Jennifer Lynn Barnes is back with another game that will certainly keep us at the edge of our seat as we find out what happens after The Grandest Game. In this sequel, which also continues the Inheritance Games series, the game has begun, but how far are each of the seven contestants willing to go for the special prize? Of course, we’re going to immediately going to pick up a copy to see what Jennifer has come up with next!<\/p>\n
Cosmopolitan has an exclusive look at Glorious Rivals by Jennifer Lynn Barnes, which is set to be released on July 29, 2025. With the grand prize up for grabs and everything on the line, how far are these seven strangers willing to go to win it all? Here’s some more info from our friends at Little, Brown Books for Young Readers<\/a>:<\/p>\n Millions, hearts, and lives are on the line in this heart-stopping sequel to The Grandest Game by #1 bestselling author Jennifer Lynn Barnes.Seven players arrived on Hawthorne Island, each with their own secrets and motivations to win the Grandest Game. Millions are at stake, but so are hearts\u2014and lives. The players now must race to win the game, solve myriad mysteries, and survive the twists and turns of Glorious Rivals.<\/p>\n The stakes get higher, the game gets twistier, and everything heats up in this newest installment in the TikTok sensation Inheritance Games Saga.<\/p>\n Don’t worry, we gained access to the Hawthorne vault to get a special look at what we can expect next and, trust us, you won’t believe how this new book kicks off. Check out a special excerpt below! Just make sure to pre-order Glorious Rivals and check out Jennifer Lynn Barnes’s other reads as well!<\/p>\n An Excerpt From Glorious Rivals CHAPTER 1 Kissing Grayson Hawthorne felt like stepping out of time. Nothing else existed. Not the ground beneath Lyra\u2019s feet. Not the ruins or the cliffs. Just this. Every place their bodies touched. His lips and hers. A jagged breath\u2014 this.<\/p>\n The right kind of disaster just waiting to happen, Odette\u2019s voice whispered in Lyra\u2019s memory. A Hawthorne and a girl who has every reason to stay away from Hawthornes.<\/p>\n As if he\u2019d heard Lyra\u2019s thoughts, Grayson pulled his lips slowly back from hers. \u201cI usually have more control than this,\u201d he said, his voice achingly low. <\/p>\n \u201cI usually have better sense,\u201d Lyra replied, keenly aware of just how close her lips still were to his\u2014 and how close the two of them were to a repeat performance. That kiss, their first, their only, had been earth-\u200bshattering.<\/p>\n It had also almost certainly been a mistake.<\/p>\n The wind off the ocean picked up behind Lyra, sending her ponytail flying into her face\u2014 and his. Grayson tamed her long hair, pushing it back, and as he did, the wind calmed, too, so suddenly and completely that Lyra couldn\u2019t shake the illogical thought that he had calmed it through sheer force of will.<\/p>\n An alarm went off in the back of Lyra\u2019s mind. This wasGrayson Hawthorne.<\/p>\n And even if he wasn\u2019t the cold, above\u2011it\u2011all, asshole rich boy she\u2019d thought him to be twenty-\u200bfour hours earlier, he was still a Hawthorne. His blood wasn\u2019t just blue; it was practically cerulean. And soon enough, the Grandest Game would be over, and promises or not, Lyra and Grayson Hawthorne would go back to being what they\u2019d always been: little more than strangers . . . with every reason to stay away from each other.<\/p>\n Neither one of you knows what you think you know. Another of Odette\u2019s warnings echoed through Lyra\u2019s memory, but even that couldn\u2019t distract her from the fact that she was still so close to Grayson that she could feel his every breath on her skin.<\/p>\n \u201cWe should try to get some sleep before phase two,\u201d Lyra said. The words came out throaty and low. She\u2019d been aiming for practical. They\u2019d been given twelve hours to recover from the first phase of the game. So far, Lyra hadn\u2019t managed anything resembling respite.<\/p>\n \u201cWe should,\u201d Grayson agreed, but instead of putting even a modicum of space between them, he brushed the knuckles of his right hand lightly over her cheek, stealing her next breath like a born thief. \u201cI meant what I said, Lyra. We\u2019ll figure this out\u2014 the game and all the rest.\u201d<\/p>\n The rest. That was the understatement of the century, and even just thinking the words had others ringing through Lyra\u2019s mind. A Hawthorne did this.<\/p>\n A Hawthorne.<\/p>\n Omega.<\/p>\n There are always three.<\/p>\n Lyra took a step back. Maybe with a little more distance, she\u2019d be able to breathe, to think, to focus on what came next. The two of them were standing on what had once been the cliffside patio of a glorious mansion that was nothing but ruins now, a charred and visible reminder of the way even the grandest things could be reduced to ashes.<\/p>\n \u201cSomeone sent me here.\u201d Lyra focused on that. \u201cSomeone put me in this game, and whoever that person is\u2014 they know about my father. I\u2019m someone\u2019s pawn.\u201d Lyra looked away from Grayson\u2019s pale and piercing eyes. \u201cOr a weapon. Or a bomb.