This one just wasn't for me sadly. I gave it a go but ended up having to DNF at around 20%.... Just didn't click.

I've had this book waiting to be read for ages but if I'm honest the title did little to encourage me to start it. Once I did I was quickly hooked and thoroughly enjoyed this book. It wasn't predictable in any way and the 'bad guy' wasn't someone I saw coming.
Highly recommended

Loved this book! It was such a fantastic and gripping read that get me on the edge of my seat the entire time.

An intriguing mystery but something about this one fell a little flat. I cared enough to get to the end and liked some of the characters. I didn’t predict who the perpetrator would be but also felt a bit underwhelmed by it. 📣

Sadly, this is not a favourite murder mystery, it just wasn't as thrilling as it could have been. And the ending was very predictable, it was very obvious who was involved. I listened mostly to the audiobook; I might have DNF'ed the book otherwise.

The Cheerleaders is a real edge-of-your-seat story perfect for contemporary audiences who enjoyed the likes of Scream Queens, There’s Someone In Your House, and One Of Us Is Lying. The plot is exciting and engaging, meaning that readers will be flying through to know how it all ends! A really enjoyable young adult mystery that I found fast-paced and really hooked me even from the blurb.

I loved this book so much that I now have my own copy! Honestly, it reminded me so much of both 90s slasher movies and teen tv shows that do not wholly revolve around the quirky-but-beautiful outcast which, in my mind at least, is a winning combination. It was bitchy and action-packed and oh my lord, the cover was divine. If I could frame it and be like 'I want 1000x more books exactly like this', I would do.

Wow - a dark, twisty and gripping YA book. I've really loved the trend of modern YA to involve darker topics, and serious plots, while also feeling quite realistic. The main characters were believable, and I was hooked from the first few chapters. I really didn't see the ending coming, but the way the pieces fell into place - it was wonderful! Perfect for fans of Holly Jackson, and I'd say it's for those 14+.

The Cheerleaders is a book I really enjoyed and left me surprised and wanting to know what would happen next right to the last page. Five years ago the cheerleaders of Sunnybrook High School all die with Jenn having taken her life with suicide. Her sister Monica has never believed she would do this so when she discovers her sister's phone she starts to investigate herself and find out what really happened.

I wasn't sure where this story would go from the start but I really enjoyed it and didn't want to put the book down. I liked Monica as a character as it shows just how much she cared for her sister which made me want her to find out the truth even though it was hard for her at times. I think the friendship she had with Ginny was nice and at times surprising.

The book moved at a good pace with enough details to keep you questioning but it wasn't at all predictable like some books are. I don't want to say too much to spoil it but it is a brilliant book with a surprising end. Well worth a read.

This book certainly went above and beyond my expectations!.
Full of twists and turns, and moments that make you feel shocked to the core.
The characters were believable and realistic, to the point in which I found myself feeling as though they were close friends of mine, and in turn truly caring out the outcomes for them all.

The storyline is rather dark, but it has so much going on, it is without a doubt one of the best YA novels I have read for quite some time.

I really love a good mystery and this book was really good.
If you liked one of us is lying then this book is just what you need.
Great characters and a great storyline. I read this in one sitting, I just couldn’t put it down.

I read this book in August and forgot to pop my review in until now. I was so engrossed and consumed by finding out the answers that I forgot I was reading.
It was a on the edge of your seat read and you’re invested from the start.

Ok, I'm going straight in here. I'm split. I mean proper split. On one hand I really enjoyed the book. The plot was good, characters are well thought out and likeable. At times it's extremely gripping and fast-paced. Overall everything you want in a book right? On the other hand, it didn't go anywhere fast, I didn't like that we were given narrative by both Monica and Jen, the Rayburn sisters. This taking us from present to five years prior with Jen before her death. I honestly thought we would find out more by having Jen with us, but that wasn't so. To me she was pretty pointless and I soon found myself wanting to skip her and carry on with Monica.
Here's where it gets tricky. This is a book that any spoilers given would absolutely destroy your enjoyment in reading it. So it's hard for me to say why I has an issue with a certain “victim”. I don't know how laws work in the US but in England that book and it's laws made no sense at all. And I know this is fiction and I shouldn't let it upset me, but isn't that what reading is all about? Let's just say some victims or survivors as I would call them could get a bit or pretty pissed off with that. I know I did. See, very cryptic of me, but I needed to give my full reasons. I will discuss this with anyone who wants to go into with me though. My inbox is always open.

Overall, the book is good. It is one I would actually recommend to you. Like I said good plot, great characters, and the best part about it one fantastic twist that comes out of nowhere with an absolute bang!

⭐️⭐️⭐️

3/5

The Cheerleaders is the first book by Kara Thomas that I’ve read, and after enjoying this one so much I will definitely be reading more from her in the future. Thomas managed to mix emotion with mystery very well in this book, and I was kept wondering right up until the end.

