dependent on him was a fun twist. And omg Gigi, what a standout character. From her being drunk on a single mimosa, to all her schemes, to the hilarious we're dating cover. Just such a gem.
The Eve stuff seemed to just be there as a red herring until the end, then it was like oh okay this will be big in the next book, got it.
And the caller, I don't know how I feel about that. I was utterly confused by it at first until she told him what had happened. I still think it's weird but again probably set up for the next book.
I hope the next book is more Grayson-focused, he had the more interesting story and everything seems to be building to a big shake up for him. I just hope it's not drawn out for side stories, what I have loved about these books is how tight and fast paced they were. In this one the dual POV and not connected stories took that away. (hide spoiler)]

[Gwen]

I had finished the trilogy earlier this year, so I was super confused about which brother was which at first.

Jessica wrote: "chapter fifteen..." (view spoiler)[ it's low-key frustrating when authors hint at something like Prague that happened in the past, but don't give details - it almost always is relevant to the issue at hand (view spoiler)[ (hide spoiler)] (hide spoiler)]

[Gwen]

Chapter 42

It definitely seems to be slower than the other books - I'm 40% through and it seems to be taking forever

[Kira]

I liked this one.

Chapter 1-18: (view spoiler)[This is not as much fun as the other books in the series, it feels like the author is simply stretching the books for no reason. Jameson's dad definitely manipulated him for using him for the club and I was frustrated by how easy it was for him to do so. The brothers' upbringing is a cruel one imo with them always having to play games to gain anything in life. I loved Gigi instantly and it would be interesting to see how Grayson goes from using them to genuinely caring for his half sisters which is inevitable imo (hide spoiler)]

Chapter 19-38: (view spoiler)[I am wondering who the girl who keeps calling Grayson is and why does she blame him for her dad's suicide. Gigi is definitely smarter than Grayson gave her credit for, and now that she knows the number of the box, it won't be long before she digs into what happened to her father. I understand why Grayson needs to contain that but it got to be upsetting not knowing where your dad is. Jameson's father turning out to be an earl's son was an unexpected development, let's see how he wins back Vantage (hide spoiler)]

Chapter 39-60: (view spoiler)[I am finding Grayson's chapters much more intersesting than Jameson's maybe because I do not have much left to say about the mind games these hawthorne brothers always find themselves smack in the middle of. them. Grayson's dad keeing an eye on him since he was a baby sounded very peculiar considering he never wanted anything to do with him. Seeing Gigi realise everything was kinda heartbreaking but then she got drunk on ONE mimosa and that made me laugh ngl (hide spoiler)]

Chapter 61-80: (view spoiler)[Zella turned out to be a bigger player in this book than I staked her out to be, it's impressive. I enjoyed the game of keys and boxes enough but realised I kept looking forward to Grayson's chapters more. His dad was kind of a scoundrel, the journal proved it. I feel bad that he is still deceiving his sisters in a way and they don't deserve it, even their mom Acacia was so sweet to him, sweeter than his own mom undoubtedly. Not sure what Eve is playing at and now that we are almost at the end, I am afraid we won't be getting all of the answers (hide spoiler)]

Finished: (view spoiler)[That ending was everything and undoubtedly prompted me to immediately put the next book on my TBR shelf lol. I hated how hurt Gigi was upon learning the truth but then she forgave Grayson and idk why even though she and Savannah are twins, I still view Gigi as the little kid of the family. The lawyer turned out to be such an evil manipulator. I loved how Jameson won the game. From the last few chapters, it's clear the next book is going to be a showdown between Hawthornes and Eve and I am quite excited for it ngl (hide spoiler)]

[Alaina]

Today is the LAST day to comment on this thread!

[Gwen]

(view spoiler)[ I'm enjoying how Grayson is becoming more soft as he spends more time with his sisters. I doubt he will ever tell them the truth about their father, but hopefully he can help them and become even closer with his new family (view spoiler)[ (hide spoiler)] (hide spoiler)]

[Gwen]

(view spoiler)[ While I understand Jameson's reasoning for going along with his father's plan, I'm glad he realized that he didn't need his father. Even though I felt like this didn't need to be a continuation of the series, I mostly enjoyed it, and can't wait to read The Grandest Game. Plus, I'm hoping Grayson gives his grandmother's ring to Jameson for Avery (view spoiler)[ (hide spoiler)] (hide spoiler)]