I KISSED SHARA WHEELER By Casey McQuiston

I received this book for free from Reviewer Purchase in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

I Kissed Shara Wheeler by Casey McQuiston
Published by Wednesday Books on 5/3/22
Genres: Contemporary, LGBT, Mystery & Detective, Romance, Young Adult
Pages: 368
Format: Ebook
Source: Reviewer Purchase
Buy on Amazon

Chloe Green is so close to winning. After her moms moved her from SoCal to Alabama for high school, she’s spent the past four years dodging gossipy classmates and the puritanical administration of Willowgrove Christian Academy. The thing that’s kept her going: winning valedictorian. Her only rival: prom queen Shara Wheeler, the principal’s perfect progeny.

But a month before graduation, Shara kisses Chloe and vanishes.

On a furious hunt for answers, Chloe discovers she’s not the only one Shara kissed. There’s also Smith, Shara’s longtime quarterback sweetheart, and Rory, Shara’s bad boy neighbor with a crush. The three have nothing in common except Shara and the annoyingly cryptic notes she left behind, but together they must untangle Shara’s trail of clues and find her. It’ll be worth it, if Chloe can drag Shara back before graduation to beat her fair and square.

Thrown into an unlikely alliance, chasing a ghost through parties, break-ins, puzzles, and secrets revealed on monogrammed stationery, Chloe starts to suspect there might be more to this small town than she thought. And maybe―probably not, but maybe―more to Shara, too.

Short and Sweet Review

Chloe Green has been in a fierce academic competition with Shara Wheeler ever since she moved to Alabama from California. Chloe wants to be valedictorian and the only thing in her way is Shara. But a month before graduation Shara kisses Chloe and disappears. Now Chloe is on the hunt for answers and learns that she isn’t the only person Shara kissed, she kissed Rory the boy next door and Smith her longtime boyfriend. The three of them have to solve the cryptic clues that Shara left behind for them in order to find her.

Well it started out with a kiss and then Shara’s disappearance and Chloe Green’s obsession with finding her. I liked the scavenger hunt aspect of the book and how Chloe became friends with Rory and Smith people she wouldn’t normally interact with. I also like how the letters brought Rory and Smith together too. Anyway that’s the extent of what I liked about Shara leaving the clues behind. Chloe becomes so obsessed with Shara that she starts to ditch her own friends and she starts to say it’s because she wants to beat Shara so bad to become valedictorian but it is a toxic obsession with trying to get Shara first and having Shara admit she likes Chloe.

There’s not much else going on in this book, it basically centers around finding Shara and graduation. We also see a lot of LGBT relationships which was nice seeing the representation. But I don’t think this book was what I expected, the scavenger hunt part was entertaining but once I got to the end I realized how creepy Chloe’s interactions with Shara were and how demanding Chloe was. Anyway this wasn’t the best book and it wasn’t the worst but it wasn’t for me.