e-Audiobook, 09:30:24
Narrated by: Francesca Amewudah-Rivers
Release Date: June 30, 2026
Published by: HarperCollins
Read from: July 19-21, 2026
Stand-alone
Source: Audible and Netgalley (I received an e-ALC from the publisher and Netgalley after I had already used a credit to get it at Audible. This did nothing to influence my review.)
Content Warning: Death, Grief, Racism, Murder, Toxic Friendship, Classism
For Readers of: Audible, Audio, Contemporary, Sparkly Cover, Most Anticipated, Mystery, Realistic Fiction, Thrillers, YADerin’s acceptance into Cambridge University is the end of an era—just not the one she expected.
When she and her ultra-competitive Uni prep group, The Kenfield Set, were first invited to Professor Darnley’s summer ball, they planned on celebrating the group’s success surrounded by the riches of his historical Kenfield estate—not kicking off the festivities with the professor’s will reading.
But when the Darnley’s aristocratic children are disinherited, the students are offered the opportunity of a lifetime: compete in a Victorian, literary-inspired inheritance competition to be named the new heir—winner takes all!
For Derin, it’s a chance to help her working-class family. But the remaining Darnleys won’t take losing their stately home and its multimillion-pound inheritance lying down. And into the mix, a mysterious note is slipped under Derin’s door alluding to a dark family secret lying in wait.
Now, Derin must balance the cutthroat games; scheming relatives; and a cute Kenfield intern amidst her dawning realization that the history of this inheritance might be soaked in lies… and blood.
*MY THOUGHTS*
This was one of my most anticipated! But unfortunately this time it missed the mark. I just could not get into it for whatever reason. And then when I finally did, it didn’t hook me. I remember just listening as it played, but not really taking anything in if that makes sense.
So the plot of this was cool. I thought of that Jennifer Lynn Barnes series. There’s a competition and there’s money involved and literary puzzles. Then there was also the stuff that came up after the games, but those are spoilers so I won’t go there. But please know, this is also where I struggled. I didn’t care for the things they were doing? Like chess and finding books on a shelf? Idk it just wasn’t like OMG enough for me if that makes sense. I was more interested in the things she found out during the game.
The characters were ok. Nothing out of the ordinary. There was your average good characters, villains, etc. There wasn’t one that stood out to me. But one of them made me so mad. I wanted to banish them from the very beginning. I felt vindicated when I found out who he was lol
The whole time I was listening to this tho, I was a bit disappointed. I was hella intrigued by this because it was listed as a thriller. And like, it wasn’t? I was more disappointed than anything because I was expecting this to have them running around like the Great American Rat Race and find the next clue and all that kind of thing. But it wasn’t. It didn’t get thrilling until the end, which means I was bored for the most part. Well not bored, but I was anticipating it, but it never came and I was annoyed by that LOL But I stuck with it because I was interested in the ending and I liked the author’s previous book.
This wasn’t my favorite, but it was still enjoyable. The ending turned it all around for me. There was way more depth to that part of the story than I was expecting. I just wish there had been more info about it during the rest of the book. (And yes, I know that it was done that way for a reason. But that doesn’t negate the fact that I wished there was more. I need y’all to go get this one and let me know what you all think once and for all.
Overall, I give this
