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A review by bethanyangharads
The Cheerleaders by Kara Thomas
2.0
⭐️⭐️/5
Overview: Around five years ago, five cheerleaders die within the same month and they seem to be connected. In this novel the reader follows the main character, Monica, as she tries to unravel the truth surrounding her sister's death (one of the afore mentioned cheerleaders). Monica herself goes through some tough things along this journey as she connects the dots.
Review: This book started out super promising with a beginning that hooked me in straight away. The mystery and plot held so much promise that I felt like I would be super sucked in to the story - which I was. However, about a third of the way in things started to go downhill for me, for a number of reasons...
1) Monica made way too many wild assumptions and out there connections that the plausibility of what she was hypothesising went straight out the window. I understand that some of this could be attributed to Monica feeling distraught and unstable buuut it doesn't quite cover it.
2) Some of the side plots seemed to be a waste of page space and didn't really add to the story e.g. talking about the Monica's past relationships (Matt) and Monica interviewing (more like randomly turning up to people's places through stalking them, and then demanding answers).
3) Monica's relationships with her friends and family felt super forced and dramatic.
4) The wrap up to the whole mystery was, well, disappointing. The only thing that kept me reading to the end was this anticipation that everything would come together spectacularly, but it was more like hunting through your bag to find that snack you had hidden away only to find that it had been inedibly squished. Long story short, the ending was anti climactic.
Some parts that I did like, because let's end this on a positive note, were; The few chapters from the dead sister (Jen's) perspective, Ginny having a rebellious side, [ironically] the commentary on how people jump to assumptions when it comes to people who act different to everyone else, and the ability to keep stringing me along so that I finished another book to add to my goodreads challenge seeing as I am lagging behind so tremendously.
Overview: Around five years ago, five cheerleaders die within the same month and they seem to be connected. In this novel the reader follows the main character, Monica, as she tries to unravel the truth surrounding her sister's death (one of the afore mentioned cheerleaders). Monica herself goes through some tough things along this journey as she connects the dots.
Review: This book started out super promising with a beginning that hooked me in straight away. The mystery and plot held so much promise that I felt like I would be super sucked in to the story - which I was. However, about a third of the way in things started to go downhill for me, for a number of reasons...
1) Monica made way too many wild assumptions and out there connections that the plausibility of what she was hypothesising went straight out the window. I understand that some of this could be attributed to Monica feeling distraught and unstable buuut it doesn't quite cover it.
2) Some of the side plots seemed to be a waste of page space and didn't really add to the story e.g. talking about the Monica's past relationships (Matt) and Monica interviewing (more like randomly turning up to people's places through stalking them, and then demanding answers).
3) Monica's relationships with her friends and family felt super forced and dramatic.
4) The wrap up to the whole mystery was, well, disappointing. The only thing that kept me reading to the end was this anticipation that everything would come together spectacularly, but it was more like hunting through your bag to find that snack you had hidden away only to find that it had been inedibly squished. Long story short, the ending was anti climactic.
Some parts that I did like, because let's end this on a positive note, were; The few chapters from the dead sister (Jen's) perspective, Ginny having a rebellious side, [ironically] the commentary on how people jump to assumptions when it comes to people who act different to everyone else, and the ability to keep stringing me along so that I finished another book to add to my goodreads challenge seeing as I am lagging behind so tremendously.