sgesges-current-reads

[sgesges-current-reads]

Here is my fourth and probably last The Final Gambit update. After the last post I feel the need to clarify that this is not a review, it’s not very nuanced at all, it’s basically just word vomit of my opinions. The quality will be questionable but hopefully this will be at least somewhat entertaining. If you are not particularly interested in reading me complain and celebrate random details feel free to keep scrolling. Now honestly I don’t mind debates in my comments as long as they are good natured and don’t include rude behavior and such. Moving on, this will have spoilers for chapter 68 to the end.

Spoilers below

⬇️⬇️⬇️⬇️⬇️

⬇️⬇️⬇️⬇️⬇️

“It was never just the idea of you, Avery.” This might be the only Grayson Avery crumb I get

“That sonofabitch” My thoughts exactly Nash, now I get everything the boys ever said about the old man, I’d hate him too.

“And now that Gray is okay,” Jameson said close behind me, “now that he’s so delightfully human and ready to move on from Emily…” “Don’t finish that question.” Again, if this isn’t the most toxic relationship ever

For a second there I thought Avery was gonna bet her entire fortune on the chess game but then I remembered she’s not a stupid idiot

Nevermind! She really is a stupid idiot! The deal was that if Eve lost both matches she’d have to serve someone, if she won one she’d get a seal, and if she won both she’d get all five seals. If Toby lost both he’d be stuck with the Blakes, if he won one he’d be able to leave but he’d have to admit he was alive, and if he won both he’d get to leave freely. If Avery lost both she’d give Blake a blank check, if she won one he’d release Grayson and not take anyone hostage again, and if she won both he’d also keep Sheffield Grayson a secret. This is basically just the prisoners dilemma to anyone familiar with it, the most logical thing to do is to let each of them win one, sure it’s not perfect and things would blow up but it’s the only solution. But what does Avery do? She beats Toby, sentencing him to life as a Blake 🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️

Shes a double stupid idiot because she did actually bet her fortune on this, it payed off but still, if she doesn’t find a way to free Toby I’m gonna be so, so mad

I only have 2 chapters left! How is this gonna be fixed in 2 chapters!? Also if Grayson hasn’t happened yet I don’t see it happening 😒

😐 not going to lie with the huge buildup I expected the big announcement to be something more interesting then Avery giving away the majority of her money

Oh I love how she’s making her own game

I’m reading the B&N exclusive chapters and Tiramisu Panini Hawthorne is the cutest thing ever.

“Grayson Hawthorne drew the line at eyeliner. Or at least, that was where he drew the line until Thea brought in reinforcements.” Okay at least Gray is doing better

Well, I finished it. Toby is still a Blake. Team Grayson is still dead.

Ngl I’m pretty disappointed by the ending of this. I liked book 1 and 2 more, I did not like how Grayson was basically tortured throughout this and how in my opinion Jameson had some toxic aspects. At least I can sleep at night knowing that Xanders dad is NICE. Though I’m not sure if we will ever know who Jamesons dad is, imagine Jennifer reveals one day that you have to solve a riddle imbedded in the books to figure out who his dad is or something, would be very on brand for Jameson. Still debating my star rating so it’s not set in stone yet but at the moment it’s ⭐️⭐️⭐️ stars.

[sgesges-current-reads]

Below is my third update of The Final Gambit, very sorry this is a day late, yesterday The School for Good and Evil’s trailer and a bunch of stills came out so I was very distracted. This will have spoilers for chapter 54-67.

Spoilers below

⬇️⬇️⬇️⬇️

⬇️⬇️⬇️⬇️

“Was it three-dimensional?” Does this mean Xanders dad is nice? Please tell me this means Xanders dad is nice

“You’re saying that you wanted me?” I have tears in my eyes 🥹, thank goodness at least one of the Hawthorne boys has a good dad.

