Since 13 Minutes, I now have regain trust towards young adult thrillers and I was eager to start The Cheerleaders. I heard great things about this new book and I know that Kara Thomas is a well-known author of the genre.
THE PREMISE
All the cheerleaders of the town of Sunnybrook died within a month. We follow the story of the family members who try to cope with the deaths and how the community builds itself up after such a disaster. Monica is Jen’s little sister and tries to uncover the truth of her sister’s death. She doesn’t believe that Jen committed suicide. In order to forget the unhappy feeling, she pulled out a one night stand with a random guy at her summer camp. Only to discover that he’s hired as the track coach in her high school in September. (Sounds like Aria and Ezra right? 😉
MY OPINION
Honestly, I had a lot issues with this book. Of course, the fact that it’s also for a younger audience (teenage) and Children’s Category has impacted my reading. But I’m going to list the main ones:
Monica’s personality. For a main character, I struggled to see where the author wanted to go with her narrative. She suddenly distances herself from her closest friends to bond with a random girl. Not only she keeps complaining how her friends are weird and are changing around her, she doesn’t tell them anything and slowly just skips all their chillings and all their invitations. From my point of view, she is the one who changed. Furthermore, her behaviours are so contradicting. One time, she plays the dumb girl and then another day she suddenly plays the detective.
The anti-climatic ending. A lot of deaths but there are not much to link them. 5 girls died in the space of a month. I was expecting some high puzzle solving mystery only to find out.. it is indeed JUST a coincidence. I mean.. for a thriller novel.. I expected everything BUT THAT. I guess you can say it’s a sad plot twist.
And it’s not like the author wanted to preserve a delicacy touch or wtv for the younger audience. She mentions murders, rapes, pregnancy and a lot of mature themes. So I didn’t get why she went for such an ordinary ending.
The plot holes. While Monica would investigate one incident after the other, she just jumped to another witness to interview and you don’t fucking know what’s going on with the past one. And she goes on interviewing A LOT of people alright. In the end, I counted more than 4 plot holes.
RECOMMENDED FOR
People who like to guess whodunnit feeling and get utterly confused. The author did manage to keep us guessing.
People who don’t get to overly obsessive over plot holes (like me) and can read pass that
People who love cheerleaders and high school set up mixing with some unforbidden summer love
Thank you to Penguin Random House for sending me a copy for review!
TITLE: THE CHEERLEADERS
TYPE: ARC
AUTHOR(S): KARA THOMAS
PUBLISHER: Delacorte Press
FORMAT: PAPERBACK
RELEASE DATE: JULY 31ST 2018
PAGES: 384
GENRE(S): YA THRILLER
Wow, that plot twist. Amazing. how ground breaking, how *insert fancy french term*.
Man, that is actually really, really sad…
LikeLiked by 2 people
“Que c’est triste”!!:D LOL How sad in French It’s really disappointing honestly I can’t even function right now T_T
LikeLiked by 1 person
Nice review! Sounds a bit heavy for teenagers, but I guess that’s the new normal.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Hahah I guess soo! The gory factor seems to be more and more intense every year for novels and tv shows ! :O
LikeLike
Well…as much as I loved Pretty Little Liars (yes…I liked that show lol 😂😂), this one certainly seems like one to really avoid 😊😊 That plot twist…that is very, very lame indeed. Oh well..still have enough to read anyway, so I am actually glad I don’t have to add another book to the list 😊
LikeLiked by 1 person
Omg you love Pretty Little Liars! ME TOOO 😀 It seemed to drag but I always end up watching it anyways HAHA And yes so lame 😦 I think that’s the only reason why negative reviews are useful LOL not adding books to your TBR
LikeLiked by 1 person
Haha, yeah it’s one of those shows that you know you should quit watching,but in the end you just continue anyway because for some reason it’s still fun to see it lol.
Lol…so true, that really is probably the best reason 😂😂
LikeLike
Great honest review, Trang! I haven’t read this yet but I’ve been hearing good things about it! I’m sorry you didn’t enjoy it as much as you hoped.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Thank you so much Raven for reading the review ! 😀 Yes I heard so many good things about this book ad unfortunately it wasn’t for me 😦
LikeLike
Okay I still want to read it (I haven’t read any of her books yet) but I have lowered my expectations drastically. Unconnected murders, not in my mind ;-). Brilliant review Trang!
LikeLiked by 2 people
Yes I think it’s still nice to try it! 😀 Esp if you like young adult thrilers ! Lowering your expectations is helpful because if you end up liking it .. 😉
LikeLiked by 1 person
I just ordered this for my library’s teen department! Considering your review, I wonder if it will be popular or not with them.
LikeLiked by 2 people
WOOO! Let me know how the teens find the book hahah 😀 So happy being able to add it to your library!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Lovely review, Trang! I’m sorry to hear this book wasn’t for you, but I get your frustration, I’m not expecting an anti-climatic ending for this kind of book usually
Thank you for sharing! ❤
LikeLiked by 2 people
Anti-climatic book is the opposite of what I expect for thrillers LOL Thank you so much Marie!! ❤
LikeLike
Oh disappointing thrillers are the most upsetting kind of disappointing. If I don’t get some seriously fucked up explanation I am disappointed.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Omg yes exactly that’s why I’m disappointed HAHA and rated it 3 stars… The plot twist and fucked-up element are so important in thrillers T_T
LikeLike
This sounds like an intriguing, if a little problematic, book. Overall, would you still recommend it?
LikeLiked by 2 people
Honestly, I wouldn’t recommend it LOL I think you can find way better books out there and spend your time in better company if you know what I mean XD
LikeLiked by 1 person
See I get what you mean about 13 Minutes because that was a standout thriller for me (and I don’t normally read thrillers either) and I may have been tempted to pick this one up but when I read what you wrote about the ending to The Cheerleaders and yeah I get why that was anti-climatic because just reading your review I felt a little let down you know?
Still great review Trang! 🙂 ❤️
LikeLiked by 2 people
BETHH!! ❤ 13 minutes was such a nice read and probably my favourite YA THRILLER so far!! It was a let down for sure. But I hope you get a better reading experience than mine ahah!! What was your latest favourite thriller (not necessarily YA) ?
LikeLiked by 1 person
Well I haven’t read too many thrillers but I did enjoy Blackbird by N.D. Gomes. Other than that I think 13 Minutes is probably my favourite, there was just something about it that hooked me from the beginning. 🙂
LikeLike
Fantastic review! That’s too bad about this one. I’ve read Kara Thomas’ previous books and loved them. Guess this one is bumped down the TBR.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you Nadine! 😀 I should probably read her other books, which one would you recommend?
LikeLiked by 1 person
Little Monsters. Though, you may find the same issues you had with Little Monsters. My standards are so low with these types of novels since very few authors can pull it off.
LikeLike
Uhh… i think teenage me would have still liked this.
Adult me? Not so sure. I saw some great reviews about this and was totally intrigued, but based on what you just said about the ending and the main character, i think this would annoy me 😀
LikeLike
I wasn’t really sure about this one, but now I think it’s safe to say I’ll probably pass on it. Great review!
LikeLike
Hmmm… cheerleaders… I dunno, dudette! I have a natural aversion against the kind 😀 😀 😀
Sorry the book didn’t work out, but I enjoyed your review very much… I also LOVED Riverdale! 😛
LikeLike