I absolutely adored this book. It was a fun and riveting little mystery that spun out into a compelling and interesting romance that left me smiling. It did a great job of being light-hearted while also dealing with tough and complex issues (such as religious trauma and homophobia). Casey McQuiston is a master storyteller and I will buy everything they put to page.

I was given an ARC of this book by NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.

Once again, Casey McQuiston has written a book I want to live in! “I Kissed Shara Wheeler” feels like so many teen TV dramas and keeps you guessing until the end. At its core, this is a story of figuring yourself out while navigating the hell that is high school, but as is typical of her style, the author write is so many twists and turns that you honesty couldn’t predict the ending of you tried. I LOVE the characters in the book and I love that the MCs are forced to reflect on everything in order to realize WHAT exactly was going on with them.

If you know anything about me, you know Casey McQuiston is one of my all time favourite authors and I will read literally anything they write, so it's no surprise that I kissed Shara Wheeler was one of my most anticipated reads of the year. I fully started reading this the moment I got a copy and finished it in less than a day (yes, I have an art history essay due, but this is more important than that).

As it is for every Casey McQuiston book, I loved everything about this. Again, as always, my favourite part was the characters. All the characters were well fleshed out and even the super minor characters were still given more than just a name. I absolutely loved reading about all the different friendships and relationships forming, but I was also happy to see how old friendships were kept up and brought into these new friend groups.

The plot was super fun as well. I was never sure what to expect from this book, and although there weren't any major twist, it was still intriguing and kept me invested the entire time.

I wasn't sure how McQuiston was going to handle the transition from Adult Romances to YA, but it was done seamlessly. It still felt very much like one of their stories, but it was clear that the audience had changed. Personally, I felt that the way the characters spoke and were written felt very much like teenagers. I've found that I struggle with some YA because the characters don't actually act like teenagers, but this felt very real and the characters were quite relatable.

So yes, this book is a 10/10 for me, 100% recommend, cannot wait to get a hold of a physical copy and for everyone else to read it.

This book had an engaging plot and amazing characters. I loved Smith so much! This is my favourite Mcquiston romance: Shara and Chloe aren't the watered down 'enemies to lovers' you often see, but true enemies, with an undercurrent of tension. A phenomenal story, I really really enjoyed it!

It’s no secret that Casey McQuiston is one of my favourite authors. At this point I would happily read their grocery list. Thankfully, I Kissed Shara Wheeler is much better than that. It takes all the wonderful feelings of being a teenager, McQuiston’s signature humour and characters who leap off the page and combines them with some of the less wonderful parts of being a teenager – especially when living in a small town in the Bible Belt – to create an uplifting and endlessly entertaining coming of age story.

As always with McQuiston’s books, the characters were this book’s strength. From our fierce, determined main character, Chloe Green, to the endearing side characters to the elusive Shara Wheeler, all the characters were so real. They were complex and interesting, flawed and imperfect but loveable all the same. These characters were so believable, it felt like I was getting a peek into real lives. I loved the way they played off each other with natural dialogue and humour.

The strength of the characters individually fortified their relationships. I really enjoyed the academic rivals to lovers dynamic between Chloe and Shara. To begin with, I was worried their relationship might end up being a bit one sided as Shara wasn’t there. But these fears were quickly put to rest. I loved how their relationship played out and developed. I felt that it was paced perfectly for their characters and situations and adored the build up just as much as seeing them together. They worked so well with each other and just got each other, and that made for an incredibly entertaining romance that had me on the edge of my seat. There is also a side pairing which I adored – I lived for their interactions.

However, my favourite relationships in the book weren’t the romances but rather the friendships. In particular, the unlikely friendship that formed between Chloe, Smith and Rory as they followed Shara’s clues together. As three totally different people who would never have interacted otherwise were thrown together, something beautiful emerged. They had so many sweet moments and grew together so much and it was just a joy to read. There’s a scene where they take a car ride together and there’s a frog and I want to live in that moment. I also really liked Chloe’s best friend Georgia, a fellow cottage core bookish lesbian with a emotional support water bottle she carries everywhere with her.