“I just want to finish this doughnut and eat his four best doughnut-y friends and congratulate myself for probably not vomiting” don’t we all Xander

“What’s wrong with me? You’re the one who locked me in the world’s most bejeweled escape room!” “To keep you safe” “You’re not supposed to keep me anything! I’m not going to stay locked up here, and it is not your place to lock me up. I don’t need your protection.” “This is what you want! It’s what you’ve always wanted. An arrogant, duty-bound asshole who tries to be honorable and would die to protect the girl he loves. I’m not Grayson” “I don’t want you to be,” I said, pleading—for what, I wasn’t even sure. “Yes, you do. I love you. I would die to protect you. I would make you hate me to keep you safe because damn it, Avery—some things are too precious to gamble. This is who I want to be,” Jameson said, his voice hoarse, “for you.” MANIPULATIVE ANNOYING LITTLE 🤬! How did Jameson fall so far? He somehow attempted to justify locking her in a room, accused her of wanting his brother, and said he would die for her all in one argument. Yes I took out some of the things he said here that were more positive but I’m not going to copy down the whole argument, so I just put the parts that infuriated me. Maybe I’m the only person who wouldn’t find it flattering if someone said they would die to protect me right after they said I wanted someone like their brother.

“Clearly I was wrong about you” The way I just gasped! GRAYSON DAVENPORT HAWTHORNE! He is letting Eve manipulate him so much!

“You know that this isn’t about Grayson and me, tell me you know that, Jameson.” “I know,” he replied, “that I love you, and despite all odds, you love me” right when she needs reassurance he makes it about him! The bois are thoroughly ruined 😣

“It was always going to be you” “It’s times like this, Heiress, that I wish I’d fallen in love with a girl who wasn’t quite so good at bluffing.” If this isn’t the most toxic relationship ever 🫣

Well, it’s all coming together. I guess it’s time for Avery to get her grave digging boots*

Of course Eve has a gun! Damn I keep forgetting they are in Texas

*please tell me someone gets that reference

[sgesges-current-reads]

Welcome to my second The Final Gambit update, this one is much more interesting then the first one. I read a lot since the last update so expect spoilers of chapter 15-53.

Spoilers below

Keep scrolling down

⬇️⬇️⬇️

“When I have a baby,” came the deep, heart-shattering reply, “she’ll be my whole world. “she?” “I can picture Lib with a little girl.” I’ve been sleeping on Nash, this is heartbreakingly sweet 🥺😭

“know about the wine cellar, Heiress” TELL ME WHAT HAPPENED IN THE WINE CELLAR

“Trustworthiness has never really been my thing, Heiress” okay so nothing happened in the wine cellar, Jameson is just turning into an ick

Wait wait wait, are we just brushing over the fact that Nash just brought a puppy home?

“Is this your father?” I said gently. “Isaiah Alexander?” Xander turned to look at me. Then, as if coming to a very serious decision, he lifted his hand and pressed one finger to the end of my nose. “Boop.” I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, Jennifer Lynn Barnes is a PRO at writing brothers

Gold star for Nash ⭐️, he saved a puppy from mean people

This is getting bad, has anyone thought about getting counseling for Grayson?

Graysons being a little 💩 again, “Tell her not to go.” This was the tone he’d used with me right after I’d inherited, the one made for warnings and threats. “I mean it, Avery.” Grayson looked at me. I expected his eyes to be icy or blazing, but they were neither. “I have never asked for anything from you.” MANIPULATIVE LITTLE 🤬

I need fan art of Tiramisu immediately

“This is Nash’s doing, I presume?” Alisa reached out to stroke the puppy’s ear. “Fair warning,” she told the pup softly, “Nash Hawthorne has never loved anything he didn’t leave.” Alisa, this is a puppy, not a venting machine

Now Jameson has taken the role of little 💩, I don’t know if you were never taught this, Jamie, but when we don’t want someone to do something we TALK, we don’t lock them in a room!

Why are Grayson and Jameson so 🤢 in this book? The only relief from them is Tiramisu.

[sgesges-current-reads]

Here’s my first The Final Gambit update. Like most of my book updates this was supposed to go up this morning but my car was literally stuck in a flash flood on the way back home from something, if there’s one thing Chicago does it floods, so I apologize in advance for the lack of editing. This update may be full of spoilers! It depends what you consider a spoiler, but I will be reacting to events in the first 14 chapters.

