I’m so excited to bring you The Champions by Kara Thomas Book Tour hosted by TBR and Beyond Book Tours.

About The Champions

From the author of The Cheerleaders comes another dark YA thriller set in the same town of Sunnybrook. When a mysterious accident befalls a member of the all-star high school football team, the town’s deadly history stands to repeat itself—and the price of discovering the truth is higher than anyone could imagine.

It was the deaths of five cheerleaders that made the town of Sunnybrook infamous. Eleven years later, the girls’ killer has been brought to justice, and the town just wants to move on. By the time Hadley moves to Sunnybrook, though, the locals are more interested in the Tigers, the high school’s championship-winning football team. The Tigers are Sunnybrook’s homegrown heroes–something positive in a town with so much darkness in its past. 

Hadley could care less about football, but shortly after she gets assigned to cover the team’s latest championship bid for the school newspaper, one of the Tigers is poisoned at a party, and almost immediately after, Hadley starts getting strange emails warning her to stay far away from the football team. It’s becoming clear Sunnybrook’s golden boys have secrets, and after a second player is mysteriously killed, Hadley’s beginning to suspect that someone wants the team to pay for their sins. Or does this new target on the football team have something to do with what happened to the cheerleaders all those years ago? 

As an outsider in Sunnybrook, Hadley feels like she’s the only one who can see the present clearly, but it looks like she’s going to have to dig up the darkness of the past to get to the bottom of what’s happening now. Luckily, there are still some Sunnybrook High grads who never left–people who were around eleven years ago—and if she can just convince them to talk, she might be able stop a killer before another Tiger dies.

Content Warning: sexual assault, bullying, death, cheating, toxic relationships, car accident, abortion

The Champions Review

To be honest, I haven’t read The Cheerleaders… but I want to now! I was able to follow the book just fine without reading the first book. Do it in the right order. Don’t be like me. 

Previously the cheerleaders were targeted for mayhem, in this book, the football team is in the spotlight. Hadley moves to the small town of Sunnybrook and soon begins working on the high school newspaper. Being an outsider, she’s more capable of seeing the facts for what they are.  

The main characters are relatable and lovable. Hadley is fiercely determined and spunky.  While the mystery isn’t too complex, it keeps you guessing. Be prepared to keep track of the he-said, she-said investigation and serious issues such as murder and rape. 

Now, to go back to The Cheerleaders…

About the Author

Kara Thomas is the author of The Darkest Corners, Little Monsters, and The Cheerleaders. She is also the author of the Prep School Confidential series from St. Martin’s Griffin under the pen name Kara Taylor.

Kara has written for Warner Brothers Television and currently writes full-time on Long Island, where she lives with her husband and rescue cat.

Website – Instagram – Goodreads 

Tour Schedule

Follow along on the tour here! 

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