I received this book for free from Reviewer Purchase in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
The Cheerleaders by Kara Thomas Published by Delacorte Press on 7/31/18
Genres: Contemporary, Mystery & Detective, Thrillers, Young Adult
Pages: 402
Format: Ebook
Source: Reviewer Purchase
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There are no more cheerleaders in the town of Sunnybrook.
First there was the car accident--two girls dead after hitting a tree on a rainy night. Not long after, the murders happened. Those two girls were killed by the man next door. The police shot him, so no one will ever know his reasons. Monica's sister was the last cheerleader to die. After her suicide, Sunnybrook High disbanded the cheer squad. No one wanted to be reminded of the girls they'd lost.
That was five years ago. Now the faculty and students at Sunnybrook High want to remember the lost cheerleaders. But for Monica, it's not that easy. She just wants to forget.
Only, Monica's world is starting to unravel. There are the letters in her stepdad's desk, an unearthed, years-old cell phone, a strange new friend at school. . . . Whatever happened five years ago isn't over. Some people in town know more than they're saying. And somehow, Monica is at the center of it all.
There are no more cheerleaders in Sunnybrook, but that doesn't mean anyone else is safe.
Short and Sweet Review
The town of Sunnybrook no longer has cheerleaders. After two died in a car crash and two more were killed by a neighbor and one committed suicide, the team was disbanded. Monica’s sister was the last cheerleader to die and now five years later the faculty at the high school want to remember the cheerleaders they lost, but Monica isn’t sure she can handle all of the pain that comes with remembering. Monica decides to actually look into what happened five years ago and she learns that some people in town know a lot more than they’re willing to share.
There’s a lot of layers to this novel, it deals with a lot of tough topics: abortion, murder, and suicide. Monica is our main character and she’s been through a lot, she lost a sister to suicide and she recently had an abortion. Monica is asked by one of the teachers to participate in a memorial for the cheerleaders who died five years ago and this stirs up something in Monica. Monica starts to do a little digging into her sister Jen’s death and she ends up learning a lot. She finds Jen’s old phone and starts reading through the texts and she also finds some letters in her stepdads office, which leads her to believe that all of the deaths of the cheerleaders are connected. I liked the mystery of it all and also how Monica became friends with Ginny who was willing to help her with all the investigating. There was a lot of twists and turns when it came to Monica learning information about how the cheerleaders died and how what everyone thought was a closed case is actually something that should have been more closely looked at. I liked how real this book was in dealing with the tough topics, but I do wish Monica was able to confide in her friends. I also liked how we did get to see some things from Jens POV and see how she was feeling and what was happening during the time of some of her teammates deaths.
The ending of the book was pretty good and everything did make sense. I was also pretty surprised by the last chapter from Ginny but all in all it was good. The cheerleaders was a good book to read and it kept me engaged from beginning to end.
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