Reviews tagging 'Sexual assault'

The Cheerleaders by Kara Thomas

15 reviews

simmy_books's review against another edition

dark emotional sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

I really liked this book and enjoyed the plot, there was a lot of suspects in the book and I loved the red herrings applied in the story as well, every time you thought someone was the actual killer, another secret would be revealed and we were thrown off. I enjoyed all the characters, I felt they made the story even more interesting because they all had something to hide, I liked how they all played a part in the story.

The writing was very easy to follow along and I considered it fast paced, it was written in first person so it made me feel as if I was within the story itself. I like how I was able to continue being entertained and never wanted to put the book down. Very engaging and I highly recommend to readers who want to dabble in murder mysteries. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Alcoholism, Car accident, Death, Physical abuse, Blood, Adult/minor relationship, Domestic abuse, Addiction, Child abuse, Mental illness, Murder, Child death, Abortion, and Suicide

ebony1ouise's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Rape, Car accident, Domestic abuse, Blood, Addiction, Mental illness, Abandonment, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Child death, Abortion, Body horror, Death, Grief, Child abuse, Bullying, Death of parent, Sexual assault, Alcohol, Murder, Pedophilia, Self harm, Sexual harassment, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Drug use, Physical abuse, Infidelity, and Suicide attempt

ehamlett's review against another edition

lighthearted mysterious slow-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Suicide, Adult/minor relationship, and Murder

Moderate: Child death, Car accident, and Alcohol

Minor: Abortion and Medical content

katherinesreadingalot's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Loveable characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

i liked it but i still feel like some things are left unanswered for me

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Sexual assault, Stalking, Death, Alcohol, Car accident, Grief, Domestic abuse, Murder, Adult/minor relationship, and Child abuse

Minor: Abortion

makenna_reads's review against another edition

adventurous dark inspiring mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Physical abuse, Cursing, Pedophilia, Suicide attempt, Mental illness, Grief, Drug use, Death, Abortion, Adult/minor relationship, Violence, Car accident, Bullying, Toxic friendship, Murder, Sexual assault, and Pregnancy

nerdybookshelff's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

3.0

Monica is the sister of Jen, one of the five cheerleaders who died five years ago. Ever since then, there have been no more cheerleaders in SunnyBrook. There are 5 families forever scarred from these deaths with constant reminders everywhere. When Monica uncovers that the police might not have caught the right culprit, she goes out of her way to set things right, for her sister and her friends. 

Spoiler <I went into this thinking it would be a typical highschool -murderer-comes-back-again-to-finish-what-they-started situation. However, it is just Monica uncovering the past> I did finish it 24 hours but it fell kind of flat for me unfortunately. I guessed the culprit correct and had a feeling about the last chapter but was surprised about a certain characters involvement in the last chapter. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Sexual assault, Abortion, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Blood, Bullying, Death, Murder, Pedophilia, Rape, and Suicide

gaiadances's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

3.5

good compelling mystery and it was well and satisfyingly resolved at the end. i enjoyed the book but it dealt with a lot of heavy subject matter and was quite a difficult and dark read for a YA title 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Death, Drug abuse, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Murder, Suicide, Sexual harassment, Car accident, and Adult/minor relationship

aylin05's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

2.5

this book was okay-ish.
some of the decisions made seem really unreasonable and unrealistic.  like Tom all of a sudden complying and telling Monica about the investigation when he swore not to and said he never would. idk it doesn’t make sense to me. the way it’s written was super confusing and honestly hard to follow. it wasn’t terrible but i also didn’t enjoy it whatsoever either. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Adult/minor relationship, Suicide, Car accident, and Death

Moderate: Sexual assault, Pedophilia, Rape, and Cursing

Minor: Alcohol

readsandrants's review

dark medium-paced

3.5

I feel nauseous after listening to that last scene. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Suicide, Pedophilia, Death, and Child death

Moderate: Drug abuse, Drug use, Car accident, and Abortion

Minor: Child abuse

mengzhenreads's review against another edition

dark mysterious 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

3.5

Overall, this was a very enjoyable YA mystery-thriller, and I definitely had a lot of fun with trying to figure out what exactly happened and how all the pieces fell together. I liked that the main character made mistakes, and wasn't necessarily a like-able person, which just made the whole experience really fun to read about. I also thought that many of the sensitive or controversial topics were handled in a way that was realistic and felt very believable, which you don't always see with YA books. 

However, what kept me from giving this book 4 stars was that the actual mystery was fairly predictable, and I don't think that this book was particularly original in its concept and plot. This is a great book if you're a YA mystery-thriller fan who's on the lookout for more content regardless of how stereotypical or predictable it might be or if you're new to these types of books and haven't yet become fully familiar with many of the tropes that YA mystery authors use in their books. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Suicide, and Murder

Moderate: Abortion, Adult/minor relationship, Suicidal thoughts, and Sexual assault

Minor: Child abuse and Drug use