Reviews

I Kissed Shara Wheeler by Casey McQuiston

princerhubarb's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious 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

4.5

Have you ever romanced Haley from stardew valley and been interesting and flawed at the same time

elisasoloelisa's review against another edition

4.0

4.25

selinameyer's review against another edition

With "I Kissed Shara Wheeler", McQuiston has finally found their stride as an author. McQuiston's books thus far have all focused on a queer love story, and this one is the best of the bunch. It's protagonist and antagonist are both fully fleshed out characters and you find yourself rooting for both of them at separate times throughout the story. The best part of the this book in particular, is that the voices of each supporting character are strong. They're not like the characters in "One Last Stop" which to me, felt like caricatures of trying to check off diversity boxes. In "I Kissed Shara Wheeler", the company of revolving characters is what makes the book so good, as we're given a clear picture into who they are, and WHY they are that way. It's rare for me to read a book in a 24 hour period and frankly, I'm so glad that this book captivated me so much that I just couldn't put it down! Couldn't have asked for a better first read for 2022.

frankiebookdragon_'s review against another edition

2.0

Muy probablemente 1.5
Odié mucho a la protagonista, no la soporté para nada... En fin

twosuns's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful lighthearted mysterious 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

3.0

i_was_here_02's review against another edition

adventurous emotional lighthearted medium-paced

• 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

3.0

cierathevirgo's review against another edition

4.0

I have so many complex thoughts about this book. It felt like an emotional rollercoaster in a lot of ways. While I do prefer One Last Stop, I do wanna mention that I do really appreciate the theme of overcoming liberal elitism that Casey explores in I Kissed Shara Wheeler and how it shows the journey of someone learning that coming from a blue state doesn’t make you better or smarter than someone who comes from a red state or the deep south- it just makes you more privileged. I really appreciate that someone chose to talk about that and explore that because it needs to be talked about.

I also like that it explored various examples of what queerness can look like because queer people are not a monolith.

However, I will also say that bits and pieces of the book were a little too corny for my liking and I didn’t really find many of the characters particularly likable or relatable outside of Georgia or Summer. This book kinda fluctuated for me in terms of being a 3.5 - 4 star read, but ultimately I do believe I would give it a solid 4.

lowkeykieeley's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny hopeful mysterious medium-paced

5.0

c_ab_bage's review against another edition

4.0

4.5 rounded down to a 4.

so, i kissed shara wheeler. the first 2/3 were very solid, i really enjoyed them. the way chloe and shara’s relationship is established for us is very cool, if a little underdeveloped, and i think that’s part of why i disliked the last third. well, not quite disliked, but felt disconnected from it. i wasn’t really interest in the romance aspect, when this was marketed as a romance book. i was more intrigued by,,, whatever you wanna call what shara was doing. if you’ve read casey’s other books, it suffers from the same dilemma of the side characters being arguably more interesting and endearing than the main couple. and speaking of trends in casey’s books, all of their main characters are the same people in different bodies and chloe green fits right in. for ranking of casey’s books, i’d say iksw falls below rwrb, but above ols. imo, the worst thing a book can be is boring, and this book was definitely entertaining, so i’d recommend it even if it’s nothing earth shattering.

jenhurst's review against another edition

4.0

This reminded me a lot of paper towns by John green and since you’ve been gone by Morgan Matson. A girl (in this case shara wheeler) goes missing and leaves hints for the main protagonist to figure out what happened. Shara kissed Smith, Chloe green and her neighbour and left them clues about what happened. Chloe green and shara are competing for valedictorian and 100 days before is when shara vanishes.
Casey has shown a lot of growth as a writer over 3 books. Even though this is YA, they’re writing has improved and the character development has gotten better over subsequent books. It feels the most mature of the 3. It also explores issues related to living in a baptist town and being queer in it. The issues discussed while having a mystery will probably mean it’s going to be banned in the states.