The Same Backward as Forward

The Inheritance Games #0

by Jennifer Lynn Barnes

#1 New York Times bestselling author Jennifer Lynn Barnes delivers a star-crossed, enemies-to-lovers, tragic love story like no other! Read her side of the story, then flip the book over to experience their love anew through his eyes in this lushly designed deluxe novel that you can read backward or forward.

Hannah Rooney knows how to be invisible. At twenty, she keeps her head down and her eyes open, and so far, she’s managed to avoid being pulled into the dealings of her notorious criminal family. Hannah lives her life in countdown mode, biding her time in nursing school as she waits for her beloved sister, Kaylie, to turn eighteen so Hannah can get them both far, far away from Rockaway Watch and start a new life.

Tobias Hawthorne II acts every inch the entitled heir that he is. As the only son of one of the country's richest men, there isn't a door that isn't open to him. Yet behind his razor-sharp cheekbones and devil-may-care attitude, Toby is guarding a nest of deadly secrets and a fiery anger fierce enough to burn everything in his path.

Their lives collide in one tragic, stormy night, where an act of arson and nature leave Kaylie and two others dead and Toby just barely alive – with no memory of who he is. The fisherman who pulls him from the ocean enlists Hannah to help save the very person who she knows took away her sister. Fueled by her hatred, Hannah is determined to deny Toby's death wish by keeping him alive. He is the last person that she should ever develop feelings for, and she is the first thing he ever remembers seeing.

Some things cannot happen – and some things cannot be stopped.

*Hannah’s side of the story was previously published as a novella in Games Untold

Genres: Mystery, Young Adult, Romance, Fiction, Mystery Thriller, Fantasy, Thriller

400 pages, Kindle Edition

First published November 4, 2025

About the author

Jennifer Lynn Barnes (who mostly goes by Jen) was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma. She has been, in turn, a competitive cheerleader, a volleyball player, a dancer, a debutante, a primate cognition researcher, a teen model, a comic book geek, and a lemur aficionado. She's been writing for as long as she can remember, finished her first full book (which she now refers to as a "practice book" and which none of you will ever see) when she was still in high school, and then wrote Golden the summer after her freshman year in college, when she was nineteen.

Jen graduated high school in 2002, and from Yale University with a degree in cognitive science (the study of the brain and thought) in May of 2006. She'll be spending the 2006-2007 school year abroad, doing autism research at the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom.

Reviews

[Ashley (hiatus, be back soon!)]

help they just keep on coming?? she's writing books on the inheritance games more often than i talk to my dad😭

[h i n d]

idc if she writes 10 more books in this series i will read every single one of them

[Belle₊˚⊹♡ (semi-hiatus)]

🖤💙Prerelease:

So this is about Toby and Hannah’s story????
Brb I’m litterally gonna be crying my eyes out with this book I fear 💀

[ray ౨ৎ (ia)]

jennifer girly, i love ur books but js make an ending alr

WE DONT NEED MORE STOP MILKING THIS 😭✋

like we alr got their story in games untold that was abt 200 pages?? HELPPP. the only difference is we get toby’s pov also 🙄🙄

when you go to the therapist needing closure but ur therapist is jennifer lynn barnes with her psychology degree so she wants to elongate it as long as she can

WHY I THINK SHE’S MILKING: y’all. she never planned on writing ‘the brother’s hawthorne’ and ‘grandest games’ like girl 😭 and before you say it’s HER books they’re clearly money grabs writing a whole ‘nother unnecessary series. like everything was closed up in ‘final gambit’ so she wanted to get more money from readers??

[Ava ୨ৎ · Rating 5 out of 5]

ˏˋ°•*⁀➷ Post-read ౨ৎ

this was so good! I honestly have never given a Jennifer Lynn Barnes book under 5 stars lol, and while, sure, it's not quite as well written as some books (like divine rivals) it was entertaining, addictive and fun while also making me almost cry multiple times

ˏˋ°•*⁀➷ 𝑷𝒓𝒆-𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒅 ౨ৎ

am I currently reading 2 books already? yes. do I have a buddy read of another book scheduled in a few days? also yes. am I reading this anyways because I saw it on my shelf and wanted to? ABSOLUTELY YES. so um I might be insane but yeah I’m really excited to read it, I loved the novella in games untold so I’m 99% sure I’ll love this this as much since it’s basically just the same book lmao

ˏˋ°•*⁀➷ 𝑷𝒓𝒆-𝒓𝒆𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒔𝒆 ౨ৎ

Why did no one tell me that this was announced literally months ago??? Here I was, thinking the only new release by Jennifer Lynn Barnes this year would be Glorious Rivals, but no this is also coming out!!? And that close to my birthday??! I am so so so excited!!!

