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.

My fav Casey McQuiston yet! I absolutely loved getting to know these characters! They are so beautifully complicated. No teenager cliches here. As someone who spends all day with teenagers, it was so refreshing for an author not to put their teenager characters in a box. Wow I loved this book so much. The ending was perfect and filled with so much wisdom! Just preordered a copy now so I can force it upon all my friends

4 stars! I really enjoyed this one and more below !

Definitely for you if you enjoy
Gone Girl-esqe mystery but YA
LGBT/gender identity
Fun, supportive community, family and friends

Chloe Green is determined to win valedictorian at the Christian private school in this small Alabama town and the only thing in her way is Shara Wheeler, the principal’s daughter and prom queen dating the star quarterback. What a cliché. When Shara kisses her and disappears a month before graduation, Chloe is set to find out where she is to drag her back to school so she can win fair and square.

While looking for leads, Chloe finds clues for a scavenger hunt via monogrammed stationery that Shara has set up. Chloe also finds that she’s not the only one she’s kissed. There’s her boyfriend, Smith, and Shara’s bad boy next door neighbor, Rory.

As they set off trying to translate Shara’s cryptic clues, they find their way across parties, break-ins and all sorts of puzzles. As the frustration to finding Shara builds, they come to realize they didn’t really know her or themselves as well as they thought.

📚
I actually enjoyed this a lot more than I thought! I thought it’d be plain ~power of friendship and living life~ but it was funny and more complex than other YA books I’ve read. The discussions of sexual and gender identity was refreshing especially through young eyes and understanding with how some know and some learn and some begin to understand themselves and others.

Though there was the power of friendship, it was a beautiful community McQuiston built, which I wasn’t suprised about. The way they write about found family and support of community in their previous books has been an ongoing theme I appreciate reading in their books.

The young adult twist on Gone Girl was intriguing to me and the twists in the storyline were fun and it kept me interested and reading. There’s a lot to consider and I think as wild as it was, I enjoyed it. It wasn’t predictable but it also was too. It was one where I couldn’t exactly see where it was going but once explained, it did fall in to place. I don’t know, I just liked it lots. It was a great happy medium for me to know but not know if that makes sense?

I liked this one lots and I’m so so excited for it to be published and for what other people think about it! Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for sending this to me in exchange for an honest review.

First of all, thank you so much to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for an arc of this title! I was really excited to dig into this one.

Here are my spoiler-free thoughts and feelings.

Okay, positives first: This is a fun plot. Albeit, a little "Looking for Alaska", or maybe "Paper Towns", but it's more queer and less angsty (which lends itself a huge favor in my mind -- teen angst is extremely hit or miss, imo). There are some really nice conversations about gender and sexual identity. It opens with content warnings, which is something I feel every book should open with. And it's a quick read, too, which is always nice.

The writing in this book is shaky. Some transitions are clonky. The dialogue, at times, is a little awkward. The pacing is wonky, and at times, it feels like the author isn't fully in on what's happening. It's never confusing or unclear, it's just... It doesn't flow, for me?

Typically, for me, one of the things I enjoy most about McQuiston's works are the cast of characters. Specifically, the side characters. In this novel, I enjoy the protagonist, Chloe (even though some of her dialogue sometimes is a little cringe -- but hey, I was precocious and a touch pretentious as a teenager, too). However, I don't think the side characters in this book do it for me the way August's friends and neighbors do in "One Last Stop." Other than maybe Smith, at times, I didn't find myself wanting to know more about any of them. Don't get me wrong, they get more interesting as the book goes on, but they don't pop off the page in the way that I'm used to in McQuiston's work.

It's weird -- "One Last Stop" has a way more ~fantastical~ plot (and even, to an extent, "RWRB"), but I found myself reminding myself to suspend belief much more often while reading "I Kissed Shara Wheeler."

I don't like fully negative reviews, so I'll bring it back around to a few more positives now. The middle third of this book really saves it for me. The last third is a little awkward again, BUT by then, the pace has at least become more consistent, and the tone is a lot more evident, like it's finally aware of what kind of novel it is.

And, let's be honest, the world could use more fun, sapphic ladies in literature.

I wouldn't necessarily read this book again, but I also wouldn't not recommend it. Again, I really enjoy some of the conversations about gender identity and sexuality presented here, and I do think teenagers might enjoy this.

All in all, I'd give this 3 stars, because... it just wasn't for me, despite the queerness and quirk and my interest in the author.

I wanted to love this. Red, White, and Royal Blue is one of my favorite books, but this was fine. I really didn't like Chloe and Shara and honestly couldn't bring myself to care where Shara went. I did love all the side characters and their stories though. 3.5 stars

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Mini Synopsis: Shara Wheeler. Golden girl. Principal's daughter. Valedictorian and early acceptance to Harvard. And then she goes missing. Shara leaves behind little pink envelopes with clues for 3 certain people.... the same 3 she happened to kiss before she left.
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This book started off so strong! I was hooked on the mystery of finding Shara's clues. I also loved all of the characters (Chloe was iffy at times). The only thing I didn't like is the ending seemed a little too fake. A little "too good to be true" for my liking.
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Be sure to pick this one up when it hits the shelves! You'll laugh out loud with McQuiston's dialogue. Thanks @netgalley for the ARC!

