The Cheerleaders

Product Information

The story follows Monica who lives in a little town Sunnybrook. Five years ago, a huge tragedy hit the place. Five lives were lost. All five belonged to cheerleaders, one belonged to Monica’s sister Jen.

I've enjoyed the author's Prep School Confidential series, so I had high hopes for this one. I wasn't disappointed. It did drag on a little, but overall, this is an excellent addition to the YA mystery genre.

Rate And Review

The story is written in two perspectives, one from Monica, written in first person, and second from Jen, written in third person. Still, it reads like a YA novel, and I don't mean that in a bad way. We get the sense that the character is in high school, and the people in the book rings true. There's not much about cliques, no overt stereotypes. We get the teenaged attitude without the "oh my god I want to strangle the characters NOW" feeling. It had just the right amount of angst and childishness that teenagers of that age would portray. When Monica Rayburn finds her sister’s phone hidden in her stepfather's desk, she begins searching for clues about what might have led her sister, Jen, to commit suicide 5 years ago. No one in Monica’s family likes to talk about what happened to Jen, so she begins to look for answers on her own. As she begins to put the pieces together, not only does Jen’s death seem suspect, she realizes something is off about the deaths of 4 other cheerleaders. When she comes across Jenn's old cell phone in his desk, her suspicion deepens. Why did he keep it hidden? What could possibly be on it?

In this book, you will meet Monica. Her family dynamic is a bit strange, or it was to me, because of her sisters death. Well, not only that.. but the whole town is kind of weird after 5 cheerleaders died mysteriously within the same month. I, of course, put on my little detective hat and wanted to figure out this murder mystery before I actually got the answers - and again, it was so good!This story was so intense and had so many plot twists! This was looking to be a 4-star read for me until those plot twists at the end I was like ASJLAKJSDLKAJ. I couldn't not give it 5 stars after that, I was blown away and I didn't see that twist coming. It was just epic, and it's rare when a thriller can surprise me like that! I felt so much for Monica and her situation with her sister, and I actually cried at the end????? It was crazy. That scene when Ethan explained his last phone call with Jen how they listened to the audiobook together and she never knew how it ended. YEP I CRIED. Writing was fine; I enjoyed Thomas’ writing style but here it felt a little disjointed with certain events jumping unevenly from A to B. And it felt very YA; more so than her other books. The other books had a more grittier and realistic tone about them; this book read more so straightforwardly and less like a thriller. Probably would categorize this as a mystery drama.