A review by wardenred
I Kissed Shara Wheeler by Casey McQuiston

emotional mysterious 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

3.0

Chloe’s favorite stories are the ones where the headstrong young woman on a cinematic journey to master her powers falls for the monster who’s been antagonizing her all along.

Well. Wow. I guess there is a first time for everything: I've encountered a Casey McQuiston book that I didn't really like. And it's such a damn pity, because I've been looking forward to reading it for so long, and by all intents and purposes, this should have been the book for me. I mean, a small town of doom that the MC is looking to escape, except this close to graduation she starts getting tangled up in stuff here more than ever? Religious trauma? A messy queer cast? Academic rivals to lovers? A mystery with a treasure hunt for answers set up by the missing person herself? All of this is my jam. I expected to love all of this. And yet, the book and I, we've never quite clicked.

I think the problem here is that, just like RWRB and One Last Stop, this is a highly character-driven novel (also my jam nearly 100% of the time). Except, unlike with RWRB and One Last Stop, this time I just didn't connect with the main character at all. Chloe was just so unlikable, and not in a fun way. So for a big part of the way, I kept pushing through just because I was curious about the resolution to the central mystery, and also because there were other characters who truly shined for me whenever they showed up on page. Georgia and Rory absolutely captured my heart, and while Smith took a bit of time to grow on me, I became a big fan of his eventually. (I do keep wanting to call him Finn in my head, though. Honestly, if anyone tries to tell me this entire novel isn't rooted in Faberry fanfiction, I'll just laugh—I've sunk too many hours of my life down the Glee tag on AO3 to buy that).

But, well, Chloe... I don't know, I just didn't like it in her head, nor did I find her interesting. There's that one scene about two thirds into the story where she's talking to her Moms and explaining to them what it's like to be her, and that was the one instance where I found her compelling and sympathetic... or rather, the her she was describing. Because I didn't quite feel like the things she was talking about and the things that I witnessed from reading an entire book from her perspective were the same. Similar, yes, but not identical. I think I would have enjoyed her entire story much more if what I was shown matched what I was told in that scene.

That said, there's a lot of cool stuff packed here. A lot of cool characters, too—maybe even too many. I kept wishing for multiple POVs, not just small snippets from other characters' schoolwork drafts, notes, and such. It would have been so cool to see Georgia's, Rory's, Smith's, Benjy's perspectives on some of the events—and Shara's, too, especially closer to the end.
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