Source: From the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This in no way alters my opinion or review.
Publication Date: June 23, 2026
Rating:
Goodreads Synopsis:
Maris Larsen is the captain of the West Eaton High cheer team. She’s Coach’s favorite and the team worships her. Being on the team makes her feel special—powerful. When she’s leading the girls on the mat, Maris doesn’t have to think about her dead-end life in a dead-end town. She can forget about her depressed mother and absent father and the fact that her girlfriend doesn’t really love her. But when newcomer and Coach’s new golden girl, Genevieve Ray, joins the team, the only thing going right in Maris’s life is suddenly in jeopardy. A bitter rivalry develops between the two, but Maris is determined to take Genevieve down. The knife she needs to wield comes to Maris in her dreams.While sleepwalking, Maris is visited by a monstrous, decaying beast in the shape of an enormous deer. Doe is an ancient, tired creature who has been wandering, trapped in her current form for decades. She cannot die, but she cannot go on living as she has. Only a girl related by blood to those who bound her in this form can free her, but those girls she loved died years ago—murdered in a fire.But Maris is somehow linked to Doe’s beloved girls—linked by blood—and so she has the power to free Doe, to unleash her immense power. In Maris’s dreams, she and Doe form a bond, but Maris doesn’t know the creature from her dreams is real. Maris doesn’t understand the danger she’s in. She only knows Doe has promised her a way to win her battle with Genevieve. But for Maris to win, someone has to die, and the only real winner in the end will be Doe.
Review:
This was such an interesting book. Told in verse, we transition between Maris - a cheerleading captain, the team as a whole, and Doe - a mystical being that lives in the body of a deer. The overall tone is eerie and strange and the format adds to that off-putting vibe.
The girls are from a nothing town and think they will all go nowhere, and cheer is all they have. They are wild and chaotic with no so great home situations. When a new member comes into the scene they need her to become a part of them or be gone for good.
The story is this really dynamic interplay of past and present, expectations versus reality, and trauma bonding. Being written in verse only adds to that cutting sense of intensity that the author builds and builds throughout the story.
I really enjoyed this one and will likely think about it a lot. The story was interesting, quickly paced, and easy to read. I liked the way that the eeriness of Doe also creeped into the team and Maris and how these were cheerleaders that were not the popular girls but the outcasts in a lot of ways. It turned things on their head a bit.
Sadly, I picked up on the ending before I got there... so there wasn't a big surprise. That said it was really well done.
Overall, I think this YA Horror is a great addition to libraries and TBRs. It will be a great Fall read but really it is a great read either way.
