What a great YA debut from one of the arguably best romance authors of all time. I really loved how this story flowed. How it was almost a mystery to solve with there being a romance as well. I can't wait to see whay else this author has to offer!

2.5 stars, rounded up.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an ARC of this title in exchange for an honest review.

Unfortunately, this one was not a hit for me, although I really wanted it to be. I had high hopes, as I adored McQuiston's prior novels, but perhaps I set my expectations a bit too high.

Things I enjoyed: the LGBTQIA+ rep in this book is phenomenal. We have a lot of characters discovering their identities, some confident in their identities, and some questioning. The characters are going through all of this in a super conservative religious school, so naturally, the book touches on religious trauma and homophobia as well.

I struggled with a couple of things. First, this book seemed too long. I kept thinking it was about to end and then seeing I was only 50 or 70% into it. I also struggled to suspend disbelief with Shara's whole ruse - it seemed quite elaborate for one high schooler to pull off. This also caused some inconsistencies with timing that may or may not have been fixed in the final copy. Slight early spoiler ahead explaining one of these inconsistencies -- <spoiler>When Chloe finds one of Shara's notes in the piano, Chloe mentions that the C note has been making a weird noise for like a month, meaning Shara had to have been planning this for quite some time. But the clue in that note says to look at the last place she kissed Smith... which was only days before. So how did she know that the last place she'd kiss Smith would be at Dixon's house? It didn't quite seem plausible to me. </spoiler>

I think I would have enjoyed this book much more if I were in the targeted age range, but as of now, it just wasn't a hit for me. I love Casey McQuiston and will absolutely continue to pick up anything they write, but I'll have more measured expectations for any future YA releases. :)

I Kissed Shara Wheeler is a Paper Towns like scavenger hunt to find the runaway prom Queen. Chloe has been fighting her whole life for her spot as valedictorian, for her place at a religious school that openly discourages being queer, in this town where she does not feel welcome. When her nemesis kisses her and then disappears, she can’t let go of the chase.

Great cast of characters, great high school angst. McQuiston has done it again, and this time in the young adult genre. Recommend for fans of John Green and Becky Albertelli.

I Kissed Shara Wheeler is Casey McQuiston’s YA debut, and it is very much its own, lovely thing. A friend asked me if it was more like RW&RB or OLS. The answer is both and neither, but still very much a McQuiston novel. I really, really adored it, and this is another book I wish I had had as a teenager.

Red, White and Royal Blue is one of my favorite books, so I was very excited when I Kissed Shara Wheeler was announced. I have to say I read the synopsis quite a long time ago and didn’t read it again before I sat down with the book. I was expecting a typical contemporary, but that wasn’t what I got at all (in a positive way).

Chloe is determined to be valedictorian and Shara Wheeler is the only one that really stands in the way. When she goes missing after kissing Chloe a few weeks before graduation Chloe needs to no where she went. I loved the whole aspect of looking for Shara. Rory and Smith who end up turning out to be unlikely friends both work with Chloe to find Shara. I loved that they kept finding notes and had to look to find more. Looking for Shara brought them together and all had them thinking about themselves and their relationships with Shara. I also loved the notes from the burn pile.

I was actually really surprised that this book didn’t end after a certain event and I wasn’t sure if the story would stay strong, but it continued in an amazing way. This story takes place in a tiny religious town in Alabama and how being yourself in those places isn’t easy and how a lot of things are judged. I feel that the author did an amazing job with this, but as I’m not someone who falls in this category I’m not the perfect judge.

I loved that this book was a little adventure, but also a lot about learning more about yourself and maybe even standing up for what you believe in. It felt good that the romance wasn’t the main focus of this story. Casey McQuiston did it again. I can’t wait to see what this author gives us next!

This was a DELIGHT. Takes the manic pixie dream girl John Green love interest of early ‘00s YA fiction and turns her on her head. A loving portrayal of what it takes out of you to be young and queer in the American South that also tackles why you might want to stay there anyway. Ends with an uplifting burst of community joy. I don’t read much YA anymore but this was exactly the feeling I used to read for when I was a teenager.

Casey McQuiston strikes again! Looking for Alaska meets The Breakfast Club in this fast-paced, witty mystery. McQuiston has quickly become a fan favourite within the industry and it’s easy to see why.

When your school's perfect blonde princess goes missing, and you break into her room (is it really breaking in if you found the key?) and there's a letter to you from her, what happens? And is this somehow related to when she kissed you?