Spoilers ahead

Keep scrolling down for the update

Why is Grayson being a little 💩 not talking to her since he went to Harvard smh 🤦‍♀️

“Hawthornes aren’t supposed to break” noooo Grayson

Oh what a mess. Eve is here, Grayson spots her and thinks he’s a hallucinating (kudos to him for not passing out, that’s what I thought was about to happen), Avery let’s her shower in her shower, Grayson walks past Jameson in Avery’s bed! Jameson asks to be filled in while he’s not wearing a shirt! Poor Grayson, I’d say F it and go live with my murderous mother

Why is Grayson the one who had to give Jameson a shirt? I don’t expect anything from Jameson other then for him to flaunt the fact that he wasn’t wearing one in the first place but COME ON Avery

I’m about to die. Grayson says Eve is one of them the day he meets her when it took weeks for him to say it about Avery? I know he’s seemingly mentally not doing so well rn but is his arc to fall in love with her? This is wrong on so many levels

Well he kissed a girl at Harvard, not sure if that’s a good thing or not yet, Avery does NOT get to be upset about this though

“It also wouldn’t be the worst time to tell me that you aren’t jealous of Eve standing that close to Grayson.” Now I kind of feel bad for Jameson too, is this whole book going to be me feeling sorry for the bois?

Nash is buying cowboy hats for Libby?! 💀😭

“You hired someone.” Jameson’s eyes narrowed. “With what money?” “Invest. Cultivate. Create.” Is Jameson the only brother who didn’t make good investments? Because we already know Xander made great investments, based on this Grayson’s went pretty well, knowing Nash his went at least okay, and knowing Jameson his were a big flop

All in all, this was somewhat of a boring update, I know, but tomorrow's update is more interesting. Right now I'm just really annoyed because Grayson is falling apart (not that I'm exactly sure why), Jameson is being a jealous ick, and we haven't seen enough of Nash and Xander. At this point I don't even care if Grayson isn't endgame I just want him to have a CHANCE!

[sgesges-current-reads]

First The Final Gambit update going up tomorrow

[sgesges-current-reads]

Reading update: I know I’ve had “Starting The Final Gambit Soon” At the top of my page for a while now, my original plan was to skim book 1 reread book 2 and then start it, which I’m doing but it all just got delayed. I have the book, I will hopefully start it in a few days. I was planning on starting it the day I got it but I’ve been putting a ton of time and energy into college, so my entire reading schedule got pushed back (I’m down to 1 book ahead of schedule on my goodreads goal and you best believe I will fight tooth and nail to not fall behind).

[sgesges-current-reads]

I just finished The Hawthorne Legacy and I have so many mixed emotions but here's my last update on it

•Did a bomb just explode? Was that a bomb?

•”Clear!” “Clear!” ARE THEY SHOCKING HER HEART

•“Avery was dying, and you couldn’t run toward her.” “What do you want from me, Jamie?” “You think I didn’t fight the same fight? I halfway convinced myself that as long as Avery was just a riddle or a puzzle, as long as I was just playing, I’d be fine. Well, joke’s on me, because somewhere along the way, I stopped playing.” Nooooo Avery is barely alive and she’s pulled the boys apart 😭

•So Ricky is her father!?

•“I came to see you, every day. The least you could have done was wake up while I was here, tragically backlit, unspeakably handsome, and waiting.” How DARE you Avery

•“You don’t have to kiss me now. You don’t have to love me now, Heiress. But when you’re ready… When you’re ready, if you’re ever ready, if it’s going to be me—just flip that disk. Heads, I kiss you. Tails, you kiss me. And either way, it means something.” THIS! This is what I want from every fictional love interest ever 👏 thank you Jameson!

•Thea strikes again 😠, just when I was starting to trust her

•Toby’s story with her mom and how Avery was born is so sad but at least now I know her name wasn’t random. I don't know if it's comforting or unsettling that Toby came up with her name because it's an anagram, and then Tobias randomly met her and like her name. I think they are a lot more similar then they thought

•”You sound just like her. I never could win an argument with Hannah. Some people are smart. Some people are good. And some people are both.” 😢 don’t leave Toby!

