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A review by beesandbooks
I Kissed Shara Wheeler by Casey McQuiston
5.0
This review is an excerpt from my longer one here on my book blog.
The Good
Everything.
No but really. Chloe is an incredibly fun protagonist, Shara a devious and raw antagonist. The open acknowledgement that the contrivances of the plot are basically Paper Towns but queer, the Saved! vibes, the subplots and side characters–they all make this book fantastic. The depiction of Willowgrove was insanely realistic, and Chloe’s navigation of it absolutely relatable (at least for me). I especially appreciated the subtlety with which various identities were handled–from Chloe’s core queer friend group to the friends she adds along the way. The rivalry between Chloe and Shara was delightful, and that it kept developing and keeping them both on their toes was perfect. It’s so easy for a rivalry like that to end with a fizzle, but this one went out with style. The writing was humorous and convoluted and exactly like being a high strung senior in high school a month away from graduation would think.
The Okay
I dunno, I wouldn’t have minded reading more? Maybe another hundred pages or so?
The Bad
lol
Final Thoughts
This is exactly the kind of book I wish I’d gotten to experience when I was a teenager. Not in a “I needed this” way so much as a “this is fantastic” way. I know I made a couple of references to how John Green-esque this novel is (and the book itself does the same) but in all honesty John Green novels were some of the few YA I was willing to read when I was a teenager. The majority of books featuring teenage protagonists or written for teenagers just didn’t connect with any of my lived experiences, and presented teenage characters that didn’t look, talk, or think like any teenagers I knew. So reading this, I think I would have become a big fan of McQuiston as a teenager if they’d been putting out novels back then. I am incredibly excited to see where McQuiston goes next, and I’m delighted to start my summer reading with I Kissed Shara Wheeler (and inevitably my reread of One Last Stop). Somehow this book captured the exact feeling of summer in Alabama, and the way you can both feel the ties of home and the isolation in a place that never quite wanted you to fit in. A peculiarly specific feeling, I know, but one that was overdue in YA literature.
The Good
Everything.
No but really. Chloe is an incredibly fun protagonist, Shara a devious and raw antagonist. The open acknowledgement that the contrivances of the plot are basically Paper Towns but queer, the Saved! vibes, the subplots and side characters–they all make this book fantastic. The depiction of Willowgrove was insanely realistic, and Chloe’s navigation of it absolutely relatable (at least for me). I especially appreciated the subtlety with which various identities were handled–from Chloe’s core queer friend group to the friends she adds along the way. The rivalry between Chloe and Shara was delightful, and that it kept developing and keeping them both on their toes was perfect. It’s so easy for a rivalry like that to end with a fizzle, but this one went out with style. The writing was humorous and convoluted and exactly like being a high strung senior in high school a month away from graduation would think.
The Okay
I dunno, I wouldn’t have minded reading more? Maybe another hundred pages or so?
The Bad
lol
Final Thoughts
This is exactly the kind of book I wish I’d gotten to experience when I was a teenager. Not in a “I needed this” way so much as a “this is fantastic” way. I know I made a couple of references to how John Green-esque this novel is (and the book itself does the same) but in all honesty John Green novels were some of the few YA I was willing to read when I was a teenager. The majority of books featuring teenage protagonists or written for teenagers just didn’t connect with any of my lived experiences, and presented teenage characters that didn’t look, talk, or think like any teenagers I knew. So reading this, I think I would have become a big fan of McQuiston as a teenager if they’d been putting out novels back then. I am incredibly excited to see where McQuiston goes next, and I’m delighted to start my summer reading with I Kissed Shara Wheeler (and inevitably my reread of One Last Stop). Somehow this book captured the exact feeling of summer in Alabama, and the way you can both feel the ties of home and the isolation in a place that never quite wanted you to fit in. A peculiarly specific feeling, I know, but one that was overdue in YA literature.