Chloe is the bi weirdo daughter of two moms who moved back to one's hometown in Alabama, enrolling Chloe at the local Christian high school where her mom graduated. Determined to give the middle finger to all of False Beach, Alabama, Chloe has found the other weirdoes at Firgrove Academy, and is counting down the days to graduation. She's determined to be the valedictorian, and her only competition is Shara Wheeler, a paragon of blonde feminine heterosexuality to the school. But when Shara goes missing, and Chloe finds that letter, another classmate (Rory) is breaking into her room at the same time... and there's a letter for him as well. And one for Shara's perfect football player boyfriend, Smith. Clues to where the next letter is are buried in the letters, slowly weaving Chloe, Rory, and Smith together as they try to figure out what exactly happened with Shara Wheeler, and, in the process, discover secrets about themselves, too.

This is a fun, tricky academic enemies-to-lovers YA romcom, complete with theater geeks, high school parties, and some very heated confrontations on a boat.

Casey McQuiston wrties such fun rom-coms and I Kissed Shara Wheeler is another summer must-read. YA contemporary fans will adore this queer story. A little bit of mystery, a little bit of romance, this book has something for all contemporary readers. Chloe and Shara have such an interesting dynamic and I loved the way the author slowly revealed their characters. This book also explores discrimination and religion against the backdrop of a small-town southern Christian school.

I loved this story so so much. My high school self would have loved it even more. Seeing queer stories like this one makes me so happy for future generations of readers. McQuiston has such a knack for capturing misfit stories and wrapping them up in a fun face paced story. I will definitely be gifting this to some teens in my life.

Four years ago, Chloe Green’s moms uprooted her from her life in Southern California and moved to a small, conservative Bible belt town in Alabama. It hasn’t been an easy adjustment, but Chloe has made a life for herself and obtained a found family group of queer friends. One of the staples of her life is her charged academic rivalry with it girl Shara Wheeler. Everyone thinks Shara’s so perfect, but Chloe is determined to not only outsmart her, but expose her. However, the night of prom, Shara kisses Chloe and then disappears, leaving behind only a scavenger hunt of clues on monogrammed stationary. Chloe and the two other people Shara kissed (Smith, her quarterback boyfriend, and Rory, misfit neighbor) begin the search for Shara, trying to get to the bottom of why she disappeared. Their unlikely trio quickly become friends, and the search for Shara becomes something more - and Chloe begins to realize that not only may she be more, too, but so may Shara.

I had a lot of fun reading this one. I’m not the target audience for YA these days, but this book was still an absolute gem to read and one that I would recommend to any age group. The writing is self aware and witty, extremely readable and engaging, and the characters complex, warm, and compelling. Not to mention queer - there’s so many queer characters in this one, with very little angst attached to their identities. While the LGBT characters were often at different stages of their queer journey, there was a hopefulness and warmth that made McQuiston’s queer positivity leap off the page. I would read so many more books about the side characters in I KISSED SHARA WHEELER. I love them all so much.

Oddly, the thing that didn’t work for me on this one was the romance between Shara and Chloe. For about 75% of the book, I didn’t really care for either one of them, and in fact found them to be selfish and mean and manipulative. The last 25% of the book made me feel okay about them, but it was a really strange feeling when I’ve always loved all the characters that Casey McQuiston has written, especially in ONE LAST STOP. I will say that characters, much like people, are not always likable or kind or nice, and that’s okay. There’s even a brief conversation about this subject in the book, which made me feel 1) a bit vindicated and 2) more generous toward Shara and Chloe especially as people. Ultimately they are strong personalities, and incredibly nuanced characters that made for a very engrossing book.

I am such a fan of Casey McQuiston and their YA debut did not disappoint! I Kissed Shara Wheeler was a fun read. I love the characters the author has created, especially Chloe's friends and her moms. It's a great mystery/puzzle with lots of heart and humor.

I will read anything Casey McQuiston writes! I loved all of the relationships they created in this book, and how great the found family turned out to be.

Audiobook for the win! I wasn't connecting great with the story in e-Arc format, but once I started listening to the audiobook, I couldn't put it down. I don't think this is my favorite McQuiston (or YA book) by far, but it's solid. It didn't heal my traumatized Catholic-grade-school-secretly-queer heart, but it did soothe it a little. I was totally here for the picture-perfect ending; everyone deserves a happy ending like that. I don't think the plot was as strong as it could have been (the letter thing anticlimactically fizzled out towards the end...), but the growth of the characters made me ecstatic. It was a really enjoyable read.

