This was great. I wasn't so sure how academic rivals to lovers would go down with that premise, but it really did work. This book felt very fresh, and I had a great time reading it.

I wish I had this book when I was in high school. Casey McQuiston writes in such a way you feel like the characters are speaking right in front of you. You relate to all of them, feel all of their feelings, and root for them in all ways. This book grabs you immediately and holds on to you so tight even when you’re not reading the book, you’re thinking about the book at all moments of the day. I think what I love most about this book is that there’s representation of different coming out experiences that made me think if I had this book earlier in my life, I would’ve realized who I was a lot sooner.

The best friends you make are the ones who surprise you the most. I Kissed Shara Wheeler is about, love, friendship, discovery, and scavenger hunts. The best combination out there.

Another fantastic entry from Casey McQuiston! While it skews more YA, it doesn't read YA, if that makes sense. The characters feel very real, and all of the side/supporting characters are fleshed out and have full sense of selves separate from the main character. Another great thing about this book is how it evolves and tackles so much more than the summary suggests - when I thought it was close to being over, it kept going and made me love it even more. If you've read McQuiston's other books, don't be scared off of this one by the YA marketing - it's so worth it!

This is the queer high school romp I wish existed when I was a teen. McQuiston creates a high school world in Alabama that is part caper, part academic-rival-to-love-interest story, and part an exploration of identity in adolescence. The protagonist is flawed but lovable, competitive to the point of alienating her friends, but open to the growth she experiences throughout the book. The supporting characters are well crafted and endowed with their own individuality, journeys, and conflicts, and they serve to bolden the tapestry of this town.

The world in this book is just aspirational enough that it's an escape. It's a little less harsh than real life, and with some of those edges sanded down it makes these characters' journeys feel turbulent-without-being-cruel in a way that is captivating without being saccharine.

Overall, McQuiston has done it again! Anyone who likes a high school story, rich queer characters/love, coming-of-age stories, and character development will enjoy this sweet and absorbing book.

Thank you to the publishers and Netgalley for the ARC for this book!

Once again Casey McQuiston knocks it out of the park. I read this in one sitting because I could not put it down, it was so much fun. A wonderful queer YA story that's filled with humor, heartache, and characters that are relatable - all the core qualities of McQuiston's writing. As an ex-religious kid who didn't come out until adulthood this really hit me in the feels and made me reflect on just how important it is to be true to who you are. I cannot wait for young adult readers to get their hands on this, it's a really important story that I think teens need.

I received this as a e-galley from NetGalley.

This was Casey McQuiston's first YA book and I liked it a lot! The premise was interesting and the teenagers actually talked and acted like teenagers ha.

This was such a fun read. I love that about all Casey McQuiston books. They incorporate fun pop culture references is so naturally and the character interactions seem so real and genuine that I believe they are my friends the whole time. This was basically a queer Paper Towns, a reference even made in the story. I loved that story as a teenager and I still love it now. Shara Wheeler herself is probably my least favorite character in the story but everyone was so interesting that's barely an insult. I definitely recommend this story.

IKSW has everything I’ve come to love and hope for from a Casey McQuiston novel. Poignant, cutting, hilarious, overall perfect. Chloe is basically the 17-year-old version of Alex from RWRB, Shara is complex as hell, and I cannot stress how much I absolutely love the dynamic of Chloe and Rory and Smith. Characters, plot, and the balance of touching and humorous all on point.

There is something about high school in a small town that is the perfect storm of high stakes, fueling competition, absurdity, and tight bonds of both friendship and hatred for all who go through it. "I Kissed Shara Wheeler" manages to perfectly capture that, pulling readers into a story full of mysteries, kisses, unlikely alliances, and the ticking clock of graduation above its seniors' heads, all set against the backdrop of a Christian high school in Alabama. It asks its characters to look more complexly at each other, to interrogate the world around them, and to demand better of both themselves and the environment they live in. Chloe makes for a fantastic main character, pulling us alongside her through every twist and turn of the story, messing up and learning from it, and getting the reader as invested in Shara Wheeler as she is. The other characters she shares this story with are equally as interesting, and McQuiston puts in a lot of care to give them nuance and shape in this world. As always, the book is full of queer representation as well, including the majority of the main characters (Chloe herself is bi and also has two moms) and gives each of them space to define their own identities. Ultimately, this is a story about teenagers trying their best to break out of the molds they've been cast into by both others and themselves, and the beautiful chaos that can create. I think YA readers will find a lot to enjoy in this one, and I definitely recommend it.

One of the best YA contemporaries that I've read in a while!

Casey McQuiston's signature wit, humor, and lovable characters translate flawlessly into YA storytelling. This book was funny and heartfelt and an absolute page turner. I loved it!

