Scan barcode
A review by eemilycolleen
I Kissed Shara Wheeler by Casey McQuiston
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
fast-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
5.0
THRILLED to announce I fucking loved this. it’s Paper Towns, if everyone was barbed and bitchy and in love with each other and queer as hell. mutual obsession! high school academic rivalry! the white-hot vibration of knowing your sexy nemesis is in the google doc at the same time as you, watching every word you haltingly type!!!!
so yes, all the shara stuff worked for me. but more importantly so did everything else! the small town Alabama setting! the prom -> graduation timeline! the Religious Trauma of it all! Rory and Smith!!!!! (one more time for Rory and Smith, my god, they elevated this book SO high.) it’s about having fun and being loud and MAKING FRIENDS and FALLING IN LOVE WITH YOUR LIFE and learning how to embrace where you’re from, and who you are, and who you could one day become. and it’s about doing all that while ALSO being a gay little bitch! pour one out for my absolute asshole girlies!!!!!
you know that one staircase in that one building in your catholic high school, with the stained glass and the afternoon sun spilling through, orange-purple-blue-red all over the linoleum. reading this felt like taking that staircase on your way to AP English Lit, when things sucked but at least you had each other and the cinematic beauty of being 17 in a pool of stained glass sun. i don't know how CMQ captured that for me but goddamn they did!
some quotes for the pure joy of it:
- You missed the cue by about a second and a half. I squeezed the armrest so I wouldn't smile.
- Shara searches her face with the wary, reverent interest of stumbling upon a poem in an English textbook that breaks your heart open in the middle of class. Chloe knows that feeling. She knows Shara knows it too.
- The problem has always been this: When I look at you, I taste lime, and I see light on water.
- "Don't be nervous," Chloe says. "Just like, pretend I'm the AP Calc test."
THANK YOU CMQ!
so yes, all the shara stuff worked for me. but more importantly so did everything else! the small town Alabama setting! the prom -> graduation timeline! the Religious Trauma of it all! Rory and Smith!!!!! (one more time for Rory and Smith, my god, they elevated this book SO high.) it’s about having fun and being loud and MAKING FRIENDS and FALLING IN LOVE WITH YOUR LIFE and learning how to embrace where you’re from, and who you are, and who you could one day become. and it’s about doing all that while ALSO being a gay little bitch! pour one out for my absolute asshole girlies!!!!!
you know that one staircase in that one building in your catholic high school, with the stained glass and the afternoon sun spilling through, orange-purple-blue-red all over the linoleum. reading this felt like taking that staircase on your way to AP English Lit, when things sucked but at least you had each other and the cinematic beauty of being 17 in a pool of stained glass sun. i don't know how CMQ captured that for me but goddamn they did!
some quotes for the pure joy of it:
- You missed the cue by about a second and a half. I squeezed the armrest so I wouldn't smile.
- Shara searches her face with the wary, reverent interest of stumbling upon a poem in an English textbook that breaks your heart open in the middle of class. Chloe knows that feeling. She knows Shara knows it too.
- The problem has always been this: When I look at you, I taste lime, and I see light on water.
- "Don't be nervous," Chloe says. "Just like, pretend I'm the AP Calc test."
THANK YOU CMQ!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Religious bigotry, Lesbophobia, Homophobia, and Biphobia