A review by jillkaarlela
The Cousins by Karen M. McManus

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?