Reviews with content warning for Suicidal thoughts - The Cheerleaders

This was a really fun twisty murder mystery. It does deal with very heavy topics, so please read trigger warnings. However, I found this book very compelling and page turning. I kept coming back to listen! However, the ending was a little lackluster for my taste. It kinda felt like they picked a killer out of nowhere and didn’t really have any lead up to make you think it was this person at all. Not in a good “I couldn’t have guessed it, unexpected” way, but in a why would it be that person, it doesn’t really make sense” kind of way. I mean I get it, but it seemed like a little bit of a reach. But the final reveal, oof, loved that. I expected it but still loved it. Some other parts were a little predictable, but nonetheless, I enjoyed it.

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meganparfitt's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.5

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ciareads's review against another edition

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mysterious medium-paced

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

3.0

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emilysreadingbooks's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.5

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mackenziemesser's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

4.0

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mengzhenreads's review against another edition

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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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ameliaameliaamelia's review against another edition

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dark mysterious medium-paced

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

3.25

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