\u201d<\/p>\n That was the logical conclusion, wasn\u2019t it? That the person who\u2019d sent her that ticket had put Lyra in the Grandest Game because of her history with the Hawthorne family? Because of her father\u2019s death.<\/p>\n Because of Alice Hawthorne\u2019s role in it.<\/p>\n \u201cYou are no one\u2019s weapon, Lyra,\u201d Grayson said, his tone making it perfectly clear just how rarely he lost arguments of any kind, \u201cbomb or otherwise, and you are certainly not a pawn.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThen what am I?\u201d Lyra retorted, her gaze returning to his like a homing missile.<\/p>\n \u201cYou are lethal,\u201d Grayson said quietly, \u201cin the best possible way.\u201d<\/p>\n Where did he get off saying something like that and sounding, for all the world, like he meant it? Lyra went to take another step back, but Grayson reached for her shoulder, and the next thing she knew, he\u2019d reversed their positions. Now Grayson was the one standing with his back to the cliff\u2019s edge, and Lyra had the magnificent ocean view.<\/p>\n He\u2019d just put himself between her and the drop-\u200boff. \u201cI don\u2019t need your protection, Hawthorne.\u201d<\/p>\n Grayson arched a brow. \u201cAgree to disagree.\u201d<\/p>\n The wind off the ocean picked up again. A front rolling in. A slight shiver passed through Lyra\u2019s body. Eyeing her, Grayson undid the top button on the jacket of his fits-\u200blike\u2011a\u2011glove suit. The middle button was next.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat are you doing?\u201d Lyra asked. She wasn\u2019t just talking about his suit jacket, and he was perceptive enough to know that. What are we doing?<\/p>\n \u201cI would think the answer apparent.\u201d Grayson undid the final button on his jacket, and then . . .<\/p>\n The jacket came off, and Lyra\u2019s body remembered: My lips and yours. A jagged breath.<\/p>\n \u201cYou\u2019d better not be planning on offering me that jacket.\u201d Lyra steeled her voice.<\/p>\n \u201cYou\u2019re cold.\u201d Grayson\u2019s lips curved. \u201cAnd I believe that I have already acquainted you with the fact that when I encounter a problem, I solve it.\u201d<\/p>\n This was about so much more than the damn jacket. It was about his family and hers and an unknown threat. It was about the fact that Odette Morales, the one person who might have known some fraction of the big picture here, had given up her spot in the Grandest Game\u2014 and her chance at millions\u2014 because of the danger that Lyra and Grayson somehow represented.<\/p>\n The right kind of disaster just waiting to happen.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t need your jacket,\u201d Lyra told Grayson.<\/p>\n \u201cPerhaps I need to give it to you,\u201d Grayson suggested. \u201cChivalry. It\u2019s a coping mechanism.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m warning you, Hawthorne: If you try to put that jacket around my shoulders, I\u2019m taking mine off and giving it to you.\u201d To make her point, Lyra lifted a hand to the zipper on her own athletic jacket\u2014 which, to be fair, was more of an outer shirt.<\/p>\n Grayson took a moment to assess whether or not she was bluffing.<\/p>\n Lyra was not bluffing.<\/p>\n \u201cConsider me warned,\u201d Grayson replied archly. He slipped his suit jacket back on.<\/p>\n Lyra narrowed her eyes. \u201cWhy do I feel like I lost this argument?\u201d she said.<\/p>\n \u201cBecause,\u201d Grayson replied, \u201cI\u2019m still standing between you and the edge of the cliff.\u201d<\/p>\n Copyright \u00a9 2025 by Jennifer Lynn Barnes. From GLORIOUS RIVALS, by Jennifer Lynn Barnes. Reprinted by permission of Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, a Division of Hachette Book Group.<\/p>\n Glorious Rivals, by Jennifer Lynn Barnes will be released on July 29, 2025. To preorder the book, click on the retailer of your choice:<\/p>\n AMAZON<\/a> AUDIBLE<\/a> BARNES & NOBLE<\/a> BOOKS-A-MILLION<\/a> BOOKSHOP<\/a> APPLE BOOKS<\/a> KOBO<\/a> LIBRO.FM<\/a> TARGET<\/a> WALMART<\/a> POWELL’S BOOKS<\/a> HUDSON BOOKSELLERS<\/a> GOOGLE PLAY<\/a> EBOOKS.COM<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Jennifer Lynn Barnes is back with another game that will certainly keep us at the edge of our…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":29232,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[457,9262,18099,381,96,2788,380,18098,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-29231","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-books","tag-books","tag-content-type-feature","tag-contentid-95106c81-79ea-4a24-a2a6-c3aff95ea882","tag-displaytype-standard-article","tag-entertainment","tag-hasproduct-true","tag-locale-us","tag-shorttitle-jennifer-lynn-barnes-kicks-off-glorious-rivals-with-a-dangerous-kiss","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29231","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29231"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29231\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29232"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29231"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29231"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29231"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
By Jennifer Lynn Barnes<\/p>\n
LYRA<\/p>\n