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ladyfaceplant's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
fast-paced
- 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
As always, Casey McQuiston’s writing is delightful. I enjoyed this. lot and raced through it. i
It felt like a love letter to the South and the queer kids growing up there. I think I still prefer McQuiston’s adult novels, simply because I am an adult and I’ve read so much YA at this point that I am somewhat over reading about teenagers, but that’s definitely a Me Problem. Overall, a fantastic read and it’s great to see flawed female characters getting to be kind of nasty but in a very loveable and understandable way. Look, I’ve got a lot of Chloe Green in me and a bit of Shara Wheeler too, especially when I was a teenager. It’s nice to see those kind of characters be accepted and loved by the people around them because at the end of the day, they’re just figuring stuff out.
It felt like a love letter to the South and the queer kids growing up there. I think I still prefer McQuiston’s adult novels, simply because I am an adult and I’ve read so much YA at this point that I am somewhat over reading about teenagers, but that’s definitely a Me Problem. Overall, a fantastic read and it’s great to see flawed female characters getting to be kind of nasty but in a very loveable and understandable way. Look, I’ve got a lot of Chloe Green in me and a bit of Shara Wheeler too, especially when I was a teenager. It’s nice to see those kind of characters be accepted and loved by the people around them because at the end of the day, they’re just figuring stuff out.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Religious bigotry
Moderate: Homophobia, Lesbophobia, and Biphobia
Minor: Racism, Emotional abuse, and Outing
arthur_ant18's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
relaxing
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Biphobia, Misogyny, Religious bigotry, Sexism, Bullying, Homophobia, and Lesbophobia
Moderate: Deadnaming, Emotional abuse, Outing, Alcohol, and Cursing
Minor: Racism, Infidelity, and Cancer
franklola's review against another edition
emotional
funny
inspiring
lighthearted
medium-paced
- 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
4.25
Content Warnings
Moderate: Homophobia, Misogyny, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Lesbophobia, and Religious bigotry
dealingwithdragons's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
fast-paced
- 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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Outing and Religious bigotry
Minor: Biphobia, Gaslighting, Homophobia, Emotional abuse, and Lesbophobia
One character is almostbooksdogsandcoffee's review against another edition
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
fast-paced
- 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
5.0
This book was absolutely brilliant. Highly recommend the audio book. Per usual Natalie Naudus did an outstanding performance with this book. Her range in characters, tone and just over all performance was phenomenal and made the book that much better.
For anyone who loved Paper Towns by John Green, this book is for you. We follow Chloe who is about to be valedictorian of her small Alabama senior class, extremely capable and most importantly was recently kissed senselessly by the perfect, intolerable, princess Miss Shara Wheeler. Who within the last 24 hours has disappeared.
Chloe goes to Shara's house to confront her only to find Shara's next-door neighbor Rory also looking for Shara... because she kissed him too. The cunning and quick-witted Shara has left letters for them all over town to figure out where she is.
Realizing they need to work together to find Shara, Chloe and Rory start piecing together the clue to the next letter, which leads them to Shara's boyfriend, and ex-best friend of Rory's, Smith. Together they slowly figure out where Shara has gone, and why in the hell she left these puzzling letters for them. Does Shara have an over arching plan or is this just another ploy for the Queen bee of the school to get more attention.
I Kissed Shara Wheller is a story about being your true self when the people and place you love the most tell you not to be, and also learning to love that person.Casey captured the essence of high school to a tee. I CRIED TOO MANY TIMES! To date this is McQuiston's best work.
cw/tw
Severe warning for religious trauma because this is in the south
homophobia
emotional abuse
slight bullying
For anyone who loved Paper Towns by John Green, this book is for you. We follow Chloe who is about to be valedictorian of her small Alabama senior class, extremely capable and most importantly was recently kissed senselessly by the perfect, intolerable, princess Miss Shara Wheeler. Who within the last 24 hours has disappeared.
Chloe goes to Shara's house to confront her only to find Shara's next-door neighbor Rory also looking for Shara... because she kissed him too. The cunning and quick-witted Shara has left letters for them all over town to figure out where she is.
Realizing they need to work together to find Shara, Chloe and Rory start piecing together the clue to the next letter, which leads them to Shara's boyfriend, and ex-best friend of Rory's, Smith. Together they slowly figure out where Shara has gone, and why in the hell she left these puzzling letters for them. Does Shara have an over arching plan or is this just another ploy for the Queen bee of the school to get more attention.
