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Cheerleaders #2
Getting Even
Mary Ellen, Nancy, Walk, Olivia, Pres, and Angie have made the Tarenton Cheerleading Squad - now they have to stay together. Jealous rivals and new romances threaten to break their team spirit. They are pressured by the upcoming state competition and the Homecoming Queen election. Mary Ellen contends with an enemy who's out to ruin her reputation; Nancy, with the trials of a new love. Can they possibly stick together?
185 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published February 1, 1985
2 people are currently reading
280 people want to read
About the author
Christopher Pike
261 books5,465 followersChristopher Pike is the pseudonym of Kevin McFadden. He is a bestselling author of young adult and children's fiction who specializes in the thriller genre.
Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name.
McFadden was born in New York but grew up in California where he stills lives in today. A college drop-out, he did factory work, painted houses and programmed computers before becoming a recognized author. Initially unsuccessful when he set out to write science fiction and adult mystery, it was not until his work caught the attention of an editor who suggested he write a teen thriller that he became a hit. The result was Slumber Party (1985), a book about a group of teenagers who run into bizarre and violent events during a ski weekend. After that he wrote Weekend and Chain Letter. All three books went on to become bestsellers.
Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name.
McFadden was born in New York but grew up in California where he stills lives in today. A college drop-out, he did factory work, painted houses and programmed computers before becoming a recognized author. Initially unsuccessful when he set out to write science fiction and adult mystery, it was not until his work caught the attention of an editor who suggested he write a teen thriller that he became a hit. The result was Slumber Party (1985), a book about a group of teenagers who run into bizarre and violent events during a ski weekend. After that he wrote Weekend and Chain Letter. All three books went on to become bestsellers.
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
April 25, 2020
I can officially say I've read all of Christopher Pike's book including this odd and rare installment of a high school/cheerleading series that spawned almost 50 books.
It was very dated and I kept expecting someone to die or get possessed.
It was very dated and I kept expecting someone to die or get possessed.
February 19, 2009
I didn't read any other books in this series (I don't think), and only read this one because it was written by Christopher Pike, whose horror-thriller novels I loved (the sci-fi ones, not so much). But this was a pretty run-of-the-mill cheerleader story, nary a murderous psycho in sight, more akin to Sweet Valley High than R.L. Stine's Cheerleaders (they were all evil and getting killed all the time). I always thought this was sort of a strange series, being written by YA authors well-known for their thrillers, like Caroline B. Cooney and Diane Hoh and Carol Ellis. Which is probably why I only read the one.
April 10, 2016
I also read this one due to the author being Christopher Pike. I was expecting lots of cheerleader blood. Sadly disappointed.
May 1, 2022
...Well this is different. Most authors have to do some rather odd things before hitting it big. With some you can find some titles that stick out in their lineup, as they were done before they really decided what to do. Pike doesn't have that many of those, at least of what we know, except this. This is an 80's Scholastic series about...well cheerleaders, that had rotating authors. It's the same cast and such, so I assume different authors means it's all a mess.
There were other notable authors of YA horror in there like Caroline B Cooney and Diane Hoh, so Pike wasn't alone. This was his 2nd ever book after Slumber Party, in 1985. I assume he wasn't sure if that would take off so he had this to fall back on, or Scholastic made him do it. I don't think he's spoken about it but I have to know the details.
This is part of a series but it's number 2 so I wasn't super lost. I threw it on as a joke, figuring it won't get picked. It did. So now I'm here and well, it's interesting among Pike's lineup. This is not horror at all and is a teen drama thing. He had some of that in his stuff, so it weirdly fits him.
The plot is...well there isn't much of one really, so I'll jump into the review. It's,,,okay. I liked it a bit more than I expected but it has problems. For one, it's too long at 185 pages. That's too much for something like this. Pike doesn't know how to write a short YA book I swear, I hoped the nature of this would make an easier read but nah, was still a bit sloggy for me.
His style is felt to an extent, it was earlier days but the way certain things get described and a few of the slightly more adult references do feel like him. This is basically a collection of subplots, as a bunch of the cheerleaders got their POV shown.
Most are dating releated, and it feels like there's no real focus here. Eventually it gets one of sorts, regarding Mary Ellen (who is the closest to a real protagonist we get) and the Alpha bitch Vanessa. Most of the core group aren't too developed here, most are just there. There's one who doesn't do much but she is noted to be kind of fat and when she pops up, she mentions eating or is eating. Boy I sure liked that.
