This one wasn't for me. It wasn't necessarily bad, I just felt like considering the fact that it was dealing with some very heavy topics, it was all very surface and kind of fluffy.

This book was not what I was expecting at all, but that's not a bad thing!
What I expected: teenage angst, southern baptist religious trauma, sapphic fluff

What I got: a heist novel with a side of sweet tea?

I Kissed Shara Wheeler very much feels like John Green's Paper Towns. Chloe did not feel like a protagonist, so much as a bystander. Shara is the manic pixie dream girl, here. If this novel had been told from her perspective, it would have shone. The way that Shara took her own reputation down? Poetic.

I loved the ragtag group of friends and how each minor character had growth. Side note: I kept getting Ash and Ace mixed up because their names are so similar and short.

McQuiston excels at tiny, sensorial details. However, one big detail that slipped past, perhaps on purpose, is that a private Christian school in Alabama would not have the funding to stage The Phantom of the Opera, legally. That is a multimillion dollar copyright, so I assume Willowgrove staged it illegally. Sinful. Principle Wheeler already has a federal crime on his hands, why not throw in an international copyright crime, too?

I loved this book so so much. As always with McQuiston's books, the characters absolutely jumped off the page, and I felt like I knew each of them so well by the end. The mystery aspect was perfectly paced, with answers given and new questions introduced at just the right points to be satisfying and to keep me hooked. And the moments of self-realization that multiple characters experienced were so poignant that I had to put the book down and just sit in those feelings for a bit before continuing to read. McQuiston has again absolutely knocked it out of the park with this book.

I love Casey McQuiston's work and I Kissed Shara Wheeler is not the exception.
Having said that, this book was just truly outstanding and at a whole different league. The way in which McQuiston developed the plot incorporating current, and sensitive but important issues that many of our youth are currently experiencing was not only incredibly tasteful but she somewhat was even able to make it funny and lighthearted while keeping the readers engaged at the same time.

I Kissed Shara Wheeler is not only book our YA crowd will enjoy, but one that they might just need.

i need to begin this review by talking about casey mcquiston's two previous books.

i see red white & royal blue as an homage to queer figures in history, and how history can change.

i see one last stop as an homage to queer communities. friends fighting for those around you, and crafting a family in the truest way you can.

and i kissed shara wheeler? it's finding the queerness in yourself, and forging a home with those around you. but quietly, as safely as you can. it's about being young and queer and afraid. but it's also about young queer joy. about realizing you're not alone, realizing it's that it's okay to question even if you think you know who you are, and finding that space where you can just be whoever that is.

chloe green knows the last four years of high school at willowgrove christian academy will all be worth it when she gets named valedictorian. the only one standing in her way is shara wheeler: the perfect, popular, prom queen. but when shara disappears after prom, chloe finds herself following clues left behind with shara's boyfriend, smith, and shara's neighbor, rory. all of whom kissed shara wheeler before she disappeared.

it’s queer ya in the way that only casey mcquiston could have written queer ya, with every bit of love and care for the queer community that their previous books do.

i've spent the back half of this year thinking about my relationship with queer contemporary ya. i claim it's my favorite sub-genre, but i find that a lot of my favorite books now tend to be adult books. maybe this is because ya is just so easy to digest, it becomes a little too palatable. i don't think anything i read is forgettable, but lately some of the ya books i read don't stick the same way.

i kissed shara wheeler is. everything i love about queer ya. it reminded me that this sub-genre is more than just easy reads. that there's ya that can really /hit/. but it can do this and still be fun, still make you laugh, still be easy to read.

i kissed shara wheeler does take place in a christian high school in alabama, and that setting is integral to the story that is told. the characters are all effected by this, in how they come out and how they don't, both to the world and to themselves. there is religious trauma and homophobia in this book, which casey addresses in the book's author's note.

i've talked about my own experience as a young queer person–figuring it out in high school, but waiting until college to be out. i went to a private catholic school for most of my life, was raised in a religious family. i didn't live in the south, but so much of this book felt familiar. it struck me in a way that i didn't expect.

it also just made me feel so nostalgic. for being backstage of a high school musical, for meeting up with your friends before school starts, even for striving for the perfect grades in each of my classes. i don't often think about high school with fondness, but this book reminded me that there are happy memories there too.

i felt so much love for being young and queer in this book that it moved me to tears multiple times as i read. to read about these teens, i wanted to hold them. from the other side, i wanted to tell them that there is a place for them. they just have to find it. they might have already.

above it all, i know this book is going to be so important for young readers. for the queer teens in the south, to see themselves and know that they can have a happy ending too.

This book was a bit painful to get into, to be honest, but I’m glad I listened to my friend’s advice and pushed through its terribly slow first half. Once I got to the second half, the story had a much better pace. I was also sufficiently attached to the characters by that point to care about what happened to them. I just wished they got introduced better in the beginning, and that the story didn’t start so abruptly.