Also, I will not forgive the team for choosing Phantom of the Opera as the musical for this book. I get that it was chosen to show how well off Willowgrove was blah blah, but there is absolutely no way the school could have gotten the rights to do it because Phantom has never been off-Broadway!! It was something that really took me out of the story every time it was mentioned lol seriously, I could rant about this all day lol

I was lucky enough to not only get an eARC, but an ALC from Libro.Fm. I ended up listening to this as an audiobook and I have to say I think it left a bigger impact on me because of it.
This was a five star read for me. It hit all the boxes for what I needed. We follow Chloe the day after prom when Shara Wheeler has turned up missing. Three days before, Shara had kissed her in the elevator. Now she has to team up with Smith (Shara’s boyfriend) and Rory (who Shara also kissed) to solve where she is by the pink envelops she left for them, leaving clues behind. What they didn’t expect was the fact the three of them would become so close, let alone that maybe Shara Wheeler herself might not have answers to the why she did it. Together, they set out to change the hostile environment at their school against those who stand out.
This book is a fun mix of a John Green novel meets Gilmore Girls with a hint of Mean Girls and Footloose thrown in. It was a fun mystery that also talks about real world issues such as bullying, homophobia, racism, all in the lens of a small southern town where you’re expected to be Christian and nothing else. This book honestly reminded me of what fun YA can be while also tackling important issues. Maybe it was because Casey has had a lot of experience writing these things in their novels, but I loved this book so much that it’s sort of thrown me into a reading slump. It even made me cry a few times, though they were happy tears. I think it’s one of the few books that capture what it’s like to be nonbinary in a wonderful way. Because it’s not the same for everyone, but for me, Casey described it perfectly. And the fact we see Smith start to reevaluate what and who he truly is. And it honestly made me feel such happiness. I loved this book so much.

See my tiktok review at: www.tiktok.com/t/ZTRLQUoHr/?k=1

I love the way McQuiston writes, and I had a lot of fun reading Shara Wheeler. They actually grew up close to where I live, so it was interesting to view the book through that lens. And though Chloe drove me nuts, I think it was because I was a lot like her in high school. I loved the explorations of different identities, and nobody writes the formation of found families quite like McQuiston.

This book is just what young queer readers need right now. 'I Kissed Shara Wheeler' is the queer YA book that I wish I had when I was still in my John Green phase. Casey McQuiston is a phenomenal author who is and will continue to be one of my favourites. Their writing style is fun and lighthearted in the best way, while still leaving room to talk about the more difficult topics of growing up queer.

I am so beyond grateful for a queer YA book set in a Catholic/Christian school like the one I was in growing up. It is so nice to see some of my own experiences reflected in the books that I read.

“It started out with a kiss…”

Any book that has the Killers’ song “Mr. Brightside” as a central plot point is an automatic win in my book. Also, this book wins especially because I’m in love with every character… the struggles of being a disaster bi lol

Casey McQuiston does it again and defends their title of rom com god. Obviously if you liked their other books (Red, White, and Royal Blue & One Last Stop), you’ll love I Kissed Shara Wheeler, but as McQuiston’s first jaunt into the YA realm, those who might not have gotten the chance to read their other books can and should definitely get their hands on this one. It’s like Paper Towns, but make it queer and academic rivals/enemies to lovers.

I Kissed Shara Wheeler follows four key cast members: Chloe Green, who was transplanted to False Beach, Alabama from Los Angeles four years ago, is openly bi, and only cares about beating the titular Shara Wheeler for valedictorian and causing problems at Willowgrove Christian Academy on purpose; Smith Parker, the star quarterback and high-school sweetheart of Shara, who has a fondness for discontinued Taco Bell items, and is the softest, most sunshine boy ever; Rory Heron, the bad-boy next-door neighbor of Shara and former-best friend of Smith, who is the resident prankster, musician, and grump of the group (don’t worry, he’s got a soft side too); and Shara Wheeler, the pretty, perfect, popular principal’s daughter who kissed all three of our leads (Chloe, Smith, and Rory) before vanishing into the night in her prom gown. Inevitably, hijinks ensue, but what makes this book stand out from others and shine is the incredible heart that McQuiston has sewn into the story. It’s a novel about finding yourself, finding the ones who love you, and becoming yourself in a world that seems like it’s against you.

In McQuiston’s acknowledgments, they write that they wanted queer kids from red states to be able to see themselves in this book (and to have a rom com of their own, just like straight kids get to have). I can safely and solidly say that this book is so important in its representation and what it means to kids growing up on the LGBTQ+ spectrum in the Bible Belt and conservative states. Everyone needs to read this book. I know I’ll be thinking about it for a long time to come.

While it's peppered with many important conversations about identity, on its face I Kissed Shara Wheeler is a John Green novel.. Teenagers today, who are less likely to have read any of Green's cookie cutter works, will probably love it in the way that so many of my friends in high school loved John Green. But anyone my age, who's read Paper Towns or An Abundance of Katherines, is not going to be able to read this without drawing those sharp comparisons. When I was a teenager, I would rather have had this one, though, because queer identities deserve to be talked about.

This book was amazing. I coudn't put it down. It was magical. Higly recommended! The characters, the plots, the writting: wonderful and perfect.