The Cousins - Book Review

So I decided to read this like a week ago when I was on the bus on the way to an excursion. I was sitting alone in the back corner and it was like a 40-minute trip (bad traffic) and I was regretting not bringing earphones or a book. My teacher offered me a seat next to her but I was like "nope" because that would be so awkward. So I just sat alone at the back. Then I just decided to borrow a random eBook from my school's library and read that to keep myself entertained. It was actually really fun.

I've read a few books by Karen M McManus before -- a long time ago though. In a way One of Us Is Lying kinda freaked me out a bit (I can't say why because spoilers) but yeah. The Cousins was like the first random standalone that came up on the dashboard/recommendations thing so I was like "sure, why not?" and read it. My friend had recommended it too so yeah.

So I was kinda expecting The Cousins to be a murder-mystery book but it actually wasn't really? I would say that murder wasn't one of the main themes. But the mystery in it was still pretty good. There were a few plot twists that were pretty shocking. The foreshadowing in the book was also pretty cool and well-written I guess. But the start was slowwwwwww.

I guess the book just wasn't what I was expecting? It reminded me of We Were Liars (I'm still shocked by that book) and I guess the two books do have quite a few similarities.

I'm not sure how much I liked the book? It was engaging and suspenseful and stuff but I feel like at the end it just got a bit unrealistic? And I feel like the end was rushed a little. That was probably just me though. But I thought that in the last 40% of the book random things happened, some of which didn't exactly contribute all that much to the plot. It was a bit like "ah let's throw this in and then resolve it within a few chapters". I'm still a bit confused by how some of the stuff that happened added anything to the story.

I also didn't really feel like I connected with the characters... and the romance in there felt really forced and questionable. It was a bit like City of Bones in a way if you know what I mean. It also didn't add anything to the story except drama and train-wreck moments. Overall the romance was unnecessary (story of my life).

I guess The Cousins was a bit of a nice refresher though since a lot of the stuff I've been reading lately is Greek mythology stuff. Reading it also helped me to get over the Simon Snow trilogy a bit more. 😭

It's literally midnight and I have school tomorrow so I don't know why I'm still up. Usually I get less tired the less amount of sleep I get... although today I walked into a wall/door in front of my music class and teacher. I literally went to get cork grease then as I was walking back to my room I just walked directly into the wall/door and it made a really loud noise. My teacher kinda laughed at me so I just said "I didn't sleep much last night" and ran away. Annoying cork grease.

Ok so again I have stopped talking about books in a book review so I'm gonna stop here and say goodnight hope you don't walk into a wall. Wear a mouthguard.

The Cousins by Karen M McManus, 13+* ★★★.5

*This age recommendation is only my opinion. Some younger people might feel comfortable reading this book, and some older people might not. That's fine, either way. Warning for very weird kissing stuff, sexual references, abusive parents and potentially upsetting themes.