BRILLIANT, BRILLIANT, BRILLIANT.
perfect graphic book with queer representation, wit, humour and love. The story is brilliantly crafted. The theme about school, extra curriculars hit home.

Cute, wholesome graphic novel with a f/f main pairing!!
Perfect for fans of Check Please, Heartstopper, Bloom; with a sapphic romance instead
This book features the sunshine girl (a trans biracial MC) and the goth gf (fat lesbian MC) falling in love, with the background of their cheerleading team, as well as their families and school
It talks a lot about acceptance of trans people, including when that is real or when it's performative/tokenism/fetishisation

thank you to netgalley and the publisher for the eARC

Thank you to Netgally and the publisher for providing me with an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

Cheer Up! Love and Pompoms is an incredibly heart warming queer teen sports story. I only expected this to be cute and fluffy, but was surprised to see it tackling some more serious matters concerning trans youth and performative activism. In such a short story, the text managed to be inspire you to stand up for yourself while also being very nuanced despite it's length.

Bebe is a trans girl who is navigating high school while searching for her own identy, with friends who seem to support her but only for their own gain. This contrasted very well with Annie, who knew who she was, but needed some help to be pushed outside of her comfort zone. The two characters had really good chemistry, but I wished we got more time with them since a lot of their relationship was built in montage scenes so you kind of had to assume "okay this is where they become friends again, and here is where their feelings are evolving". I guess my final thoughts are that I simply wanted more and wished it was 100 pages longer.

Overall this was a sweet story, one that I highly recommend and therefore rate it 4 stars.

This graphic novel was so cute! I loved all the trans and non-binary rep and the discussions around it and the relationship between Beebee and Annie. I just thought that the book was a bit too fast paced and I kind of wish it would be a bit more developed.

This was so cute!

‘Cheer up’ is about two girls rekindling their friendship through cheerleading.

This graphic novel was very sweet and I adore Bebe and Annie’s relationship. There is also a lot of diversity in this graphic novel - which wasn’t forced into the story, it was there just like it is in real life.

Besides this graphic novel just being a cute and sweet story about two girls navigating their way through their relationship, it also has a powerful message. No one should be afraid of who they are and everyone deserves to be treated respectfully.

‘Cheer up’ also deals with inequality and how you can hurt people by saying something you don’t mean to be harmful.

Overall, I loved this story. I do think the relationship between Bebe and Annie was a bit rushed, but it was still adorable and I really enjoyed reading it.

A lovely inclusive story! I do wish some of the storylines were fleshed out more: the mom’s history, the reasons why the creepy boy was pursuing Bebe so heavily, the way her parents treated her transitioning as a luxury, and more. But it was still great and will continue conversations.

This book was soooooo cute!! I was sold by the claim “perfect for fans of FENCE and CHECK, PLEASE!” so I didn’t even bother reading the blurb.

Annie and BeeBee renew their former friendship on their school’s cheer squad. I think my biggest question about their story is “why did they stop being friends in the first place?” If it was mentioned in the novel, I totally missed it or didn’t catch it.

The artwork is great and the story is inclusive and easy to follow. I agree this is perfect for those who enjoy other sporty LGBTQIA graphic novels, but there’s something missing from this story that still didn’t leave me craving more.

Excited to read this ARC of Cheer Up: Love and Pom Poms, by Crystal Fraiser! It's a short, sweet, slice of queer life story, centered on Bebe & Annie, two girls learning to be true to themselves despite high school pressure and social problems.
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I found this to be a really heart-warming story, with a great diverse cast and a beautiful art style. I don't want to spoil the plot for anyone of course, but there was good character development, overcoming of issues and a tender romance.
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It is quite a short read, and so some of the themes did feel a little rushed - I think this has a lot of potential to be fleshed out and enjoyed over a few volumes. However, that's only my preference - lots of people may love this easily digestible read!
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The diverse rep was one of the main reasons I wanted to read this story, and I think it was done really well. Visually, the art style captures the diversity beautifully, and the story included characters across different race, gender and sexuality 💙
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If you're looking for a romantic one-shot comic which explores some of the struggles of queer high-school life, this could be a great addition to your shelf 😀
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Thanks to NetGalley and Crystal Fraiser for making this lovely ARC available for free in exchange for an honest review. Note to the publisher - there are a couple of small typos in the text.

