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A review by danielghurst
I Kissed Shara Wheeler by Casey McQuiston
5.0
I KISSED SHARA WHEELER by Casey McQuiston is an absolute dream of a YA romcom. High school senior and IT girl, Shara Wheeler, has disappeared, but not before kissing her academic rival, Chloe, and the boy who loves her from afar, Rory. Before long, Chloe and Rory team up with each other and with Shara's boyfriend, Smith, to follow a trail of notes she's left behind in hopes of tracking her down. Along their scavenger hunt, they question their relationships with Shara, with each other, and with their town and school, as well as their own identities.
Casey McQuiston writes consistently snappy prose full of wit and charm, which makes the book a joy to read from start to finish. Below the surface of this fluffy teen romcom, though, is a deep dive into the experience of being queer in a small southern town and a private school. When the three main characters from different social circles team up to find Shara, they question what rules enforce the social divide, which leads them to ask the bigger questions about why their school and their town have such a clear hierarchy. In short, they set out to upset the status quo.
While the whole premise of the story requires a willing suspension of disbelief, it sets the scene for a rollicking high school adventure, where we can believe that teenagers can climb ladders to each other's bedroom windows and sneak around in the air ducts at their school, and disappear entirely without suffering any real consequences. Ultimately, with a story this fun and characters this endearing, it's best not to question the plausibility of the story. Just get lost in it!
I listened to the audiobook, and the narrator, Natalie Nadus, is excellent.
My only question is, when are we getting a spin-off featuring the two characters involved in the secondary romance??
Casey McQuiston writes consistently snappy prose full of wit and charm, which makes the book a joy to read from start to finish. Below the surface of this fluffy teen romcom, though, is a deep dive into the experience of being queer in a small southern town and a private school. When the three main characters from different social circles team up to find Shara, they question what rules enforce the social divide, which leads them to ask the bigger questions about why their school and their town have such a clear hierarchy. In short, they set out to upset the status quo.
While the whole premise of the story requires a willing suspension of disbelief, it sets the scene for a rollicking high school adventure, where we can believe that teenagers can climb ladders to each other's bedroom windows and sneak around in the air ducts at their school, and disappear entirely without suffering any real consequences. Ultimately, with a story this fun and characters this endearing, it's best not to question the plausibility of the story. Just get lost in it!
I listened to the audiobook, and the narrator, Natalie Nadus, is excellent.
My only question is, when are we getting a spin-off featuring the two characters involved in the secondary romance??