•”It’s not the disk,” but sometimes you have to improvise.” At least they settled that. Idk if I'm team Jameson or Grayson now! Honestly, I don't care who ends up with Avery in The Final Gambit, as long as one of them isn't made into a terrible person to make the other one seem better

•I REALLY hope Jameson and Xander get to meet their dads in The Final Gambit, Xander seems like he’s already figuring it out himself so hopefully that will work out. Please! Let their dads be decent human beings

•nooooo now I have to wait until August 30th

I give both books ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ stars, I don't know if I'll be able to survive 23 days

[sgesges-current-reads]

Welcome to the second The Hawthorne Legacy update, this series moves fast so like 30 things happened since my last update, but below are the most interesting (and spiciest) things that happened

•JAMESON IS IN THE HOT TUB

•“This isn’t real” “Feels real to me” “Nothing ever feels real to you this… us… It doesn’t have to be anything other than what it is. No messy feelings. No obligations. No promises. No expectations.” “Just this” why do they have to do this to each other? 😕

•Idk what’s cooking with Xander and Max but I support it

•Why is the riddle Toby wrote kind of fire? The only part I retained is “the tree is poison don’t you see? It poisoned S and Z and me” but still

•We are up to Jameson kiss number 3, does Grayson even exist anymore? I still think I like Grayson more but he’s really not doing much atm

•Strip bowling, this series is spicing up very fast 🌶

•damn Avery avert your eyes, or look at Grayson, the Grayson shippers are breathing their last breaths

•“This should probably be in a museum, but my brothers and I like to hit things with it instead” is this what rich brothers are like? Their response to everything is always either a beat down, a “hog tying” (courtesy of Nash) or just some type of vandalism

•FINALLY finally Grayson kissed her, of course he had to bring the ✨drama✨ but it wasn’t really his fault

•Her mom lied to her about her name, Avery can’t get a second of peace

•Imagine breaking down an actual wall with a single sledgehammer only for it to be put back up. Multiple times.

•Now I want a novella or something about Hannah and Toby, their story is so sad

[sgesges-current-reads]

Started the Hawthorne Legacy so here is my first update of that

•As someone who grew up with brothers that part with the sledgehammer was SO accurate

•I now hate Mrs. Laughlin, poor Avery just wanted a banana

•No but they couldn’t find a better way then just taking a sledgehammer at a wall 🤦‍♀️, ig they were doing it for the bit

•Toby is her DAD?! This girls entire life is being ripped apart piece by piece smh

•“While you and Jameson were playing WWF like eight-year-olds” Jennifer Lynn Barnes is a pro at writing brothers, the whole On Spake thing is accurate too

•THEY SPEAK LATIN?! I guess I should’ve expected it at this point, these boys are The Kabra Family from The 39 Clues in a different font

•“I glanced at Xander. The youngest Hawthorne’s eyebrows—well, eyebrow, really, since he’d burned the other one off—skyrocketed” wait I forgot he burned off his eyebrow 💀

•“I’m considering having another child. I’m young enough, still. Healthy. My sons have turned their backs on me. I deserve something of my own, don’t I?” Something, I thought, my heart aching for Jameson. Not someone. Someone admit this lady immediately

•SHES!!! WITH!!! AVERY’S!!! “DAD”?!?! I amend my past statement, this lady doesn’t need to be admitted she needs to be taken out, I mean WHAT A TRIP, I’ve never been so utterly abashed and enraged by a fictional side character

•Yes! My girl Max is here “Help me,” I mouthed at Max.“I would,” she whispered, “but there’s a waiter who just walked by, and he’s carrying shrimp!” I appreciate the honesty Max

•“You really should smile more, pretty girl.” “I’m not that pretty,” I said quietly. “And you’re not my father.” Avery is bringing the girl boss power

[sgesges-current-reads]

Welcome to my third and last The Inheritance Games book update

•Yup, Grayson is definitely a viable option. He dropped a glass of champagne cuz Ms. Grambs looked pretty

•NOPE! IT WASN’T BECAUSE SHE WAS PRETTY “That necklace. That dress” “Emily” CURSE YOU ALISA! LITERALLY GO GET TAKI POWDER IN UR EYES OR SOMETHING!

