Casey McQuiston - I Kissed Shara Wheeler
4 ⭐
Genre: Fiction, LGBTQIA+, Romance, YA, Mystery
Pages: 368
Format: eARC on NetGalley
Publisher: Macmillan
Date Published: 12th May 2022
Big thank you to Macmillan and NetGalley for the eARC.
Book Blurb:
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 neighbour 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.
My Review:
I heard so many amazing things
about Red, White and Royal Blue, as well as One Last Stop, so when I saw I Kissed
Shara Wheeler on NetGalley, I thought that it would be definitely up my street.
The YA + Paper Towns and Gone Girl mystery vibe + enemies to lovers’ trope =
basically everything I love in a book.
The book follows Chloe Green, a
girl from California who came to Alabama to study at Willowgrove Christian
Academy and for four years had a fierce academic rivalry with Shara Wheeler.
Shara Wheeler is not only smart but she is also the most popular girl in the Academy
and the daughter of the Academy’s principal. Basically an ‘it girl’. With only a month left before graduation,
Shara disappears and leaves multiple riddles and clues for Chloe, Rory and her
boyfriend Smith and if they all make sense of those clues, they will find where
Shara is. So, the search begins with an unusual friendship between Chloe, Rory and
Smith…
Firstly, I think this book has
amazing LGBTQIA+ representation and shines a light on very problematic and
controversial issues which need to be talked about, such as religious views of the
LGBTQIA+ community, discrimination and fear to come out and be true yourself
due to schools’ policies and rules.
Secondly, the first half of the
book where Shara disappeared and left all the little clues for Chloe, Rory and
Smith were gripping, as no one knew what happened and why she did it…so the
suspense was really there and building up. However, the second half of the book
was a bit of a let-down, especially the anticlimactic reveal of Shara’s
mysterious disappearance. As it is a partly mystery book, I expected it to grip
me from the very beginning and keep me gripped all the way through, but that
was not the case at all for the second half of this book.
Thirdly, some of the characters
did catch my heart, such as Rory and Smith and Chloe’s mums. These characters
for me felt very well defined and in the case of Rory and Smith they grew so
much during the book and at the end figured out who they are as people outside
the school setting and the labels that they had been given in the Academy. However,
there were some characters that I wished were more developed or had more progression
during the book, such as Georgia and Shara. I felt that I didn’t really get to know
the real Shara, only how Choe and everyone else in school sees her. Maybe that’s
why I wished this book had multiple POVs so I get more connected with
characters like Shara.
Although I must admit that I couldn’t
connect with Chloe’s character at the beginning of the book she seemed very
selfish and angry about everything that might make her lose out on being a valedictorian
or the best in school. Also, her unhealthy obsession with Shara did worry me a bit
during most of the book…I don’t think it was love, it was definitely a toxic
obsession, from the way she acted and the fact that she couldn’t let it go when
Shara disappeared. Chloe’s character did grow during the book and in the end, I
started finally to understand the real Chloe, who cares not only about her
grades or academic abilities but also cares about her town and friends.
Overall: I had really high hopes
for this book because its blurb just screamed Paper Towns and Gone Girl mystery
to me but it didn’t fully live up to my expectation. Whilst, I definitely
enjoyed the first half of the book, the second half did make me a bit bored at
times, as it lost that suspense and mystery. I loved the LGBTQIA+ representation
in this book and characters such as Rory and Smith had my heart from the very
start. Although I couldn’t connect to Chloe’s character for most of the book, I
wanted to know more about Shara’s character and see her true self, which I felt
I haven’t in this book.
I do think it is a book that is
worth reading, as although it is not my favourite, it is still a great read with some very
lovable characters and brilliant LGBTQIA+ representation, shining the light on
very topical issues that need to be talked about more openly in our society.
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