I Kissed Shara Wheeler was everything that I wanted Paper Towns to be back when I read it in middle school about a decade ago, but obviously, IKSW was 1000% more gay, honest, and powerful than the latter ever could be. I’m so thankful that this book exists, and I’m even more thankful that the generations after me can read it.

Moreover, I’ll always scream to the rooftops when LGBTQIA+ rep involves a southern setting. Casey literally made me want to cry at times because they showed the nuances of the south— of course the bad but more importantly the good. A lot of people tend to completely gloss over queer people in the south or even accuse them of stupidity since they stay in the region, but with conversations like Georgia and Chloe’s, it made me love Casey’s work even more. Obviously, there’s still major work to be done in the south, but as someone who lives in a major southern city where we have one of the largest pride parades in the country, it was joyous to see that complexity.