I’m also glad that my friend set me straight at the halfway mark and told me that this wasn’t a romance, but more of a coming-of-age story. Once I stopped waiting for something that wouldn’t come until the last 5 chapters, I started to enjoy the story a lot more for what it was. I just wish it had been sold to me differently. For some reason, I was convinced that this was a YA romance, but then again, that may be entirely my brain’s fault and no one else’s.

My favorite thing about this book was definitely the side characters, especially Smith. His self-discovering journey was so sweet and relatable, and if anyone threatened to cause him any harm, I would protect him with my life. I wish the same could be said of Chloe and Shara, arguably the two main characters, but honestly, I couldn’t have cared less about them. Chloe was extremely mean, self-centered and unlikeable, and Shara lacked a personality until the very end - which, I get it, is the whole point of her character arc, but still, it made it quite difficult to care about her.

Overall, this was an enjoyable read, but sadly not a memorable one.

Casey McQuiston has done it again with I Kissed Shara Wheeler. Not only have they written another beautiful love story with an expansive tapestry of characters, they have managed to write the perfect YA book in my opinion. As a queer 24 year old, I wish I had this book in high school. It reflected an experience I was never had. This book made me laugh out loud so often, cry, feel so connected to the story and the characters, and see myself and many young people I know reflected in it's story. We need more stories marketed to teens that deconstruct the arbitrary barriers that divide them and show them that they have more agency than they are lead to believe. The way the characters deconstructed these high school barriers we have been fed in teen narratives for so long was one of the most beautiful things I have read in a while. It reflected an authentic image of who teens are and what they can accomplish if they work together. It gave a more fully realized image of young people and all their many facets. What's more, the characters were able to create a safe space together in which to explore these many facets in a non-traumatizing manner and fight back against the system that was keeping them in boxes. Seeing all the characters come together, accept/learn to love themselves and each other, and fight as a collective in the end made my heart soar. Reading this book was a healing experience, just like Casey McQuiston's past works. I also loved getting to read my name (Tyler Miller) a bunch while reading. That made me feel like I was a part of the story :)

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC!

I enjoyed both of McQuiston’s previous books and have been looking forward to her upcoming YA book, so I was thrilled when I was approved for an ARC. I finished it in one night and really enjoyed it! It is part romance, part mystery, part coming out story, part self-exploration. Right before Prom, Chloe is taking her usual shortcut using the teacher’s elevator when Shara Wheeler, popular golden girl and bane of Chloe’s existence, kissed her. The night of prom, Shara disappears. While looking for clues, Chloe teams up with Sahara’s boyfriend Smith and her neighbor Rory, who she also randomly kissed right before Prom. They find letters from Shara, which tell the story of who she really is and lead them on a trail to each next clue before revealing where she is. All the while, the three teens wrestle with their feelings for Shara and what they really think about each other and themselves, tied to the pressure put on them by their ultra conservative religious school run by Sharma’s father. Overall, it was a good story and my one complaint was that I found myself really not sympathizing or caring for Shara one bit, and enjoying other side character’s stories more. I think McQuiston handled the topics of sexuality, gender, and religious pressure/guilt very well.

This is a fun enjoyable read with great lgbtq+ rep. Chloe, an out bi teen with lesbian parents moves to a small town in Alabama and attends a conservative Christian high school. Senior year is coming to a close and there's a fierce rivalry between Chloe and Shara Wheeler for valedictorian. Shara disappears, and Chloe gets obsessed with figuring out what happened to her, because she wants to beat her fair and square for the valedictorian spot. The mystery element takes center stage, even though there is eventually some romance involved. McQuiston is so good at dialogue, and her first foray into YA is sure to be a hit with teens. Her diverse lgbtq+ representation is great, but there were perhaps too many side characters to keep track of, even though many were lovable and quirky. The main theme of the book is the oppressive atmosphere of the school that traumatizes lgbtq+ students.. As a librarian in a conservative community, I will be happy to have this title for my lgbtq+ teen readers. It deals with issues of identity and finding support and courage to be able to be oneself. My main issue with the book was my difficulty suspending disbelief that gay parents would send their child to a school that they know from personal experience has a toxic, homophobic culture. Even so, this was a delightful high school drama and a light feel good read. A little weak on the romance and romantic chemistry, but there are plenty of books that fill that need. This title does something else that is more important for teens, it delves into the challenges of growing up, making mistakes, and creating a loving community of found family. Thanks for the arc.

I really love the genre of "bitchy smalltown misfit realizes that they've actually been lashing out disproportionately hard" (as exemplified by the 30 Rock high school reunion flashback that revealed Liz Lemon was accidentally a bully). And I love "pretentious teens who drop a lot of references in their dialogue."

Anyway, this was very charming and fun and I liked it a lot! I will say I think I would have liked to see a little more of Chloe and Shara actually interacting with each other?? But regardless, loved the vibes.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the eArc in exchange for an honest review!

