Book 2 in The Cheerleaders YA duology.
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It’s been 11 years since the deaths of five cheerleaders occurred in the small town of Sunnybrook, NY. Hadley is new in town and works for the school paper, hoping to make editor. She’s assigned to work the football game because the town has a winning team and hopes to make it to state again. Hadley couldn’t care less about football, but a hard-hitting news story is right up her alley. When she realizes there’s something sinister about the football players and how they all close ranks around one another when their QB is poisoned at a party, Hadley decides to investigate with the help of Peter, Monica’s younger brother from book 1. What she finds puts her life in danger because the champions will stop at nothing to win.
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So I’m not sure this qualifies as a sequel because the main character is someone completely new and unconnected to book 1. I wish there had been more with Peter and Monica and towards the end, the amount of characters became so convoluted with the plot. Way too many cooks in the kitchen so I wasn’t as invested as I wanted to be in this follow up.

CW: gang rape, sexual assault, drugging, hospitalization, bullying, alcohol, hazing, toxic relationship, gun violence, infidelity, emesis, grief, car accident, gaslighting, misogyny, sexism, addiction, panic attack, suicide

I enjoyed this book more than I thought I would. This is a YA mystery so it takes place when the characters are in high school. The story did keep me interested and there were some twists that were interesting.

I will definitely be reading more from this author.

Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! No spoilers. Beyond amazing I enjoyed this book so very much. The characters and storyline were fantastic. The ending I did not see coming Could not put down nor did I want to. Truly Amazing and appreciated the whole story. This is going to be a must read for many many readers. Maybe even a book club pick.

Sunnybrook High is home to the celebrated Tigers football team, but its past is haunted by the tragic deaths of five cheerleaders over a decade ago. When Hadley moves to Sunnybrook, she’s uninterested in football—until a Tiger is poisoned at a party and she’s assigned to cover the incident for the school paper.

As cryptic emails warn her to back off and a second player meets a grim fate, Hadley suspects that someone is targeting the team. Are the murders linked to the cheerleaders’ deaths from years ago, or are the Tigers hiding sinister secrets of their own? Determined to uncover the truth, Hadley dives deep into Sunnybrook's dark history, but her investigation may come at a deadly cost.

Tropes
- Small-town secrets
- High school hierarchy
- Outsider uncovering hidden truths
- Sports team with dark secrets
- Linking past and present crimes

he Champions revisits the shadowy world of Sunnybrook where secrets refuse to stay buried. Hadley is a compelling protagonist—cynical yet determined—whose outsider status gives her a unique perspective on the town’s deeply ingrained culture. The story weaves past and present crimes seamlessly, drawing eerie parallels between the cheerleaders’ tragic deaths and the current targeting of the Tigers. Thomas builds tension masterfully, with each chapter layering on suspense as Hadley unearths disturbing truths about the town’s golden boys and their invincible reputation.

What sets The Champions apart is its sharp commentary on privilege, accountability, and the lengths people will go to protect their own. The football team’s façade of perfection crumbles under scrutiny, exposing a web of lies, betrayal, and guilt. At the same time, Sunnybrook’s fixation on moving past its history highlights the dangers of ignoring unresolved trauma.

The book’s pacing is excellent, with each revelation raising the stakes until the explosive climax. The connection to The Cheerleaders is satisfying but subtle enough for newcomers to enjoy this book as a standalone. Thomas’s writing is immersive and atmospheric, perfectly capturing the dark undertones of Sunnybrook’s seemingly idyllic setting.

Fans of high-stakes mysteries with morally complex characters and plenty of surprises will find The Champions impossible to put down.

More books like The Champions
- The Cheerleaders by Kara Thomas
- A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder by Holly Jackson
- One of Us Is Lying by Karen M. McManus
- Sadie by Courtney Summers
- People Like Us by Dana Mele

The Champions by Kara Thomas is the sequel to The Cheerleaders. Though I enjoyed it, it didn't quite live up to its predecessor. The writing was good and the story was solid, but I think my expectations were a little too high.

*The Champions* by Kara Thomas is an engaging thriller that keeps you hooked with its fast-paced plot and intriguing mystery. While the twists are solid and the characters are relatable, the story occasionally feels predictable and lacks the depth to make it truly standout. A solid three-star read for fans of suspense, though not quite as gripping as expected.

This one took me a min, I wanted to read cheerleaders first, and I ended up really liking both!!! This was good, I liked it a lot!

An interesting and engaging companion book to the Cheerleaders. The writing was engaging, though some of the characters were a bit flat.

