DOE

This exquisite YA horror novel-in-verse is in the vein of Yellowjackets and explores the ravenous, feral nature of girlhood itself.

The girls of the West Eaton High cheer team don't cheer for trophies, or popularity, or even for the love of the sport. They cheer because as a team they have an identity. Outside of the gym they are wild and hungry, but inside it they follow the rules and under the keen eye of Coach, they push themselves to their limits.

Maris Larsen is always willing to go a little further, a little harder. She's the captain, after all, and Coach's favorite. When she's leading the girls on the mat, she doesn't have to think about her dead-end small-town life, or about the murky dreams in which she is visited by a monstrous beast. She doesn't have to think about the dirty soles of her feet after another night of inexplicable sleepwalking.

Things come to a head when Coach tells the girls they're getting a new teammate and a power struggle ensues. But what none of the girls realizes is that the true threat comes from the monstrous creature from Maris's dreams; that it's real and has plans of its own for them.

Rebecca Barrow is a UK-based author who loves writing about complicated queer Black girls. She has published six YA thrillers which
have received many starred reviews.. This is her first novel-in-verse.