The Rosewood Hunt by Mackenzie Reed
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
**3.5-stars rounded up**
Lily Rosewood’s family life is quite complicated, but billions of dollars will do that to you. Oodles of wealth is a tricky thing to navigate for most people.
I know it seems like it would make life grande, but ask any fictional character with an inheritance at stake, and they’ll tell you that’s far from the truth.
Lily dreams of one day running the family company, Rosewood, Inc. Her Gram, the current head of the company, has promised to teach Lily everything she’ll need to know to successfully take over one day.
When Gram dies suddenly though, Lily’s life is turned upside down. Gram wasn’t just the head of the company, she was also the formidable figurehead of their family. It was so unexpected. Lily can hardly believe it’s true.
Then Gram’s Last Will and Testament is read, and Lily definitely can’t believe that’s true…
There’s no mention of the vast family fortune; a purported quarter of a billion dollars. What? Like it’s gone? The money is missing? How could that be?
As everyone is left scratching their heads, one last cryptic letter from Gram sends Lily, along with three other teens, on the treasure hunt of a lifetime. When news of Gram’s missing fortune goes public though, outsiders join the hunt and they’re not messing around.
Soon the teens are dodging dangers left and right, as they try to be the first ones to discover the hiding place of the vast Rosewood fortune. This could change their lives, or end them. Who will win the Rosewood Hunt?
I’ll admit, it did take me a little time to commit to this one. The set-up is rapid fire. You really have no time to get to know Gram, you just learn through Lily’s musings that she was this clever lady, who enjoyed puzzles, invisible ink and things like treasure hunts.
It sort of made me wish someone would have set her up with the elder Hawthorne from The Inheritance Games when they were both alive. It seems like they would’ve really hit it off, like plotting ways to send their basically disinherited loved ones on wild goose chases for cash…
About a quarter of the way in was when I really started to sit up and pay attention. Two other teens, Leo and Quinn, were also pulled into the hunt by Lily’s Gram and I found the dynamic amongst the three teens very fun.
Lily’s best friend, Miles, also becomes part of the action and I enjoyed him as well. Lily’s cousin, Daisy, on the other hand was a total jerk, which I didn’t really understand. Eventually the contention in their relationship was explained, but something about it didn’t feel genuine to me.
Either way, I did vibe with the cast of characters overall and the way they worked together was entertaining. They weren’t really friends going into this, so it gave it a bit of an unlikely allies feel, which I enjoyed.
It gets pretty wild. Once the outsiders swarm into town hunting the treasure the danger level amps up considerably. There are break-ins, car chases, it’s a lot. Lily definitely fears for her life, and I did too!
Through all of it, the teens start showing each other more of their true selves and they really start to bond. I think that was my favorite aspect of the whole story, the Found Family element that Reed ultimately creates. Lily feeling like she finally had friends, it filled my heart.
Most of these characters, their families were pretty crappy, so having each other to rely on meant a lot to them.
The pace hits warp speed towards the end, as a ton of new information is revealed. I enjoyed the way it wrapped up. Overall, a satisfying inheritance story. The Rosewood Hunt was a game I won’t soon forget. That’s for sure.
While it may not go down in history as one of my favorite YA books, it was still hella entertaining, and I would definitely be interested in reading more from Mackenzie Reed.
Thank you to the publisher, Harper Teen, for providing me with a copy to read and review. I’m so happy I finally made the time for this one. It was worth it!