e-Book, 368 pages
Release Date: July 28, 2026
Published by: Sourcebooks
Read from: July 16-20, 2026
Stand-alone
Source: Netgalley (I received an ARC from the publisher at TLA/ALA and I received an e-ARC from Netgalley and the publisher as well. This did nothing to influence my review.)
Content Warning: Racism, Violence, Death, Sexual Violence, Blood, Homophobia
For Readers of: 2sLGBTQ+, ARC, Audio, Catchy Title, Contemporary, Most Anticipated, Racial/Ethnic Diversity, Realistic Fiction, Thrillers, YAWhen a Black teen decides to run for prom queen at her predominantly white high school, the competition takes a deadly turn when the candidates start going missing and the fight for the crown becomes a matter of life or death. A gripping YA thriller for readers of Jumata Emill’s The Black Queen and Tiffany D. Jackson’s The Weight of Blood.
Ida and JJ were the ultimate power couple of Banneker High. As the VP and President of their Black Student Union, the two seemed destined to be yearbook legends. But that was before an ugly break up. JJ is already deep in a new relationship, which infuriates Ida—almost as much as when a sexist “hot list’ starts circulating the school. It’s bad enough anyone rated the girls on their looks, but the list has only white students. Seriously?
There has never been any racial diversity among the prom queen candidates at Banneker, so the BSU decides to make their own statement on beauty and run a candidate—and Ida and JJ’s new girlfriend will each compete for the crown. Except the candidates start getting picked off one by one, and Ida is sure she’s being stalked. Forget winning a tiara, who will live to see prom?
*MY THOUGHTS*
This started out so good! It was the ending that threw me off. It was accurate but it also made it feel like it was missing something.
Ok so boom lol The plot of this was good. People were trying everything to discredit the kids on the prom committee. And by discredit I mean harming them. Someone even ends up dead. And it’s all because a Black teen who dared to run for prom queen. The mental gymnastics that every character did to try to convince them that they were in the right in doing this to a teen blew my mind. I could not understand how in the world they justified doing this to a group of teens.
Anyways the teens didn’t let any of that stop them. They kept on with their campaign and didn’t let any of the hateful things stop them. I was super scared for them, but also super happy for them. But they also all made me mad af at them lol Not only DID I hate old dude, JJ because he was annoying and had too damn much going on around him, but I also hated everyone else in the book LOL Like that damn sexist ass list that was going around the school. And then there was that boy’s mama. And then just about everyone else.
The thriller itself was ok, but it wasn’t the biggest part of the book. It got a bit boring in some places. I was expecting a thriller and it was more of a mystery. It just wasn’t super intriguing. And then there was the ending. Idk why she decided to end it like that, but geez. I remember going back to see if I had missed something or if there were more pages somewhere. And like I get it. Things probably wouldn’t ever get done about that one thing, but there was more than that missing. For now it just seemed unfinished.
This was good, but with that ending it was just meh. I really enjoyed it otherwise. There’s a lot going on in this book, from catching racists, to shutting down sexists, to beating up people we knew. I loved her other book, so I hope there’s more like that one to come.
Overall, I give this
