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abinthebooks 's review for:
I Kissed Shara Wheeler
by Casey McQuiston
“I have done some of the best work of my life because of you. And I know you have done some of the best work of your life because of me. I don’t know a better way to explain what love means to two people like us.”
AHHH!!! This was academic rivals to lovers excellency!! I Kissed Shara Wheeler kind of feels like a YA version of Gone Girl set in a Christian high school with an Alison DiLaurentis x Emily Fields romance (those two characters are from Pretty Little Liars if you didn’t understand that reference). And I really enjoyed my time reading it. I have read (and DNF’ed) Red, White & Royal Blue by this author previously, but I absolutely detested the writing style. I think McQuiston’s writing has drastically improved, and while this book is very pop culture heavy—which is what irritated me about their debut—it didn’t bother me nearly as much as did in that book.
Essentially the plot of the story follows three main characters: Chloe, Smith & Rory. Their towns golden girl has kissed them all and mysteriously vanishes on prom night. The trio make it their mission to figure out where their it girl, Shara has gone, and all for different reasons at that. Smith just wants his girlfriend back, Rory has been in love with Shara forever, and Chloe wants to beat Shara for valedictorian.
I loved the romance and the friend group in here the most! I really liked Chloe as a main character. She was very relatable, and her and Shara were really good together. Academic rivals to lovers is one of my favorite tropes of all time, and this didn’t fail to hit that for me. This was a more subtle approach to this trope, but the way it all came together was so fun, and I highly enjoyed my time reading it. I also loved the friend group in here. They all are very tropey at first glance, but I really like how McQuiston fleshes them out and gives them unique characteristics and traits so they differ from their assigned “trope”. I just feel like all these characters had really good chemistry together, and it was fun to read about Chloe, Smith and Rory all running around trying to find Shara.
So yeah, I really liked this book. A lot more than I thought I would actually! I don’t read YA very often anymore, and this was a good start to get back into it. I think if I read another McQuiston book it will definitely be from their YA books instead of adult.
➸ 4.25 stars
★ listened on audio
AHHH!!! This was academic rivals to lovers excellency!! I Kissed Shara Wheeler kind of feels like a YA version of Gone Girl set in a Christian high school with an Alison DiLaurentis x Emily Fields romance (those two characters are from Pretty Little Liars if you didn’t understand that reference). And I really enjoyed my time reading it. I have read (and DNF’ed) Red, White & Royal Blue by this author previously, but I absolutely detested the writing style. I think McQuiston’s writing has drastically improved, and while this book is very pop culture heavy—which is what irritated me about their debut—it didn’t bother me nearly as much as did in that book.
Essentially the plot of the story follows three main characters: Chloe, Smith & Rory. Their towns golden girl has kissed them all and mysteriously vanishes on prom night. The trio make it their mission to figure out where their it girl, Shara has gone, and all for different reasons at that. Smith just wants his girlfriend back, Rory has been in love with Shara forever, and Chloe wants to beat Shara for valedictorian.
I loved the romance and the friend group in here the most! I really liked Chloe as a main character. She was very relatable, and her and Shara were really good together. Academic rivals to lovers is one of my favorite tropes of all time, and this didn’t fail to hit that for me. This was a more subtle approach to this trope, but the way it all came together was so fun, and I highly enjoyed my time reading it. I also loved the friend group in here. They all are very tropey at first glance, but I really like how McQuiston fleshes them out and gives them unique characteristics and traits so they differ from their assigned “trope”. I just feel like all these characters had really good chemistry together, and it was fun to read about Chloe, Smith and Rory all running around trying to find Shara.
So yeah, I really liked this book. A lot more than I thought I would actually! I don’t read YA very often anymore, and this was a good start to get back into it. I think if I read another McQuiston book it will definitely be from their YA books instead of adult.
➸ 4.25 stars
★ listened on audio