Earlier this month I finished The Cousins by Karen M. McManus, and wowow, what a ride! This was the first book I read by this author and I’m excited to check out more in the future.

While this book is marketed as a YA thriller, it felt like more of a family drama to me. It follows three cousins who have never met before, as they spend the summer working for their estranged grandmother at the family’s island summer resort. Their family history is full of DRAMA, and after they meet, they decide to try and figure out what the heck happened.

Why did their grandmother banish all her children? Why had the cousins never met? Did their Uncle sneak his way back to the island? Who is going to inherit the family wealth? That’s right, there’s a lot of money on the line, too, which is why the cousins were more or less forced by their parents to go meet their grandma.

There were a lot of twists in this story, and it really kept me on my toes. There was one major plot point I guessed, but so much more happened that made me gasp that I didn’t even care. For me, that’s the mark of a good book. I also really enjoyed the multiple points of view, and flipping back and forth between past and present. There’s a lot of family history being told, and it helped bring the story together.

If you want a story filled with drama, gossip, and a good dose of “wait, who … is this???” Then pick up a copy of this book!

Thank you Penguin Teen Canada for sending me a digital ARC of this book. The Cousins by Karen M. McManus came out on December 1, 2020, and can be purchased wherever books are sold.