I Kissed Shara Wheller is a story about being your true self when the people and place you love the most tell you not to be, and also learning to love that person.Casey captured the essence of high school to a tee. I CRIED TOO MANY TIMES! To date this is McQuiston's best work.
cw/tw
Severe warning for religious trauma because this is in the south
homophobia
emotional abuse
slight bullying
Content Warnings
Graphic: Religious bigotry and Homophobia
Minor: Bullying and Emotional abuse
bookcrushin's review against another edition
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Abandonment, Outing, and Emotional abuse
Moderate: Bullying, Religious bigotry, Sexism, Homophobia, Lesbophobia, and Racism
Minor: Classism and Sexual harassment
melaniereadsbooks's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
lighthearted
medium-paced
- 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
Thank you to Wednesday Books for an arc of this one!
Casey McQuiston has done it again with this sapphic academic-rivals-to-lovers romcom about an absolute disaster of a girl and her journey to prove that Shara Wheeler is not who she claims to be.
I am not going to lie and pretend I don't identify at least a little with Chloe Greene. She's an absolute disaster and so determined and really reminds me of myself when I was younger. Shara is also so interesting and complicated and I love how well this dove beneath the surface of the perfect dream girl and really got to the root of her.
The best part about this book is the side characters! Smith is truly the MVP for me. I love him so much and would pay a lot of money for McQuiston to write a book about him!
You will love this book. I don't care who you are or what you like, there will be something for you!
Casey McQuiston has done it again with this sapphic academic-rivals-to-lovers romcom about an absolute disaster of a girl and her journey to prove that Shara Wheeler is not who she claims to be.
I am not going to lie and pretend I don't identify at least a little with Chloe Greene. She's an absolute disaster and so determined and really reminds me of myself when I was younger. Shara is also so interesting and complicated and I love how well this dove beneath the surface of the perfect dream girl and really got to the root of her.
The best part about this book is the side characters! Smith is truly the MVP for me. I love him so much and would pay a lot of money for McQuiston to write a book about him!
You will love this book. I don't care who you are or what you like, there will be something for you!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Religious bigotry, Homophobia, Lesbophobia, Bullying, and Biphobia
Moderate: Sexual harassment, Sexism, Emotional abuse, Racism, Infidelity, Outing, and Toxic friendship
librariangeorgia's review against another edition
hopeful
lighthearted
medium-paced
- 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
4.5
I'm a big fan of McQuistons' previous books, ONE LAST STOP and RED, WHITE AND ROYAL BLUE. So this book was an automatic 'must-read' for me.
I honestly didn't realise that this was classed as YA and the previous books were classed as adult - I thought they all came under the YA category. Saying that, I thought it was very well written for a YA book from someone who's only written for an adult audience.
Anyway, I thoroughly enjoyed this book as I expected that I would.
I thought that Shara was an absolute bitch at the start, but when the reasonings were revealed, I started to like her more. My favourite was Chloe though - I loved her no-nonsense personality and her need to protect her friends. I loved her friendship group - I just wanted everything to work out in the end and for everyone to be happy!
I didn't realise how big of a part the religious bigotry and homophobia would play in this story. It was such a fun, joyful read despite this heavy topic.
I honestly didn't realise that this was classed as YA and the previous books were classed as adult - I thought they all came under the YA category. Saying that, I thought it was very well written for a YA book from someone who's only written for an adult audience.
Anyway, I thoroughly enjoyed this book as I expected that I would.
I thought that Shara was an absolute bitch at the start, but when the reasonings were revealed, I started to like her more. My favourite was Chloe though - I loved her no-nonsense personality and her need to protect her friends. I loved her friendship group - I just wanted everything to work out in the end and for everyone to be happy!
I didn't realise how big of a part the religious bigotry and homophobia would play in this story. It was such a fun, joyful read despite this heavy topic.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Bullying, Racism, and Religious bigotry
bookstarbri's review against another edition
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
mysterious
fast-paced
- 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
I'll admit, I was nervous. Not because I don't trust Casey McQuiston to create a wonderful story with depth and amazing characters (they have proven by now that they are perfectly capable of doing this). But going from adult (even New Adult) to YA can be challenging for some authors. Some authors simply write younger characters and think that's all YA is when it's far deeper than that. YA is not a genre for every author to tackle.
