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A review by pagesplotsandpints
The Champions by Kara Thomas
3.5
<b>Read Completed 9/5/24 |</b> 3.25 - 3.5 stars
<i>This is a companion book to THE CHEERLEADERS, but takes place 11 years after the events of that book. You do not need to read THE CHEERLEADERS in order to read THE CHAMPIONS, but they do crossover and you will have spoilers for the previous book if you don't read it first.</i>
After rereading THE CHEERLEADERS, which I liked even more the second time, I was even more excited to read THE CHAMPIONS. I really liked seeing the characters from THE CHEERLEADERS crossover and get involved in the story, even when they weren't the main characters.
I wanted to love this so badly, but I just didn't get involved the way I was with the previous book. Hadley was our main character here, but she wasn't as personally connected to everything like Monica had been. After the events of the party in the beginning that looped her in, she started to become more of a detective-style character who's a little more detached from the action. I also feel like I didn't really get to know her at all. We established that she wants to be a journalist, obviously so she can be involved in this detective plot, but I really don't feel like her character was that well-established. She doesn't have any friends, really, and has a hate-to-friend relationship with Peter (Monica's younger brother - fun!). She barely interacts with her mom, her dad is out the picture / on the peripheral because of drug abuse, but we don't really get into that a lot. I just wanted more from Hadley as a character.
This book also felt more more teen / young adult than the first book, which isn't why I'm rating it a little lower, but it just wasn't as enjoyable for me in that respect. There are still many mature / adult topic that take place here and it gets quite intense, but the inclusion of the drama around the football team just wasn't my thing. And once I was a tiny bit checked out, I couldn't keep some of the characters straight -- their names were kind of similar and when most of them were football players or students, it got confusing who was who. LogaN, DylaN, CameroN, BraydeN (think there was a Brayden...) The names aren't that similar, but it was close enough that my brain was letting them blur together. Can someone be named Matt or something? 😂
In the end, I just wasn't connected to mystery of it all. It was very serious and very important, but since Hadley didn't even really know any of them, why should I? I just had a hard time being involved, as messed up as everything was that went down.
<i>This is a companion book to THE CHEERLEADERS, but takes place 11 years after the events of that book. You do not need to read THE CHEERLEADERS in order to read THE CHAMPIONS, but they do crossover and you will have spoilers for the previous book if you don't read it first.</i>
After rereading THE CHEERLEADERS, which I liked even more the second time, I was even more excited to read THE CHAMPIONS. I really liked seeing the characters from THE CHEERLEADERS crossover and get involved in the story, even when they weren't the main characters.
I wanted to love this so badly, but I just didn't get involved the way I was with the previous book. Hadley was our main character here, but she wasn't as personally connected to everything like Monica had been. After the events of the party in the beginning that looped her in, she started to become more of a detective-style character who's a little more detached from the action. I also feel like I didn't really get to know her at all. We established that she wants to be a journalist, obviously so she can be involved in this detective plot, but I really don't feel like her character was that well-established. She doesn't have any friends, really, and has a hate-to-friend relationship with Peter (Monica's younger brother - fun!). She barely interacts with her mom, her dad is out the picture / on the peripheral because of drug abuse, but we don't really get into that a lot. I just wanted more from Hadley as a character.
This book also felt more more teen / young adult than the first book, which isn't why I'm rating it a little lower, but it just wasn't as enjoyable for me in that respect. There are still many mature / adult topic that take place here and it gets quite intense, but the inclusion of the drama around the football team just wasn't my thing. And once I was a tiny bit checked out, I couldn't keep some of the characters straight -- their names were kind of similar and when most of them were football players or students, it got confusing who was who. LogaN, DylaN, CameroN, BraydeN (think there was a Brayden...) The names aren't that similar, but it was close enough that my brain was letting them blur together. Can someone be named Matt or something? 😂
In the end, I just wasn't connected to mystery of it all. It was very serious and very important, but since Hadley didn't even really know any of them, why should I? I just had a hard time being involved, as messed up as everything was that went down.