I have to say, I LOVE Casey McQuiston. Her wit and satire is genuinely and sincerely the best there is out there. The jokes and analogies at the beginning of this novel were just hilarious. I kept sending one-liners to my friends. My favorite was one of the first ones about Phantom being the perfect guy.

That being said. I did not personally find this book as interesting as I would have liked. I wouldn’t say it is an overnight read. The pace at the beginning is just too slow, and I seriously struggled with Shara. I just couldn't bring myself to like her enough to be found. By the end of the novel, everything is wrapped up in such an unrealistic happy bow that it just felt off to me. Plus, I feel like it has a pretty niche audience. I wouldn’t suggest this to someone who hasn’t already read a LOT of lgbtq+ romances. The first 60% of this novel was just difficult to get through because it went on for a LONG time. It did get better by the end, but Shara never became more likable. I think maybe the white privileged Christian was still too difficult to like. There wasn't enough of a sad story to make up for Shara being horrible to people.

Chloe Green has spent the previous four years of her high school career at Willowgrove Christian Academy avoiding questions about her open queerness and two mothers. When she is named valedictorian, it will all be worth it. Shara Wheeler, the perfect, popular prom queen, is the only thing standing in her way. When shara goes missing after prom, chloe finds herself pursuing clues left by smith, shara's boyfriend, and rory, shara's neighbor. Before she vanished, they all kissed Shara Wheeler.

The story of I Kissed Shara Wheeler is set in a Christian High School in Alabama, and the environment is crucial to the plot. This has an impact on the characters, both in terms of how they come across to the world and how they don't. This work contains religious trauma and homophobia, which Casey addresses in the author's note. I loved this book and believe it have a voice to many queer youths who don’t feel seen. The main cast of characters was so lovable and it was amazing to see them grow and discover their identities. I would recommend this book to my students because of its positive messaging and the fun storyline!

A huge thank you to St. Martin’s Press for this most longed for ARC!

I adored this one from the minute it acknowledged the John Green-ness of the plot and then went off in a thousand unexpected tangents on identity and home and love. The viciousness! The imperfection! The blind spots and questions asked and the way it all came together. One Last Stop did not really do it for me but this made me feel exactly as Red White and Royal Blue did - hopeful for a world populated with McQuinston readers.

I Kissed Shara Wheeler would fit right in alongside any WB type high school drama. Chloe is on her way to becoming valedictorian with the only competition in the form of the golden girl that everyone loves and Chloe loves to hate. When Shara disappears, leaving behind clues in the form of a scavenger hunt, Chloe teams up with some unlikely partners to solve the mystery. Along the way, she becomes enmeshed with people she'd only known superficially. And they all discover things about themselves that surface due to the shake up of the social circles. Though we only have Chloe's POV throughout, the additions of notes and other external texts/recordings allows for insight into the other characters. I found the scavenger hunt aspect of this book to be quite original, though I had to suspend disbelief quite a bit at how pat it played out. The open and respectful treatment of a range of identities is something Casey's quite good at, and I think this would be a great book for high school kids, struggling against whatever social or power constructs limit them from figuring out who they are.

[Thank you to NetGalley and Wednesday Books for letting me read this ARC]

This coming-of-age romp was as refreshing as a baja blast to the face!

When Chloe's arch nemesis at her conservative Alabama school mysteriously disappears immediately after kissing her, Chloe and the other two recently-kissed-by-Shara team up to solve a series of clues and discover the location of False Beach's missing golden girl.

I have loved all of Casey McQuiston's novels, and this funny and heartfelt YA addition did not disappoint. I grew up in Arkansas at a conservative private school, and I found this story hugely relatable. It is really interesting to watch this author come to terms with their own roots, and the novel paints such a vibrant picture of this Alabama town.

I Kissed Shara Wheeler has easy, cross over appeal for McQuiston's adult fan base, while extending their reach into the YA sphere: it is a story of those last days of high school, parting ways with a town you're desperate to leave, but also sort of love; the people you keep and the ones you leave behind; the part of yourself you take--and the parts you remake--after high school.

Wow. What can I say? I adored this book. I thought it was funny, irreverent, full of heart, and, at times, brutally honest.

Chloe Green is desperate to become Valedictorian of her conservative Christian high school in Alabama, but there's one thing in her way--Shara Wheeler, her arch-nemesis. Then Shara kisses Chloe in an elevator and disappears after prom, leaving behind a series of enigmatic cards with clues for Chloe to decipher, alongside Shara's quarterback boyfriend Smith and her next-door neighbor Rory. What ensues is a lot of hilarity and a lot of anguish. There is so much here to love. I appreciated the care the author took to present a rural Southern community with nuance and grace. I highly recommend this book for anyone who loves romantic comedies, teen hijinks, and follow-the-clues mysteries.

Thank you, NetGalley for the arc of this book.