The Cousins Review

    Milly, Aubrey, and Jonah Story are cousins, but they barely know each other, and they've never even met their grandmother. Rich and reclusive, she disinherited their parents before they were born. So when they each receive a letter inviting them to work at her island resort for the summer, they're surprised... and curious. Their parents are all clear on one point- not going is not an option. This could be the opportunity to get back into Grandmother's good graces. But when the cousins arrive on the island, it's immediately clear that she has different plans for them. And the longer they stay, the more they realize how mysterious- and dark- their family's past is. The entire Story family has secrets. Whatever pulled them apart years ago isn't over- and this summer, the cousins will learn everything. (Taken from Goodreads)

    Keep in mind that everyone has their own opinion. This review is only my opinion, and you may have your own, different one. I would take into consideration what I say, but do not make a decision about the book solely based off of this review. Let's begin: 

    I ended up being relatively neutral on this book. Put simply- it was just ok. I was excited to read it and was all prepared for a really good mystery, so it ended up falling flat. Maybe my expectations were too high? I'm not sure. All I know for sure is that I probably won't remember much about this novel in the future.

    I'll start out with the negatives. I didn't feel much of a connection to the characters. Aubrey was probably the best one, but even still, I didn't truly care much about what happened to them. The romance between two of the main characters felt completely forced; I didn't feel any chemistry between them. It was almost as if the author thought having a romance aspect would draw more readers, so she tried forcing it to happen. This might just be me being bad with names, but I couldn't keep the parents straight. All of their names started with the letter 'A,' which certainly didn't help with this. I kept having to go back to a page I marked that said which parent was which. This got kind of frustrating to do after a while. With the exception of a few, none of the twists really shocked me. I more just thought along the lines of Oh yeah, that makes sense or Ok I guess. This is pretty disappointing for a mystery. The book is also classified as a thriller; I simply don't get this because I couldn't find anything in this book to warrant that label.

    There were a couple of positives that saved it from getting 2 stars from me. The plot was decent overall. Was it suspenseful? No. Was it what it probably should have been? Also no. However, the idea behind it was good. I always give credit for a good idea because, let's be real, coming up with one can be hard. McManus does deserve credit for the book's premise. Sadly, the ending felt a little reused. It's something you have most likely seen elsewhere especially if you read this genre a lot. Was it still enjoyable? Yeah, I think so. It simply wasn't the most original ending. 

    Overall, this book didn't live up to my expectations. Nearly everything about it was just ok. It wasn't suspenseful, the characters were flat, and the romance felt forced. However, if you're looking for a quick and easy read that is still fairly enjoyable, this may work. I came out from reading this not feeling impacted in a positive or negative way- only neutral. I know this review may have sounded mean, but it's just my opinion, and you may have a different one so maybe give it a go and let me know if you think differently.

Rating: 3/5 stars 

Author: Karen M. McManus

Publisher: Delacorte Press

# of Pages: 325 (hardcover)

Genre: YA, Mystery, Thriller

Series: Standalone