This book was satisfying. In the way a Nancy Drew mystery is satisfying. In fact, it may be a Nancy Drew mystery in disguise. A spunky teen sleuth, along with an athletic bestie and a model handsome fellow, looks into a family mystery on a secluded New England resort island. Clues are revealed in old photos, in mysterious documents, and in conversations with the housekeeper at the old family manse.

Strengths: diverse characters (Nancy, I mean Millie, is biracial; her uncle is gay), humor, detailed setting, and a good plot.
Weakness - the opening scene feels like it was from another book and eates a framework of expectations that is never referenced again.
Uncategorized notes; I really want to visit this resort. I also love the family name (Story). On the nose, yes, but with full grace.
Recommended for all of us fans of The Secret of the Old Clock

As a fan of McManus' other novels, I was thrilled to get my hands on an ARC of The Cousins. McManus did not disappoint! Similar to her prior novels, the story is told from the point of view of the three main characters: Milly, Aubrey, and Jonah. The Story cousins have never been close and barely know one another. The matriarch of the Story family had long ago cut off any contact or inheritance for all of her heirs and had never even met the three children, so they are shocked to receive an invitation from their estranged grandmother to spend the summer working at her resort. Nothing is what it seems and McManus takes the reader on a ride from one twist to another. Just when you think you have it all figured out, there is another wrench thrown. This novel kept me turning the pages and I could not put it down.

Thank you to Random House Children's and NetGalley for the Advanced Reader Copy.

Karen McManus is the queen of mysteries. The Cousins might have been my favorite of hers so far. It was totally immersive - I felt like I was one of the cousins. Milly Jonah and Aubrey were three very different characters, but each of their personalities complimented each other. It made it that much more enjoyable because I really rooted for them.

I’m usually wary of books that have a big secret because it usually ends up being a big let down, but this one delivered. I loved it, and I couldn't guess what was around the corner until the characters themselves could. There’s something about camps and isolated islands that really screams mystery and hidden bodies, and this gave in to that fantasy. It was amazing.

People who are already fans of Karen M. McManus's books will not be disappointed. I can't wait to recommend this one to everyone.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House for letting me read this one early!

I always know I’m going to be in for a wild ride when I read a McManus but THE COUSINS made my jaw drop— literally drop— twice. And the last paragraph— my lips are sealed but dayyyyyyum! That’s how you end a story!

This book drew me in so quickly!!!!
This might be my favorite so far of hers.

Family secrets, money, greed, deception, there is so much in this book and it is all woven together so well. If you enjoyed her other books this will not disappoint!

Can you figure it all out before the end?

Loved this book! Karen McManus delivered yet again. I have many patrons who are fans of the author and I will be excited to promote this title to them. I will also be handing it to reluctant readers. The story has a quick draw and is very engaging throughout.

This mystery feels like a bit of a departure from McManus’ previous YA thrillers, with a little more mystery and a little less thriller. There are some excellent twists, that are satisfyingly surprising and also satisfyingly threaded through the narrative, if you’re looking for them. This will definitely appeal to fans of McManus’ previous titles, as well as YA mysteries like We Were Liars and Little White Lies. The mystery is well-paced, though it speeds up pretty dramatically towards the end, and all the plot threads that seem like they shouldn’t be able to be happily wrapped up are happily wrapped up. A fun read that I’m looking forward to recommending to my mystery-loving teen readers.

In classic Karen M. McManus fashion, The Cousins kept me reading until the very end, weaving clues and suspicions throughout multiple-perspective chapters. I found some of the plot points to be a bit predictable, but I wasn’t totally disappointed when my suspicions came true. Overall, a fun and suspenseful read! Great for fans of E. Lockhart’s We Were Liars

Just as good as everything else she writes. Fun characters you connect to and a plot that is full of twists and turns trying to figure out who done what and why.

I don’t think I’ll be trying any more Karen McManus books. Her last two standalones have been extremely boring. I liked the stance on alcoholism not being a choice. The reveals, while pretty surprising, weren’t exciting. In the slightest. The big showdown and reveal happened in the last 10 minutes, but the rest of the book seemed so... pointless. The three viewpoints didn’t feel very different. I was rooting for Jonah and the girls but even so, I didn’t really feel invested in their story. I wish I had something more intelligent to say, but I was just uninterested and the book was lackluster.

From the author of One of Us is Lying. Cousins Milly, Aubrey, and Jonah Story have never met their reclusive and rich grandmother. She disinherited their parents years ago, so they are shocked to get an invitation from her to work at her exclusive summer resort. As the summer unfold, dark family secrets begin to reveal themselves. Mystery and danger won’t stop these cousins from finding out the truth.

Karen M. McManus is the queen of teen thrillers. I loved this one and 100% did not see that twist coming.
The Cousins deals with three cousins who meet for the first time when they receive a mysterious letter from their estranged grandmother. Visiting her home island for the first time, the cousins discover that not everything is as it seems and try to figure out why their parents were shunned from the family.
I was so excited to be given an advanced copy of this book and experience McManus' newest novel.
I was a huge fan of One of Us is Lying and Two Can Keep a Secret. I am a huge fan of how McManus incorporates family dynamics into all of her thrillers. She does a wonderful job of bringing in hard-to-deal with family issues and tricking you into thinking one thing is happening when in reality, the twist is something completely different.

Thank you to Penguin Young Readers for an advanced copy of this book. The Cousins will bereleased on December 1, 2020.

The 3 Story cousins receive a letter from their grandmother inviting them to visit and work at the family’s island resort for the summer. The strange part is they’ve never met their uber wealthy grandmother. She cut off the entire family abruptly years ago with a mysterious “you know what you did”. The Story family all have no idea what their mother is talking about, so to get back in their mother’s good graces (and possibly inheritance) they make their children spend the summer at the resort. You do have to suspend a lot of belief that the 4 adults would go 20ish years without seeing their mother just because she asked them to.

