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A review by thewildnorry
The Cheerleaders by Kara Thomas
4.0
I was certain for about 80% of the book that at the end it would have five stars written. I couldn’t wait for all of the loose ends and little mysteries to tie together into the big reveal at the ending.
The problem? It never did.
Spoiler
The Cheerleaders Deaths
* They didn’t connect. We were lead to believe there was a big, awesome conspiracy, but instead it was one minor chain reaction and a car crash that roped Ginny.
* Also the red herrings that seemed so promising (Tom, Carly, Ethan) were significant let downs. They loosely tied in, but it could have used way more writing and work to make it more interesting.
* Jennifer’s supposed lack of suicide note which turned out to be a lie told to Monica by her parents. And while we the reader got to see what led Jennifer to this, Monica never did. And that disappointed me.
Her Friendship Tension
Monica he such a tense and weird relationship with her friends. At first I enjoyed the parallels to her sister’s relationship with her friends—Monica patchers things up with Rachel & Alexa so easily. There’s like no repercussions or talk through of the fact that Monica basically ditched them.
The abortion?
Was this supposed to just explain some tension with her mom? With Brandon? It seemed an unnecessary detail that was never used to its full power either to play out her moms lack of trust or awkwardness with Brandon.
The relationship with Jimmy Varney
He was a useless character maybe just there to remind us that Monica is in high school? He did nothing and this relationship served no purpose.
In general things were wrapped up or tied in so loosely that they weren’t satisfying explanations, but they were addressed so it feels weird to complain that they weren’t addressed well enough? Honestly it seemed like the author was covering her ass with some of these just to prevent reviewers from saying a plot line went nowhere/was left unresolved.
That said, the fact that the book had me invested and guessing what happened and just along for the ride for so long made me only take one star off.
The writing was awesome. The teenagers spoke like teenagers. And the characters seemed real. So there’s that.
The problem? It never did.
Spoiler
The Cheerleaders Deaths
* They didn’t connect. We were lead to believe there was a big, awesome conspiracy, but instead it was one minor chain reaction and a car crash that roped Ginny.
* Also the red herrings that seemed so promising (Tom, Carly, Ethan) were significant let downs. They loosely tied in, but it could have used way more writing and work to make it more interesting.
* Jennifer’s supposed lack of suicide note which turned out to be a lie told to Monica by her parents. And while we the reader got to see what led Jennifer to this, Monica never did. And that disappointed me.
Her Friendship Tension
Monica he such a tense and weird relationship with her friends. At first I enjoyed the parallels to her sister’s relationship with her friends—Monica patchers things up with Rachel & Alexa so easily. There’s like no repercussions or talk through of the fact that Monica basically ditched them.
The abortion?
Was this supposed to just explain some tension with her mom? With Brandon? It seemed an unnecessary detail that was never used to its full power either to play out her moms lack of trust or awkwardness with Brandon.
The relationship with Jimmy Varney
He was a useless character maybe just there to remind us that Monica is in high school? He did nothing and this relationship served no purpose.
In general things were wrapped up or tied in so loosely that they weren’t satisfying explanations, but they were addressed so it feels weird to complain that they weren’t addressed well enough? Honestly it seemed like the author was covering her ass with some of these just to prevent reviewers from saying a plot line went nowhere/was left unresolved.
That said, the fact that the book had me invested and guessing what happened and just along for the ride for so long made me only take one star off.
The writing was awesome. The teenagers spoke like teenagers. And the characters seemed real. So there’s that.