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thecourtofreading's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
"you're allowed to exist. even if it means existing somewhere else."
casey mcquiston has yet again whacked the ball out of the park with their queer retelling (?) of john green's paper towns. following more or less the same premise, shara wheeler, the gorgeous, perfect straight-a daughter of willowgrove's principal, kisses three people on the night of her disappearance: chloe, her rival in all things academic, rory, the boy next door, and smith, her boyfriend. she leaves a perfectly pink trail of letters and clues to her location that brings the three together into an unlikely friendship
as per, mcquiston's characters are amazingly developed; their attention to detail is great. chloe - i'm not sure if i could call this a grumpy x sunshine pairing, but it is most definitely enemy rivals to lovers - was my favourite, because she likes lesbians with swords, come on, and this was closely followed by miss shara wheeler herself. casey's writing is enrapturing. she writes in such a way where you cannot put it down even though it is waaaay past the time i should be reading
"of course. of course shara gave her this instead of an explanation. of course shara cast herself as the main character of her own personal john green novel."
this is also young adult (ya), which i didn't realise, but it doesn't feel like ya. casey's writing still has that adult feel, and it really did feel like an adult book (minus the smut that's in red white & royal blue, and one last stop) and that's probably why i liked it so much. the characters are so effortlessly queer and relatable
finally, can we talk about the cover for a second? i got the american version with the green cover because i wanted it to match the rest of the books (the british one is blue which i don't like and is in hardback) and i read this on the beach in crete, greece, and it was mwah chef's kiss.
Graphic: Homophobia, Religious bigotry, and Lesbophobia
Moderate: Racism
erikawynn's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Graphic: Homophobia and Religious bigotry
Moderate: Sexual harassment and Racism
bibliomania_express's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Moderate: Homophobia and Religious bigotry
Minor: Gaslighting and Racism
shaipanda's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
But basically I was just saying that I was absolutely binginggg this - literally read it in just over 12 hrs I think lol
Despite me generally really being out off by books with unlikeable main characters and protagonists, this was definitely an exception cause I loved it
This is the epitome of a messy gay book cause Shara is a super complicated character and Chloe honestly is kinda a shit friend at points but them and all the amazing side characters really made this story work for me and I loved it
Absolutely loved it
Graphic: Religious bigotry, Homophobia, and Lesbophobia
Minor: Racism
fanboyriot's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
At first I wasn’t sure I’d like this story, kinda just seeing most of the characters as their stereotype, however, much like Chloe, I learned they were so much more. It was really nice to see so much queer rep with a small town setting (and in a typically queerphobic state as well).
I really enjoyed so many things about this book, Smith and his love for flowers, Chloe’s moms just being so adorable and wholesome the entire time, religious characters not shown in a totally toxic way, seeing the queen bee, popular girl, who everyone loved, not be as perfect as everyone thought, wanting to learn more about the side characters because they were that nice to read about, the humor was immaculate, and the ending was perfect; happy but leaving it open enough for the reader to have their own interpretation of some of the characters future. Not to mention the formatting and overall aesthetic of this book being absolutely stunning.
Good queer rep
Rivals to Lovers
Good Friendships
Wholesome Characters
Angst with a Happy Ending
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Misogyny, Religious bigotry, Classism, Homophobia, and Lesbophobia
Moderate: Biphobia, Cursing, and Outing
Minor: Racism, Alcohol, and Mental illness
purplatypus's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Moderate: Infidelity, Lesbophobia, Sexual harassment, and Homophobia
Minor: Cancer, Death, Alcohol, Racism, Dysphoria, Misogyny, Sexism, and Outing
emily_journals's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Overall, this book was fine, but I found myself extremely disappointed with it because of how much I've loved McQuiston's previous works. This book was perfectly average, with (mostly) vanilla characters, and a dull plot, which is not a way I would describe either of McQuiston's previous works. I think that this book had a lot of important themes for younger readers, but I don't think it stands close to McQuiston's other works, and might recommend people to skip this one if they're reading it solely because they enjoyed those two books.
Graphic: Bullying and Gaslighting
Moderate: Misogyny, Transphobia, Biphobia, Classism, Homophobia, Lesbophobia, Toxic relationship, and Toxic friendship
Minor: Death of parent, Deadnaming, Racism, and Outing
ashylibrarian's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
Graphic: Religious bigotry and Homophobia
Moderate: Biphobia, Lesbophobia, Misogyny, and Racism
Minor: Alcohol, Classism, and Outing
plumpyherb13's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Homophobia and Lesbophobia
Minor: Racism
painausten314's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Moderate: Homophobia, Lesbophobia, Religious bigotry, Transphobia, and Racism