Queerleaders

by Olivia A. Cole, Ashley Woodfolk

Two cheerleaders find themselves inconveniently tumbling head over heels for each other in this satirical, sapphic teen rom-com that’s Bring It On meets She Drives Me Crazy.

Oak Haven High doesn’t have cheerleaders—it has queerleaders.

It’s a fun coincidence that every new varsity cheerleader since Davie Cathee took the squad by storm three years ago is—or soon comes out as—queer.

But when a rumor sparks that this season, newly minted captain Davie has been specifically recruiting queer members only, Davie is accused of “discrimination” against straight students. She’s given an ultimatum: recruit a straight athlete for the team or the funding for their competitive cheer season will take a major tumble.

Enter Kendall Hayes, the edgy, mysterious new girl. When Davie sees that Kendall has a boyfriend, she quickly convinces her to join the squad. Problem solved.

Until she finds out that Kendall’s actually bisexual…and newly single.

Now Kendall and Davie are faced with having to keep those details under wraps until nationals, which only gets more complicated when they start falling hard and fast for each other. Can Kendall go back in the closet long enough to save the squad? Or will Davie find the courage to love her new crush out loud, even if it might mean the end of the queerleaders?

Genres: Young Adult, Sports, LGBT, Lesbian, Contemporary, Romance, Queer

336 pages, Hardcover

Expected publication May 19, 2026

About the author

Olivia Cole is an author and blogger from Louisville, Kentucky. She spent eight years in Chicago and two in South Florida before finding her way back home. She is the author of PANTHER IN THE HIVE and its sequel, THE ROOSTER’S GARDEN, as well as her latest young adult series, A CONSPIRACY OF STARS and its sequel AN ANATOMY OF BEASTS. She is on the Creative Writing faculty at the Kentucky Governor’s School for the Arts and is the founder of the sci-fi art show for young Kentucky women, KINDRED: MAKING SPACE IN SPACE.

Reviews

[Liralen]

4 stars; review to come May 2026

[Aurora · Rating 2 out of 5]

Davie leads an all-queer cheer squad at her high school, but there’s trouble when a straight girl who doesn’t make it through tryouts is angry and accuses her of discriminating against straight students. She thinks she’s found a a straight girl, Kendall, to join, but Kendall is unfortunately actually bisexual and the two of them find themselves falling for each other and having to hide their relationship in order to save their team.

I really enjoyed the previous book by these two authors, Call Your Boyfriend, so I was hoping I would enjoy this one as well. Unfortunately, I didn’t like it as much as I liked the previous books. The premise was interesting, but the side characters felt really flat and like strawmen, especially the female side characters.

I was also turned off by the number of vulgar words that were used to describe the female characters the main characters didn’t like in this book. The team of this book is supposed to be an aspirational safe space full of Good People™ with the Right Political Beliefs™ who are a found family — what sort of message is it sending to teenagers if they’re repeatedly calling women they don’t like “bitch”, “cunt” or “hoe”? It’s also concerning to me that this book effectively promoted the use of “[x] will be my thirteenth reason” by characters who weren’t even suicidal. For context, this phrase comes from the book/TV show Thirteen Reasons Why, where the main character makes tapes about the thirteen reasons she killed herself and distributes them to the people who are her “reasons” before killing herself. Normalizing this as just a funny thing to say when people are pissing you off makes it harder for suicidal teenagers to actually be listened to when they cry for help.

This book was also very political and very preachy about its politics. If you don’t mind that in a book and agree with every political stance decreed as absolute truth (affirmative action is good, there’s no such thing as discrimination against non-minorities, businesses should be allowed to refuse service to someone for misgendering an employee, trans women should be allowed to compete professionally in women’s sports, dress codes are bad, drag queens should be allowed to host storytimes for children, probably some other ones I missed), you might not have a problem with that. It was also odd that a trans female character was somehow competing in a sport as a female in a state where that was prohibited and the narrative acknowledged as much, maybe just because of her love of the sport? I wasn’t looking for preaching about politics in a book that was pitched as a comedy. I’m a lesbian, I already know what my political beliefs are, I’m not looking to be smugly told what they should be in a sapphic rom-com. Unlike in Call Your Boyfriend, where Maia Moon had some sympathetic traits, none of the antagonists in this book have any redeeming traits — they’re all strawmen conservatives where the victories over them feel like the kind of story someone would add “and then everyone clapped” to. The fact that every single strawman character is a woman, and they are described with vulgar, sexualized insults by the main characters, also comes across as misogynistic.