•IT WAS THEA! I DEESSSSPPIIISSSEEEE THIS GIRL “I told you the day we met that the Hawthorne family was a twisted, broken mess. I never said that I wasn’t one, too.” I feel you but like WTF

•At least Jameson wasn’t still in love with Emily when she died, or so he says.

•Her birthday… Is the day….. that Emily died……

•Well I can for sure tell that Jameson is NOT over Emily’s death

•“My mother, is a complicated woman. But she’s family.” Not a good excuse Grayson 🤦‍♀️

•“I won’t let anyone hurt you ever again. You have my word” idk how much his word is worth anymore ngl 🤨

•I might cry, please tell me the whole reason for all of this isn’t just her name

•I gotta respect Grayson for not letting Avery come between him and Jameson

•“She tried to have me killed.” Nan snorted. “Skye never did like getting her hands dirty herself. You ask me, if you’re going to kill someone, you should at least have the decency to do it yourself and do it right.” Mad respect for Nan

•Toby is Harry?! I KNEW that old dude meant something!

•Xander is giving slight villian vibes

I started The Hawthorne Legacy already so my first update of that should be up tomorrow

[sgesges-current-reads]

Below is my second update on the Inheritance Games, just as much randomness as the first update

•They are being shot at?!

•“It’s okay, Heiress, I’ve got you.” “I always knew you were special” *screams* I might be switching over to team Jameson idk

•“That’s the thing, Heiress. If Emily taught me anything, it’s that everything is a game. Even this. Especially this.” NO! Not him bringing up what I guess is his dead girlfriend right after he kissed Avery! 🥴

•“But she wasn’t nearly as good to those boys.” I just got a pit in my stomach, what does this mean?

•“She turned it into a competition. A little game” noooo 😔, what type of Katherine from the vampire diaries sh!t is this?!

•The Laughlin’s seem nice but I don’t think I’ll be able to get over how they treated Rebecca when she was little, telling her to make Emily smile

•Nash, 😭 wtf is a hog tying 😭

•Currently very annoyed with Jameson and Grayson for going to look at the Winchester rifles alone, I expected as much from Grayson but shame on you Jameson, it’s okay though Avery will pull through and beat both of them

•Nan’s husband… BROKE HER FINGERS?!? What the hell is this family!

•I really hope she was the one that orchestrated his tragic accident

Idk if I like Jameson or Grayson at this point, I do however like Nan

[sgesges-current-reads]

I just started the inheritance games so here's some of the thoughts I had reading the first bit of it, extreme chaos and randomness ahead

• I keep feeling bad for Avery but then remembering that she just got like…. billions upon billions of dollars presumably for nothing

• YESS LIBBY! DUMP HIM

•omg, every time Grayson gets angry and annoying I imagine his face going bright pink and now I’m just sitting here laughing about a head canon my brain randomly made up

•i love Xander and his scones

•Jameson needs to learn some basic social skills, not only did he barge into Avery’s room through the fireplace, I also keep reading his name as Jason so it’s just chaos overall

•WHO IS EMILY! I’m overly intrigued by this

•idk if the lawyers already did this but like seriously when is a financial plan going to be formed, I’m a little concerned with Libby spending a ton of money, she already bought some tech stuff, and I think it would take longer then her entire life to spend all the money but still

•I’m laughing way too much because literally every time Grayson appears I imagine his face approximately the color of a hotdog 😭, why am I like this?!

•I think all the boys are supposed to have southern accents, but in my head Nash is the only one with a southern accent, Jameson has an American accent, Grayson has a transatlantic accent, and I’m still deciding on Xander

•LEAVE DRAKE! G!E!T! T!H!E! H!E!L!L! O!U!T!