The writing was engaging and compulsively readable, and the narration full of McQuiston’s usual wit. I read this book over the space of a few hours as I just couldn’t put it down. I loved Chloe’s voice, it was so distinct. There’s something about the humour in Casey McQuiston’s books that just works for me and I Kissed Shara Wheeler was no exception. From Chloe’s snark to jokes between friends, there was never a dull moment. The humour helped the book remain lighthearted, even as it discussed some heavy themes.

In particular, much of this book focuses on living in a small town in the bible belt. The main characters all go to a Christian school and we see the influence of religion in their education and the way they see themselves. There’s a lot of discussion of this, particularly in reference to homophobia so please be aware of that before picking the book up. McQuiston handles these themes with the care they deserve. Something I appreciated was that there was no one singular perspective; Chloe is an outsider and not religious so it would have been easy to make her perspective the only one, and completely condemn Christianity and small town living in Alabama. However, we also hear what this town and religion means to some of the other characters, which brings the nuance these topics deserve. I loved Chloe’s journey with these themes, and the appreciation for what small towns have to offer.

Something I’ve come to expect from Casey McQuiston’s books is endless queer positivity, and this one was no exception. The positivity and hopefulness among the characters really balanced out the discussions of homophobia and resulted in this book having an overall lighthearted tone. There were queer characters galore, and many of them were in different stages of their journey and had different perspectives of what it meant to be queer, particularly within their community and town. The finale of this book was full of queer positivity and a joy to read. I loved how everything came together and felt like it was a fitting ending for the characters and story, one that was hopeful but ultimately realistic. I felt like it really captured the experience of growing up queer in a small town.

Compulsively readable, laugh out loud funny and full of heart, McQuiston’s YA debut is a stunning success. This coming of age novel captures the feeling of being a messy, uncertain teenager in a small town, and all the conflicting feelings that come with that. I Kissed Shara Wheeler is an uplifting story of being unapologetically yourself and going for what you want – and finding what you need along the way.

It starts with a kiss, well 3 separate kisses actually, with three different people to be exact but what Shara Wheeler sets into motion will change her life and the lives of all the people in her small Alabama town. Willowgrove Christian Academy is not the pillar of acceptance and Chloe Green is anything but a conformist, but she has to be the best and Willowgrove is the best, so is her arch nemesis Shara Wheeler whose disappearance has thrown the school, and Chloe, into a tizzy. Does winning even matter if her enemy isn’t there to see her win?!? This is a book about love, acceptance, self-acceptance and tolerance for others. This is my first book by this author and I throughly enjoyed it!

Thanks to Wednesday Books for the free book.
This book was executed so well. McQuiston drew me in right away with the clues and Shara's disappearance. This was so well thought out, and I loved the twists and turns along the way. I also enjoyed the pacing of the story. The author left plenty of time for the ending to wrap up and for misunderstandings to be explored - which is what made me love this book. I wasn't a fan of Chloe or Shara in the beginning, but getting the time to dig into their actions helped me come to love these young adults that were navigating so many things while in a restrictive environment. Like McQuiston's other books, this one also has a lovable, diverse cast of characters that are so accepting and loving - yet they also aren't afraid to call their friends out when their friend/s need it. I left this book with a big smile and feeling like I was wrapped in a hug, especially with how they came together at the end.

Casey McQuiston's first turn at ya didn't disappoint and will be a hit with my students. I enjoyed the story and mystery, but for me it wasn't as romantic as Red White and Royal Blue. Overall it was a good read, just not my favorite but this author. Thank you netgalley for this arc in exchange for my honest opinion.