I'm not surprised that I enjoyed this so much! Casey McQuiston has always written fantastic queer fiction and I KISSED SHARA WHEELER is not the exception! This combined the setting of an Evangelical Christian school with a very very queer mystery, which was a fantastic pairing in my opinion. The mystery was thrilling and the romance was very endearing, which I adored. I felt the ensemble cast was done particularly well, and I got a good feel for each of the characters even though there was only one POV. One thing I thought could have used more elaboration was why certain characters were hesitant to label themselves, such as Georgia as a Lesbian and Smith as Nonbinary. It's implied, however I think for a YA audience it might be worth explaining briefly! Overall I adored this book and will be handselling it to anyone who will listen!

⭐️ ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Have you ever hated someone SO MUCH because they’re unhateable and perfect? That’s how Chloe Green feels about Shara Wheeler. As the only two competitors for valedictorian in an elite, authoritarian Christian academy in False Beach, Alabama. Chloe moved to Alabama from LA 4 years ago and has hated everything since. That is, until her nemesis, Shara fucking Wheeler, disappears.

Chloe can’t stand this, so she sneaks into Shara’s empty room and stumbles upon — Rory, the notorious rebellious stoner. Here, they find a note addressed to Rory and find out that they both, in fact, have kissed Shara Wheeler. After roping in Shara’s boyfriend, Smith, the gang go on a journey of self-discovery, acceptance, rage, loss, and love.

I gave this 5 stars because I was crying. The joy, the loss, the love, the transport to being a teenager again through McQuiston’s writing…it was wonderful. I would 100% call this a coming-of-age story and I’m not usually into those. However, this slice of life, queer YA romance really burrowed its way into my heart in the best way.

This was one of my most anticipated books of 2022. I loved One Last Stop and i unexpectedly loved Red, White and Royal Blue. Unfortunately, this book didn't hit in the same way for me. It fell flat. It was a good story with interesting characters but it was missing something for me.
I would still recommend this book to fans of John Green and YA romance.

Casey McQuiston is three for three for me. Her YA debut was fantastic and more of the same soft and romantic goodness paired with snappy dialogue that I've come to expect from the author. The romantic aspect of the book probably didn't start until the 60% mark but all the action that got us there made the wait worth it. The characters were so likeable, and I smiled so much that my cheeks ached! My only very very very minor issue is that two of the side characters have very similar names (Ash and Ace) and it confused me on occasion. I absolutely cannot wait to see what McQuiston has next for us. Adult or YA - I'm here for it!

This is basically an lgbt version of paper towns and it was pretty interesting!!
I also thought it was interesting taking place in Alabama and I can't remember exactly where paper towns took place but I feel like it was somewhere similar?? In any case I think the setting really worked for the story itself, as someone who lives in Alabama it was pretty accurate and it def plays into the whole struggle that Shara goes through as far as any kind of homophobia, etc, especially her going to a christian school. Overall I think this was just a really fun way with all the mysteries to tell these character's stories and I think this will be a great staple in lgbt books for teens that they will probably pick up as a sort of classic years from now tbh!

This is another great book from Casey McQuiston, and likely to be received by anyone who liked Red, White and Royal Blue or One Last Stop. My two favorite elements of the book were the setting and the characters. It was so fun to live in the small town that made up the world of this book and it reminded my in many ways of my own upbringing. I also loved Smith, Rory and many of the other secondary characters, and I found myself wanting to spend more time with them. The mystery was interesting, but I did figure it out pretty early on (there's a bit hint in one scene) and made me less intrigued by the notes. Still, I loved reading it and look forward to more from McQuiston!

i may be the only person who has yet to read a casey mcquiston novel but i am glad i started with this one. i am in love with her writing style and cant wait to read her backlog

The first half of this book was so much like a John Green novel that one of the characters even acknowledges it! The most popular girl at Chloe’s private Christian school in Alabama goes missing and leaves clues for three very different people who have to figure them out together to ultimately find her.

Chloe, the main character, moved from California and is the only one “out” even as a bisexual. One of her mothers still causes a stir around town from coming out as gay back when she attended the same school. Throughout the intrigue of the hunt, we learn why nobody acknowledges their true selves in places like that. And finding Shara Wheeler isn’t the end of the book! There is so much more to it! Corruption, protests, and first kisses!

Perfect for fans of John Green who desire a diverse cast and more to the ending. Big thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

John Green wannabe. Like this literally reminds me of a knock-off Paper Towns. Just not as good. Which is bizarre because she has written other books that were so in her own lane. These characters are self-obsessed. Weak plot. Maybe I did chuckle 4-7 times. I also found the sidenotes in between the chapters pointless.

First of all, I went into this book knowing absolutely nothing other than the fact that this was advertised as a romance book. I feel that it was way more of a mystery than a romance, but I still really enjoyed it! The amount of representation in this book is absolutely beautiful and it truly felt so natural. The way religious trauma impacts one’s personality and ability to be who they truly are was showcased in such an important way. I truly think this book will help readers be their true self in some way or another. The one downside I had with this story was the lack of chemistry between the main characters. I feel like as a reader, something was missing between them. Nonetheless, I would highly recommend this book to any new or older Casey McQuiston fans!