Kendall and Davie were interesting characters, and I did find their romance compelling, but they became less sympathetic throughout the book. I did enjoy Kendall’s relationship with her sister, Nia. It could have some toxic elements, but I thought it was a reasonable portrayal of sisters.

Call Your Boyfriend releases May 19 from Simon and Schuster Books for Young Readers. Thank you to NetGalley, Simon and Schuster, and Olivia A. Cole and Ashley Woodfolk for the ARC. All opinions are my own.

[Julie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the gay cheerleading story of my dreams. Think Bring It On, only gay. Okay, make that gayer (you’ll never convince me that Torrance and Missy weren’t endgame). First of all the voice is fab-u-lous. Secondly, the premise is SO fun (an all queer cheerleading squad catching flack for not having any cishet people in it, that recruits a seemingly straight new girl to solve the issue without realizing she’s actually bi).

The chemistry between Davie and Kendall was outstanding. The supporting cast was fantastic too, and I was especially fond of Davie’s bestie Amber and the not-the-sharpest-tool-in-the-shed member of the squad Troy.

I had the biggest smile on my face the entire time I was reading this. I didn’t want to put the book down!

Though practically perfect, there was one moment that rubbed me the wrong way. Kendall, questioning whether bisexual is the correct label for her, briefly implies that bisexuality doesn’t include attraction to non-binary people, and her misconception is never corrected on the page. Bisexuality has ALWAYS meant attraction to all genders, which includes the femmes, hims, and thems Kendall is into. So it was frustrating to see such a joyously queer book that nailed everything else drop the ball on that.

However, that little hiccup didn’t stop me from reading on and loving absolutely everything else about this book though.

Four and a half stars rounded up to five.

I received an advanced copy from the publisher and am voluntarily leaving this review.

[fanboyriot · Rating 5 out of 5]

The atmosphere of this book was written well along with diverse characters. There were several really important topics brought up in this book and I really liked how they were dealt with for example the cheerleading team was a safe space for queer students and the captain wasn’t afraid to stand up for them. A straight cis student doesn’t make the team due to her lack of skills so she decides they are discriminating against her (obviously they aren’t). The way the characters stood up for themselves and found others to show up when it mattered was nice to read; especially with how things are in today’s political climate.

I will say the romance felt a little rushed but it was a cute dynamic and the friendships were lovely. Also, Ranch is an amazing name for a ferret.

(Note: I received this copy from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to SimonTeen for the opportunity.)

POV: First Person
Spice Level: n/a
Sad Level: 💧
Would I Recommend? Yes
Favorite Character(s): Davie and Kendall
Emojis Based on Vibes: 🌈📣🏀

⚠️ CONTENT WARNINGS
Moderate: Homophobia, Religious bigotry

[Deirdre Megan Byrd · Rating 4 out of 5]

Queerleaders by Olivia A. Cole and Ashley Woodfolk is bright, bold, and full of heart with a squad you can’t help but root for. The vibes are immaculate: friendship, identity, and cheer drama all wrapped up in one colorful package. I loved the representation and the way it celebrates queer joy, even if the story didn’t always hit as hard as I wanted emotionally. Some moments felt a little rushed, but the energy and spirit totally carried it through. A fun, feel-good 3.5 stars that still sticks the landing.

[Jennifer Rayment · Rating 4 out of 5]

Adorable fun read, sorta a gay version of the movie Bring it On with Characters that were interesting. Storyline was clever and had some good twists. Obviously lgbt+ friendly. Great chemistry between the two main characters and honestly it was just a lot of fun and come on - the Title is the best!

[Stenasia]

This book is very chaotic and honestly the plot of the story is what drew me in but it felt like Kendall (FMC ) was being dragged a lot and that threw me off.

But it did have a lot of funny bits.
And unfortunately I found some parts to drag.

But overall by the end I did enjoy it