Review: Games Untold - Short Stories - An Inheritance Games Collection - Jennifer Lynn Barnes - November 2024 I've been a Jennifer Lynn Barnes fan for longer than I care to admit it all started back in the early 2000s when I picked up Tattoo and was completely swept away. Since then I've devoured everything she's written, but it's The Inheritance Games universe that truly has my heart. And honestly? Choosing a favourite Hawthorne brother is impossible. Xander's humour has me snorting with laughter, Nash's old-fashioned gentlemanly ways make me swoon, Grayson's fierce loyalty makes me feel so safe, and Jameson oh, Jameson with those romantic gestures and that deliciously mysterious streak. They each hold a little piece of my reader's heart. So when I took  Games Untold off my bookshelf  for the Readers Retreat I attended in Taupo last weekend, I knew exactly how I'd be spending my downtime. Curled up, cup of tea in hand, utterly lost in the Hawthorne...

Review: Ms Pennypickle's Puzzle Quest - Chris Grabenstein - October 2025 Oh, this one had me grinning from the first page. You know how some books just feel like summer? Like the literary equivalent of a road trip with the windows down and a cooler full of snacks? That's exactly what Chris Grabenstein has served up with Ms. Pennypickle's Puzzle Quest, and I am absolutely here for it. Think The Amazing Race but make it tween fiction, Route 66, and absolutely brimming with riddles. At the heart of this romp are brothers Ben and Ethan Broderick, who couldn't be more different if they tried. Twelve-year-old Ben is the kind of kid who'd rather spend a Saturday mastering a retro arcade game than breathe fresh air, while older brother Ethan is all sports, friends, and cool. The one thing they do share? An equal and very relatable resentment of being dragged on a family road trip. (Honestly, same.) But here...

Review: Glorious Rivals - Book #2 The Grandest Games Series - Jennifer Lynn Barnes - July 2025 If you’ve been around The Phantom Paragrapher for any length of time, you know that Jennifer Lynn Barnes is one of my absolute favorite authors. Usually, her books are "one-sitting" reads for me—I fly through the puzzles and the prose like my life depends on it. However, I have to be honest with you all: Glorious Rivals was a bit of a strange experience In this latest installment of the Inheritance Games saga, we are whisked away to Hawthorne Island. Seven players have arrived, each carrying their own heavy baggage of secrets and motivations, all desperate to win "The Grandest Game." The stakes are exactly what we’ve come to expect from this series: millions of dollars are on the line, but so are hearts and lives. The players are forced into a high-octane race to solve a myriad of mysteries while trying to survive the increasingly dangerous twists and turns of the is...

Review: The Grandest Game - Book #1 The Grandest Game Series - Jennifer Lynn Barnes - July 2024 Jennifer Lynn Barnes is back with a brilliant new spin-off in The Inheritance Games universe, and The Grandest Game does not disappoint. Building on the foundations laid in The Brothers Hawthorne , this novel introduces a thrilling escape-room style competition—crafted by none other than Avery Grambs and Jameson Hawthorne—that’s equal parts mystery, strategy, and high-stakes drama. Seven golden tickets. Seven competitors. One life-changing fortune. The premise is simple but irresistible: anyone lucky (or clever) enough to secure a ticket is invited to an exclusive island for the chance to win unimaginable wealth. But true to Barnes’ signature style, not everything is as it seems. Each player enters with secrets and motives, and as the challenges grow more complex, the tension reaches boiling point. What makes The Grandest Game shine is its dynamic blend of old and new. Fans of the origi...

Review : In The Way - Book #2 An Elle Keen Mystery - Ava Strong - April 2024 Ava Strong’s In The Way is a gripping psychological thriller that brings a literary twist to the serial killer genre. When iconic death scenes from classic literature begin unfolding in real life, FBI Agent Elle Keen must unravel the clues and outsmart a murderer who is using books as inspiration for their deadly crimes. One of the standout aspects of this novel is its ability to be read as a standalone, despite being part of a series. As someone who often finds myself accidentally reading books out of order (no matter how hard I try not to! LOL), I truly appreciate when an author crafts a story that doesn’t leave me feeling lost. This made In The Way even more enjoyable, as I could fully immerse myself in the mystery without needing prior knowledge of the series. Elle Keen is a phenomenal protagonist—sharp, intuitive, and deeply compelling. Her knack for decoding puzzles and literary references makes her th...

Review: Indescribable - Activity Book - Louie Giglio with Tama Fortner - April 2023 God's love for our children and the world around us is amazing and indescribable as this activity book from Louie Giglio proclaims. Filled with over 150+ activities from puzzles, STEM, experiments, and quizzes. This book has something for every child and is perfect for those aged between 6-12 years old. Though most of the activities are not Christian orientated which means anyone will enjoy this book, most of them do have a Christian spin from a join-the-dot Seahorse picture that talks about God making the sea animals to a quiz about who lives where and God providing everyone with the shelter that they need. Growing up in a Christian household myself and attending Sunday School, doing the Maori Postal Sunday School correspondence lessons - Indescribable would have been the perfect activity book for me growing up. The other thing I love is that each page is brightly and colorfully decorated and this...

Review: The Final Gambit - Book #3 The Inheritance Games Series - Jennifer Lynn Barnes - August 2022 This is an author that I do enjoy and I had been enjoying this series, but have to admit out of all the books. This particular one though it was the end, it didn't have the same enjoyment for me as the other two. Avery is dating Jackson even though she really should be with Grayson and he was around here and there but not really - he was quite distant in this book and played the broody Bryronic character role. Xander is the best friend brother who finally meets his father and Nash - the older brother is dating Avery's sister Libby. This book starts with Toby being kidnapped and one of his daughters Eve turning up and asking for Avery's help. The thing though is she is the spitting image of Emily which puts Grayson into even more of a spin as of course his world previously revolved around Emily. Can Avery figure out who has Toby and at the same time continue playing The Inh...