•is Grayson a viable option? He's starting to be nice to Avery, honestly, I think Xander is the best rn though, he likes scones and he was the first to be nice to her #prematurelyteamxander

[sgesges-current-reads]

🥴, so..... I just finished Crooked Kingdom and I don't want anyone biting my head off for this but I found both books in the series to be kind of overrated, maybe I say that a lot but I pick up hyped books a lot. I don't feel like writing about both books separately and I don’t have the energy to format this nicely so without further ado the mega numbered list:

1. I really liked the beginning of six of crows (the whole thing with Big Bolliger, not Joost, although may he rest in peace), i liked the high stakes, the vibes were there

2. JESPER MY LOVE! I’d read the entirety of both the books again just to make sure I have every word that comes out of Jespers mouth highlighted , he’s funny, loyal, the best character, he kind of reminds me of Hort from The School for Good and Evil if Hort wasn’t so busy chasing Sophie. My man has some faults, but I thought that the gambling was a very interesting depiction of what happens to grisha that try to suppress their powers, for some reason I was expecting an obscurus type thing but being restless to the point of being self destructive was interesting too

3. I don’t have much to say about Kaz, like I said earlier the vibes were there, I enjoyed the revenge storyline, I liked his development with Inej. Solid character overall

4. Inej is one of my favorite characters, she was extremely loyal even when that meant ignoring her morals for a moment, but she also knew what was right and wrong, I’m kind of mad that Inej in the show hadn’t killed anyone at the beginning, I understand why they did it but I felt like it removed from the pain she felt after every time she did something like that which I thought was an important part of her

5. WYLAN! I also love wylan, wesper forever, the amount of pride I felt every time he started to be “corrupted”, and when he threatened to push Kuwei into the water I actually stood up and celebrated for a second

6. I really don’t know what to say about Nina, I definitely preferred her in the first book when she would’ve smacked Matthias at any moment for being annoying, I liked her new power but I felt like a lot of Crooked Kingdom was spent being sorry for her, and obviously I see why that is but I just really didn’t like it, it made the book feel like it was dragging on

7. I’m sorry to everyone that really liked Matthias but I just found him kind of annoying, i also don’t feel like he developed that well by the end, there were a few chapters were he was trying to ignore what he was taught about Grisha being evil, but I feel like it was too little to late. I did however like how he still believed in the Druskelle until the end. Rest In Peace Matthias

8. Overall I loved the characters in the series, my biggest problem with Six of Crows was how confusing the ice court plan was, I understand it was a complicated multilevel plan but I’ve seen multiple other people who had problems with it as well, after reading SOC twice and going back to read parts multiple times I can confidentially say I understand most of it, and I just don’t think it makes sense to only somewhat understand such a big portion of the book.

9. My biggest problem with with Crooked Kingdom was just how it dragged on, especially in the middle, I had to keep reading one chapter and then putting it down, this is a problem I had with Shadow and Bone as well so maybe it’s just me but 🤷‍♀️

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ stars for both books

[sgesges-current-reads]

I haven’t posted on here in forever due to a reading slump and just life overall, but I did want to hop on here to tell anyone that doesn’t already know that The School for Good and Evil teaser just dropped, it’s everything I’ve been waiting for for years

[sgesges-current-reads]

I just finished ROTSGE and omg, I love Kyma and Marialena, I don’t like Rafal much but I despise Rhian and Hook, and THE ENDING! I did not see that coming at all, it’s making me doubt everything about the rest of the books, also SGEs geeked week day is in 5 days!

[sgesges-current-reads]

Update on what I’m reading: right now I’m rereading Six of Crows but I don’t think I’ll be posting much on here about that since it’s a reread. I’m gonna start Rise of The School for Good and Evil by Soman Chainani in 9 days (which is the day I get it) so that’s the next time you will probably hear from me, you can check out my School for Good and Evil blog at the pinned post. In the meantime I MIGHT read a few chapters in How the King of Elfhame Learned to Hate Fairytales but it’s been kind of hard to get into.

[sgesges-current-reads]

I’m going to hold off starting How the King of Elfhame Learned to Hate Fairytales for a few days so I can rest my brain from the series