I loved it!! I was skeptical because of how much I like the Cheerleaders; I was worried it wouldn't be as good. Thankfully it was!

This is a great paced YA mystery/thriller. It’s an excellent follow up to The Cheerleaders, and Thomas does a great job of welcoming us back to the small town. I liked the MC, and enjoyed the twists and turns.

If you liked the cheerleaders you will love the champions. This book takes you back to the same town but with new characters

I have mixed feelings about this book. I would rate it as a great book because I finished the entire book in one sitting (6 hour plane ride). On the other hand, I found myself distracted while I read and not as enraptured as I usually am with Kara Thomas' books. The stakes were never high enough and I felt like I waited for a true climax that never came. I also found it hard to differentiate between the brothers in the book, which made the mystery and narrative difficult to follow.

I really like The Cheerleaders from this author. Thankfully this didn't disappoint! Fun, surprising, great atmosphere. Recommended.

First, thank you NetGalley for an eARC of this novel. I love Kara Thomas and this book did not disappoint! The first book set in this town, The Cheerleaders, was my first Kara Thomas book so I was excited to dive back into the town of Sunnybrook. This book was really interesting because we got to see old characters come back and see what their lives had turned out like. These same characters are part of what helped break the story and solve the case. I think this novel showed a lot of what it's like in schools where sports are the be all end all for students and the communities. They can often have terrible effects and so many things can be hidden and sweeped under the rug. It took me right up until it was happening to piece together the "whodunnit" of this story. I will absolutely recommend this novel.

If you didn’t already consider Kara Thomas a wonderful thriller/mystery writer, well, that’s on you. Each book she writes gets better and better. I had no idea that I needed a “sequel” to The Cheerleaders but I did. Great characters, compelling plot, and lots of twists.

This book is a sequel to the book The Cheerleaders, but deals with the football team this time. The story line takes place 11 years after the murders in The Cheerleaders and we see how the murders/deaths have affected the community and the school. There is no longer a cheerleading squad, but they do have a dance team . When this book begins, the football team is gearing up to win a 3rd straight football championship, which they feel is inevitable. And then terrible things start to happen. One star of the football team is in a coma and another is killed. Our main character is the editor in chief of the school paper and she has some ideas about what is going on.

This was a solid YA thriller but there was nothing special about it to make it stand out for me or to elevate it to a 4 star or 5 star read, although I will give the author credit for her handling of difficult topics, such as nepotism and gang rape. I guess my main complaint is there were SO many nondescript interchangeable characters that I kept getting confused about who was who.

This book was amazing and I devoured this book in just a few sittings! I loved the character development and how the story progressed.

This book was a rolled coaster ride in the best way possible! There is soooo much happening here and while reading the other book set in this town isn’t necessary it is supremely helpful! Hadley is hoping to made editor-in-chief of the school newspaper but when she is assigned to write a piece about the championship winning football team she gets way more than she bargained for. There are some very nefarious things afoot in this athletic department and town where football players are gods and everyone is willing to help them win. As always with this author there are broader issues discussed: women being blamed for being raped, nepotism, toxic masculinity and so much more. A read I can’t wait to get for my classroom.

I love a good thriller, and this did not disappoint. I had not read The Cheerleaders before reading this, but the author did a great job making this a standalone sequel. I didn’t feel at all lost having missed the original story. Overall, I enjoyed this. I found the characters very believable, and having taught in a place where high school football reigns supreme, the whole athletic culture and privilege portrayed was very authentic. My only “complaint” would be that there are so many names to keep track of! I look forward to reading more from this author in the future.

I have loved all of Kara Thomas’ books, especially The Cheerleaders. This is an extension of that story weaving in old and new characters to the previous book. One of the best things about her stories is it feels like something that could actual happen and we would read about in the news/true crime. My only complaint was that there were too many characters to keep track of and I found myself mixing a few of them up, both the football players and dance team girls. The ending wasn’t as explosive as her previous novels, but still enjoyable.

I thought this was a good follow up to The Cheerleaders. You didn't need to read The Cheerleaders to understand what was going on, which I appreciated!

This was a great sequel to the book The Cheerleaders. It takes place 11 years later and the murders have left a lasting impression on the town and especially the school. The football team are 2 time champs and they feel untouchable and can get away with any...or can they. With two murders and one attempted on the football team, the editor of the newspaper is digging into the mystery and finds out who committed these heinous crimes.

"I thought this was really well written and I look forward to reading more from this author in the future. I think it will find readers at our library, so we will definitely be purchasing for the collection.

Gosh. I love how teens are getting access to such great thrillers! This has the addictive energy of 13 Reasons Why and the who dunit nature that kept me guessing.

You know how The Hunger Games is frequently used as an example of perfect pacing? I think The Champions will be too. Seriously, I think this is the best paced mystery/thriller I've ever read. In addition to the excellent pacing (I'll shut up about it now, but I need you to know it was great), the character work was also strong. I thought Hadley was a great character, but I'm more impressed by how believable (sadly) a lot of the side characters were, particularly the football players, dance team members, and school faculty and administration.

If you've read any of Kara Thomas' previous work, you'll guess that The Champions will also deal with serious topics. Although, I think The Cheerleaders is darker than this book, as in that book Monica had personally been affected by those things, and here, Hadley is an outsider. I'm going to put content warnings at the end of this review and I will be putting a spoiler tag on one of them because it's revealed so far into the book. However, if you can not handle reading about assault, skip this book.

If you've read The Cheerleaders there is some crossover in the topics handled and those topics are mentioned in this book. Hadley is new to town, so she discovers some of what happened in The Cheerleaders. I don't think you have to read The Cheerleaders before The Champions, there's some easter eggs with some characters that show up in this book too. There is one plot point that carries over a little bit, but I don't think there would be any confusion if you haven't read the first book. However, if you pick The Champions up before reading The Cheerleaders you will be spoiled for it.

CW: abuse of power, cheating (both in school and on people), poisoning ,seizure, hit-and-run, domestic violence, hazing, drinking, and gang rape

I absolutely LOVE LOVE LOVE Kara Thomas, but this one didn't do it for me. The Cheerleaders had me on the edge of my seat from start to finish but this one was a little harder to get into. It really picked up about 25% of the way through, but there were so many characters that it was difficult to keep everyone straight and connect with any of them. I also felt that the athletes' secret felt random and more of a shock factor than something that fit naturally with the rest of the plot. I think readers could read this as a standalone, but it certainly helped to have the background of "The Cheerleaders" to provide more context. It does touch on some heavier topics, making this a better fit for more mature high school readers. Thanks so much for the ARC!

4. One reason I like Kara Thomas,is that she consistently nails high school age characters. She definitely has again! This sequel to The Cheerleaders has plenty of Easter eggs for readers, and a twisty mystery for returning fans. Hadley has to unlayer her assumptions and be willing to lose it all to get to the truth. Raises good questions about what justice is for victims and their community—why isn’t justice achieved? There’s a lot here, all of which is relevant to current events. Well done, Kara Thomas!