I love a good YA murder mystery and this book 100% delivered! I did NOT guess the twist, and I loved how close to the end it hit. Very little romance, which was a nice twist.
The writing was beautiful, I tested out the audiobook and the narrator was amazing. I found myself listening during showers/chores/lunch at work which means the book had to be good to get me to put in the effort for that! I will most definitely be looking into Kara Thomas' other books such as The Cheerleaders, it was mentioned vaguely in this book and I would read the books in order if you don't want to know who dunnit in the first book!

Well worth my time.

This book was a roller coaster, but a really really good one. I liked how the characters and how the book showed that the people who don't look like victims, really could be. Everything made sense and the ending was wrapped up very neatly. I would recommend this to people.

Thank you for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This is a companion novel to The Cheerleaders, set in a town that seems to have a curse when it comes to incidents happening to their sports stars. I really enjoyed this book, it was a fast paced, quick read. I will say the ending is a bit predictable, but that did not take away any of the enjoyment.

I would recommend this for fans of Karen Mourning!!

Kara Thomas returns to Sunnybrook for this sequel to The Cheerleaders. This dark YA thriller is a sure hit for both the YA audience and new adult.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an eARC,

Having read Kara’s work with “the cheerleaders” I was so excited to request and read this one.

I love a good YA thriller and this book did not disappoint at all. I loved how up until the end of the book I still suspected everybody involved. And I felt dumb when I didn’t pick up the signs and the evidence. 😂

But I love this book nonetheless and will buy the paperback when I can

I love Kara Thomas’s books. I’ve been reading them since her fist one published many years ago and whenever I see she has another one coming I get excited! The Champions is her latest release. If you’ve read The Cheerleaders (not necessary but it does enhance this one) then you’ll definitely find some similarities. I think this one reads just like that one but with different characters and a few more plot holes. For some of it you DO need to suspend belief (who talks to a new kid and tells them all their dirty secrets like this LOL) but its fiction and it gets us to where we need to be. I do recommend that readers check the books trigger warnings though because this one deals with some heavy topics. I don’t think it’s suitable for a younger crowed but upper young adult (those at least in HS) may enjoy this one.

𝗠𝗬 𝗥𝗔𝗧𝗜𝗡𝗚: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

The Champions didn't quite work for me. There were a lot of characters to keep track of and folks I forgot about from The Cheerleaders kept popping up.

I think average is the perfect word to describe this book. It hooked me at first, but once I saw the direction it was going in, I definitely lost interest. To be completely honest, it kind of came across as a 13 Reasons Why rip off (or at least certain aspects of it). I didn't care very much for the main character or really any of the characters. The main character's mom actually infuriated me, which made it that much harder to read.

I love a dark YA, The Champions takes place years after the second Cheerleaders book. It was a really good mystery, not as good as the first, but still captivating. It's well written and fast-paced.

11 years after the events from book 1 the town of sunnybrook is just trying to move on, but everything is not sunny in sunnybrook. Hadley is assigned to write an article covering the football team, the towns pride and joy. As she learns more and digs more nothing is what it seems. And it seems she is the only one not wearing blinders when it comes to the team. While I did enjoy this book, just not as much as the first. Sometimes connected stories like this don’t tend to live up because there is so much expectation surrounding. Sometimes like in this case we may have been better leaving sunnybrook at the end of the cheerleaders.

The Champions, the second book in the Cheerleaders duology, takes place eleven years after the killer of the dead cheerleaders in Sunnybrook is brought to justice. Hadley has just moved to Sunnybrook and is hoping to become editor of the school newspaper. She is disappointed when she is assigned a story about the school’s championship Tiger football team, which is a positive focus for the town. However, soon after she turns in her story, one of the team members, whom she interviewed, is poisoned, and Hadley begins getting strange emails telling her to stay away from the football team. It is clear that the players have secrets, and when a second player is mysteriously killed, Hadley wonders if someone wants revenge for their sins.

Though I couldn't remember a lot of the specifics I remember really liking Thomas's book The Cheerleaders when it came out and was hoping she would continue on with a quality Young Adult mystery with The Champions. And I think she did a pretty good job of keeping the mystery just as compelling.

The Champions is in the same universe as The Cheerleaders, a story of how the town was "cursed" with the murders of their cheerleaders. Now, years later, our main character Hadley, is asked to write up a newspaper article about the football team. She, of course, stumbles across something suspicious and things quickly spiral out of control, leading to a poisoning and then a death of several of the football players. But who is targeting them?

Hadley, with the help of an anonymous push, starts to piece together the whole story, discovering a conspiracy that spans not only the student body but the administration as well.

I felt as though the story was pretty cleverly crafted and though I would like to think the answer to the mystery is unbelievable I know better. In some places, sports are truly as important as they're presented in the book.

Overall I really liked it though I'm not entirely sure it's as strong as the first installment.