[ari [gin’s vrsn 🩵] [semi ia]]

pre-release

jlb is one of my favorite authors, and toby and hannah are my favorite book couple

BRING IT ON

[sama]

JLB THREATENS to release ANOTHER spinoff to the inheritance games

[dilan]

she’s really milking tf out of this series omg

[Aliyah Z]

I swear I manifested this when The Hawthorne Legacy came out

[kie (ia)]

ily jennifer, but FOR THE LOVE OF EVERYONE, please let this be the last book in this series

love, khiara (ps. no more milking, PLEASE, WE'RE DONE.)

[vivienne hawthorne · Rating 5 out of 5]

screaming crying throwing up.

i had originally read hannah's side of the story from the games untold novella, so i jumped straight to toby's story. and my expectations were shot right through the roof.

i'm currently crying in the middle of the library after reading his side. just half of the book.

toby hawthorne is jameson hawthorne incarnate.

every single word hurt. every memory hurt. everything hurt.

hannah rooney is my model, my wonderful, amazing, incredible person she is. if i am ever reincarnated into this universe, she is the first person i'm going to.

toby and hannah. hannah and toby. they are the love story for fairy tales, and dreams. they are my standard and my everything.

hannah, the same backwards as forwards.

harry. toby. the hawthorne that he is. the bastard, the hero, the villain.

avery kylie grambs. a very risky gamble indeed.

alice hawthorne can go to hell. and tobias hawthorne as well.

the art of the book itself is raw finesse and i love it. we see avery, and hannah, and toby...they are my everything.

i have no more words for this book. it genuinely has rewired my brain and heart and god i love them

🌊

once upon a time, everything was dark, and i was nothing but pain- a wall of it, a world of it.

and then...there was hannah.

🌊

[Dawn Solaris]

𓍯𓂃𓏧 Anticipated ᯓᡣ𐭩

⤷ I didn’t know this was going to be a thing until now! Give me more Hannah and Toby, yes please… I can predict lots of ugly crying and breaking stuff

[vxmpslibrary [hiatus] · Rating 4 out of 5]

.3.95 stars.

She is the world to me, and I cannot pretend that she is anything else.

.my thoughts.
Hannah and Toby's story is famous (atleast for me) since I have been practically spoiled by the whole story of inheritance games like haha what the heck.

When author first announced this book, I thought, what better to start the book with the parents? but I guess I just don't know if I should have read the TIG first or this.

Following two perspectives seperately, Toby and Hannah go through hardships together, yet at the same time seperately, Toby a lost soul, and Hannah the sun whom he keeps coming back to.

I believe I actually did not connect them to a lot than I hoped for, there was a strange grasp in this book that kept slipping, so I didn't connect to Hannah and Toby as much I was bringing myself to believe. The grief hit me hard enough, yet it was nothing for me to feel afterwards, it was all plain, black and white, and mind you after I came back from preboards I started reading this and got a terrible headache.

of course the puzzles my head ached so bad for a relief but I'm of course I'm impressed by authors creativity like of course I expected it but it just seemed more like a puzzle book story as well, Toby gave puzzles and Hannah solved it. i know Hannah is so much smarter than I am but you can't blame a girl for banging her head against the wall after coming from a brainstorming exam and have to face this thing again.

The ending made me shed a few tears soon enough, yet I hoped for an everlasting pain my heart that I did not get (bahaha im so sadistic) but yes I wasn't connected so much as I'm mentioning it in the last few sentences EVERY TIME.

I would definitely recommend you to read this after TIG? I think many would prefer that way but then I don't think it changes anything because I had bunch of spoilers and I knew how they are gonna end. And then even a few tears are enough to rate it 5 stars but oof, I expected so much more pain and heartbreak.

6/11/25
did this book made me cry? yes. did this book exceed my expectations? no. rtc soon

[faith𝜗𝜚]

the way i screamed when i found out about this-

[ᖰhiᖱeɭia]

She had the audacity to write a prequel, and I had the audacity to immediately click that 'want-to-read' button. 😭😭😭

[maria ₊˚ෆ is back?]

