The CousinsReview

My Rating: 3/5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Synopsis: Milly, Aubrey, and Jonah are invited by their rich and reclusive grandmother, who disinherited their parents twenty years before the story takes place, to work at her island resort over the summer. The cousins barely know each other or their grandmother. However, their parents refuse to let them not go, attempting to get back into their family’s inheritance. However, the cousins will reveal secrets about the family’s dark past.

Non-spoiler Review: In all honesty, this book was alright. While reading the first 50 pages, I was disappointed. McManus’ other books (OOUIL, TKCAS, OOUIN) we’re definitely better, no doubt. However, I did start to enjoy the book when the plot twists started happening.

The beginning seemed to drag on for me, and I had to put the book down for a week before picking it back up again. It was also really hard for me to love certain characters, especially Milly and Jonah. I feel like these two had the least character development, while Aubrey and Archer (my favorites) had the most.

I did enjoy the plot twists. They always surprised me and left me in shock. The ending too was very surprising as well. My theories in the beginning were not what the book was at the end. McManus has the talent to leave you in shock, and The Cousins, as well as her other books, definitely proved that.

Spolier Review: I really wanted to like this book more.

I started to become invested in the book when Milly finds out that Mildred didn’t invite them and Jonah revealed when he was an imposter. I feel like the action really started there, and that’s what pulled me to keep reading. The beginning was really boring because I felt like the characters were just fighting all the time.

I didn’t like Jonah and Milly that much. Maybe it was a personal thing because I couldn’t connect to the, but by the end of the book, their characters don’t change that much besides that Milly and Jonah get together. The only development I feel like they had is when Milly felt like Mildred hated her, and Jonah admited to why he was pretending to be the real Jonah.

My girl Aubrey was my favorite. I related to her the most, and I like her because she was a better version of herself than she was at the beginning. She started as an angry, reserved girl to becoming a strong, forgiving woman who knew how to stand up for herself.

While there are things I didn’t like, I enjoyed the myserty. I knew something was up with the Story kids, but I would have never guessed that Adam and Anders killed someone, that Allison covered it, and Theresa was pretending to be Mildred to get revenge because they killed her son. Some of my favorite parts of the book were the chapters from Allison’s POV as a teenager, and it fitted really well with the story. I could just read an entire book alone with the younger Story kids.

Conclusion:Overall, this wasn’t my favorite book if I were to compare them to the other books. However, it was fun to read when I wasn’t bored with it. I’ve seen some good reviews, and I’ve seen some bad reviews on the book, so I’d recommend reading the book on your own to get your own opinion.