A review by thecourtofreading
I Kissed Shara Wheeler by Casey McQuiston

adventurous funny lighthearted 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

4.75

"you're allowed to exist. even if it means existing somewhere else."

casey mcquiston has yet again whacked the ball out of the park with their queer retelling (?) of john green's paper towns. following more or less the same premise, shara wheeler, the gorgeous, perfect straight-a daughter of willowgrove's principal, kisses three people on the night of her disappearance: chloe, her rival in all things academic, rory, the boy next door, and smith, her boyfriend. she leaves a perfectly pink trail of letters and clues to her location that brings the three together into an unlikely friendship

as per, mcquiston's characters are amazingly developed; their attention to detail is great. chloe - i'm not sure if i could call this a grumpy x sunshine pairing, but it is most definitely enemy rivals to lovers - was my favourite, because she likes lesbians with swords, come on, and this was closely followed by miss shara wheeler herself. casey's writing is enrapturing. she writes in such a way where you cannot put it down even though it is waaaay past the time i should be reading

"of course. of course shara gave her this instead of an explanation. of course shara cast herself as the main character of her own personal john green novel."

this is also young adult (ya), which i didn't realise, but it doesn't feel like ya. casey's writing still has that adult feel, and it really did feel like an adult book (minus the smut that's in red white & royal blue, and one last stop) and that's probably why i liked it so much. the characters are so effortlessly queer and relatable

finally, can we talk about the cover for a second? i got the american version with the green cover because i wanted it to match the rest of the books (the british one is blue which i don't like and is in hardback) and i read this on the beach in crete, greece, and it was mwah chef's kiss. 
Expand filter menu Content Warnings