Once on the island, the grandchildren receive the same bizarre treatment by their grandmother. I just don’t see all 3 teens allowing an essential stranger to continually treat them so poorly. If you can suspend that much belief, the mystery is slow to build with a predictable whodunnit.

A fun read, compelling and well-paced with thoughtful twists and nicely developed characters. A book that gives you all of the pieces but doesn’t make it too easy to put them together.

The Cousins was a fairly easy read, a beginners thriller if you will. I thought it took a long time to develop into a page turner. I did truly enjoy the ending, but I must say this book wasn’t “keep you on the edge of your seat” thrilling. I would think it could be better suited for younger readers making a transition from YA to Adult fiction.

Wow.

Karen M. McManus has done it again. I was utterly gripped with this book from page 1! She really knows how to write a compelling story.

I don't want to give anything away, but once again, the story comes down to the final sentence. Twists and turns everywhere, but not overwhelming. I found myself liking all three (four?) of the narrators. I really want to say more, but it would spoil everything, so I'll keep my silence and just say READ IT.

I think this one is her best book yet. And that's saying something.

The three Story cousins are mysteriously summoned to spend the summer with their grandmother twenty-five years after she cut her children (their parents) out of her life. Now they have to figure out why she suddenly wants them back, and what their parents did to get disinherited in the first place. The plot is clever, with just enough twists and turns. However, the pacing, while fast overall, does drag in places. Readers don't get enough clues to start piecing together the mystery until close to the end of the book, and there are so many cases of mistaken identity that the trope starts to feel gimmicky. Only one of the main characters is likable, and while the point of this book is to portray a selfish and dysfunctional family, the protagonists are difficult to sympathize with. An interesting read, in some ways reminiscent of Kate Morton for adult readers, but not quite as much of a page-turner as McManus's other work or comparable titles in the genre.

McManus definitely knows how to weave a complex mystery together. As many of you know I love books that explore family dynamics, and The Cousins definitely delves into a twisted family story. The mysteries surrounding the Story family kept me turning the pages- I just had to know the truth.

All the characters in this book have secrets, some darker than others. I loved how their personal secrets fed into the larger plot and added to the mystery. The dynamics between the characters get interesting (I can't say more, spoilers!) and I loved how varied their personalities were.

The island/small town setting definitely contributed to the mysterious tone of the book. The Cousins didn't have the same obvious intensity as One of Us Is Lying but it was still a thrilling ride in it's own way. The author's inclusion of Millie's mother's POV chapters from the past added so much to the tangled mystery around the Story family and I was so curious to learned what had happened.

This was another great book from Karen M. McManus and I can't wait to see what she writes next!

This was the most boring thriller I have ever read. Absolutely nothing happened throughout this book and the ending was wasted on this book. The ending was a fantastic ending but didn't fit at all with the other 90% of this book. I wish this ending was used in a book with a better plot and lead up. There was no foreshadowing or breadcrumbs, nor was there anything to lead us to the ending of this novel. The characters were boring and I didn't believe how close they got at the end. Little to nothing happened in this novel. The romance in this one was cheap and unbelievable. While I loved One of Us is Lying, I've been disappointed with all her other novels.

*I received a complimentary copy of this book from Delacorte Press through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.*

By the sweet grace of God I was able to get my hands on an advanced e-galley of Karen McManus's newest standalone book--The Cousins. I swear to you I screamed when I saw this on NetGalley, and I hit download so quick. It was serendipity when I got the flu and ended up reading this at home when I ran out of Newbery books to read, and wow! I loved McManus' other books--especially Two Can Keep a Secret--and while I think this book is good, it's not her best. People who like Sara Shepard books and Ruth Ware books will enjoy this one.

The Cousins--Milly, Audrey, and Jonah--are summoned to work at Gull Cove Island by the mysterious matriarch of the Story family, the same matriarch who banished their parents over twenty years ago and has rarely been seen since. What awaits them on the island is influenced by what they are leaving behind--parents with their own issues, bankruptcy court, and crappy boyfriends--but it escalates quickly. The Story matriarch seems confused to see them. A doctor with dementia mistakes them for their parents, and says there might be secrets to spill. A local bartender isn't who he says he is, and neither is one of the cousins, but what they find inside the old Story home is not what anyone expected. And it will have far-reaching consequences far behind a simple summer paycheck.

So, this book was interesting. It felt familiar in very good ways. It also felt like I was missing fifty pages of world building and set-up...but I don't think I was. Maybe that'll be added before publication in December, because I feel like it could use it. My ARC said 250 pages (on Adobe Digital Editions) so it wouldn't be HUGE if it was added...but I felt like I didn't get a good sense of the resort/what the cousins were up to BEFORE shit hit the fan, and wow did it hit the fan. I semi-predicated the big twist,but I LOVED HOW IT PLAYED OUT. Very McManus. Throughout the book though, we get lots of things--bankruptcy, sex scandals, all the good "historically fanciful" family drama. If you like that sort of thing--rich families doing bad things and their kids dealing with the consequences--you'll really love this book. It's all about how the past influences the future--with multi POV. A little Pretty Little Liars, a little Ruth Ware.

Overall, I did enjoy this book. But I felt like it lacked some early world-building to draw me in. I've read a LOT of those "new kid at storied place" island books, and this one just kind of skipped over the first two weeks in a way I didn't love. The ending made up for it mostly though. Bonkers, totally bonkers.

The Cousins by Karen McManus is on sale December 1st, 2020, and you can pre-order it wherever books are sold.