The Cousins

Product Information

A slow-burn, uneasy beginning ultimately makes way for a frantically paced end peppered with twists that genre fans will happily take in stride. . . . Fans of McManus' previous offerings and of mysteries steeped in family dramatics will be eager for this. Booklist

Bottom line :- The thought was interesting, story had a lot of potential but Characterization was weak and the real mystery elements were missing. KM: That's the plus side. I did my launch event for The Cousins with Stephanie Garber. It was with Porter Square Books, and they had that chat window open, and people were saying where they were coming from Mexico and Panama and California and New York. And so that was really nice because, normally, my event is in Boston, and it's just local people, maybe a friend or two will fly in. But that's it. So that's the nice side of things. And also being able to do an event with Stephanie, who is in California is also nice. So there's some benefits, and I hope we keep some of those, because I feel like the book world has learned that a lot can be done virtually, and some of that is beneficial to readers and authors alike. Summary: The Storys are the envy of their neighbors: affluent, gorgeous, and close-knit, they possess the largest piece of land on their East Coast island. till everything breaks out. The mother of the four kids abruptly leaves them with just one sentence:There's something that screams “different” since the first chapter, and that something is the atmosphere.

I love the author’s work and when my arc request has been rooted at the pending purgatory of NG , I’m so happy to buy my own copy! It’s worth every penny you spend! I was able to predict one of the twists at one point though, but there were many subtle hints leading up to it so it wasn't much of a surprise, but STILL. I predicted it and I'm counting it since I rarely ever do.

Personalized picks at your fingertips

I really liked the setting. Small island towns are just my vibe, and it played into the mystery aspect very well. I would have liked to have seen more of the hotel and the town, but the snippets we got were excellent. Writing – 6/10 And in my professional life, I'm really proud of the fact that there's such a wide audience for my books, and particularly, I hear from so many teens and kids who say they don't like to read, but they like my books. That's such a great thing to hear because reading was such a huge part of my life as a kid. And if I can bring a kid into that sphere, who doesn't typically like to go there, and they find it worthwhile, and then they want to find more books than I think that's potentially life changing for that kid. And that's really exciting. The Storys are the envy of their neighbours: owners of the largest property on their East Coast island, they are rich, beautiful, and close. Until it all falls apart. The four children are suddenly dropped by their mother with a single sentence: until they spot another Carlton High student skipping school—and follow him to the scene of his own murder. In one chance move, their day turns from dull to deadly. And it’s about to get worse. It turns out Ivy, Mateo, and Cal still have some things in common...like a connection to the dead kid. And they’re all hiding something.

Karen McManus’s books are on my automatic buy list and I don’t see myself taking her books off there anytime soon. It should come as no surprise then to hear that McManus’s latest novel, The Cousins (available now from Delacorte Press), is full of many of the twists and turns that her readers adore. But what sets this book apart as, perhaps, the author’s very best work is the way McManus also weaves a detailed family story that’s simultaneously poignant and tragic. Following three cousins who find themselves searching for long-buried secrets among the lush oceanfront views of Gull Cove Island, The Cousins is a masterwork of familial angst and multi-perspective storytelling all wrapped up in a thrilling young adult mystery. The moment the trio finds out which original Story sibling caused their parents to get disowned is not what – or, who – readers expect, and while it was a much-needed twist to tie the story together, I would've liked a break in all of the whodunit guessing I was doing. A stunning novel about tradition and change, about whanau and its struggle to survive, about the place of women in a shifting world. Now he's interesting considering what happened with him in this book. I did enjoy his character at times, but I didn't really care. He's the one I'm most indifferent about out of all of them, mainly because I don't know much about his character Just the character he's posing for.Years later, when Aubrey, Milly, and Jonah Story, all 18 years old, receive an enigmatic invitation to spend the summer at their grandmother's resort, they are forced to satisfy their curiosity and meet the lady who has been such a mystery their whole lives. This book also reminded me of We Were Liars with the islands, family with secrets, very rich people, and the ending. And I didn't like that book. I’m going to start this review off by saying that I had some high hopes for this book and they were not met. The main issue I had was with the characters. I was not as invested in their story as I should have been. I will always recommend Karen M. Mcmanus’s books to anyone who is looking for a combination of YA contemporary mixed with murder mystery. What the cousins don’t count on is how their grandmother will interact with them, how others are trying to manipulate the situation, and just how many dark secrets the Story family wants to keep hidden.