Author Chat With Jennifer Lynn Barnes (THE BROTHERS HAWTHORNE), Plus Giveaway! ~ US Only!

Today we are very excited to share a special interview with author Jennifer Lynn Barnes (The Brothers Hawthorne)!

Read on to learn more about her, her book, and a giveaway!

Meet the Author: Jennifer Lynn Barnes

Jennifer Lynn Barnes is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of more than twenty acclaimed young adult novels, including The Inheritance Games trilogy, Little White Lies, Deadly Little Scandals, The Lovely and the Lost, and The Naturals series: The Naturals, Killer Instinct, All In, Bad Blood, and the e-novella, Twelve. Jen is also a Fulbright Scholar with advanced degrees in psychology, psychiatry, and cognitive science. She received her Ph.D. from Yale University in 2012 and was a professor of psychology and professional writing at the University of Oklahoma for many years. She invites you to her online at www.jenniferlynnbarnes.com or follow her on Twitter @jenlynnbarnes.

Website * Instagram * Twitter

About the Book: The Brothers Hawthorne

Four brothers. Two missions. One explosive read. Jennifer Lynn Barnes returns to the world of her #1 bestselling, TikTok sensation 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.

~Author Chat~

YABC: Who is your favorite character in the book?

I can’t pick between the two protagonists, both of whom were major characters in my Inheritance Games trilogy, so I will answer this question based on my favorite new character in this book. Her name is Gigi, and she is the younger half-sister of Grayson Hawthorne—and pretty much his opposite in every conceivable way. She is a sunshine-y ball of energy who absolutely should not be given caffeine of any kind, and she’s very good at loving people who hold the world at arms’ length. Writing scenes where Grayson is attempting to “handle” Gigi was my absolute favorite, because she is so absolutely irrepressible that even raised-to-be-heir, no-emotions-will-hold-me-back Grayson Hawthorne doesn’t stand a chance.

YABC: How do you know when a book is finished?

For me, the first thing I have to feel really good about is the book’s structure. Once structure is locked in, I want to make sure that the character and relationship arcs are really working. And the final thing for me is to make sure that I have crammed as much fun and pleasure into the book as humanly possible. If I can look at my “psychology of fiction and fandom checklist” (because as a former scientist who studied these topics, I definitely have a checklist) and see that the book is hitting all the right buttons, I know that I’m done.

YABC: What research did you do to write this book?

For books set in the Inheritance Games universe, I always end up doing a lot of research in the form of “the most expensive X in the world” for basically every “X” you could imagine. You can search for pretty much anything—lawn furniture, chess sets, tuxedos, wallpaper—and you’ll get some very interesting results. For The Brothers Hawthorne, there was an additional element of research, which is that I did a lot of research on Regency gambling halls, since the key setting of Jameson’s side of the story is the modern equivalent—part secret society, part luxurious gambling club, with a history that stretches back to the Regency period itself.

YABC:   How do you keep your ‘voice’ true to the age category you are writing within?

I tend to think a lot less about keeping the voice true to the age category than keeping it true to the individual characters. Teenagers are individuals, just like adults are. There is no “teenage voice,” any more than there is an “adult voice.” So for this project specifically, when I was writing in third-person limited, alternating between Grayson’s point of view and Jameson’s, I thought a lot about the similarities and differences between their individual voices and how that ties into their individual and shared experiences growing up as the grandsons of this exacting, brilliant, puzzle-obsessed billionaire. The question for me is never “does this sound like a nineteen year old?” It’s “does this sound like Jameson?”

YABC: What type of scene do you love to write the most?

I love the puzzle scenes the most! And of those, the ones involving word puzzles are my absolute favorite. I have a two-step process for writing puzzles and riddles. Step one is actually creating the puzzle and step two is writing the scenes where the characters encounter and solve the puzzles, which often means that I will physically set up my own version of the puzzle and try to figure out how I would solve it if I was coming at it for the first time.

YABC:   What is your favorite writing space?

I’ve just started writing in a co-working space. It’s wonderful to leave my house each day, and I have my own little nook at the office. Almost everyone else there works on a desk. I work on a little sofa in the corner—very cozy and just far enough away from the other desks that people might not notice as I subtly block out scenes and mouth dialogue to myself.

YABC: What kind of animal would your main character be and why?

Grayson would be some kind of bird of prey; Jameson would be a leopard or panther. The former has a sharpness to him and looks at the world from a distance, planning six steps ahead; the latter relies more on his instincts and has this very “feline stalking through the jungle” energy to him, combined with a love of jumping down from high places.

YABC:   What’s up next for you? 

I’ve just finished a revision on The Grandest Game, which is set in the Inheritance Games universe and comes out next summer. Readers who have read the end of The Final Gambit can probably guess a few things about the book’s premise, but more is revealed in The Brothers Hawthorne. So for now, my lips are closed on the specifics to avoid spoilers!

Book’s Title: THE BROTHERS HAWTHORNE

Author: Jennifer Lynn Barnes

Release Date: August 29, 2023

Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers

Genre: Fiction (general)

Age Range: 12 & up

~ Giveaway Details ~

Five (5) winners will receive a hardcover copy of The Brothers Hawthorne (Jennifer Lynn Barnes) ~US Only!

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