Casey McQuiston has done it again!

I'll admit, this one took me a bit longer to get into than McQuiston's first two novels, but hang in there reader! The novel starts off with a different feel than Red White and Royal Blue or One Last Stop. I definitely felt some cringe at the Southern-Christian-School stereotypes, but that's because BOY are some of them true, and boy do they hit close to home.

Nonetheless, while I started off wondering if I was going to like this one at all, I got sucked into Chloe's story and her pursuit of enemy Mega-Bitch Shara, and the discoveries about herself and her friends as well. Maybe by the second half of the book or so I was thoroughly invested and in it with Chloe to the end. A fabulous book with a definitively satisfying ending!

Thanks NetGalley for this eARC!
Casey McQuiston is downright masterful at creating friend groups I want to join. Whether they’re the White House trio, planning a Subway heist, or at a Christian school in Alabama- her supporting cast is always top notch.

I Kissed Shara Wheeler is part mystery- Shara disappeared after kissing three people and has left then clues regarding her whereabouts- and part coming of age/romance. My favorite parts are when Chloe (the MC) is with her friend group- because again, that’s really where McQuiston shines.

Being set at a Christian school in Alabama but featuring LGBTQA+ characters, there is definitely commentary on the harmful environment that can foster. Having grown up in a similar religious situation, but now embracing more of (as she put it) “Jesus the brown socialist” theology, I thought it was handled well. At no point is religion itself judged- just the hypocrisy of the brand of Christianity pushed by the school.

It’s not as good as RWRB, but I’d say on par with One Last Stop. Definitely worth. Read.

Casey McQuiston hits it out of the park once again! I was so thrilled to be able to review this book, as I had throughly enjoyed Red, White, and Royal Blue as well as One Last Stop. McQuiston has such a way of bringing characters to life, and this book continued in that pattern. This felt like a film/Netflix series rom-com, but even better because of the depth of Chloe's character. Each chapter made me fall a little more in love with the town and these characters. Their shenanigans were zany but believable, and the dialogue felt fresh but not overly gimmicky. I would recommend this to any fans of rom-coms, YA lit, queer love stories, and anyone who enjoys coming of age stories with a twist.

I' am torn about how I feel about this book. On one hand, the plot of trying to figure out where Shara Wheeler went did drive my curiosity. I wanted to know what led up to the situation, and whether it was going to be resolved by the time the story was completed. The situation felt a little absurd, but I'm willing to let that slide when it comes to a piece of fiction. However, the thing that made it difficult to read was the author's regular need to declare things that are not factually true. For example, towards the beginning, the author declares that it is a "Southern" thing to buy flowers at school to send to your crush or friend. However, I did this overseas and my friends in California confirmed they did this in their high school. So, there are a lot of assumptions that get made that make the main character annoying and untrustworthy as a whole. The other thing is the I am better than you energy the main character gives off because she's not from this small town originally, she's queer, and goth alternative. Honestly, it makes the character more exhausting than enduring. It's an overdone trope that doesn't offer anything new to the trope in this book. It left me a bit disappointed as a whole.

The problems for me were the characters and the marketing.
The marketing:
* I was expecting a Sapphic romance. I didn't get that.
* I was expecting a ROMANTIC COMEDY. I got no romance. I got no comedy. It got to the point where I was wondering if something was wrong with ME. WHY AM I NOT LAUGHING?

The characters: this is essentially a romance between Rachel Berry on steroids and the wife from Gone Girl. Chloe Green is obsessed with beating her high school rival Shara Wheeler who kisses her and then disappears. Finding out she isn't even the only kissee adds to her mania. Paranoid and making increasingly bad choices on how to treat her friends and responsibilities, she, Rory (the other kissee) & Smith (Shara's boyfriend) search for her via a psychopath level scavenger hunt.

"ᴡʜʏ ᴡᴏᴜʟᴅ ɪ ʟɪᴋᴇ ʜᴇʀ? sʜᴇ's ɴᴏᴛ ᴀ ɢᴏᴏᴅ ᴘᴇʀsᴏɴ!"--> me, screaming with rage as I throw my kindle across the room again. I nearly DNF'd this 8736 times.