I was so excited to receive an eARC of this graphic novel because I heard so many great things about it across all social media.

The story of Cheer Up: Love and Pompoms follows Annie, who has to join her school's cheerleading squad to help her with college applications, and Bebe, who already is on the cheerleading squad and is also the team's first ever trans girl. However, Annie has a problem: she's anti social, not a people person and maybe she did bite someone before which did not help her become very popular at school. Thanks to Bebe, Annie is given a chance to prove herself as a good member of the team. But Bebe has her own struggles next to her transition too: she's a people pleaser and scared to say No, especially to her controlling parents. As the two become closer and rekindle their old friendship they discover that there might not only be friendship between them and that they bring out the best in each other.

I think this is just an absolutely sweet and important graphic novel to read. The struggles both of them are facing are relatable to so many teens out there who might be going through the same things right now. It really captures the spirit of queer teens and it deserves all the hype it already gets right now! Although this deals with some rather heavier and more serious topics I think it found the right balance between these heavy topics and a sweet teen romcom.

The only thing I have to criticize and why I gave it 4 stars instead of 5 is that I thought it could have been just a tiny bit longer because I thought especially the part when Bebe's dad picks her up from the team outing deserved more scenes. I thought that deserved maybe a bit more attention afterwards, too.

I would still absolutely recommend this to younger and older readers alike. It is the queer teen romcom we all deserve(d) to read as teens!

*eARC received on NetGalley*

<strong>This was a book about cheerleading and standing up for yourself</strong>! Cheer Up is about BeeBee, a trans cheerleader who is reconnecting with her childhood friend Annie, when the latter is pushed by her mom to join the cheerleading squad. I <strong>loved the former best friends to lovers romance; it was such a slowburn and very tender</strong> ❤ Annie is rather anti-social and grumpy, the type of person to get into trouble and not get along with others as well. However, she also knows how to stand up for herself and is fiercely protective of those she cares about. BeeBee on the other side is the sunshine one in the duo, always eager to get along with everyone. <strong>Both girls personalities really complimented each other and they helped each other grow</strong>. BeeBee often feels like she cannot assert her boundaries or stand up for herself and has to try so hard to please other people, in order to not get stereotyped as the 'angry, mean trans girl' which broke my heart to see. <strong>Annie was really good at boosting her confidence and supporting her journey</strong> to take care of her own feelings instead of only taking care of what others were feeling.

Furthermore, the <strong>graphic novel touched upon the daily transphobic microaggressions BeeBee faces</strong><strong> and how even the people you love can end up hurting you</strong>. BeeBee's parents mean well, but their offhand comments and intense protectiveness can make their daughter feel trapped and misunderstood. The cheerleading squad supported BeeBee when she came out as trans, but don't understand that their behavior makes BeeBee feel like she's just a prop to make themselves feel better for being inclusive and 'good allies'. They only<strong> slowly beginning to realize that they tokenized their friend</strong> and try to truly include her in the group. I was proud that BeeBee managed to stand up for herself in the end, especially against people that try to stereotype and fetishize her. I<strong> felt like the graphic novel would have benefitted from more volumes or more pages though, as it felt rushed</strong>. There were so many subplots and important discussions, but I feel like we didn't have time to properly explore them. Especially with regards to BeeBee's friends, it wasn't enough space to explore their complicated dynamic, and that also made the reconciliation feel a bit quick and superficial. Cheer Up could have made a really great series and explored all of these topics and relationships more in-depth!<

<strong>IN CONCLUSION.</strong> ➽ <i>Cheer Up&nbsp;</i>was a <strong>great graphic novel about cheerleading, old best friends reconnecting & falling in love and a trans girl learning to stand up for herself</strong>. There were many wonderful themes in the story and I liked that it discussed he stereotypes and microaggressions that BeeBee faced, while also showing that in the end there were people to support her. I wished we had more volumes of this graphic novel or that it had been longer though, as the plots felt a bit rushed.