The highlight is the Vanessa stuff honestly. She is just so awful that I enjoyed here, she goes beyond typical stuff, she goes above and beyond to be the worst person ever. So when she loses, it does feel satsyfying. She even basically has a villain laugh at one point.
Mary Ellen is a bit complicated thought. She's mostly bad, being very egotistical, but I did feel for her when things went downhill for her because of just how awful Vanessa's actions were. But the very ending makes her egocentric again. Maybe she's meant to be "complicated" but she's mostly just bad for one big section of sympathy. There's a thing where she's poor and doesn't want to be, making her stand out from other bitch-y types.
She has two boys she's thinking about, one who is poor and pretty nice while the other is rich and actually not a jerk but admits he is a bit shallow, Patrick likes Mary-Ellen for her rather than her looks which I don't know if buy given how she is. That stuff isn't fully resolved yet, although the rest of the plots get resolved. Even the pointless one with this track guy.
The book overall feels all over the place, serving the series rather than this one book. The Getting Even is basically just the last like quarter. There's a homecoming queen thing that motivates Vanessa so that's sort of the overarching story here.
There's some compelling/nice moments, and some boring ones and some filler. Pike's style doesn't lend itself to this kind of thing I think, maybe I don't plan on reading more of the series so idk if this is the norm for these to drag. Either way, it's a mixed bag. I liked it a bit more than I expected but it was still kind of middling.
There's some fun stuff, some interesting stuff overall it feels unfocused and a bit dull. Plus the ending didn't work for me, had a bit of a bad taste. It's not very memorable as a whole, I'll forget about it soon, but in the moment it had some interesting stuff
It's not meant to be super deep so it's not a big deal that it won't stick. Still, it's mostly interesting as a neat bit of Pike's history, when he did something a bit different. It's not his best work though. I'm interested in reading more of this series but as a one off, it was okay. a slightly upper 2.5 I guess?
I think I'm done here, there's not much else to say. Next time, the wheel takes us back to the usual with something more magical. See ya then.
There were other notable authors of YA horror in there like Caroline B Cooney and Diane Hoh, so Pike wasn't alone. This was his 2nd ever book after Slumber Party, in 1985. I assume he wasn't sure if that would take off so he had this to fall back on, or Scholastic made him do it. I don't think he's spoken about it but I have to know the details.
This is part of a series but it's number 2 so I wasn't super lost. I threw it on as a joke, figuring it won't get picked. It did. So now I'm here and well, it's interesting among Pike's lineup. This is not horror at all and is a teen drama thing. He had some of that in his stuff, so it weirdly fits him.
The plot is...well there isn't much of one really, so I'll jump into the review. It's,,,okay. I liked it a bit more than I expected but it has problems. For one, it's too long at 185 pages. That's too much for something like this. Pike doesn't know how to write a short YA book I swear, I hoped the nature of this would make an easier read but nah, was still a bit sloggy for me.
His style is felt to an extent, it was earlier days but the way certain things get described and a few of the slightly more adult references do feel like him. This is basically a collection of subplots, as a bunch of the cheerleaders got their POV shown.
Most are dating releated, and it feels like there's no real focus here. Eventually it gets one of sorts, regarding Mary Ellen (who is the closest to a real protagonist we get) and the Alpha bitch Vanessa. Most of the core group aren't too developed here, most are just there. There's one who doesn't do much but she is noted to be kind of fat and when she pops up, she mentions eating or is eating. Boy I sure liked that.
The highlight is the Vanessa stuff honestly. She is just so awful that I enjoyed here, she goes beyond typical stuff, she goes above and beyond to be the worst person ever. So when she loses, it does feel satsyfying. She even basically has a villain laugh at one point.
Mary Ellen is a bit complicated thought. She's mostly bad, being very egotistical, but I did feel for her when things went downhill for her because of just how awful Vanessa's actions were. But the very ending makes her egocentric again. Maybe she's meant to be "complicated" but she's mostly just bad for one big section of sympathy. There's a thing where she's poor and doesn't want to be, making her stand out from other bitch-y types.