The plot's concept is pretty similar to John Green's Paper Towns, but the characters and themes are so different that it never feels like it's trying to be anything other than itself. Where Paper Towns focuses less on personal identity and more on the importance of imagining other people complexly, I Kissed Shara Wheeler delves into identity, how places shape us, how hard it is to be authentic and recognize authenticity when stuck in a place that demands uniformity. Chloe has great development, and I love how we get to see her learn that her confidence comes across as spiky toward others who are just doing their best. She learns that her walls keep her safe, but they also stop her from seeing others clearly; she wants people to know what she's dealing with, but she doesn't want to tell them, and she doesn't want to make herself vulnerable enough to see how others feel.

The cast of characters, as expected, is utterly delightful. McQuiston is uniquely good at crafting great supporting characters, and that's on full display here. Everyone gets a chance to be funny, to be layered, to have a secret. Smith and Ace are my personal favorite side characters, they're so wonderfully himbo-esque.

A lot of YA contemporaries struggle with dialogue and slang and how the youths talk, but McQuiston nails it every time. These characters are funny and witty and occasionally stupid, all in ways that feel authentic.

As a queer person who also grew up in the south and went to a Christian school, so many of the details in how Chloe is treated really hit home. It felt honest, even in the most frustrating moment. And I also appreciated how McQuiston made Chloe face the idea that not all faith looks like that! It can be easy to paint with broad strokes when the bad guys are religious, but it's important to remember that us vs them mentality isn't accurate or fair.

Overall, a delightful step into YA. Funny and heartfelt and had me grinning the whole time.

i have spent days straight internally screaming about this book.
thank you wednesday books for sending me an e-arc!

there is so much to love about this novel that it's difficult to find a place to start.

i kissed shara wheeler delivered every aspect that you’d expect from a casey mcquiston novel:
- a chaotic bisexual protagonist
- a whole cast of charming queer characters with great chemistry
- a fast-paced plot that you can completely lose yourself in
- multiple i-have-to-put-my-book-down-to-process moments

this novel follows chloe green, an intense and unruly force of a teenage girl that you can’t help but root for as she attempts to claw her way to valedictorian before the end of her senior year. she joins forces with an unlikely group to search for shara wheeler, their small town’s golden girl and chloe’s number one competition, who mysteriously vanishes after prom.

unlike the friends in casey’s previous novels, chloe, smith, and rory are not a tight-knit group. they have history, resentment, and emotional baggage among them that makes their common mission an entertaining journey. i highly enjoyed the amount of banter and insults and was fully invested in their chaos.

i think mcquiston does well at illustrating the underlying beauty and charm of a small southern town, without asking readers to forgive any of its hatred or homophobia. it becomes a journey of acceptance for chloe that furthers her character development. and as someone who is also from california, and would often rather pretend that the south doesn’t exist, this aspect really resonated with me. the vivid description in many scenes was so well-written. it created a unique small-town energy that actually made me want to be in alabama for the first time in my life.

with tons of amazing rep, this novel highlights the life and joy queer communities can form, despite being in a tiny, conservative town. it displayed queer characters at every point in their process of self-discovery in such an impactful and genuine way. i think this novel will mean the world to a lot of young queer people.

i kissed shara wheeler is delightful, amusing, and heartfelt. it’s a novel that i will not easily forget. i absolutely loved this book and really would not change a thing about it.

Casey McQuiston did it again with I Kissed Shara Wheeler. I don't know how they managed to write a novel even better than the last (bc OLS was 😍😍) but I'm here for it. It's timeless and funny and smart and just overall feel good. The thing I love about McQuiston is their ability to not only create deep, complex protagonists but also well-founded secondary characters who you end up loving almost as much. The entire time I read, it felt like I was transported back to an early 2000's rom-com....but with a queer twist. I can't wait for others to get their hands on this book and to see what McQuiston does next.

I wasn't really sure what to make of this book but in the end I did enjoy it. I kind of felt dumb because I didn't understand almost any of the clues but that's a personal problem. I really loved all of the LGBTQIA+ representation in the book and I think if I had this much in a ya book when I was younger it would have helped a lot. To be honest the main relationship wasn't even my favorite. Casey McQuiston has a way of making me love the side relationships in their books so much. All that to say Rory and Smith, I love you.

My one major critique is that two of the characters names are too similar and I got them confused the entire book. It should be easy considering they don't go by the same pronouns but I just though it was an editing error that no one had caught. Please change either ace or ash's name.

I recieved an arc through netgalley.

I Kissed Shara Wheeler is a special story with a gentle nod to every queer person's inner child. Reading this book sent me flying back to being a teenager and feeling entirely out of place in my own skin. It's full of the kind of connections that make me emotional to read about - supportive and diverse families, friends from every background, and enemies facing their own insecurities along the way.

