I Kissed Shara Wheeler by Casey McQuiston Published by St. Martin's Press on May 3, 2022
Pages: 356
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From the New York Times bestselling author of One Last Stop and Red, White & Royal Blue comes a debut YA romantic comedy about chasing down what you want, only to find what you need...
Chloe Green is so close to winning. After her moms moved her from SoCal to Alabama for high school, she’s spent the past four years dodging gossipy classmates and a puritanical administration at Willowgrove Christian Academy. The thing that’s kept her going: winning valedictorian. Her only rival: prom queen Shara Wheeler, the principal’s perfect progeny.
But a month before graduation, Shara kisses Chloe and vanishes.
On a furious hunt for answers, Chloe discovers she’s not the only one Shara kissed. There’s also Smith, Shara’s longtime quarterback sweetheart, and Rory, Shara’s bad boy neighbor with a crush. The three have nothing in common except Shara and the annoyingly cryptic notes she left behind, but together they must untangle Shara’s trail of clues and find her. It’ll be worth it, if Chloe can drag Shara back before graduation to beat her fair-and-square.
Thrown into an unlikely alliance, chasing a ghost through parties, break-ins, puzzles, and secrets revealed on monogrammed stationery, Chloe starts to suspect there might be more to this small town than she thought. And maybe—probably not, but maybe—more to Shara, too.
Fierce, funny, and frank, Casey McQuiston's I Kissed Shara Wheeler is about breaking the rules, getting messy, and finding love in unexpected places.
I rarely read Young Adult, but I Kissed Shara Wheeler has a premise I couldn’t pass up. Mystery, an elaborate scavenger hunt, and identity crises galore.
I’m always intrigued by the dynamics of high school cliques in YA novels—the jocks, the popular kids, the brainiacs, the theatre kids, the geeks, and the queer teens. An entertaining portrait of each is painted. They are on the cusp of adulthood, still trying to figure out who they are as individuals while living in a town that demands conformity.
Chloe Green stands out for being a smart, openly gay rule-breaker in a conservative Christian high school. Her biting sarcasm, self-confidence, and defiance make her a memorable character. I loved the fact that Chloe, Smith, and Rory don’t fit neatly into any one box. Their quest to find Shara Wheeler by following her clues initially drew me in, but the search drags on, and I could clearly see where the plot was heading. The longer the story went on, the less I enjoyed it. I put this book down so many times that It took me three full weeks to finish.
I welcomed the affirmation that diversity is beautiful. The sentiment is somewhat muted by the fact that most of the characters unrealistically share a major attribute. Parts of I Kissed Shara Wheeler are reminiscent of those iconic 1980s John Hughes films, though, which I grew up loving. The Breakfast Club, anyone? The ending is particularly fun.
Queer youth deserve to see themselves represented on the page, so there is great value in this story, despite its flaws. The book takes pains to depict well-rounded characters. I especially appreciated the way non-binary people are explained. The message that differences should be embraced is a valuable one.
Recommended for fans of:
LGBTQ+ stories
Young Adult
High school coming of age stories
Scavenger hunts
About Casey McQuiston
Casey McQuiston is the New York Times bestselling author of Red, White & Royal Blue, as well as a pie enthusiast. She writes books about smart people with bad manners falling in love. Born and raised in southern Louisiana, she now lives in New York City with her poodle mix and personal assistant, Pepper.
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