Welcome to my stop on the blog tour for The Cheerleaders by Kara Thomas. This review is being hosted by RockStar Book Tours. I will be sharing my review and there will be a giveaway.
Title: THE CHEERLEADERS
Author: Kara Thomas
Pub. Date: July 31, 2018
Publisher: Delacorte Press
Formats: Hardcover, eBook, audiobook
Pages: 384
Find it: Goodreads, Amazon, Audible, B&N, iBooks, TBD
Synopsis:
There are no more cheerleaders in the town of Sunnybrook.
First there was the car accident—two girls gone 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 why he did it. 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 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.
My Review:
Kara Thomas is an autobuy author for me, so I was not surprised at all that I loved The Cheerleaders. I will read anything Kara writes.
This is one of those books that won’t have a very detailed review. I don’t want to give away any of the little twists that are in the story.
Monica’s sister, Jen, committed suicide five years earlier. Jen’s friends had recently died. The first two were in a horrific car accident. Then two more were murdered by the neighbor. All five of those girls were cheerleaders. After the deaths, the school decided that there would be no more cheerleaders.
Monica is on dance squad. She has friends and is pretty popular. But she’s also unhappy. When she and her boyfriend broke up, she slept with a much older man she met over the summer. (Trigger warning for abortion and statutory rape.) It becomes a shock when she sees him at school as the new cross country coach.
Monica finds Jen’s phone locked in her step dad’s desk and it opens up all the questions she had been having about what happened. Monica finds it hard to believe that Jen killed herself and she believes that all the deaths have to be connected. She begins to doubt that they neighbor killed the two girls and that the killer may still be out there.
Monica starts hanging out with Ginny, another girl on dance squad. It’s not someone she really paid much attention to before, but Ginny is helpful and Monica decides to confide in her. They find a boy that made a hit list and track down other people that were close to the cheerleaders.
Most of the book is told in present time, but we do get some chapter that go back five years and are told as Jen.
As usual, Kara creates this great mystery that keeps you guessing with lots of twists you don’t see coming.
I gave this book 5 stars. Thank you to the publisher, Delacorte Press, for sending me a finished copy for review.
About Kara:
Kara Thomas is a true crime addict and the author of THE DARKEST CORNERS, LITTLE MONSTERS, and THE CHEERLEADERS, all published by Delacorte Press. You can find her on Twitter (@karatwrites), Instagram (@kara__thomas), or at http://www.kara-thomas.com.
Website | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram | Goodreads
Giveaway:
3 Winners will get a finished copy of The Cheerleaders (US only)
Follow The Tour:
Tour Schedule:
Week One:
7/23/2018- The Heart of a Book Blogger– Review
7/24/2018- A Dream Within A Dream– Review
7/25/2018- Portrait of a Book– Review
7/26/2018- Here’s to Happy Endings– Review
7/27/2018- Books and Ladders– Review
Week Two:
7/30/2018- The Clever Reader– Review
7/31/2018- Diary of an Avid Reader– Review
8/1/2018- Never Too Many To Read– Review
8/2/2018- Confessions of a YA Reader– Review
8/3/2018- Adventures of a Book Junkie– Interview
Week Three:
8/6/2018- laura bookish corner– Review
8/7/2018- The Phantom Paragrapher– Review
8/8/2018- Mama Reads Blog– Review
8/9/2018- To Be Read– Review
8/10/2018- Savings in Seconds– Review
Week Four:
8/13/2018- The Young Folks– Review
8/14/2018- BookHounds YA– Interview
8/15/2018- Simply Daniel Radcliffe– Review
8/16/2018- Moonlight Rendezvous– Review
8/17/2018- Two points of interest– Review
Thank you for stopping by today!
Confessions of a YA Reader 
Sounds really interesting! I entered:)
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Good luck!
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I gave this 5 stars too. I really loved it. I’ll have to check out her other books!
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Little Monsters is my favorite of her three. But they’re all so good!
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I’m excited to read this one. I’m hoping it’s one of the books I’ll want to own forever, as it’s gotten so much hype. For now, I’m the first borrower from my library! Definitely entering the giveaway!
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Good luck!
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