That said, Casey McQuiston tackled it and did so beautifully. The story itself is so fun, the characters are BRILLIANT, the setting and the themes were all so important and handled very well. And with each book I read from Casey, I learn just how talented they are at creating characters that anyone can find themselves in somewhere. Chloe Green, for instance, is our disaster bi MC who is so funny and has so much heart. Smith Parker is this gloriously sweet and kind boy (who, frankly, I would die for) and then Rory is a disaster gay but a disaster gay who cares SOO much but everyone believes he doesn't. And then there is the other friend group with Georgia, Benjy, and Ash, who are such vital pieces to Chloe's story while also shining individually as well. Even Shara, who we don't meet right away, is a wonderfully complex character who I couldn't help but to love even through all of her...interesting techniques at capturing a certain someone's attention.
This story deals with small towns and living in the Bible Belt as a queer teen and friendship and identity and finding community. As someone who has dealt with religious trauma and intolerant communities within the church, I felt so seen in this book. One thing that kept me from giving it a full 5 stars was that I wished the story would've gone just a teeny bit deeper into the religious trauma/growing up in church aspect and how it related to Shara especially. Shara had clearly gone through a lot in this regard and this was discussed briefly but I think even just a few more pages highlighting how Shara has grown to have her own spiritual relationship separate from her parents would've been nice. And thinking about it more, I think we needed more Shara in general. The first half had very little of her and that made it challenging to care about her at first even with all the characters being connected because of her.
Anyway, I felt so much nostalgia reading this and wished so desperately that every queer kid living in these kinds of environments had/have queer friends who support each other like this. But Casey has kind of given us that in these characters. I can't rave about them enough. And the romance in this is fun as well, though I think the friendships took the spotlight completely.
Thank you to Casey McQuiston for writing this gem of a book. It's beautiful beyond measure. Thank you to Wednesday Books for providing an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review!
That said, Casey McQuiston tackled it and did so beautifully. The story itself is so fun, the characters are BRILLIANT, the setting and the themes were all so important and handled very well. And with each book I read from Casey, I learn just how talented they are at creating characters that anyone can find themselves in somewhere. Chloe Green, for instance, is our disaster bi MC who is so funny and has so much heart. Smith Parker is this gloriously sweet and kind boy (who, frankly, I would die for) and then Rory is a disaster gay but a disaster gay who cares SOO much but everyone believes he doesn't. And then there is the other friend group with Georgia, Benjy, and Ash, who are such vital pieces to Chloe's story while also shining individually as well. Even Shara, who we don't meet right away, is a wonderfully complex character who I couldn't help but to love even through all of her...interesting techniques at capturing a certain someone's attention.
This story deals with small towns and living in the Bible Belt as a queer teen and friendship and identity and finding community. As someone who has dealt with religious trauma and intolerant communities within the church, I felt so seen in this book. One thing that kept me from giving it a full 5 stars was that I wished the story would've gone just a teeny bit deeper into the religious trauma/growing up in church aspect and how it related to Shara especially. Shara had clearly gone through a lot in this regard and this was discussed briefly but I think even just a few more pages highlighting how Shara has grown to have her own spiritual relationship separate from her parents would've been nice. And thinking about it more, I think we needed more Shara in general. The first half had very little of her and that made it challenging to care about her at first even with all the characters being connected because of her.
Anyway, I felt so much nostalgia reading this and wished so desperately that every queer kid living in these kinds of environments had/have queer friends who support each other like this. But Casey has kind of given us that in these characters. I can't rave about them enough. And the romance in this is fun as well, though I think the friendships took the spotlight completely.
Thank you to Casey McQuiston for writing this gem of a book. It's beautiful beyond measure. Thank you to Wednesday Books for providing an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review!
Content Warnings
Minor: Bullying, Homophobia, Alcohol, and Emotional abuse
riella_reads's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
fast-paced
- 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
5.0
Thank you Netgalley and Wednesday Books for giving me an advanced copy for my honest review.
This was one of my most anticipated reads for 2022 so I'm really happy to have gotten a chance to read this before it released. I enjoyed this as much as I expected and MORE. Because I had no idea what I was getting myself into when picking this up. I havent been the biggest fan of YA recently, and if I pick one up it needs to have strong LGBTQ representation for me to be interested. This gave me all the happy feelings of love and friendship that I saw in One Last Stop. I loved the fun mystery element that was in this and it kept me turning the pages.
I used to love John Green books in high school, and this reminded me so much of Paper Towns, but I will say this was done so much better. Better characters, better development, and a much more satisfying resolve. And of course it's gayer.
This comes out May 3, 2022.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Homophobia, Lesbophobia, and Outing