THE COVER REVEAL I AM SHAKING, I NEED IT IN MY HANDS JUST FOR THE COVER 😭

if the uk cover isn't as gorgeous as the us one, I will COMBUST!!

[mia ౨ৎ [semi ia]]

pre release:
omg omg omgggg i BAWLED when i read this 😭😭 im so exciteddddd. i swear jlb never sleeps

[Melissa (So Behind) · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is novella first featured in Games Untold: An Inheritance Games Collection, and it gives the back story of Hannah and Tobias. This one supposedly gives Toby's side of the story too, so we shall see if there's much difference.

[Kie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Did I know how this was gonna end? Yes.
Did it still break me?
Also yes.

[❋Rushna❋ · Rating 5 out of 5]

“I loved you,” he whispered, “when the world was pain and the only thing that made sense was your eyes. I loved you before I knew to hate myself, and I have loved you every day since.”

Getting hit in the head with a brick would have hurt less than this. HannahToby had me in a chokehold ever since The Hawthorne Legacy and I’ll never get tired of their tragic love story. I’ve been obsessed with them and they will always be on my mind. When I first read their novella in Games Untold, it was devastating and exactly what I wanted. And now, their same story is a separate book. Reading it again from Toby’s POV gave more insight and hurt twice as much, knowing how the story will end anyway. I savored every word again, even though I was utterly destroyed and left an emotional sobbing mess by the end. Their story is so sad and they both sacrificed so much in the name of love. They deserved so much more because their outcome would have been very different under other circumstances. This book actually made me hate Tobias Hawthorne A LOT.

I also loved how creative this hardcover was set up with Hannah’s story on one side and Toby’s story following it once you flip the book. I enjoyed all the of the easter eggs too and seeing a deeper glimpse into secrets I’ve been wondering about ever since the end of the trilogy and Grandest Game👀 It made me miss the original series and characters. I’m tempted to do a reread, after having read some of the new revelations from this book. JLB can write as many books as she wants about this universe because I will read every single one.

[chehed ౨ৎ · Rating 5 out of 5]

perfection. this book is perfection.

[erin ۶ৎ]

jlb, i love this series, but…do we really need another one? even if it is supposedly about tobyhannah

[⋆. shiloh 𝝑𝝔˚]

as soon as this was announced on instagram I was squealinggg 🤭 I hadn’t even read their novella in games untold—but now I have and it was so. good. I rated it 6 stars 🫠 so needless to say I’m esctatic for this!!

I understand why people are saying JLB is “milking” this series but I don’t agree 😭 like guys she’s the author they’re HER books, so she can write as many as she wants. why do you care?

but yeah. this will be preordered. 😌

[zahia]

its time to stop i beg like respectfully queen i hate seeing ur name in these new releases

how jlb feels when she announces another book:

[Nicole Walls · Rating 5 out of 5]

“The first thing I remember, Hannah the Same Backward as Forward, is you.” 🔥♟️🩺

it doesn’t matter whose pov i read this story in, this story will always break my heart.

i am so grateful to have now read this beautiful, heartbreaking story in toby’s pov. hannah’s pov definitely was not enough.

i will forever wish that they ended up together. these two characters will forever break me. that is all i have to say. 6 stars forever and always, in any pov!

[Violet · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was amazing! I loved seeing Toby’s point of view, and truly seeing his feelings for Hannah. His love for Avery is so sweet, and I also loved learning about his life after leaving Hannah and Avery. I also did not expect Jackson and Eden Rooney to have been together, and it’s so sad that Jackson lost his son. All in all, this was an amazing book, and it made me cry when Toby learned that Hannah was dead. The stuff about Alice is wild too, and I really hope we learn more about her in the Gilded Blade. Really great book, and beautiful cover too.

[jo ୨୧]

the rent was due ig..

[Emily McCormick]

I am so glad I am a part of the hype for this series! This story is a NEED!!

[faith𝜗𝜚]

it’s ugly. but i am excited nonetheless.

[Olivia · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think this is my favourite book from the series. I knew Toby’s POV would be the most heartbreaking but I still wasn’t prepared for how many tears I shed reading it, especially the ending.