Thanks to Wednesday Books/St. Martin’s Press (via NetGalley) for the ARC!

3.5 stars

Content warnings:

Spoiler

homophobia/homomisia; religious trauma; light drinking and marijuana use

I had to sit with this book for a while longer than usual before I could write the review because I sure had some Complicated Feelings about our main girl Chloe. (Details below, hidden for possible spoilery things? There aren't a ton of spoilers but for anyone who wants to go into this book knowing nothing about the plot, I hid all my Chloe thoughts just in case)

This book had everything I have come to love about Casey McQuiston books: a snarky, too-smart-for-their-own-good protagonist; well-developed, fun side characters; and amazingly queer found family. The writing style was distinctly McQuiston. It was fun, sharp, witty and fast-paced. I was sucked into the story immediately; by the end of the first chapter, I was hooked.

All the supporting cast were so much fun! They were the messiest bunch of disaster queer teenagers ever and I want to adopt them all. I loved Rory and Smith’s story arc. Georgia deserves the world. Ash is cooler than I could ever hope to be. And Benjy is pure chaos in human form.

Spoiler

I just…did not like Chloe very much. Or Shara for that matter. I enjoyed the mystery of Shara’s disappearance at the beginning, and the silly scavenger hunt she sent Rory, Smith and Chloe on, but once Chloe became consumed by it, it was less fun. Chloe became single-mindedly obsessed with the mystery of Shara while at the same time hating her. She neglected her actual friends for the mythology of this girl she’d hated since they met, all the while taking no responsibility for her own actions and blaming Shara for everything that went wrong. I get that this was part of Chloe’s character arc and that she had to realize she was being an idiot (and honestly a HORRIBLE friend to Georgia) before she and Shara could end up together, but I was not really a fan of Chloe’s.

I mean, clearly this was intentional. Rory even straight up told Chloe that she’s mean sometimes. And Shara was fully aware of what she was doing and how it was perceived, by Chloe and by other people. But I swear to god it felt like these girls were going to manipulate each other to death before they ever figured out they liked each other! Which was really frustrating! I honestly yelled at my iPad more than a few times while reading this. Maybe it’s just because I am not at all a competitive person, but good grief were these two exhausting. I imagine a relationship between the two of them is just going to be constant one-upping each other and arguing and the thought of that just makes me want to lay down on the floor.

Overall, it was a really fun read. I think this time I was more invested in the world McQuiston created than the main character (and her happy ending), but because the side characters were so fleshed out and had such vibrant personalities, I still really enjoyed it.

Edit (12/28): I've been thinking about this book a lot since I finished it and I lowered my review by half a star. It's still 4 for Goodreads purposes but for my own purposes, it's 3.5 stars. The middle got a little repetitive and boring with Shara's scavenger hunt

Spoiler

and honestly the reveal of her on the boat was so anticlimactic

. I would have loved to read a book about Smith and Ash and Rory and Georgia because the side characters were honestly the highlight of this whole book for me