This book provided me with the soft love for beautiful friendships that I always seek in a story. All I ever want is to see queer kids making mistakes, learning from them, growing through them, and building lasting connections along the way that will make futures full of self-love and unconditional support possible. Chloe and Shara are complicated girls - they're faced with the worst aspects of themselves while trying to come to terms with the fact that people still love them and root for them regardless.

If you're looking for characters that will nurture every doubt and insecurity that being a queer kid instills in you, this book is the answer. It's one that I will hold dear for years to come!

Thank you so much, Wednesday Books, for allowing me to read I kissed Shara Wheeler early!

I loved RWRB, but I still haven’t read One Last Stop because I’m afraid it won't meet my expectations. And then I found I kissed Shara Wheeler on NetGalley. I requested it in a split second and got approved! My heart was thudding in my throat when I picked up my Kindle and started reading. Did I really dare to read another Casey McQuiston? A young adult by Casey McQuiston? Yes, I did and finished it in just a few sittings. I love Casey’s writing and her lively cast of characters. I loved the mystery element in this story, and I know many (queer) teens will love this wonderful and diverse novel. RWRB still has that special place in my heart, but I kissed Shara Wheeler is a close second. And I might read One Last Stop someday!

Oh I loved this book. It was so so so queer and emotional and fun and I loved it. A mystery? Love it. Super smart and manipulative girls? Yup. The ending was beautiful, the whole thing felt fantasy like while being grounded in characters.that felt real.

Shara Wheeler and Chloe Green are academic rivals in a small Alabama town. For four years they've been neck in neck for the valedictorian crown. A month before graduation Shara kisses three seniors, Chloe included, and then skips town. In her wake she leaves a scavenger hunt only three of them can solve. What they discover about Shara, and themselves, along the way might just change everything.
Overall this book was fun, but feels like a story I have read many times. Specifically John Green's 2008 novel Paper Towns. A chaotic run-in with a manic pixie dream girl followed by a wild goose chase? We've been down this road before.
Fans of Casey's first two adult novels will be underwhelmed by her entry into YA, because they grew up with the Margo Roth Spiegleman and Rory Gilmore. Maybe today's teen will love it?

RWRB was a top book for me the year it came out. I didn’t enjoy One Last Stop. And this one fell a little flat for me. The premise really intrigued me considering I grew up in a n evangelical, puritanical household. But that was a very small part of the book. I really wasn’t into the whole hunt for Shara. I didn’t think it was that intriguing.

I Kissed Shara Wheeler is a mystery at heart. But what that mystery is may not be what you were expecting! I inhaled this book over the course of 24 hours. Usually I only devour audiobooks like this but Shara Wheeler was so absorbing that I couldn't tear myself away!!

me before starting this book: it's fine I won't get stabbed through the heart
Casey McQuiston: 😈
me: oh my god I forgot who wrote this, help

This one is gonna take OFF! Shara Wheeler is a bit gentler than McQuiston's previous novels, or as gentle as a book can be with a genuine knife girl as a love interest. It's about finding your place and learning to take up space. Chloe has two moms and thankfully the story isn't about her bisexual coming out story! Like, coming out stories are great but queer people are so much more than just that one defining life moment. I really appreciate other kinds of stories about us. I would post the 9 million screenshots that I took, but y'all are just gonna have to read it for yourselves instead. Planning to reread with the audio version next time.

Thank you to NetGalley for a preview copy of the ebook.

Readalikes: stay tuned

There's something really special about reading a book that you know is going to change a young person's life.

I KISSED SHARA WHEELER has everything: a deranged scavenger hunt, late night runs to Taco Bell, climbing through your crush's window, theater kid chaos, finding friendship in unexpected places, and two girls hellbent on destroying each other.

First and foremost, Casey McQuiston has knocked it out of the park with their YA debut. The story's pacing was excellent and their prose, as always, brimmed with originality and hope. I couldn't put it down.

Of course, the real story is in the ragtag group of misfits that join forces to solve a mystery but end up finding each other along the way. Chloe and Shara, our respective Paris Geller and Rory Gilmore of Willowgrove Christian Academy, are fiercely lovable characters despite the fact that they are both teenage nightmares in their own right. The ensemble cast—Rory, Smith, Ace, and Georgia—are so fun that I want a few spin-offs just about them and their own ridiculous adventures.

I KISSED SHARA WHEELER is an earnest reminder that sometimes the real love story is the friendships that feel like family--the people who you didn't think you'd ever get along with, but somehow become the ones with whom you take late-night drives to the local fast-food chain. It's also about shedding shame and figuring things out, one step at a time, when the world is wide and ridiculous and makes no sense at all.

McQuiston has somehow crafted another magical story of queer joy and triumph, and I hope they never stop.