Blog Tour – Cousins

From Goodreads:

The Storys are the envy of their neighbours: owners of the largest property on their East Coast island, they are rich, beautiful, and close. Until it all falls apart. The four children are suddenly dropped by their mother with a single sentence:

You know what you did.

They never hear from her again.

Years later, when 18-year-old cousins Aubrey, Milly and Jonah Story receive a mysterious invitation to spend the summer at their grandmother’s resort, they have no choice but to follow their curiosity and meet the woman who’s been such an enigma their entire lives.

This entire family is built on secrets, right? It’s the Story legacy.

This summer, the teenagers are determined to discover the truth at the heart of their family. But some secrets are better left alone.

I absolutely loved this one. It is McManus’s best work yet. It had me hooked from chapter one and kept me turning the pages. Its really hard to talk about this book without Gushing. I have already confessed my love for McManus’ writing style, she has a fantastic way of pacing her mysteries to keep you engaged and reading, however, The Cousins topped them all. It just flowed. seeded with information, foreshadowing and reveals at all the perfect spots to hit there marks.

The main Characters of the Cousins were likable with distinct characters and voices. The all had there own journey to go on and I really liked that. I will admit at first I did get a little muddled in the parents generation with all the A names but once their voices had been established through the flashback scenes, they also were great and slightly detestable characters. The island itself was such a curious setting as well. I do wish we had gotten a little more time to explore the island, Catmint house and how the Cousin’s found there experience on the island but that is just my preference for worldbuilding. The story doesn’t need that detraction and I could picture the destination perfectly without the in depth exploration.

The plot itself is just fantastic. It has so many twists and turns and reveals none of which are outlandish, but make you go "damn it, of course", I honestly didn’t see half of them coming but they all made the story more enjoyable. I adored the way it all played out. I enjoyed the outcome for each character, the friendships and family relationships that were developed. It was just a really fun read. Honestly, has made it into my top books of the year.