Reviews tagging 'Injury/Injury detail'

The Cheerleaders by Kara Thomas

13 reviews

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: No
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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dark mysterious sad fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Strong character development: No
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

really dark

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challenging mysterious medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: No

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

The Cheerleaders by Kara Thomas was filled with heavy topics I wasn’t expecting when I first started the book, but I feel like it handled the topics it took on well. None of the issues it addressed felt overwhelming or overblown, it withheld information in a way that made these topics more digestible and allowed the characters to grow from them at their own paces. Speaking of pacing, I thought that this book was well paced and moved easily through the story. I was nervous there were a lot of moving parts, but I think it was handled pretty well overall. There were a few loose ends that I felt didn’t get fully resolved, but they were small compared to the bigger picture. Overall, this YA mystery was really entertaining and is definitely worth adding to your TBR.

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dark medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: No
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

I didn't really like this book.

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dark mysterious sad tense fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Starting this review on a positive note, The Cheerleaders tackles serious topics very well. One of the best decisions Kara Thomas makes in this book is not revealing exactly how Jen died. When you compare this to other books advertised to teens that cover the same issues (such as 13 Reasons Why), it is clear what a responsible decision this is. 
Speaking of Jen, she deserved more chapters from her perspective. Monica is a good lead and serves her purpose of moving along the plot, but Jen is a far more dynamic character in the few chapters we get of her. Jen and Ethan's friendship is well-written and they provide a complex and compelling storyline (though I wish Ethan's motivations were clarified more.) 
The message of this story seems to be that most things in life are tangentially connected, though how connected they are may not be clear. The ending to this book perfectly encapsulates this idea that nearly everything is intertwined. Additionally, Kara Thomas makes sure not to convolute the plot to the point that the connections are blurry at best.
My biggest complaint about this novel is the multitude of characters with names which leads to an abundance of confusion. I couldn't remember who characters like Varney or Bethany's mom were when I got to chapters with them, sending me on a wild goose chase to find out their importance.

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dark emotional mysterious sad slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot

A little slow at the beginning but once things started happening, it picked up. I wish the whodunnit reveal had a little more oomph but it wasn't the worst. And I wish we knew if the person would actually get charged with the all the things they needed to be charged with. I did enjoy the very last bit with Ginny, I wasn't expecting it. And I liked how Ethan's character turned out. 
I wish we found out about what would happen with Tom and Mike knowing that Tom killed an innocent man. And like besides emotion clouding judgement, why he was so quick to kill an innocent man

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