Excerpt from The Jills by Karen Parkman, plus links to reviews, author biography & more

I joined my Line 4 girls—Sharrice, Gina, and Alicia—and took a swig from a bottle of white wine Sharrice handed me. I was overcome by the full-body nausea that preceded every game and wanted to be close to the girls I'd be dancing with for most of the day. After performing as a big group for our opening number, we split into six lines to dance on the sidelines facing the crowds. Together, we five would be sweating and moving the entire game. We moved more than half the football players, who sat around on the bench while we jumped and kicked and swerved for hours on end. My line was, basically, my platoon.

Gina crouched in the corner, elbows propped on her spread knees, forehead wrinkled in discomfort. "Yeast infection," she muttered in response to my look.

Sharrice was warning Alicia, the rookie of our group, about Steelers fans.

"They're the ones you have to watch out for. They yell the worst stuff at us."

"Like what?" said Alicia, as she spritzed a new pair of pantyhose with hairspray, a trick to prevent runs.

"Oh, like names. Or 'Take your top off.' They're also more likely to throw things."

Excerpted from The Jills by Karen Parkman. Copyright © 2026 by Karen Parkman. Excerpted by permission of Ballantine Books. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.