The Cousins by Karen M. McManus
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 unwavering on one point: not going is not an option. This could be their chance 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. If they can survive the season.
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I loved this book… and I hated this book. I couldn’t put it down but all I wanted to do was look away. I’m still torn as to whether I enjoyed it or if I was just so enraged I had to keep reading till I knew what the finale was. For a YA thriller I will say it was impressive. It wasn’t action-packed, adrenaline thrills but I was still on the edge of my seat the entire time wondering what in the world was going on. I didn’t guess the ending. There wasn’t really big surprising plot twists but I definitely missed alllll of the clues leading up to the end. I loved Milly, she was my favourite character and the idea of this wealthy unknown grandmother inviting her grandchildren down for the summer was so intriguing I had no choice but to read it. I read it in one day, it’s perfect for summer.
This book is from the perspective of three different characters, Milly, Aubrey, and Jonah. We start off with Milly which kind of set her up as the main character for me (it felt like we got more of her background/plot than we did the other two). Milly’s summer plans are ruined when her grandmother sends a letter requesting her presence, given that said grandmother disowned all her children and grandchildren long ago, this is an opportunity that Milly’s Mother can’t let her pass up. From there we learn of the other two cousins, see how this trip crunches into all their plans as they reluctantly come together to face this strange summer as a united front. When they get there, however, their grandmother almost seems surprised to see them. Right from their arrival nothing but suspicious activity occurs in regards to their grandmother and each other. From there unravels a mystery twenty years in the making, just what exactly did their parents do so long ago to incur such a harsh disownment? And why is their grandmother keeping them at arms length when she was the one to invite them?
I really liked the build up in this book, I honestly had no clue what was going to happen right from the start and I was so distracted by all the family drama that I missed a lot of the clues placed throughout. Very strategic on the author to do this! She set it up so brilliantly. I liked the characters, Aubrey had a lot of growth, Milly was awesome, and Jonah was very multi-dimensional. I think the drama perfectly represented how heightened all those emotions are when you’re a teenager, the lack of confidence, the jealousy, the pettiness, it was all very relatable and took me back to those confusing teen years!
There were so many frustrating side characters! I couldn’t get past some of them and although everyone had their use in the end, I couldn’t get over some of the straight out disrespect and sliminess of some of these people. Like it was good but also unnecessary and almost melodramatic. The only reason why I finished this book is because I NEEDED to know what happened otherwise I may have stopped just for the sole purpose of how many characters and plot points frustrated me out of my mind. I don’t get mad at books often, I got very upset with this one.
All in all, I couldn’t put it down, it was definitely exciting. However I wish the author went a bit more in depth into the motivations of some of the less important characters so I could understand some of the stuff that went down in the last half of the book a little better. I won’t read this one again (I don’t think my patience could handle it), but it was exciting. And I will definitely be returning to this author for some of her other YA thrillers! Very confusing review I know, but if you need a bit of excitement for summer, this is a great read.