When assigning numbers to your cousins, grandparents are the parents of your parent and also the parents of your aunt-uncle. It’s from the grandparents that you have to look at as they are your closest common ancestors. The grandparents are also first cousins; you’re both in the same generation level. That is what makes you first cousins.
Cousins are the sweetest relation of blood where we make friendships and relationships. They create many stories, memories, and events because they make our childhood the best and support lifelong. Books about cousins explore the complexities and dynamics of family relationships. They cover loyalty, conflict, love, and the bonds between relatives. They also provide insights into different family dynamics and offer perspectives on the joys and challenges of these connections.
5 Books About Cousins (Friendship Fiction)
Cousins are our best playmates and teammate with whom we can enjoy ourselves properly. I will discuss five books about cousins to enjoy and read the stories with them. These books are fantasy, historical, adventure, and mystery. They can capture the unique bond that can develop between cousins, offering heartwarming and relatable narratives. So let’s go!
1. The Cousins
The Cousins is about a family story. There are rifts, and the family has been disinherited from Grand Mother Story. Essentially, the story is about the last name, and the three cousins are called to go and work on the island. The family has a lot of money but disinherited the parents and their children. No one knows why there was a letter that was sent out. They go and work at the resort for the summer, and it’s what they learn about their family history and everything.
Each chapter is from one of the cousins, or Alison, their mums. Other characters were bought into the story to make it, but there wasn’t much focus. They discover everything they want to know when the story comes to light. What happened at that moment was frustrating but brilliant.
Author: Karen M. McManus
Average Rating: 4.4/5
Category: Mysteries & Detective Stories, Friendship Fiction
Available: Audiobook | Paperback | Hardcover | Kindle
2. Blood Magick: The Cousins O’Dwyer Trilogy
Blood Magick is book three of The Cousins O’Dwyer Trilogy by Nora Roberts. It focused on the third Cousin, Branna, and her relationship with Fin. But a lot of it was slow, and it slogged on. They weren’t so much building towards anything new. They were returning and rehashing what they’d done for the most part.
They start to cover some new ground towards the end, satisfying the final battle. But as a whole, this book felt slow, especially compared to the other two. In the last chapter, they came up with all these new ideas: how we will defeat the bad guy.
They keep talking about one of the character’s weddings that are supposed to happen in the spring after they defeat the bad guy never happens. There is a second wedding in this book, and nothing happens either. Also, they could have used to celebrate more in the end.
Author: Nora Roberts
Average Rating: 4.7/5
Category: Paranormal Romance
Available: Audiobook | Paperback | Library Binding | Kindle | Mass Market Paperback
3. My Cousin Rachel
My Cousin Rachel was first published in 1951. The book is set in the 1830s, and it feels more like it was written in the romantic period of literature than in the 1950s. It is full of emotion and set in this gorgeous English countryside with this big country manor.
This book is told in the first-person point of view, and the narrator is a young man in his early 20s named Philip. Philip was an orphan as a child. He was sent to live with his very wealthy bachelor cousin named Ambrose. Also, he is set to be Ambrose’s heir to his estate.
Ambrose starts having health problems later in life and spends the winters in Italy. In contrast, Philip stays behind and manages the estate. One day Philip gets a letter from Ambrose saying, “I found a wife, Rachel.” Philip is jealous, mainly because he likes having Ambrose’s undivided attention.
The book’s over 300 pages. In the first chapter, Philip is obsessed with recalling this memory as a child, when his town hung a man for murder. His Cousin made him go out and look at the corpse hanging on this tree. It haunts him, and he starts identifying with the hanged man, feels like his shadow is following him, and decides at the end of the first chapter.
Author: Daphne du Maurier
Average Rating: 4.2/5
Category: Psychological Thrillers Fiction, Romantic Suspense
Available: Audiobook | Paperback | Hardcover | Kindle
4. Eight Cousins
Eight Cousins is about a girl named Rose Campbell, an orphan. Her parents died when she was young. She turns 13 in the book anyway. So her father was strange to the family, but she winded up living with these hands. She has all these aunts who live in the same house. They all live in the same area. At least some live in the same house and call it Anthill.
Rose has seven boy cousins from these various aunts. The nicest aunt is there, Jessie. So Rose comes to know the extended family that she hadn’t known before, and she’s under the care of her father’s brother, Uncle Alec. Uncle Alec is a doctor. He was a ship’s doctor because the whole family was from a sailing family. They’ve been sailors and seamen for generations. There’s Scottish descent, and they’re very much attached to their Scottish ancestry. So it’s a charming story of her coming out of her shell.
She’s been treated as an invalid and has a very protected life. She’s coming into her own and blossoming as she meets her seven rowdy cousins and gets to know them better. She comes into the care of her uncle, Alec, and gets to know him.
Author: Louisa May Alcott
Average Rating: 4.5/5
Category: Classic Literature
Available: Audiobook | Paperback | Hardcover | Kindle | Audio CD
5. The Women of the Cousins’ War: The Duchess, the Queen, and the King’s Mother
The Women of the Cousins’ War is a non-fiction book, and it’s not exclusively by Philippa. It’s her and two other academics. Being an academic herself, Philippa Gregory got together with the two other guys and wrote about the three specific women. David Baldwin and Michael Jones are the other academics who write about this. It is 339 pages of non-fiction, and it was published by Touchstone back in 2011.
Philippa writes about Chiquita of Luxembourg, one of the main characters in her Cousins Wars books. David Baldwin writes about Elizabeth Woodville, and Michael Jones writes about Margaret Beaufort. So it was interesting to read the two gentleman’s versions because even though Philip’s writing was non-fiction.
Author: Philippa Gregory, David Baldwin, Michael Jones
Average Rating: 4.4/5
Category: Medieval European History, Biographies of Royalty
Available: Audiobook | Paperback | Hardcover | Kindle | Audio CD
These books offer friendship, support, and shared journeys. If you have a particular affinity for family dynamics, nostalgia, or exploring relationships, they may offer a rewarding reading experience.
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