“Cheerleaders can do anything”
Growing up in the UK the whole idea of a cheerleader was absurd. Especially to a teenager who society had successfully managed to convince that she was a guy…
Gymnastics though, that made sense. Every Wednesday afternoon I’d rush home from school, so my mother could drive me a couple of towns over to the big sports centre where they had a proper gymnastics hall. For a couple of hours every week, I could forget what else was going on. Here was somewhere I could run, skip, jump, (attempt to) flip, and fly like no-one else was watching. It’s silly what details stick in your mind. For me was the floor. It was soft, with a slightly springy carpeted area for tumbling, and full on bouncy parts underneath the bars and rings. Moving elsewhere was a chore. There I could move, free of a weight I wouldn’t be able to describe for another 10 years.
If it wasn’t for those memories, I wouldn’t have read this book. I live in a place famous for its rain, I stay indoors all the time, my secondary school experience was dull and monotonous. Not to mention I’m in my 30s now… What on earth would I get out of a book about cheerleaders in California?
But the gymnastics…
It’s been so long since I last felt able to fly…
It doesn’t hurt that I’ve read most of Alyson Greaves’ other work before. One day when I finally finish processing it, I’ll write here about (Kimmy), a book which I am convinced has changed my brain chemistry (for the better). So with a little trepidation I started reading the first book in the “When You Fell From Heaven” series back in the summer…
And instantly fell in love.
As the second book in the series, “All the Way” has a tough act to follow, but I am delighted to say that in my opinion, it pushes past all previous expectations (like a good cheerleader should!) and hits new heights.
As a brief (spoiler-free) introduction, the story follows high-school seniors (at least I think they are? they’re like 17/18? what even does “senior” mean?) Max and Taylor, and their ragtag group of family, friends and so many cheerleaders. Max’s family was forced to move from New York due to events in Max’s past, and move in next to Taylor, the new captain of the cheer squad for the local school. One thing leads to another, and suddenly Max is swept up into “Maxine” – the new hot girl at school and new joiner to the cheer squad. “All the Way” picks up just before the start of term, and we follow Maxine as she starts to live (as much as she can) as Maxine, and her life blossoms into full colour.
So far so cliché? You may think so just from my brief description, but if you take that as a reason not to read this series, then you are doing yourself a huge disservice.
I think a lot about wish fulfilment in trans literature. “Oh how awful it would be if for very important reasons I had to pretend to be a girl and join the cheerleader club and get a tonne of best friends who love me and support me and I could be the cool new girl at school.” Thinking back to my own childhood, that’s exactly what I would have said (and of course if it happened I would have “hated” it, but you know someone’s got to take one for the team!). That sort of wish fulfilment definitely has its place, but the secret sauce that Alyson Greaves brings to her story is how real and how painful that can be, and most importantly that even with all of that being able to be yourself is worth it.
Hitting on themes of sexual assault, suicide, homophobia, transphobia, religious bigotry, and others, “All the Way” refuses to pull its punches. Life is tough for Maxine, and it’s likely going to get tougher going forwards. Yet the most powerful thing, and my biggest takeaway from this book wasn’t one of sadness, but one of hope. Over the course of this book (and through several flashbacks) you see Max/Maxine transform from someone with nothing to live for, to someone who can see her future, and finally has the courage, the ability, and the support from those who matter, to seize it for herself.
That’s not to say the book is just about Max/Maxine. Greaves takes time and effort to flesh out characters who barely appeared in the first book, from Max’s brother Clay (who starts as a character who was barely in the first book, and ends as my frontrunner for “Brother of the Year”), to Taylor’s Mum (Mom I guess?) who gets some heartbreaking conversations in the latter half of the novel, to all sorts of cheerleaders (seriously – there are arguably too many cheerleaders in this book!) who flesh out the world Max finds herself trying to navigate.
But the standout development goes to our core cast of characters. We get more development for Avery and Willa, who have full arcs in this book, and I loved how real all these characters feel. Taylor remains as peppy as ever, but what could so easily be a one-note irritant of a character is arguably the MVP. Her budding realisation of her feelings towards Max, and her fearless and selfless protection of those she loves makes it a joy to read her, and she provides some of the high-points of the novel. There’s a particularly powerful chapter for Taylor towards the end which I can only describe as “Bee-yotch Unleashed”, yet my favourite Taylor moment comes earlier in the novel. I won’t spoil it here, but there is a particular scene at the end of an early chapter that had me so shocked, happy, and excited to keep reading that my partner saw the expression on my face and heard the squeak I made, and had to come over to see if I was OK.
This book is full of moments like that, and Greaves has a way of seeding tiny story beats and keeping them in the back of your mind while focusing on the current situation for Max that means when they suddenly come to the fore, it’s not a surprise, and it feels natural. How these beats build up over the course of the (almost twice as long as the first book!) novel is again one of her strengths, and all come together.
And let’s not forget Max, poor dear sweet Maxine. I wish I had this book when I was her age or younger, because dang it (cheerleaders don’t swear!) the way Greaves articulates Max’s thoughts, feelings, euphorias, dysphorias, is exactly what I would have needed to start to understand myself 10 years earlier. This here, is why it’s so important to have trans writers writing trans characters. Because it’s real, and it resonates, and it builds a bridge between us. It says – “I may be someone on the other side of the world who you’ll never meet, but I get it. You are not alone.” And the power that can give someone who doesn’t understand what’s happening to them, or why the world hates them is paramount.
I was never very good at gymnastics. I never managed to do a backflip. I fell off the rings and bars more time than I remember, but you never forget what it feels like to fly. And you never forget what it feels like to be caught. Despite everything going on around us, this book reminded me of those feelings, and I can’t recommend it highly enough. Look past your ingrained societal disdain of cheerleaders, and take a jump into this book and it will catch you.
“All the Way” is a powerful statement and a fantastic read, and left me with a powerful message. Cheerleaders may be able to do anything, but so can trans girls. And don’t let anyone tell us otherwise!
All the Way by Alyson Greaves was released on 18th December 2025, and information on how to purchase a copy can be found here: https://linktr.ee/badambulist.