Reviews with content warning for Alcoholism - The Cheerleaders

I had fun with this book. Was it spectacular? No. Was it enjoyable? Definitely.

I did like Thomas' other book, Little Monsters, a lot more. It pulled me in way more than this one did. But I don't have any strong feelings about The Cheerleaders. It was a fun YA mystery, nothing more and nothing less.

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booksiread_'s review against another edition

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mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

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hansbookshelf's review against another edition

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dark mysterious sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

PLEASE READ THE CONTENT WARNINGS.

This book was everything I wanted, fast-paced, trust-no one, teenage drama, almost gory in places murder mystery with such a satisfactory ending. It's DARK, and twisty, but held my attention the entire time.

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kristinbookdragon's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

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karlybug's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

2.5 stars

people are very confused by this book. i picked it up because it’s got a killer cover (truly, no pun intended) and the back, as well as several reviews, compared it to Riverdale, and I was feeling like a campy Halloweentime romp.

this is NOT that.

i don’t know how to explain why the Riverdale comparison feels so incredibly wrong having finished this without giving away some things... i feel like maybe the people making those comparisons have never seen an episode of that (absolutely insane) show?

also, i won’t presume anything about a stranger’s life, but i also feel that the people who find Monica one dimensional or without growth have perhaps not felt depression or a deep personal loss... or at the very least not both at the same time. Monica’s journey for me (as someone who has experienced them) feels very true to these things, as well as PTSD.

all in all, i went in hoping for a nutso unrealistic scary thriller and instead got what to me felt like a very truthful and painful account of something that very well could happen. (again, people calling the plot unrealistic—are you living in a world more sheltered than mine? can i join you there?)

not the fastest paced and nothing shocked me. the chapters from the past felt mostly unnecessary, and i would like to tweak a few things regarding the final reveal and the denouement, but i’m not sure what everyone else is complaining about. if anything, we should be complaining about that (terrific) cover for essentially being false advertising.

[side note: as a young adult—in the truest sense; an adult who is still young, not the inaccurately named genre into which this book falls—i felt a real sense of the ways in which adults consistently, with children and teenagers, assume and enforce the idea that they automatically know better, and kids are idiots, and shut up. in my 20s i’ve had that horrible realization i assume everyone has—that adults actually DON’T know what they’re doing and have just been lying to all of us for years. it feels like such a raw deal to come to this understanding and as i continue to grapple with it, whether the author intended this or not, this book really drove that home for me at a few different points. i truly don’t think it’s said enough that adults don’t have everything figured out, and that kids shouldn’t automatically trust all of them, just because they’re older.]

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