3.5 stars
this was super cute!! I loved the art style and the overall storyline, and I loved the two main characters as well. my main issue with it was that I feel like everything was a little bit rushed. I wish this was a bit longer, or maybe was even set up to be a duology/series, I wanted BeeBee and Annie's relationship, BeeBee's relationship with her parents, the people on the cheer squad & THEIR relationships - all of these things to have more time & development. would definitely be down to read more from the author!

I loved this so much! It's is a funny and sweet queer sports comic that also has serious & touching moments. It jumps right in to the hook (a super grumpy antisocial girl is forced to try out for cheerleading), and I was pulled into it right away. It moved super quickly, and I easily read it all in one setting. It’s awesome to see cheerleading celebrated as a real (extremely difficult) sport, while also highlighting some of the issues, like transphobia & body shaming, in the world of competitive cheerleading (and, of course all sports/everywhere). The trans rep is own voices.

I submitted this for consideration for the YALSA Quick Picks for Reluctant Readers list.

This was a wonderful sweet and fun graphic novel. This story is a well written and diverse coming of age story about two cheerleaders. This book was entirely too sweet and dealt with issues such a transphobia and instances of sexual harassment without taking away from the plot. I would definitely recommend this book

**Disclaimer: I received a free early access copy of Cheer Up by Crystal Fraser and Val Wise through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.  Thank you to them and to the publisher for this opportunity.

Cheer Up by Crystal Fraser and Val Wise is a YA contemporary graphic novel.  It's about Bebe and Annie who are former friends but reconnect when Annie joins the cheerleading squad.  It deals with some serious issues, but also features a very sweet romance.  It is set to be published on August 10th, 2021.  I rated it 5 stars on Goodreads.


Here's the summary from GoodReads.

A sweet, queer teen romance perfect for fans of Fence and Check, Please!
Annie is a smart, antisocial lesbian starting her senior year of high school who’s under pressure to join the cheerleader squad to make friends and round out her college applications. Her former friend BeeBee is a people-pleaser—a trans girl who must keep her parents happy with her grades and social life to keep their support of her transition. Through the rigors of squad training and amped up social pressures (not to mention micro aggressions and other queer youth problems), the two girls rekindle a friendship they thought they’d lost and discover there may be other, sweeter feelings springing up between them. 

This graphic novel was honestly the cutest thing ever.  

Let's start with the art.  The art style was really nice.  It looked cartoony, but it suited the storyline and the overall tone of the novel.  I loved that it was full colour because it really helped to make the story come alive and really beautifully represented each of the characters.

I also really loved both of the characters.  I loved how Annie was so unapologetically her, but also that she learned that sometimes you catch more flies with honey than with vinegar.  I also really liked Bebe.  She was a people pleaser, but it came from a place of not wanting to take up more space than was needed, and I can really understand that.  She didn't want to be too much.  I loved watching her grow and learn to assert her boundaries more and more over the course of the story.

I also really loved the diverse cast of background characters.  The cheerleading squad wasn't made up of what you would consider 'conventional' cheerleading types.  They were a diverse group, which made the story that much more interesting.

The storyline was really well done, and I liked watching Annie and Bebe rekindle their friendship and watching it morph into something more.  I felt like they were really well suited to each other, and they were very sweet.  

The story did a good job of dealing with some complex issues.  Bebe's parents are overprotective, but she's able to help them see her perspective and how they can't keep her in a bubble to keep her safe.  There's a boy who won't take no for an answer when it comes to Bebe, but the other cheerleaders have her back and ultimately she's able to stand up to him.  Additionally, while the cheerleaders mean well, they (and Annie to some extent) end up trying to speak for Bebe and force her into a spotlight that she doesn't want.  Some of the cheerleaders seem to be doing it for the kudos of supporting a young trans woman, and they learn that they have to respect Bebe's wishes and they can't speak for her.

Overall, it's a very well done story and I loved it so much.  I highly recommend that you check it out when it publishes in August.

Absolutely adorable queer graphic novel about a transfemme and sapphic cheerleader?? UM YES! Sign me dafuk pls.

Content Warning: Transphobia, Sexual Harassment, Threat of Denial of Gender Expression.

First off, Cheer Up does a superb job at normalizing all body types - brown bodies, fat bodies, tall bodies, nonbinary bodies, etc - as healthy body types in athletic spaces while delivering a vibrant, clear, and engaging story about being yourself, having a fulfilling sense of belonging with an effective support group, and being okay with learning how to accept and grow into a better ally.

