I Kissed Shara Wheeler
by Casey McQuiston
Publication Date: May 3rd 2022
Publisher: Macmillan Audio
Find This Book: I Kissed Shara Wheeler
Rating: 5/5
**An ALC of this book was provided to me by Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.**
High school senior Chloe Green is just weeks away from being named valedictorian, graduating, and leaving her southern hometown as fast as possible when Shara Wheeler kisses her and disappears without a trace. Without a trace until little pink envelops start cropping up, leading Chloe to put the pieces together: two others were also kissed by Shara and all three of them will have to work together if they want to find all the envelopes. I Kissed Shara Wheeler braids the stories of the star jock, the edgy stoner next-door, and the academic rival as they take on a scavenger hunt for the ages.
This book was messily complex in the best of ways. Chloe, Rory, and Smith all had charmingly realistic flaws paired with individual reasons they were toxically obsessed with Shara Wheeler. The magic that Casey McQuiston brings to her books is that even through the mess there is compassion and care between her characters that make them such a joy to read. The 'side-characters' in Chloe's life each lead such interesting and fulfilling lives that additionally add vibrance to McQuiston's narrative. When Chloe ditches her friends to hunt down an envelope and misses the Mozzarella Stick bracket to decide the best mozz sticks in town, it was the little moments like that that filled the pages with life.
The most impressive part of this novel was the author's creation of Shara as a character. As the object of the scavenger hunt, she is barely ever physically on the page, yet she lives and breaths in the pages. The other characters fixate, create, and manifest her before the reader's eyes. Shara is all-encompassing, even when missing. I don't mean to imply that Share's a malicious character, just that there's an perfect-girl enigma about her that seems to draw the town's attention. How this obsession gets weaved into their everyday lives was fascinating to see, and it was so entertaining to see Shara and Chloe collide through letters and flashbacks.
In a homophobic bible-belt town, McQuiston spins a story of hope for queer voices. What will they learn about their classmates, their town, and themselves along the way?