Fun YA mystery!

Family secrets, a mysterious letter, and tragic deaths?

McManus has created a well thought out novel that really delivers. The multiple POV’s helped in explaining the motivations of each character. Small twists were well placed and kept me questioning where the story was going. The ending was a complete surprise and not anything close to what I had expected. Solid 4 stars.

Three cousins receive an invitation to spend the summer working at their grandmother's resort. She disinherited their parents a quarter century before, so the cousins are both intrigued and dubious. But each for their own reasons decides to take her up on her offer, never expecting to unearth family secrets like a shipwreck buried in the sand.

Milly, Aubry and Jonah Story are first cousins, but they hardly know one another. The Story family is fabulously wealthy, owning their own hotel and much of a Martha's Vineyard type of island. However, their parents (along with a fourth sibling) were disinherited by their grandmother before their births, stricken off with the stark comment, "you know what you did." All four siblings claim ignorance, but also pretty much dissolve their relationships with one another, going from the closely knit, casually rich rulers of their social set to different levels of success in the outside world. But when an invite arrives for the cousins to come work at the family business and reconnect with their Grandmother, the cousins are expected to go. Will they discover what caused the disinheritance and this subsequent attempt at a reunion? Wlll they be able to mend the relationships that their parent's destroyed, or have they been brought back for another type of revenge?
I enjoyed this somewhat old fashioned type mystery, it has an Agatha Christie feel to it. The author flashes back and forth between the Story's of the past (the kids' parents/uncles) and the current day teens. While I didn't think the mystery itself was very mysterious - and it did seem odd it wasn't solved earlier, the journey was entertaining. I thought the author did a fairly good job at having her present day teens grow, but it was a little sketchy how the original siblings fell so far off the path. However, I do think teens will enjoy the puzzle of the novel and enjoy following the kids to the solution.

This book tells the story of three cousins who barely know each other. They were summoned to work at their grandmother’s New England resort. They did not know their grandmother, either, as she cut all of her children out of her life when they were young adults. Each cousin had their reason for agreeing to this arrangement.

Each chapter was told from the point of view of one of the cousins, with other chapters jumping back in time to tell the story of their parents.

I enjoyed this book. The characters were well written and it was fun to watch their relationships develop over the course of twists and turns of the story.

✨ ARC REVIEW
The Cousins by Karen M. McManus 4⭐

I'm a big fan of thrillers but YA thrillers rarely work for me. The exception for this is the YA thrillers McManus writes. I always enjoy her stories and this one wasn't the exception.

The story follows three cousins that barely know each other but are all invited to stay and work in their granma's resort who they never met since she disowned their parents before they were even born. They are curious by her sudden appareance, accept the offer and when they get there things get intriguing and they try to unreveal the mystery surrounding their grandma and their parents.

As always, the writing was gripping. I especially love how McManus always nails the multiple POVs and how she successed to give all three cousins a unique voice and even made the side characters as much interesting as the main ones. Full of twists and turns, secrets and betrayals to keep you invested, the story flows well giving you the perfect amount of fun and suspense. And all that is sprinkled with a cute romance developing in the middle of the mystery.

I found the beginning maybe a bit slower than her previous books that's why the 4⭐ cause I expected a strong start. But the moment the characters step on the resort things get so interesting and only better as the story progresses. The ending was brilliant and a clever way to wrap up the story. If you are a fan of YA thrillers/mysteries about secretive families and fan of McManus's stories, you need to pick up this book.

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for the ARC!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for this eARC of The Cousins. I read most of this book in one sitting and only stopped just shy of the end because it was 1 a.m. and my phone died!

There’s something compellingly readable about the rich and famous, particularly those who live on an incredibly wealthy island. Like We Were Liars, this is a fast read, but falls a bit short of that amazing YA novel.

The plot is simple, yet full of suspense. But you won’t sit there and try to put all the pieces together and get confused. But if you enjoy suspense and puzzling out what happened, you will enjoy this book.

Will definitely pick this up for my library’s YA collection.

This was an enjoyable family mystery told from multiple points of view; set in the present day with flashbacks to over twenty years ago. It was different from the usual YA fantasy trope I’m used to, which was a welcome change. It was nice to see normal present day teens dealing with fairly normal problems. It was well written, fast paced and hard to put down.

My copy of this book was provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. My thanks to the the author, the publisher, and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review it.

A mystery/soap opera about a wealthy family’s many dark secrets. Loved the premise and the characters more than the ending but nonetheless, and enjoyable escape.