The pluses-
* The writing. Kasee of Longhand Pencils is gonna have the easiest time creating a set and I wrote down some of my favorites
* The rep. Somehow nearly every character is gay, queer, or questioning sexuality and gender. You get a whole spectrum and that's wonderful.
* The friends. As I stated I didn't see this as a romantic comedy at all, but it is a sparkling addition to YA high school novels about the importance of friendship and how special those who come into our lives in high school can be.

For me, this was 2 stars. I'm not sorry, but that's my honest opinion. Others may love it. I hope they do, but please, don't go in expecting a Sapphic romance. This was not RW& RB or OLS. It's a high school set YA mystery.

Chloe Green’s high school nemesis has always been Shara Wheeler. Which makes it all the more confusing when Shara disappears in the weeks before graduation. Where could she have gone? Why aren’t her parents concerned?As Chloe tries to piece together the puzzle she has been left by Shara, she finds herself joining forces with Shara’s boyfriend and neighbor. Upon discovering small pink envelopes with clues, the trio embarks on an epic quest to unravel the truth about Shara and her mysterious disappearance.

I Kissed Shara Wheeler was my most anticipated book for 2022…and it exceeded my expectations in every way!! This is a book that everyone should read. It’s full of lovable characters, compelling plot, and laugh-out-loud hilarious writing. Casey McQuiston always has the most specific, detailed dialogue that somehow is incredibly universal and witty. I highlighted so many passages in this book, because there was so much that I could viscerally relate to. This is a book for the LGBTQ+ theatre kids, the kids who feel stuck in their small fishbowl towns, the kids who are certain that after high school life simply has to get better.

I Kissed Shara Wheeler is full of so much love and LGBTQ+ joy. Chloe, Smith, and Rory form a tight and heartwarming friendship in Shara’s absence. Casey McQuiston writes such vivid and captivating characters; I know they will live on for readers long after the final page. All the characters, but especially Chloe, experiences significant character growth. The characters merrily stumble through the final months of their senior year of high school, along with profound moments of personal discovery and identity exploration.

I would highly recommend this for fans of found family, enemies-to-lovers, theatre kids, The Breakfast Club, and LGBTQ+ coming-of-age stories. I Kissed Shara Wheeler is beautiful, hilarious, and joyful. Unsurprisingly, this is likely my favorite book of 2022. You won’t want to miss this book! I Kissed Shara Wheeler is available on May 3, 2022. Thank you SO much to Casey McQuiston, Wednesday Books, and Netgalley for a free ARC (making my year) in exchange for an honest review.

For publisher: My review will be posted on the publication date and I will publish it on Instagram, Goodreads, Amazon, Storygraph, and Barnes & Noble etc

I must admit that I had trouble with this at the start, because the plot seemed too much like Paper Towns and the protagonist, Chloe Green, was hard to like. As I read on, I appreciated how the mystery unraveled in an even better manner than Paper Towns, and created so much more depth in each of its characters and their stories. The scenes leading up to graduation were wonderful, and I would love to see a sequel that continues the stories of Chloe and Shara and Rory and Smith.

If you liked Red, White and Royal Blue, then I suspect you’ll like this too! It’s a cross between a Karen McManus mystery and the Breakfast Club, set in the Deep South where being queer can literally get you expelled or worse. Chloe’s entire life is uprooted when she and her moms move to Alabama to take care of her dying grandmother. She’s forced to attend a private religious school where being queer is an expellable offense - great for someone who came out as bisexual to her two moms when she was 13, right? Chloe throws herself into her work, determined to bury the parts of her that make her who she is - if she can’t be wholly herself, she damn well can still be valedictorian. Her only competition is Shara Wheeler, the principal’s daughter and all around goody two shoes. Except one day, out of nowhere, Shara kisses her in the elevator. And then she disappears, leaving behind a series of clues for Chloe, Shara’s boyfriend Smith and her next door neighbor Rory to try to tease out where she is and why she’s disappeared.

Honestly, this book was so much more than I was expecting it to be. So much was happening - I kept checking how far along I was and asking myself what could possibly be coming next with so much still left to go. This book did not disappoint with its plot twists. It’s a great coming of age, coming into queerness, learning to love yourself as you are book. Highly recommend!

Leí este libro antes de tiempo porque la editorial me envió una copia avanzada digital y, aunque estoy muy agradecida, esta historia fue un martirio para mí. En mi opinión, I Kissed Shara Wheeler es una versión queer de Paper Towns de John Green. Y, si me conocen, saben que ese libro tampoco me gustó nada.

