Reviews tagging 'Child death'

The Cousins by Karen M. McManus

10 reviews

whatamidoing_rn's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

I liked it but it really dragged for the first half.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Terminal illness, Gun violence, Dementia, Alcoholism, Miscarriage, Death, Toxic relationship, Fire/Fire injury, Classism, Incest, Addiction, Death of parent, Child death, and Alcohol

ashleysager's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Alcoholism, Alcohol, Pregnancy, Grief, Mental illness, Death, Abandonment, Abortion, and Car accident

Moderate: Classism, Grief, Emotional abuse, and Drug use

honestlyyours77's review against another edition

dark mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Car accident, Child death, and Adult/minor relationship

Moderate: Body shaming, Toxic friendship, Gaslighting, Chronic illness, Death of parent, Drug use, Miscarriage, Bullying, Toxic relationship, Pregnancy, and Alcoholism

avaree's review against another edition

adventurous challenging mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

2.5

I think the beginning was super slow but the ending was good. I don’t think I would recommend this though or read it again. It was honestly quite boring and I normally really like books by Karen McManus. 

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Content Warnings

Minor: Death, Death of parent, Child death, Miscarriage, Murder, and Dementia

m4rtt4's review against another edition

mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.25

soooo now I've read every single book written by Karen M. McManus, and unfortunately in this case the last one was also the least. She's always been one of my favourite (YA) mystery authors, and even though this one was an okay read, it didn't live up to the standards her other works have set up. This one was just boring and hard to get into, too many names and too little action.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Miscarriage, Murder, Alcoholism, Alcohol, and Death

Minor: Terminal illness, Gun violence, Car accident, Infidelity, Addiction, Injury/Injury detail, Child death, Fire/Fire injury, Dementia, and Death of parent

kshertz's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

A very good mystery! I was surprised by the twists! They all got me. It didn’t wrap up the way I hoped in the end but I definitely could not put it down. A great mystery thriller for anyone looking for one. Reminds me a lot of Ruth Wares novels whom I also love. 

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Content Warnings

Minor: Death, Dementia, Infidelity, Alcoholism, Child death, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Miscarriage, Murder, Incest, Pregnancy, Toxic relationship, Abandonment, Bullying, Car accident, and Fire/Fire injury

jillkaarlela's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

family drama central!! This mystery explores the complexity and mystery surrounding the Story family. The grandmother mysteriously and suddenly disinherits and cuts off all of her children from the family fortune, with a note that reads “you know what you did” as the only explanation. This mystery really keeps you on your toes, with pretty big twists throughout. It’s not my favorite, but it definitely wasn’t bad. I liked that it was different from the other novels, surrounding the drama of one family instead of a friend group, providing something fresh for KMM readers. However, I preferred the “One of us is lying” books over this one (written by the same author). This is classified as a “thriller” but I would not say that this is scary by any means. It’s mostly just ya mystery with some suspense and crazy plot twists! 

Age rating: 14+

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcoholism

Minor: Cursing, Murder, Violence, Death, and Child death

ok the two cousins like each other?? Which we find out later that they aren’t actually related, but they still liked each other when they thought they were cousins so what the heck?

emily_mh's review against another edition

mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

This had a great premise and resolution but was told incredibly poorly with no sense of urgency and thrill in the present, no sense of tragedy and intrigue in the past, and no sense of atmosphere in either. The characters and romance were an improvement from Two Can Keep A Secret, however (though the romance was still a bit pointless in this one). Also,

I liked how the ending echoed Jonas' story so much in terms of the imposter and financial fraud elements

.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Fire/Fire injury, and Gun violence

Moderate: Blood, Child death, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Miscarriage, Murder, Pregnancy, Suicide attempt, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Vomit

Minor: Abortion, Animal death, Cancer, Car accident, Colonisation, Dementia, Grief, Incest, Racism, Sexism, and Sexual content

toofondofbooks_'s review against another edition

mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Buddy read with my friend Ale!!

Everything about this book was dramatic as hell, which as someone who has the tendency to also be dramatic as hell, I appreciated. "The Cousins" is a YA mystery about three cousins finally meeting their mysterious, wealthy grandmother over the summer while uncovering the reasons behind their parents being disinherited and cut off completely. Chaos ensues.

There isn't a lot I can say without dropping spoilers, but what I will say in the book's favor is that no matter what you think is coming next in this narrative, you're probably wrong. It is much more ridiculous than I ever imagined. I can't quite decide on whether that's a good thing or a bad thing. I also appreciated that it was fast paced and easy to get through even when I was really frustrated with it. There was something I can't quite figure out that didn't hit for me when it came to this book, but I did like it, so it's a solid 3 star for me.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Child death, Death of parent, Grief, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Murder, Pregnancy, and Violence

Moderate: Alcohol, Car accident, Racism, Toxic relationship, Xenophobia, and Dementia

Minor: Gore, Incest, Medical content, and Vomit

beanz's review against another edition

adventurous challenging mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcoholism, Death, Death of parent, Child death, Miscarriage, Dementia, Toxic relationship, and Murder