Will there ever be a world in which I dislike Casey McQuiston's books? Apparently not. This one, much like her other books, is a perfect kind of gay chaos. The characters are written excruciatingly well; I think I'm probably a little in love with all of them. Smith especially. He's just really adorable. I think I spent the entire book relating way too much to the various experiences of the characters, academically and identity wise. Coming out is a rocky road, high level academic classes are hell, and religion is sometimes extremely stifling, and this book puts it all together in a kind of therapeutic way. Go read it right now and check out OLS and RW&RB while you're at it because THEY'RE ALL REALLY GOOD. Thank you to Casey McQuiston and NetGalley for providing me with an E-ARC in exchange for an honest and constructive review! <3

Casey McQuiston cannot write a bad book. Their debut into young adult books has blown me away in the best way possible. I Kissed Shara Wheeler is now one of my favorite YA contemporaries of all time. I never for a single second knew where this book was going, what these characters were going to pull next. I loved every single one of them. I wish I had this book as a teenager and I'm so glad that teens now are going to be able to read this and connect with these characters.

My favorite thing about McQuiston's books is that their characters find power not only in themselves and their identities, but also find the power that comes from connecting with the people around them. Chloe Green is no different. Being a teenager is hard. Being a queer teenager in small town south is even harder. Seeing Chloe & Co. come together, at first because of Shara's mystery but then because of something more, was beautiful.

Chloe is going to mean so much to queer teen girls who need to hear that they can be exactly who they are, that it's okay to be messy and not quite put together and not have things turn out the way you see them.

Chloe Green and Shara Wheeler are going to take the world by storm and I'm so excited that I'm here to see it.

WARNING: THIS BOOK IS ADORABLE

You will find yourself smirking while reading this!

This book seemed to pile on the themes and tropes into one fun mound of pleasant: Enemies to Lovers, Sunshine vs Grump, West Coast vs the South, Theater/Goth/Alt Teens vs Jock/Popular Teens, Academic Rivals to Lovers, Found Family. The list goes on.

I do read a lot of what is current in LGBTQ+ Young Adult, especially if there is a romantic element. It is beyond cathartic to read books that I wish existed when I was in High School. This book very easily makes that list. I also found this book very relatable in many ways.

I am, indeed, in love with Shara Wheeler.

I think most of my teenagers will love this book. It felt super relatable (particularly as we approach the last few months of school for seniors). The variety of characters were great, I loved the process of getting to know them, I felt like for the most part the characters had depth and felt realistic. At first the story seemed a little abrupt and disjointed to me, why did Chloe even care so much about what happened to Shara? But I also think that is very appropriate for the age group, getting obsessed with a topic to avoid reality. I loved the quest to find Shara and the process of getting to know Smith, Rory and some of the other characters like Ace. There were a lot of characters by the end but I never felt overwhelmed. There were one or two parts that I was a little offended by (like a comment about gay individuals not being good at math, as a math teacher I think this is a completely false stereotype). I will definitely be recommending this for my students, I can think of a few in particular that will love it.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for providing the ARC.

I think at this point it's safe to say that I would read anything that Casey McQuiston wrote. I have yet to be disappointed.

That being said, I Kissed Shara Wheeler didn't quite pull me in the way Red, White & Royal Blue or One Last Stop did. It might be because it's YA, or it might just be the plot, but it just didn't land quite the way I wanted.

Chloe,.to me, was a bit too antagonistic than I liked, but I understood why she was the way that she was. And Shara seemed duplicitous to the point of not wanting any kind of good resolution. But the whole time I read this book, I couldn't keep my stupid smile off my face.

It's not my favorite of McQuiston's books, but it's still a great read.

I think this is my favorite of Casey McQuiston’s books so far. I was skeptical when I saw it was YA, but I could not put this book down and had such a good time reading it. All the side characters were full of life and charm, and I loved seeing everyone in this book grow as people. Chloe was a great protagonist; even though she was extremely self absorbed for most of the book, you could see why she got that way and she had some good development by the end.
Overall, a great YA debut and I can’t wait to read Casey McQuiston’s next book.