Digo que I Kissed Shara Wheeler es una *versión* por no usar una palabra más fuerte, pero… madre mía. Básicamente, aquí nos encontramos la historia de Shara Wheeler, una chica ultra popular de un colegio muy conservador en el estado de Alabama, conocido por ser tremendamente cristiano. Un día, Shara decide desaparecer, pero no sin antes besar a tres personas: Smith, su novio; a su vecino y a Chloe, la única chica abiertamente bisexual del instituto. Su plan, al besarlos, fue que tuvieran algo en común para que, después, pudieran seguir juntos las pistas que ella les iría dejando para que la encontraran… o no. ¿Ya ven a qué me refiero con la similitud casi calcada al libro de John Green?

Honestamente, este fue un libro que se me hizo cuesta arriba, que no pude disfrutar en ningún momento porque todo era repetitivo, ya se había visto y ningún plot twist estuvo bien construido. Creo que, con leer unas cuantas páginas del inicio, cualquier persona podría adivinarlos.

Creo que lo único que puedo rescatar de esta historia es la cantidad de representación tanto de identidad sexual como de género y de razas. Los personajes son muy diversos y creo que, a pesar de que la historia no sea para nada novedosa, seguro que muchas personas se podrán ver reflejados en ellos.

En fin… no sé qué le pasó a Casey McQuiston con esta historia.

One of the things I love about Casey McQuiston books is the rich cast of characters she provides to give you so many people to connect with and root for. I actually liked a lot of the surrounding characters in this book, Chloe was very annoying at times. I know that this was a YA but there were multiple times I was very anxious or annoyed she just dropped everything in her life to go on this hunt. I foresaw several plot points before they happened but that didn't make them any less satisfying. The mystery and fast pace kept me intrigued when Chloe was a little too intense so I did enjoy racing through this book.
I definitely enjoyed seeing Chloe and Shara interact in person more than seeing it only through notes or Chloe's interpretation. But the people we met along the way made up for that. I was kinda sad this took place the last month of school because the information they learned along the way would have made for a very different and enriching senior year. But I really liked the message at the end and how it can make everyone think. Also this book had so much character growth which is so satisfying, and you sometimes don't get that in YA. Although I might rate this more of a 3.75 I know I'm not the age range target audience and this book will be a great starting point for some to start asking questions and pondering their identity.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the ARC of this book

It's no secret that I'm a huge Casey McQuiston stan, so I was absolutely thrilled to get an opportunity to review this before it drops in the spring. I love Casey's writing--I know that people want to pigeonhole their books into romance or new adult or something that can be seen as throwaway, but Casey's writing is too good to be overlooked.

What I love about Casey’s books is this sense that they can take a premise that is, to be frank, sometimes a little out there, and turn it into something that speaks, deeply, to this sense of queer found family, of queer networks and relationships, of the bonds that sustain us when other parts of the world may be against us. And that those bonds are stronger than outside forces that may seek to undermine them or tear them down. That community and care and love are what matter. That messy people can find their people. Casey has always excelled at telling these stories, and now is doing that in a YA space that will be fantastic to give to a new audience.

Not long before graduation, prom queen Shara Wheeler kisses her academic rival Chloe and then vanishes. Chloe is determined to find answers, and, along with Shara's neighbour and boyfriend, follows a trail of clues left by Shara to find out where she has gone.

This book is very intriguing. Right from the beginning, I wanted to know where Shara has gone and watching Chloe and her crew solve the clues was very satisfying. However, at times, I would lose patience with the characters, and towards the end, the mystery was starting to wear a bit thin. While this was at times exhausting, it made the situation feel more real and really captured the fact that people are complex beings who do not always make the best choices.

Throughout the book, I wanted so much better for Chloe, Shara and their peers, and all I wanted was to see their school change to become a safe and inclusive space. It was wonderful to see the characters grow despite their restricting school environment, and this is where the book really shone. Seeing the side characters go on a journey of self-discovery while growing into themselves was the highlight of the novel, and I times I was more invested in this development than the overall plot.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book. It is a messy, enthralling story with characters that are both frustrating and endearing.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the ARC of this book.

