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A review by rubiphoenixa
I Kissed Shara Wheeler by Casey McQuiston
5.0
warning, this review is from a huge fan of Casey McQuiston, so there's probably a bit of bias there lmao.
i love Casey McQuiston so very much, i've now read all of their books and loved all of them, and for different reasons for each, but also of course for how honestly they've represented queer people of many types. I Kissed Shara Wheeler, is phenomenal, at least in my opinion.
i loved the way it explored the end of high school, and how that's such an 'end of an era' feeling for so many people, and that what lies after is going to be so different to the last eighteen-ish years of your life. the discussion of discovering/figuring out your sexuality, gender, and just who you are/will be was amazing.
none of the characters are perfect people, especially not the main four, which makes them great. because we can relate to them and they feel so real. CMQ is really great at creating multi-dimensional characters even the side characters, who often don't get that much time and attention.
i felt i could relate to this set of characters best out of any of CMQ's because they're closest to my age, and i've experienced what they're experiencing. it's also just a testament to CMQ's writing that i got invested in these characters and their stories so quickly. i cared about them a lot and what was going to happen from the start. also CMQ's humour is on point, both cause it's just really funny and also doesn't feel like an adult trying to guess how teenager's talk, it felt real.
loved the “hours/days since share left” thing at the start of each chapter and how they change throughout the book. also, the mixed media stuff at the end of each was so fun, and I'm so happy the 'burn pile' had a payoff and made sense by the end of the book.
the parallels between Jane Austen's Emma (the character) and Shara were great, as well as all the Shakespeare references.
i was picking up on Rory and Smith pretty quickly, but that's not a bad thing because they're so cute and i love them a lot. Rory getting exactly what smith wants even tho it’s not on the menu anymore is a love language. also, Georgia and Summer <3
i understand why the fallout between Georgia and Chloe had to happen because Chloe was being a shit friend and needed consequences, but omg friendship fallouts are always so painful, cause they're always so avoidable.
tropes in this i love:
- academic rivals to lovers
- mystery, finding clues
- a group of people having to work together when they didn’t know each/didn’t like each other beforehand
- exploring/figuring out sexuality and gender
favourite quotes:
- "I've heard you can take your heart back, but I don't think you can. Up close, with the light in your eyes, all you can see is what's right in front of you."
- "what's the point of wanting and being wanted in return if the person they want isn't truly you?"
- "her kiss was the one Shara bought brand-new lip gloss for."
- "there's no room to be anything except this one specific version of yourself that Willowgrove likes, and - and it's so blatantly fucked up... it's fucked up how they make us feel about ourselves, and we put up with it because we don't think there's anything we can do about it. we put up with it for so long that we don't even know who we are, only what they want us to be. and I don't want to put up with it anymore."
- "shame is the way of life here. it's stocked in the vending machines, stuck like gum under the desks, spoken in the morning devotionals. she knows now that there's a bit of it in her. it was an easy choice not to go back in the closet when she got here, but if she'd grown up here, she might never have come out at all. she might be a completely different person. there's so much to it here, so much that nobody tells anyone about."
- "I'm in love with a monster turducken."
- "Chloe wonders how a month away turned Shara into this, but when Shara shoots her a look over the top of her sunglasses, she remembers that Shara's always been this person. This is what I've been trying to tell you, she wrote on a card stuck under an auditorium seat. Shara's not nice. Shara's so many more important things than nice."
- "Chloe's starting to understand. She can climb on a stage in a parking lot and try to change something, but she can't decide the rest for anyone else."
sticky note key:
pink- mixed media type of stuff/clues/notes
orange- negative (usually anger)
yellow- other???
green- cute (platonic)
blue- cute (romantic)
light purple- good quotes
dark purple- funny
i love Casey McQuiston so very much, i've now read all of their books and loved all of them, and for different reasons for each, but also of course for how honestly they've represented queer people of many types. I Kissed Shara Wheeler, is phenomenal, at least in my opinion.
i loved the way it explored the end of high school, and how that's such an 'end of an era' feeling for so many people, and that what lies after is going to be so different to the last eighteen-ish years of your life. the discussion of discovering/figuring out your sexuality, gender, and just who you are/will be was amazing.
none of the characters are perfect people, especially not the main four, which makes them great. because we can relate to them and they feel so real. CMQ is really great at creating multi-dimensional characters even the side characters, who often don't get that much time and attention.
i felt i could relate to this set of characters best out of any of CMQ's because they're closest to my age, and i've experienced what they're experiencing. it's also just a testament to CMQ's writing that i got invested in these characters and their stories so quickly. i cared about them a lot and what was going to happen from the start. also CMQ's humour is on point, both cause it's just really funny and also doesn't feel like an adult trying to guess how teenager's talk, it felt real.
loved the “hours/days since share left” thing at the start of each chapter and how they change throughout the book. also, the mixed media stuff at the end of each was so fun, and I'm so happy the 'burn pile' had a payoff and made sense by the end of the book.
the parallels between Jane Austen's Emma (the character) and Shara were great, as well as all the Shakespeare references.
i was picking up on Rory and Smith pretty quickly, but that's not a bad thing because they're so cute and i love them a lot. Rory getting exactly what smith wants even tho it’s not on the menu anymore is a love language. also, Georgia and Summer <3
i understand why the fallout between Georgia and Chloe had to happen because Chloe was being a shit friend and needed consequences, but omg friendship fallouts are always so painful, cause they're always so avoidable.
tropes in this i love:
- academic rivals to lovers
- mystery, finding clues
- a group of people having to work together when they didn’t know each/didn’t like each other beforehand
- exploring/figuring out sexuality and gender
favourite quotes:
- "I've heard you can take your heart back, but I don't think you can. Up close, with the light in your eyes, all you can see is what's right in front of you."
- "what's the point of wanting and being wanted in return if the person they want isn't truly you?"
- "her kiss was the one Shara bought brand-new lip gloss for."
- "there's no room to be anything except this one specific version of yourself that Willowgrove likes, and - and it's so blatantly fucked up... it's fucked up how they make us feel about ourselves, and we put up with it because we don't think there's anything we can do about it. we put up with it for so long that we don't even know who we are, only what they want us to be. and I don't want to put up with it anymore."
- "shame is the way of life here. it's stocked in the vending machines, stuck like gum under the desks, spoken in the morning devotionals. she knows now that there's a bit of it in her. it was an easy choice not to go back in the closet when she got here, but if she'd grown up here, she might never have come out at all. she might be a completely different person. there's so much to it here, so much that nobody tells anyone about."
- "I'm in love with a monster turducken."
- "Chloe wonders how a month away turned Shara into this, but when Shara shoots her a look over the top of her sunglasses, she remembers that Shara's always been this person. This is what I've been trying to tell you, she wrote on a card stuck under an auditorium seat. Shara's not nice. Shara's so many more important things than nice."
- "Chloe's starting to understand. She can climb on a stage in a parking lot and try to change something, but she can't decide the rest for anyone else."
sticky note key:
pink- mixed media type of stuff/clues/notes
orange- negative (usually anger)
yellow- other???
green- cute (platonic)
blue- cute (romantic)
light purple- good quotes
dark purple- funny