Reviews with content warning for Dysphoria - I Kissed Shara Wheeler

It’s a really good YA book and I think it would have made my sixteen-year old-self really happy and hopeful, and it would have been really meaningful. Unfortunately, I read this at 24 and although it was funny and interesting, it was not that meaningful & it got way too dramatic for me.
I appreciated Chloe’s attitude and how she stood up for herself and for others, I think she’s very loyal and funny, and I love her relationship with her moms (it kinda reminded me of my relationship with my mom). She did get way to dramatic over nothing sometimes and that was annoying in my opinion.
I didn’t like Shara at all, I thought she was a psycho. I didn’t dislike her at the end, she got great development, but I didn’t love her either. Some of her changes felt sudden and rushed to me.
It got a little predictable at times, and the first 60% was a 3.25 for me. the last 0.5 goes for the ending because it felt really great, and for the character development of the secondary characters, because they felt like real people with their independent lives instead of just extras. Great representation!

Content Warnings

cozyreadsandcoffee's review

Go to review page

emotional funny hopeful lighthearted reflective 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

3.5

I think this book fell short of what I know Casey Mcquiston can do.

I think Chloe was almost too whiny and superficial to enjoy her journey. [Don't get me started on her valedictorian speech] I think I would have enjoyed this more if given the perspectives of Rory and Smith because having it from just Chloe's viewpoint became almost superficial.

I think also being in a small town, the seriousness of kids getting outed to their families was not as much as it should have been. It just seemed there wasn't much on this topic as I thought there would be.

Content Warnings

bookcasey's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous hopeful informative inspiring 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

4.5

I thought I knew where this book was going, and I didn't. It kept on surprising me, rustrating me, and making me laugh.

I Kissed Shara Wheeler manages to develop and round out a surprisingly large and complex cast of characters, all figuring things out in that high school kind of way.

Content Warnings

emilypete17's review

Go to review page

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.

Content Warnings

kayladaila's review

Go to review page

emotional funny hopeful lighthearted mysterious fast-paced

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

4.0

Content Warnings

toofondofbooks_'s review

Go to review page

adventurous emotional funny hopeful lighthearted 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

Please respect my privacy for the next however many months I have to wait until the next CM book comes out. I am having PMD - Post McQuiston Depression.

I loved this book so much.

I don't want to summarize it here because honestly it's 1am right now and I'm tired. All I want is to talk about why I loved this, and if you happen to be interested in a synopsis, go read one. 😂

The first thing that absolutely gripped me was that the main character is a weird queer girl who is obsessed with The Phantom of The Opera. At which point, I had to wonder if Chloe Green is actually just....ME. The cast of characters were funny and smartly written and most importantly they were diverse while also often getting their own moments to shine in ways that did not directly affect our main character. That, to me, is lovely. Actually, the entirety of this book was smartly written. It didn't make me cringe because "ew kids don't talk like this" because....kids absolutely do talk like that. I loved how realistically identity struggles were shown and seeing kids written with the courage to stand up against bigotry and learning to be themselves. I loved it. I loved the whole thing.

You can talk smack about Casey McQuiston all you want, but if I had this book when I was growing up queer, I would be a different person right now, and for the better. This kind of representation is life-saving.

Content Warnings

More...