I get nervous when previously adult writers release YA novels. Sometimes there are adult themes or plot structures that just don't work, and often the voices are too mature to relate. However, I Kissed Shara Wheeler will be my go-to exception. This felt like a love letter to queer teens and our inner queer teen. McQuinston realy acknowledges the strange, messy nature of teenage emotions and relationships in a way that will make reader's feel seen. They create an incredible cast of characters who all develop and get their own fully fleshed storylines in an effortless way. I cannot fully communicate how highly I think of this book, and Casey McQuinston for writing it. I will recommend this to my readers and I plan to buy it for my bookclub.

Three people have kissed Shara Wheeler, including Chloe Green. Chloe can’t stand Shara, and has been in competition with her for grades, and eventually Valedictorian, forever. But everything starts to change after Shara kisses her, because not only has Shara kissed Chloe, she’s also disappeared right after- and it’s up to Chloe to find her.

I really enjoyed this! RW and RB was amazing, but I wasn’t too fond of OLS. This was a good comeback! Even though this is YA, which I find harder to read nowadays, this wasn’t juvenile in any way. Chloe was a great character and reading her POV felt realistic and mature, she was funny and reflective. The story was interesting with diverse characters. I liked the mystery aspect as well. Chloe formed relationships throughout the story and the feelings of all the characters were so real and accurate. When Chloe was mad I was mad, when she understand how other characters felt and her opinion changed, mine did too. This book was really well written! It delved just enough into emotions and high school feelings and situations and how everyone isn’t how they seem at first. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the free preview in exchange for an honest review.

I absolutely loved this book! The dialogue was realistic and funny without any "teen-speak" and the characters felt realistic and complex. As someone who grew up as a queer kid in the South, I think McQuiston did an excellent job of addressing the hardships of that experience while also celebrating the strength of youth in southern communities and their determination to make a change. This was a great first YA and I would recommend this to the teens at my library as well as anyone who is a fan of McQuiston's adult novels.

"High school is over, and everything is ridiculous."

Is this the perfect YA novel? If you prefer the angst-ridden, tear-your-heart-out and leave you sobbing brand of YA novels, then no. If you want to leave it with a sense of pure joy? Then yes.

This book is Mean Girls with a kinder touch. Pretty Little Liars with writing that doesn't suck. The wonderful kitschiness of Glee (without the problematic overtones). The same balance of poignancy and humor in Sex Education.

I grew up in the same type of Bible Belt background as the characters in False Beach, and while I didn't go to a private religious school, I still saw so much of my own experience in our characters' adventures in and around Willowgrive Christian Academy. I also appreciated that even in capturing the casual bigotry and repression that runs through the town (and so many others like it), they don't it paint with broad strokes, nor villainize communities of faith as a whole. They treat this fictional community with a tenderness that can only come from living it, from seeing the kindness and beauty that can exist alongside traditions and idealogies that can cause pain and harm. What Casey McQuiston gave me in this book was a glimpse at how that world could be better. I'm a high school teacher now, and part of what I loved so much about this book is that she truly harnessed the spirit of the young people I teach today, their bravery, their effervescence, their willingness to fight for the right to be fully themselves. And I love that so much. This book was so fun, and yes, it was ridiculous, but in the ways that teenagers actually are and want to be ridiculous -- and for me, it sparkled, leaving me feeling warm and hopeful in a way that I truly needed.

I wasn’t sure if I would get into this since I don’t typically read YA, but I Kissed Shara Wheeler is great in all the ways Casey McQuiston is always great. Shara Wheeler is the most perfect princess at the Christian school in Alabama that Chloe Green attends. Shara randomly kisses Chloe and then disappears. Chloe joins up with Smith and Rory (also recently kissed) to solve the scavenger hunt that Shara has left behind. Is literally any part of this story believable? No way, but who cares. It’s so cute and fun and I loved imagining this Alabama private school filled to the brim with gays and theys.

I loved Red, White, and Royal Blue, but wasn't a big fan of One Last Stop, so I wasn't sure what to expect with I Kissed Shara Wheeler. Then I came across the line, "Get a clarifying shampoo and suck it up, Kylo Ren," and I was sold! Overall, this book was a fun adventure of teenage angst and identity in a small town.