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A cheerleader-meets-quarterback story, with a twist.

Pretty, peppy, and popular, junior Amber McCloud is poised to be the next cheer captain at her high school in the Florida Panhandle. All she needs to do is keep her sexuality under wraps. Meanwhile, on the football team, talented new player Jack Walsh is ready to take the Atherton Alligators to the next level. Or, she would be, if the team and the town could swallow their sexism and accept Jack (short for Jaclyn) as the QB. Against a nostalgic—yet truthfully brutal—tapestry of archetypal American teendom, the two find their way into each other’s pockets and under one another’s skin. Adler keeps the pages turning with well-mapped tension and compelling characters, using clichés to her advantage as she builds an appealing and heartfelt romance. Sweet as the bones of the story are, it’s the dark flashes of underbelly that keep it moving. As QB, Jack attempts to fill the mythically enlarged shoes of a not-so-nice boy who died while driving drunk. Cara, one of Amber’s best friends, is the daughter of a fire-and-brimstone preacher, and the specter of bigotry is never far from the story’s consciousness. Both Jack and Amber are White, while a deep bench of secondary characters includes Miguel, Amber’s Cuban American gay best friend–cum–fake boyfriend, and the school’s first Black cheer captain, Crystal.

Bubbly but not naïve: a worthy rendition of a classic high school story.