I think the main standout of The Cheerleaders was the characterization of, well, the characters. The main character, Monica, is going through A LOT. At the start of the book, she has an abortion, and in addition to that she has also lost her sister and her sister’s best friends from the cheerleading squad. Oh, and she was in a student/teacher relationship with her teacher. I know, it’s a lot to unpack.

In my opinion, Kara Thomas did a great job of handling all of those things. While I do think the abortion was left forgotten, Monica had so many other things going on that it was almost understandable that she was distracted from it.

I have seen some reviews say that the student/teacher relationship was handled poorly, but in my opinion it seemed quite realistic? So we have a grieving teenage girl who blames herself for what is happening to and around her, and she really struggles to accept the idea that she’s the victim. But, she IS the victim, and the text clearly implies this.

Anyway, as for the actual mystery of what happened to the cheerleaders, I thought it was very interesting. Sure, you have the slightly unrealistic part where a teenager solves a crime, but isn’t that the case with all YA thrillers? I don’t think it would be that interesting if the teenagers deferred to the adults all the time, and the target audience probably love imagining solving these cases.

Like I said, I was kept hooked the whole time and because Thomas did such a great job with the main character, The Cheerleaders packed in a lot of emotion that is normally lacking in thrillers, particularly YA ones. I’m definitely going to be reading the author’s backlist and reading whatever they come out with next.

This was my first Kara Thomas book. I really enjoyed it. It was suspenseful, well written and well paced.

I'd read from her again.

Thanks a lot to NG and the publisher for this copy.

The premise of this book is fantastic and really appealed to me. I found the beginning half of the book quite slow and although I liked Monica as a protagonist I found it a bit difficult to get into the investigation plot. I also didn’t really respond to Jen’s earlier chapters. However after the midpoint I found this book really compelling and read the second half in one sitting. The third act of the book was particularly tense and page turning. The character of Ginny was excellent and i enjoyed getting her point of view at the end. I also thought the final Jen chapter and the conclusion of the Jen/Ethan subplot was really emotional. Overall I really enjoyed the book and rated it 4/5 on Goodreads - I would read other books by this author and recommend this title to senior students.

"There are some things not everyone has to know."

I didn't think this book would keep me in suspense. But apparently it was a pretty good thriller. I don't remember reading too many YA thrillers, maybe 2 books so far, mostly because I am a fan of adults thrillers and because I never saw this side of the YA world. I always read YA fantasy or romance nothing else. But I was wrong to choose just these 2 genres of YA because these books can be really intense and catchy.

Kara Thomas proved me that YA thrillers can be deep and dark with secrets that you wish never knew. Because.. let's say it: This is the reality! The cheerleaders shows a different part of high school where everything can happen. Good or bad. Sadly in the book is the bad part. You can find death, drugs, suicide, sexual assault. It is not a cheesy read!

Four cheerleaders are dead and the sister of one of them is the only one who fight for the truth. And I love how Monica never gave up on her sister. When everybody tried to forget about the crime, she tried her best to find the real answer. This is all I can say because if you are a fan of thrillers then this should be on your wishlist.

Thank you NetGalley for this eArc in exchange for an honest review.

I liked the beginning section of this but i just didn't like this towards the end overall. The story was progressing well but it took a turn that didn't work for me. The premise had so much promise but the execution was lacking for me.

The Cheerleaders picks up 5 years after 5 cheerleaders died in different ways and follows Monica as she tries to piece together the clues to find out what actually happened to them whilst also dealing with personal issues.

The book is not bad, I actually liked the writing style and the tone of the book. The book is darker than your typical YA mystery novel both in the content/themes of the book and also the atmosphere of the book. I liked the main character; Monica was well written especially her emotions and struggles as she goes through a lot whilst uncovering the mystery.

I just did not like the mystery aspect of the book. Monica solves/discovers things way too quickly and she finds a lot of stuff out throughout the book but not much time is spent on each ‘reveal’ and so there is no build-up of suspense/tension and things are discovered and then dismissed too quickly. Throughout the book there are a few chapters from Monica’s sisters perspective which I did not like, especially because the resolve for her sister was rushed and so we get this perspective to understand her sister and yet her story feels unresolved, it feels kind of pointless in the end.

I also found that the side characters were not developed enough, Monica’s relationships with the side characters were all bland and so I did not care for any of them. I also found the main reveal disappointing, it was very cliché and the rushed and I thought it could have been built up a bit better to make it more shocking. There are also other things that happen in the book which I do not think were addressed well or enough which was disappointing.

2/5

Firstly, I really enjoyed this book. I'm really enjoying reading YA mystery thrillers and this is one of the better ones that I have read! The concept is intriguing straight away. I love it when a book presents to me a mystery and then tells me that more people may know the truth than you first think.

The Cheerleaders also deals with some pretty heavy topics, and is not the light read I had expected it to be from the cover. There was so much within the book that was both realistic and relatable; I really found myself connecting with both Monica and her sister throughout.

It was a super easy read and I found myself not wanting to put this down as I just had to know what happened next! So many YA mystery stories can be cheesy, but this one was honestly the complete opposite.

Thank you to both Macmillan Childrens Books and NetGalley for my copy of this title.