Fraiser addresses trans hyper-visibility in a respectful and tactful manner, bringing light to damage that can be done even when support groups have the best of intentions. There's a fine line between uplifting a voice and becoming that voice; something that Bebe's group of friends learn for themselves within the graphic novel when they realize that in their pursuit to make Bebe feel included, they've been increasing Bebe's feelings of self consciousness and alienation.

The author also does a good job bringing awareness to societal standards of perfection wherein trans people are expected to adhere to the extreme ends of the gender 'binary'. We even get scenes where characters, in their desire to defend Bebe, state that Bebe is "better at being a girl" than they are.

Our other main protagonist, Annie, is a sapphic badass who encourages Bebe to be more assertive throughout the development of their relationship ~ highlighting that it's okay to be trans and make mistakes because we're all still human at the end of the day. In return, Bebe helps Annie realize that she can be tough AND gentle and explore her own femininity without it being considered a weakness.

The only issue I had was with the lack of accountability from certain characters who made very pointed anti-trans comments. By the end of the novel it's evident that these specific characters have experienced growth; however, I would have preferred to see it addressed in more detail and with effective apology statements showcased. While some transphobic microagressions were dealt with, not all of them were ~~ and I don't forget that shit.

Overall, it was a cute graphic novel with a great message and awesome representation. I highly recommend picking it up yourself.

Thank you, NetGalley for providing me with an ebook version of this story. Yet another good experience urging me forth to purchase the actual physical copy lol.

I am crying rainbows and can’t wait to force all my friends to read it. :) I hope there’s a volume two where Bebe doesn’t have to deal with transphobia *at all*. My favorite part of the art was Bebe’s HAIR! This is a light and airy graphic novel that briefly glances over transphobia, helicopter parents, and assholes who refuse to listen when a woman is speaking. Is it August yet?

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3981393364

Cheer Up: Love and Pom-poms is a cute graphic novel about two girls who used to be friends, and who both end up on the cheer squad. Even though Annie is not your “cheerleader” type, she is encouraged and supported by her former friend BeeBee, who is going through her own problems at home whilst going through her transition.


If you’ve read Heartstopper and loved the cutesy vibes, then this graphic novel is definitely for you. I’ve seen people compare it to Fence, but alas I have not yet got my hands on a copy of that, so cannot compare, but this is funny and cute, and focuses on LGBT characters, which is nice to see.
The art style is fun and bright, and incredibly legible. The story was cohesive and understandable the entire time, and it made me want more, and I’m super excited to see where this goes next!

Thank you to NetGalley and Oni Press for an eARC of this title.

This is such a sweet and fun graphic novel. To start off I loved how the friendships were developed throughout the story. I loved how the relationships were complicated and layered. The friend group had to learn to be better to each other and work together. They also had to learn to put aside their differences and their previous interactions with one another to work together on the cheer team.

I also really loved the art style. It was cute and colourful and fun. I think the art style was perfect for the story being told. It is an adorable graphic novel about high school and friendships and developing relationships. I really enjoyed the diversity that was present as well. It just felt so real and honest, but also fun and hopeful.

Rating: 4/5 stars

This graphic novel manages to strike such a wonderful balance between heavy topics and an adorable romance. That, plus the development of the friendship between the teammates, really reminded me of the Check, Please! series of graphic novels. So if you're a fan of Biddy and his friends you might just enjoy Cheer Up as well. One bonus is that Cheer Up is definitely a little more teen friendly.

This was such a cute comic about friendship and acceptance, and how it is okay to be different.

+ Lesbian main character and a trans loveinterest.
+ The artstyle is absolutely gorgeous - and I especially loved the character art! All of the cheerleaders have different builds and other characteristics, which I really liked.
+ The message of friendship and acceptance was very well done, and I loved that it has girls uplifting girls (both figuratively and literally!)
- I found the romance itself to be abit too rushed for my tastes, and I would have liked more buildup. But I still really enjoyed the romance itself!
- The plot was kind of thin at times, but overall I didn't mind this that much.

A great, quick read for when you need something to cheer you up!


Thank you to Netgalley and to the publisher for giving me this arc!