Thank you Random House Children’s Books and NetGalley for the advanced copy!

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Children’s Publishing for this eArc.

I have been wanting to read a novel by Karen McManus and had recently bought her other stand alone novel - I Can Keep A Secret - but when this became available I had to request it!

Three cousins are invited to their very wealthy grandmother’s island resort to work for the summer - they have never met her before, because she disowned all her own children some years ago- and no one knows why

Firstly, I really liked the 3 cousins - who have only met a few times in their childhood year, get to know each other when this adventure brings them together. I loved how the relationship between Milly and Audrey developed into a strong friendship by the end of the book! This to me was probably the best part of the novel.

The story - ie mystery - is good, but for me, the ending was just not really plausible in this day and age 🤷‍♀️

I am sure young adults and teens will enjoy this book. It is well written with plenty of action. I know many young people who will be thrilled to read this romantic, puzzling novel.

I love the trope of estranged family members called together to a somewhat mysterious island! What could be better? This family was delightfully eerie, and I loved the main characters' voices. A quick, page-turning read (even if the mystery didn't pay off quite as satisfyingly as I wanted in the end).

Karen M. McManus has written another page turner! Why has their grandmother disowned her children? Jonah, Aubrey and Millie, the children of those children, have each wondered about this question their whole lives. They were never close growing up, but then, has their grandmother had a change of heart? Why is she inviting them to work at her resort? Will they be the generation to repair the hurt? Twists and turns the entire way through the book!

This book is great! Would definitely recommend. Thanks so much to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

Karen M. McManus has once again written a propulsive YA thriller with likable and complex characters and a solid mystery (and sub-mysteries). THE COUSINS takes her often used formula of teens who are thrown together into a strange situation and who have very little in common, but she once again makes it feel fresh and interesting seeing them interact with their surroundings and each other. Milly, Aubrey, and Jonah all have distinct voices and believable motivations and personalities, and I liked how their initially tentative relationships changed and evolved as the story went on. All three of them have their own perspective chapters that shed light on their backgrounds as well as the story at hand. I expected Milly to be my favorite, but it was actually Jonah whose perspective really shined through. I enjoyed his evolution from snide kid with clear ulterior motives to someone that I was actively hoping and rooting for. The mystery at hand (as to why their grandmother cut their parents out of their inheritance) didn't compel me too much at first, but as the story kept going and more things started coming to light I did become invested. And while it's true that I did predict some of the outcomes to a few of the other mysteries and secrets in the story, overall THE COUSINS kept me guessing and left me satisfied.

THE COUSINS is fun and fast paced, and another fun thriller from Karen M. McManus!

Part mystery part psychological thriller, this YA plot about long lost cousins and longer lost grandmothers went down nice and smooth.

I've read and enjoyed all of Karen McManus's previous stories but this one just didn't do it for me. I felt like some parts were a little predictable but it did have me hooked and throwing curveballs. The ending however just seemed too farfetched for me to believe. It kinda just felt thrown together. Bit of a bummer because I have so enjoyed her other novels.

I’ll start this off by saying I am a HUGE Karen m McManus fan. I’ve read all of her books and “the cousins” did not disappoint. If you’re a fan of KMMs previous books, then you will love the cousins too. It’s an easy mystery read which I enjoy every once and awhile. Even though it’s an easy read, I still found myself entangled in the characters lives, stories, and secrets. One concern I had about this book was the romance aspect. It’s hard for me to read a book without romance in it and I assumed that since this book was about cousins, there would be none. Even so, I wanted to give it a chance since I love KMM. To my delighted surprise, there was romance (Not insest). I loved this book so much and I highly recommend it to YA mystery lovers!

Karen McManus just keeps writing better and better novels. The Cousins will have you twisting and turning as all the shocking details are revealed in this well-crafted mystery about three cousins and their grandmother or that's what we are led to believe. What a stimulating, gratifying read!

Family first, always.
I read this book in one sitting and loved every minute of it. McManus’s writing is just fantastic and keeps you so invested. I was on that island smelling the salty sea air, I was In that gorgeous mansion up on the cliff and I felt every ounce of tension that courses through this book. I couldn’t flip the pages fast enough to figure out why the family got cut off and I did not figure it out until right when McManus wants you to. I usually don’t like multiple POV’s but per usual McManus nails it! This is a perfect YA thriller that I will be recommending to everyone!

The Cousins is a suspense filled mystery that begs the reader to unravel it. It kept me intrigued until the end. I enjoyed the multinarrative of the three cousins and the surprises that each one brought to their summer at Gull Cove Island.