She has two boys she's thinking about, one who is poor and pretty nice while the other is rich and actually not a jerk but admits he is a bit shallow, Patrick likes Mary-Ellen for her rather than her looks which I don't know if buy given how she is. That stuff isn't fully resolved yet, although the rest of the plots get resolved. Even the pointless one with this track guy.
The book overall feels all over the place, serving the series rather than this one book. The Getting Even is basically just the last like quarter. There's a homecoming queen thing that motivates Vanessa so that's sort of the overarching story here.
There's some compelling/nice moments, and some boring ones and some filler. Pike's style doesn't lend itself to this kind of thing I think, maybe I don't plan on reading more of the series so idk if this is the norm for these to drag. Either way, it's a mixed bag. I liked it a bit more than I expected but it was still kind of middling.
There's some fun stuff, some interesting stuff overall it feels unfocused and a bit dull. Plus the ending didn't work for me, had a bit of a bad taste. It's not very memorable as a whole, I'll forget about it soon, but in the moment it had some interesting stuff
It's not meant to be super deep so it's not a big deal that it won't stick. Still, it's mostly interesting as a neat bit of Pike's history, when he did something a bit different. It's not his best work though. I'm interested in reading more of this series but as a one off, it was okay. a slightly upper 2.5 I guess?
I think I'm done here, there's not much else to say. Next time, the wheel takes us back to the usual with something more magical. See ya then.
December 15, 2011
I read this book back when I was in high school (I had to do an inter-library loan). I remember how shocked I was to realize that he'd written a book in this series. I had read a few of the Cheerleader books but I wasn't that into the series. It's been ages, but I'm sure I liked it, just as I'm sure that I would rate the phone book at least 3 stars if Pike wrote it. :)
Read
September 11, 2009WTF?
October 22, 2020
Not enough murder
August 31, 2024
Yikes. I hate Vanessa
February 13, 2022
It's really 2,5 stars, rounded up.
I'm on my way to read all the books written by Christopher Pike - this being the 12th on my list. I started picking book randomly, then I decided to follow the chronological order they were published.
So, the cheerleaders... Not something I'm a fan of, to be honest. It's one of the typical American things you see in US movies but you've never experienced them in real life. My question is: where all American cheerleaders in the 1980s so selfish and mean to each other? Were they were already worrying about who to marry at 16? And of course, they were prone to chose the rich one, not the one they feel attracted to.
I liked being back in the 1980s, though.
Of course, I won't continue with the series.
I'm on my way to read all the books written by Christopher Pike - this being the 12th on my list. I started picking book randomly, then I decided to follow the chronological order they were published.
So, the cheerleaders... Not something I'm a fan of, to be honest. It's one of the typical American things you see in US movies but you've never experienced them in real life. My question is: where all American cheerleaders in the 1980s so selfish and mean to each other? Were they were already worrying about who to marry at 16? And of course, they were prone to chose the rich one, not the one they feel attracted to.
I liked being back in the 1980s, though.
Of course, I won't continue with the series.
December 19, 2022
Young adults who like or have an interest in cheerleading and high school characters should love this series and this book. The characters are great and the storyline is always good in all of the series. This one has romance, a tale of revenge and of course-cheerleading activities. I like the unique characters of the squad as well as the adventures and actions of the villainess in the book and how they make sure to get even just as the title says.
January 22, 2018
Vile people, all of them. Also, the dialogue in this one was beyond awful.
May 27, 2021
This was... not as bad as the other Cheerleaders book I read? Pike wrote it, and I'm sure that's why, but also, like another reviewer, I did half-expect someone to get murdered.
June 1, 2021
Christopher Pike wrote a Cheerleaders book! Who knew??? Still love them!
January 10, 2023
Being nostalgic and reading some Christopher Pike books. This was his first published book but def not his best.
May 13, 2014
Got this book just because I like the author and I like to collect things. Very different from his usual stuff, I wonder if he wrote it on commission or something. The story is exactly what you would expect from the title. Mildly interesting, like an episode of Gossip Girl. Not having grown up here I found the descriptions of cheerleader life very informative.
February 27, 2024
Everyone's so catty & bitchy, I love it!
March 31, 2016
Vanessa plots her revenge after she doesn't make the cheerleading squad. Full recap here: https://cheerleadersrecaps.wordpress....
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews