It’s hard to write a review fir a book that has affected me so deeply. It is beautifully written and I couldn’t put it down. The characters are perfect in their imperfections. I never knew what was coming next, and it just kept being better than I could have expected. Very grateful a young generation of queer teens will have this book..

3.5 ⭐️

My main problem with Casey McQuiston’s latest books is this: I keep comparing them to her absolutely brilliant debut <i>Red, White, and Royal Blue</i>, and they will simply never live up to it in my mind. It’s not remotely fair, but I can’t help it.

<i>I Kissed Shara Wheeler</i> is a coming-of-age story about finding home and community in unexpected places, and grapples with the often-heartbreaking nature of growing up queer, or simply different, in the Bible Belt. Chloe Green finds herself chasing after her academic nemesis and local golden girl, Shara Wheeler, who disappears without a trace after prom night—with the exception of a few clues in the forms of letters she leaves for an unlikely trio: her ex-boyfriend, her next-door neighbor, and Chloe. Basically, <i>Paper Towns</i>, but make it a little bit ✨<i>Gone Girl</i>✨. Some serious John Green vibes here, but with LOTS of representation.

The true love story here for me was definitely <i>not</i>Chloe’s. The mystery of Shara, and the love story at the core of this book, just didn’t keep my interest. I essentially kept reading this book—and upped my final book rating—for Smith’s story, which honestly was WELL worth it. In fact, I fell in love with most of the side characters in this story, with the glaring exceptions of Chloe and their gross, homophobic principal.

I’ve had a string of bad luck lately with books in which I enjoyed the overall premise, but just did not like the main characters. This one definitely fell under that category. I never connected with Chloe or Shara and often felt frustrated with their self-centeredness and immaturity. While this is less of a priority, I also don’t feel like I ever got a clear description of Chloe, which made it hard for me to even picture her. By the end, I really wished I’d just read a book from Smith’s perspective instead of Chloe’s.

As a small aside, this may be an ARC issue, but the author’s note was… weird? I’m always here for an author’s note, but this one is short and vague; I don’t really understand its purpose or message.

Huge thanks to NetGalley and Wednesday Books for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I most loved how much Chloe grew over the course of this book--while sometimes her development felt a little tell-y rather than show-y, you could really feel her fondness for her community by the end of the book. I also loved how the author took a very nuanced and loving approach to the south at the end of the book. This outlook is pretty rare in books about queerness in the south, and as a queer person with a deep love for my upbringing in the south, it felt really validating and refreshing to read about a queer character finding love and beauty in her conservative town.

This review was also posted to goodreads at the following link: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4401946457

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the advanced copy.

I love Casey McQuiston's writing and how well their books are always written but that was not enough to carry this book to an enjoyable read.

This was my most anticipated read of 2022 and when I got approved for this advanced copy I cried from excitement but it did not live up to the hype I had for this book. It felt like a rewrite of Papertowns by John Green and I vividly remember reading that about 10 years ago and hating the plot as far as the person running away and leaving a scavenger hunt and people behind who cared about them. I had anticipated this mystery to continue on and leave me on edge and with a lot of banter as Casey usually has good lines that I laugh at but this book just didn't have them.

As far as characters go, The only ones I enjoyed was Rory and Smith and hoped for their good ending. Alongside them, I hated Shara Wheeler with a passion from the start. Here's where the spoilers come into play, she was leaving behind notes connecting a group of people connected by kissing them before leaving to assure they complete the mystery? It was odd and very manipulative feeling which was awful but she did not stop there. She had blackmailed several people before, was a compulsive liar, and pulled the stunt of the plot over the fact she was aiming to distract her competitor for valedictorian because they didn't get into an ivy league school because she sabotaged her interview for her application. Even after coming clean of this Shara continued to be selfish and behave as if life was handed to her and she continued to be the worst kind of person.

When it comes to the actual romance to the story, Chloe was encouraged to forgive the fact Shara was a bad person because she was hot and attracted to her. This message is horrible and as people sometimes do deserve more chances, this is not the reason why to encourage or grant them!

Overall im highly disappointed but i think people will love it but personally I spent the whole book losing my mind over my personal dislike for the plot and characters.

As much as this book was a fail for me, I am excited for Casey's books in the future!

I absolutely adored this book! It was such a cute coming-of-age YA story. I Kissed Shara Wheeler was reminiscent of John Green’s Paper Towns and Looking for Alaska, but queer. This is exactly the kind of novel I needed in high school. The characters and relationships were realistic, and the setting of Bible Belt Alabama gave a very intense juxtaposition for the content of the book. Casey McQuiston is a genius!

I was ecstatic when I received an email asking if I wanted to read and review the latest McQuiston novel. I loved Red, White, and Royal Blue, just like everyone else, and even really enjoyed One Last Stop, even if less people loved that one. Also, I was curious what McQuiston's YA debut would read like, and how it would compare to the other two.

Admittedly, it did take me longer to get into this book at first, even though I did end up enjoying it a lot later. It felt quite derivative at first, like the John Green novels that the MC sometimes joked about, and it reminded me a lot of other books I had read before. Another big difference is that for most of the book, the main character and love interest don't really interact, since this book is about finding that love interest after she's disappeared. It makes for a much different dynamic and romantic set-up than the other two, and you learn a lot about the characters from past events, rather than new ones.

There's also a large cast when all the friends are accounted for, and it took a while to figure out who everyone was, and what they were like, because the MC mainly spends time with new characters, or by herself solving the mystery. So while the cast is as large as McQuiston's other books, the main character feels more isolated, and I didn't enjoy the story as much because of it. I also found myself frustrated by Chloe every once in a while, but I also get she's a teenager who's suddenly wrapped up in a mystery (and is slowly getting more and more obsessed with it), so some of her reactions and choices were logical from that frame.

However, as this book continued on, I found myself enjoying it more and more. Chloe became less isolated and the side characters started playing a larger role, and I found I enjoyed them a lot. I also feel like there were some important discussions going on about queerness and religion, and how it isn't as black and white as it's made to seem. There's plenty of bigotry and homophobia due to the religion present in the book, which is tough to read about at points, but I think the book handled it well in the end, and was able to isolate extremism from religion as a whole. I also like the angle the book took on the hometown, and how the characters learned that it wasn't all bad, just because a few parts of it were really messed up. It became about finding love and joy in where you are, where you can, and seeing how that can change your perspective.

I definitely feel like I would have been more obsessed with this had I been 15-17, so in that sense, I feel like this is a great book for the group it targets. I overall did still really enjoy it, and can't wait to see what the rest of the world thinks when it officially releases!

I received an eArc of this book from NetGalley.

Casey McQuiston does it again! I Kissed Shara Wheeler is a laugh out loud funny, quirky sapphic romance that happens to take place at a Christian day school in Alabama. In some ways the setting felt like the weakest part of the novel, in what universe does a protestant school let in a girl with two mothers?

It feels simultaneously a fresh and wonderfully comfortable take on the romantic comedy. Despite being outlandish, the characters actions feel realistic to being a teenager especially one waiting for end of senior year. Overall a fun romp that I hope gets adapted into a movie.

✨ BOOK REVIEW: I Kissed Shara Wheeler by Casey McQuiston ✨
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Thank you to Casey McQuiston, St. Martin's Press, and NetGalley for this E-ARC!
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My final read of 2021!! I had high hopes for this one, as I thoroughly enjoyed RWRB and OLS, and it didn't disappoint! This was a charming, sweet, funny, and even mysterious novel in which I totally got invested.
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While the pacing was somewhat slow in the beginning (either that or I was just bogged down by the end of my calendar year, which is definitely a 'me' problem), I really enjoyed all the problem solving. Those close to me know how obsessed I am with Escape Rooms, and the clues in this book practically gave me my fix! You know how you talk to your characters trying to tell them what to do and what not to do, as if you're going to change what happens next? Yeah, that was me with this book 😅
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All in all, this was another hit by Casey McQuiston and absolutely something to look out for when it hits the shelves on May 3rd of this year!
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Overall rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐/5

I knew since Casey McQuiston wrote this book I would probably enjoy it - and I was correct. This was a fun read that is part mystery, part high school drama, part coming into one’s own identity. I really appreciated the different gender and sexual identities accounted for, and I know my students will, also. I live in the Deep South and so much of the culture of the private Christian school portrayed in the book rang true to me. The feelings surrounding identity and small town, more conservative places were spot on. I think lots of students will feel seen after reading this book. The mystery was fun. I was surprised when I came to the end of that part of the book and there was still about 30% left to read! The resolution went in a slightly different way than I expected but it was well planned and well executed. I recommend the book!

Casey McQuiston seems to have no problem destroying her readers with incredible stories. I Kissed Shara Wheeler is no exception. This book was incredible.

Shara Wheeler has kissed three people before deciding to vanish off the face of the Earth. The only trace of her left behind: little pink envelopes, the lingering kiss on their lips and a hurricane of gossip that the Willowgrove student body has created leaving everyone dying to know what really happened to the perfect prom queen that everyone loves.

This book is a scavenger hunt mystery filled with diverse queer characters. I love Casey’s ability to write characters who are not perfect, they have feelings and they do the wrong thing sometimes. I also appreciated how despite the setting being in the South, Casey didn’t sugarcoat/change the problems of homophobia and hatred. It’s part of the story.

This book is an emotional rollercoaster full of love, friendship, and complicated characters.

Thanks to NetGalley for providing me with an e-copy of this title in exchange for an honest review!

this book wasn’t what i was expecting, but in a good way.

i kissed shara wheeler is, to sum it up best, a scavenger hunt. shara wheeler, the golden girl of this small alabama town, kisses three people: her quarterback high school sweetheart, the brooding boy next door, and chloe - her rival for valedictorian [yes, i did say academic rival]. then, shara disappears, leaving behind only a set of cryptic clues for these three people who, other than that, have nothing in common. cue wild goose chase.

i’ve read both of CMQ’s other books, and this one reads slightly different from its older siblings. of course, it’s the only young adult one in the batch, but more importantly, it takes a different approach to this theme of queerness. although all of CMQ’s books focus on queer characters, this one seems — for lack of a better word — more subdued. not in the plot or the characters, but when taking it all into context. it’s a young adult book for a reason. it’s about young people on the cusp of adulthood. it’s about being young and queer and filled with a mix of emotions, from fear to confusion to relief. forming a community in a place that may not want you there. queer joy, but a little more quietly. self-discovery. and that’s what resonated with me most.

however, the book retains a tone and quality about it that seems so distinctly CMQ’s that makes it seem, to some degree, familiar. this book is fun and twisty and intriguing. it has a wonderfully immersive writing style. it’s quite funny, considering the number of times i laughed at witty or goofy one-liners.

this book brings in a bit of mystery with this race to find shara wheeler. it’s a little bit different from a traditional mystery/thriller because shara deliberately laid down clues & we know she’s okay. it’s a bit more...tame, i guess? the story is engaging nonetheless, but i thought it was interesting how CMQ thought to incorporate a mystery into a book that i initially thought was just a contemporary romance. it certainly has romance in it (cough academic rivals to lovers cough), but it’s different in that the entire book isn’t focused on two characters falling in love. but i repeat, we do get love. and that made me happy.

the character work in this book is also quite interesting. for example — smith, rory, and shara (aka quarterback, bad-boy neighbor, and perfect prom queen) appear, at first, as characters picked straight out of a 2000’s high school movie — your classic high school stereotypes. but reading more of the book and learning more about them, you realize there’s a hidden depth to them that shapes their development and elevates them into more complex characters. all these characters are intriguing in their own ways, and it’s fascinating to uncover more about them.

i think the setting also deserves some attention. CMQ highlights the good, the bad, and the ugly of this small, southern town. they show some characters wanting nothing more than to leave, but others who gather it within themselves to stay. this town shapes the characters’ coming-out stories, their identities. CMQ brings some humorous elements to this narrative, illustrating the little things to appreciate about this town, but not without also highlighting the underlying hurt and close-mindedness the town encompasses.

casey mcquiston’s name has been shouted from the rooftops ever since i stepped foot onto bookish social media, yet i keep forgetting this is their YA debut. a job well done.

thank you to wednesday books for sending me an e-arc!

tw: religious trauma, homophobia

I Kissed Shara Wheeler is a great YA debut for Casey McQuiston. They said it was their love letter to difficult teenagers, and it absolutely delivered, However, because the characters are incredibly flawed, messy, and difficult, it won't be surprising if this book is not as universally adored as McQuiston's other books, as some readers might find these archetypes unappealing, but this book will find its audience regardless. There was also an incredibly moving and sweet discussion on being nonbinary between a nonbinary character and a character who is questioning their gender. I would recommend this book for that scene alone.

Casey McQuiston does not disappoint! What a fun story. I will say, these were the least likable characters for me out of all McQuiston's books. However, as an adult reader this YA book was still a lot of fun, and felt new and interesting. I think the YA audience will love it!

For a variety of reasons, this book was just OK. But the most inconsequential yet distracting were some basic factual inaccuracies about the south. You can't get burgers at Bojangles. Dogwoods and crepe myrtles bloom at different times.

Casey McQuiston has done it again! If you liked 'Red, White and Royal Blue' or 'One Last Stop' and enjoy YA fiction, you're sure to enjoy 'I Kissed Shara Wheeler.' Chloe Green wants to prove fair-and-square that she earned Valedictorian, but with her main competitor, Shara Wheeler, pulling a disappearing stunt one month before graduation, Chloe has to solve Shara's cryptic and sometimes infuriating clues to bring her back in time. Following this trail of breadcrumbs means working closely with students Chloe has spent her entire high school career judging and avoiding and ultimately challenges what Chloe thinks she knows about herself, her peers, and the small Southern town she lives in.
While I personally struggled sometimes to understand and empathize with the decisions Chloe makes, I found her a very believable young, queer character and I loved coming along for the ride as she figures things out. And McQuiston has created another cast of endearing, complicated, messy, caring, and diverse supporting characters who will have you cheering for and caring about them just as much as the main character.
If you love stories about growing up, queer victories, found families, self-discovery, supportive friendships, or riddles, give 'I Kissed Shara Wheeler' a try!

Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin's for sending me a digital ARC in exchange for an honest review. When Shara Wheeler goes missing on Prom Night, Chloe Green takes it upon herself to find her. She will win valedictorian on her own accord! She teams up with Shara's boyfriend, Smith, and neighbor, Rory, to try to solve the scavenger hunt that Shara has left for them. Will they find Shara before the end of senior year?

Casey McQuiston does it* again! In their YA debut, McQuiston gives us a whirlwind story about queerness, identity, growing up, and, most importantly, Annoying Girls. If as a teenager, or even now, you’ve ever felt like you were too much, this book is for you. Both the eponymous Shara Wheeler and the protagonist Chloe Green can attest to that.
McQuiston has such a great way of portraying queer communities in her books. As someone who loved both Red, White and Royal Blue as well as One Last Stop, I can honestly say that I Kissed Shara Wheeler lives up the expectations. I mean what more can you ask for than academic rival girls, an ensemble cast, tons of queerness, Taco Bell, and several cryptic clues, all taking place in a small Alabama town?

Thank you to NetGalley and Wednesday books for the eARC <3

*making me cry over adorable queer rom-coms.

Like all of McQuiston’s books, I Kissed Shara Wheeler is a quick, addicting read that I had a hard time putting down. Unlike her other books, this debut YA has protagonists I found deeply unlikeable. That could be because they are teenagers making naive, selfish, teenage choices, or it could be because they are kids trying to be themselves in a place that has been historically unwelcoming to kids that don’t fit the norm.

The first half of this book is a mystery, and was my favorite half. One thing I found difficult about this book is that it’s a “contemporary YA” but it’s contemporary in the way that Schitt’s Creek is. It exists in a better version of our world (or Arkansas, specifically), where homophobia doesn’t exist. Except it does, sometimes. The previous adult books have this too, except they feel set in a different version of our world (a variant of the multiverse?) with a more loving political system (Red White and Royal Blue) or a science fictiony train space continuum (One Last Stop). There were some criticisms of this with OLS too — in that characters want other characters to be out and to feel safe, but there is a dissonance with what we see in the real world.

This book was the most difficult for me to suspend reality for, but I’m going to blame that on my own ongoing pandemic pessimism. I loved a lot of the side characters and loved a lot of the relationships developed in the story. I like the idea of envisioning (and reading) about a better version of our own lives, and if that’s your vibe, pick this one up! Thanks to NetGalley for an early review copy, all opinions are my own.

“She’s not a good person”

Thanks to NetGalley for an early copy to review. If I just review the final 20%, I really enjoyed it. But for the first 80%, Chloe was just so unlikable. She speaks about how Shara isn’t a good person without self reflecting, which is very typical of teenagers but it’s still rather frustrating to read. I don’t enjoy reading book with unlikable protagonists. Luckily the rest of the characters were very likable. By the last fifth I wasn’t sure if I even wanted Chloe and Shara to end up together, despite knowing it would end that way. Chloe was so self centered in her actions throughout most of the book she couldn’t see how she was ditching her friends and changing her priorities away from what she’d always strived for, which was sad to see. Yes, I understand that was Shara’s goal, which is another reason I didn’t like them. It’s frustrating to read about people being manipulative but ultimately getting a happy ending (at least in the relationship department).

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press/Wednesday Books for sharing this digital reviewer copy with me in exchange for my honest opinions.

I am a huge Casey McQuiston fan and loved Red, White, and Royal Blue as well as One Last Stop, so I Kissed Shara Wheeler was highly anticipated and I was excited to read it. My overall review is that I’m not disappointed by the book (it grew on me and the characters came into their own with time), but I also don’t think it is anything exceptional. It’s a great addition to the canon of romantic young adult literature and has the benefit of representing a number of queer and nontraditional characters, which is particularly striking in a very traditional / conservative religious setting.

I had a hard time getting into the book for the first 65% - while I understand the need to build the mystery / scavenger hunt component of the book, I just wasn’t compelled by the hunt for missing Shara until we *met* Shara herself. Then, the chemistry between Shara and Chloe flew off of the page and the rest of the book was much more enjoyable. I wish this action had come sooner, or maybe that the flashbacks had occurred in a more juicy way than through passed notes, to build some of this crackling energy between the two female protagonists earlier. I ended up enjoying the last 35% of the book much more, perhaps because the many characters were finally all familiar and I was able to distinguish between them / figure out the intricate differences in their very similar personalities. So many of the characters felt like young adult versions of other adult characters McQuiston has written, without distinct personalities other than being queer (or questioning) and a little quirky. I truly appreciate seeing so many queer high school students represented in young adult literature, but maybe they could have distinct voices and ways of interacting from one another rather than all talking like they just read the same Twitter accounts, from the football jock to the outdoorsy book nerd?! This is a small complaint but I saw another review mention it too so I’ll say it here - Ash and Ace, while they are completely different characters, took me way too long to separate in the early book. The names are just too similar, despite the characters being extremely different! I wonder how Gen Z readers will feel about the pop culture references / very internet way of talking that every character had, because as a millennial it fell a little flat.

While every fiction book asks you to suspend a sense of disbelief, this book did so for a number of things that happened in an otherwise-realistic world. There were some small factual errors that I’m sure actual high school students would find annoying (ex: if Shara got into Harvard early, she wouldn’t have been able to apply to “17 other colleges”) and some details that seemed thrown into the tale for the sake of creating a character who was a bit of a cliche without making it part of their personality or backstory (for instance: why did Chloe choose to go to NYU when she’s supposedly one of the two smartest students in the school and the other two smartest students [Brooklyn and Shara] are going to Yale and Harvard [or so everyone thinks], respectively? No shade to NYU but unless Chloe was pursuing drama at Tisch, it seems unlikely it would be her first choice - and in that case, say it and make it part of her character arc and motivation!). I appreciated the discussion of the different ways that religion can fit into the characters’ lives, but it felt like that point was brushed by and dropped - could we maybe have heard more of Shara’s views of religion, and how the nuance might open Chloe’s very judgmental mind as they get closer? I also thought that Shara’s parents could have had a bit more description - her dad was oppressive and domineering (and homophobic) but what about her mom? Presumably the same, but why didn’t she get any description, no matter how short? How was Shara able to start a relationship with Chloe at the end of the book when there would have been so much gossip / potential backlash in her family and community? I’m glad they did, but realistically, shouldn’t there have been a couple of obstacles to that HEA? Why did Shara’s parents *let* her go hang out on the boat for a few weeks when she was otherwise under their thumb in every way? I guess just another part of her dad’s crooked double standards? Anyway, obviously some things have to happen for the sake of the story, but I found myself rolling my eyes when some strictures of the real world (French homework, drivers licenses) got in the way and then other apparent barriers were ignored.

Ultimately, this book was 3.5 stars for me. I enjoyed the central love story and rooted for the peripheral characters. I particularly liked Smith and Rory’s subplot/evolution. I yelled at Chloe for her spoiled and shortsighted behavior but wanted her to get her sh*t together and succeed. And I was grateful to see Shara go from a one-dimensional, mythical good-girl to an intriguing love interest / villain. I think this book is worth the read, but I won’t recommend it as enthusiastically as I’ve recommended other Casey McQuistons.