This is a fantastic sapphic YA Thriller/Mystery! Author Casey McQuiston kept me guessing through quite a bit of this novel. There are some truly heart-warming moments and a wonderful LGBTQIAP+ cast. Don't miss this one!

Chloe is such a unique character and I had a blast following her and her journey to Shari! Cuteness, kisses, humor and YA love longing make this one an adorable addition to your reads for the year.
This book is for those who want a funny and meaningful journey to finding yourself and love.

Casey McQuiston is a fantastic writer. I Kissed Shara Wheeler is smart, witty, and hilarious. I laughed out loud so many times while reading this book. It hooked me immediately with the academic rivals-to-lovers, the amazing cast of well-developed, diverse characters, and the mystery of a missing classmate.

While I felt like the religious school aspect of the book wasn’t as obvious an issue as I’d anticipated, McQuiston did a great job of subtly weaving the biases that can sometimes be formed in those environments into the characters. Like Rory and Smith, both believing that they were interested in Shara, the girl between them, and not realizing that really, they were only interested in each other. Or how Georgia struggled to overcome her fear of coming out because she was worried about her parents’ perception of her. I also loved the whole cast of characters. McQuiston did an amazing job of representing a so many queer identities, and each one was well-developed and loveable. I loved that so many characters broke traditional high school boundaries – Smith, Rory, and Ace were honestly my favorite characters. Chloe and Shara were both kind of unlikable and totally caught up on each other to the point of ignoring everyone else around, but I loved their fierce competitiveness. I still wanted to yell at them a few times, though.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book. The middle dragged a little bit, but the dialogue and characters kept me turning pages. The mystery was fun, I like how indignant Chloe got every time Shara anticipated what she would do. I would absolutely recommend this book to anyone who loves sarcastic, competitive, academic rivals to lovers and an entertaining high school mystery.
Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for sharing the digital e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

I went into IKSW without any idea of the plot, just having enjoyed McQuiston's books in the past. In many ways, this is emblematic of their writing - funny, sincere without being saccharine, a little damaged, chaotic. In other ways, it was not quite what I was expecting (not in a bad way!) This felt less like a rom-com to me than their previous books, and more like a comedy-leaning Gone Girl-style puzzle. Did it work? Yes, mostly. I had some problems with a couple of the reveals, and Shara Wheeler never felt like a real person to me (even when she was supposed to!)

I appreciated the way McQuiston handled growing up with fundamentalist Christian beliefs all around. I also appreciated how they handled many types of queerness, and the gradual exploration of many of the characters felt real and honest. Most rewardingly, McQuiston allowed their characters to explore without it ever feeling like a heavy handed "coming out" YA book.

Overall, I enjoyed this book and look forward to recommending it.

This was absolutely delightful from start to finish. The characters were realistically drawn and flawed in interesting ways, and Chloe's narrative voice was funny and compelling. The diversity included felt natural and like something my gen Z students would easily relate to. I also appreciated the more nuanced discussions of small-town life and religion than one usually finds in YA literature. I look forward to having this book on my classroom library shelf.

Chloe Green is going to be valedictorian as long as Sarah Wheeler doesn’t end up with the higher grades anyway. A month before graduation, Sarah kisses her, and then Sarah just disappears. Chloe soon figures out that she wasn’t the only one Sarah kissed before she disappeared, but she’s determined to find out what is really going on.

As the book summary notes, they do attend a Christian school, and that’s something that I glossed over when reading the summary, but shouldn’t have. It’s a fairly large factor in the story, so I think that’s worth noting. Overall, interesting.

This book started out slowly, but I raced through the second half. I don’t always like YA but I love Casey McQuiston’s writing so I knew I had to read this book. McQuiston has again succeeded in crafting a fully-developed cast of supporting (queer) characters and memorable dialogue. This is my favorite YA book I have read in a while.

Thank you for the eARC NetGalley

Casey McQuiston has masterfully executed their introduction to young adult romance. After blowing me away with their first two books, it was no surprise how much I adored this book, completely meeting my expectations. It's wonderful to read about these three students who, presumably, have nothing in common other than kissing the prom queen run away, form unexpected connections with each other while. And through these new friendships, they also discover more about themselves and slowly learn to accept and embrace the parts of themselves that they have kept buried their entire lives.