A review by lauriereadslohf
The Cousins by Karen M. McManus

mysterious medium-paced

• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No

2.5

 

Hmmm, I’m going to have to be the star giving Grinch today and give this one 2 and ½ stars because it didn’t engage me and I pushed through only because I’m nosy and wanted to know the deep dark family secrets. It’s my fault and only mine that I ended up feeling disappointment in the end because this should’ve been a book I quit at the 25% mark when I discovered it wasn’t working for me. Doesn’t mean it won’t work for you, however.

A good chunk of the story sorta plods along with nothing much of interest happening. Finally, after being completely non-curious kittens and non-snoopers for a third of the book, one of the young characters declares:

“We shouldn’t just sit back and wonder what’s happening. We should do something.”

Yes! Finally!! I was excited for things to start getting interesting but that didn’t really happen. There’s a chemistry-free little romance that takes up WAY too much time for my liking but I’m a grouch who needs to feel the connection in my very bones so you may not feel this way. I also do not enjoy it when a writer decides to name all of her characters very similarly. I am easily confused and rarely get to read a book in one sitting so naming your people Adam (or was it Alan?), Archer, Aubrey, Anders & Allison hurt my brain. Who is who? Don’t ask me.

I freely admit that I was taken in by the blurb which sounded pretty amazing and a little VC Andrews-like but the execution fell flat for me. The characters weren’t awful but they also weren’t exciting enough to carry this book for me either. And the secrets weren’t nearly as lurid as I’d hoped (but that’s on me - I’ve been spoiled by other books) but it was the ending that came out of absolutely nowhere that knocked off an entire star and I’m not going into that because it will be a spoiler and this will no longer be a review but a rant and none of us need to be subjected to that. 

Anyhow, these are my thoughts. You may feel differently and that’s perfectly ok..