Reviews with content warning for Toxic friendship - Ho baciato Shara Wheeler

Reviews tagging 'Toxic friendship'

Ho baciato Shara Wheeler by Casey McQuiston

27 reviews

emilypete17's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted mysterious reflective 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

5.0

This book is like the chaotic queer lovechild of a John Green novel and all of your favorite coming of age movies from the past decade. Casey McQuiston knows just where to hit me to make me bawl my eyes out and snort-laugh every single page. I wish I had this book in high school, and I'm so glad there are other queer kids in the south who have it now and maybe will finally be able to see a piece of themselves on the page.

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jessgreads's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring sad medium-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

3.5

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐✨⬜

Title: I Kissed Shara Wheeler

Author: Casey McQuiston

Genre: YA Romance

Setting: Alabama

Month Read: May 2022

Book Type: Hardcover

Publication: 2022

Publisher: Wednesday Books

Pages: 355

TRIGGER WARNING-

Homophobia / Conservative Religious Hatred / LGBTQIA+ Sexual Content

"There was this one weekend, a million summers ago, when I sat on the shore drinking a frozen limeade, and I realized the only thing I wanted to look at was the way the sun hit the girls swimming in the lake. The problem has always been this: When I look at you, I taste lime, and I see light on water."

No Spoiler Summary (from Goodreads):

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.

Review:

I'm so happy Casey McQuiston finally jumped into the YA game, because honestly this is where I've felt she's belonged the entire time. This book was so well done in so many ways, the kids felt like kids, the kiss were so smart, the kids were so dumb in ways only teenagers can be, the kids were so inspiring.

Shara is a real Regina George type, and Chloe the not-quite Kady Heron? I loved their unspoken feud, for grades, for power, for each other (???) It added such a nice touch to the story, and I like that while we got a bow at the end, Casey leaves a lot un-answered.

THEATER KIDS, UNITE! A. HOW IS ANY SCHOOL DOING PHANTOM? WHO HAS A BUDGET LIKE THIS? Whatttt!? I loved the choir + theater kid rep, I loved that all the kids (except Ace, maybe?) were somewhere on the LGBTQIA+ spectrum in a school where you're supposed to be very (coughwhitecough) and straight. Suppression didn't seem like the best tactic, here, to get what they wanted. Oh, well.

The Religious bigotry was really triggering, and I'm not even from the South, or have gone to a Christian school. I think with everything going on right now with Roe vs. Wade & book banning, this just hit me in a way it wouldn't have a few years or months ago. I hope every gay kid in a red state gets their hand on this book so they can see that they deserve so much happiness, and like Casey writes, that they deserve rom-coms, too.

With all the bad characters in the book (like Mr. Wheeler), I am so glad for the choir teacher, and Chloe's Moms. There was some great good adult representation in this book, and I'm so glad that these kids had trusted adults they could turn to, in a world that feels very much against them. It was a real bright spot in this novel.

Overall, I really liked this book. I maybe should have read it directly after Book Lovers, but I'd love to see where Casey goes from here- she's got some great stories to tell, and I can't wait to read them. <3

"I have done some of the best work of my life because of you. And I know you have done some of the best work of your life because of me. I don’t know a better way to explain what love means to two people like us."

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jennikreads's review against another edition

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funny hopeful lighthearted mysterious fast-paced

5.0

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imaginingly's review against another edition

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funny mysterious reflective 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

4.0

i’m not the biggest fan of books set in high school but this was such a good book oh my god
academic rivals to lovers?? astonishing
i had no idea how it was going to end because there were so many other possible scenarios that could have played out so i really enjoyed that
my first casey mcquiston book and now i’m dying to read the others
amazingly written i loved it

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melaniereadsbooks's review against another edition

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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!

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imstephtacular's review against another edition

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adventurous funny mysterious reflective 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

4.5

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decklededgess's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective relaxing fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

trigger warnings: homophobia, bullying, missing child, religious trauma, emotionally abusive parents, underage alcohol use, cheating mention, sexism, sexual harassment, outing

This was the book that finally made it click that I in fact do not relate to every tiny thing in YA books anymore. Like...I've officially outgrown them which is nice. I can relate to a lot of the emotional turbulence in a retrospective way but I cannot relate to any of these kids and their wild ass behaviours. Maybe that's also partly due to me being a teacher.

Oof this book was heavy on the closeted "went to caltholic school" queer kid trauma and that really hit close to home. A lot of the emotional epiphanies were a sort of balm to my younger self which was wonderful.

On the flip side I have never been more pissed of at a bunch of kids. I kept yelling at them to Not Do That but then we wouldn't have a book so that's neither here nor there. I really appreciated the unreliable narrator aspect, it led to a lot of moments that required reflection and critique but also empathy towards the 17-18 year olds making the choices in the book and towards Chloe who was running herself ragged on her own lack of objectivity.

This was a fun little mash up of Paper Towns, Booksmart, and Never Have I Ever. I loved how aspects of all three were blended into a uniquely Southern Queer Kid experience of high school.

Super fun!

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