Book of the Month: I Kissed Shara Wheeler by Casey McQuiston
This is really just Casey McQuiston’s world right now, and we’re all just living in it. Not only is she still riding the wave of the success of the 2019 smash hit, Red, White & Royal Blue, the movie for the same book has just started production. Additionally, Last month, McQuiston released her first young adult novel, I Kissed Shara Wheeler, and we jumped all over it.
Featuring all the tenants of queerness that we’ve come to love and expect of McQuiston’s works, I Kissed Shara Wheeler is the story of Chloe Green – a high school senior whose life is interrupted when her academic rival goes missing right before the end of graduation.
Chloe has always gone neck and neck with Shara Wheeler for the coveted position of valedictorian. Shara’s sudden disappearance means that the spot might actually be Chloe’s now. But she doesn’t want it like this, if she gets it she wants it to be because she beat Shara for real, so Chloe makes it her business to figure out just what the hell happened to Shara Wheeler.
It’s a cute, young adult read that we think will bring many new, younger readers to McQuiston’s audience. Come with us as we journey through Casey McQuiston’s I Kissed Shara Wheeler.
I Kissed Shara Wheeler Plot overview
Shara Wheeler has been dating Smith Parker for ages. They’re a perfect match really: he is the star football player and she’s the high school darling of everything. So when Shara walks up to Chloe and plants her lips on Chloe’s face, Chloe doesn’t know what to make of it.
Then, Shara disappears and things get really weird. Turns out, right before she disappeared, Shara also planted her lips all over Rory too. Rory just so happens to be Smith’s former best friend who has also been in love with Shara since forever.
It turns out, Shara planned this intentionally and left both Rory and Chloe clues about where and why she left. The clues take the form of little note cards that she has planted all over town with little cryptic messages on them. If Rory and Chloe are going to have any shot at finding Shara, they’re going to need the help of her boyfriend too.
So Smith, Rory and Chloe team up as Shara leads them on a wild goose chase all over town as they investigate her disappearance. Little did they know that this whole experience would lead them all down a path of self-discovery that they didn’t even know they needed.
All of this started with three kisses: Chloe, Smith, Rory. They’ve been to Dixon’s house, where Shara last kissed Smith, and the roof where she kissed Rory. The only place left, the only kiss they haven’t revisited, is Chloe’s.”
(Casey McQuiston, I Kissed Shara Wheeler, 2022)
There is also a whole college entrance bribery scandal that Shara’s dad is part of and Chloe’s school is plunged into chaos. Shara disappearing and then suddenly reappearing is just the icing on the cake in this drama filled read.
Discovering queerness
At first, it doesn’t look like there is a whole lot of queerness in this story. Chloe is queer, and she is the product of two moms, but other than that, it doesn’t seem like there is a whole lot else going on.
But of course, this is a Casey McQuiston story, so we should have known better.
As the story slowly unfolds, we learn that Smith – big, bad football player, may not actually be as straight as everyone thinks he is. Although he doesn’t have the vocabulary for it, it actually appears that he may be in the midst of a gender exploration. It isn’t until he has a conversation with another student at the school that identifies as non-binary that the cogs in his mind start turning.
He doesn’t feel great in his body, and he doesn’t feel great with the confines and expectations that are placed on him to be this macho football player, despite the fact that he knows football is his future.
The other day, after the theater party and the lake,” Smith says, “I came home when everyone was asleep and pulled flowers out of my dad’s garden. And I sat in front of my mirror and put them in my hair. Just to see how it would look. And it looked dope. So I thought about what Ash said, and some stuff I talked to Summer about, and what I’m supposed to look like and act like to play football, and what actually feels like me, and the way Shara used to look at me sometimes … I mean, yeah. Shara’s done shitty things. That sucks. But at the same time, if you’re not what Willowgrove wants you to be, and if your family believes certain stuff, it can make you kind of crazy. You know what I mean?”
(Casey McQuiston, I Kissed Shara Wheeler, 2022)
We also learn that the reason that Rory and Smith are no longer friends isn’t really because of Shara. For the longest time, Rory thought that his jealousy over Smith and Shara’s relationship had to be because Rory was also in love with Shara (we mean, she is Shara afterall). But it turns out, Rory is kind of in love with Smith. Fortunately for Rory, Smith returns his affections.
This storyline is kind of heartbreaking. These two boys have clearly loved each other for a really long time and had convinced themselves that they weren’t, all because that was what society told them they were supposed to be. We’re really happy that they were able to face their truths in the end, but we’re also waiting for a world where these things don’t even need to happen in the first place.
Shara and Chloe
The discovery of queerness also plays out in both Chloe and Shara’s characters. As the novel opens, Chloe is openly queer. She has known this about herself for some time and it’s not news to anyone. What is news, though, is Shara.
When Shara kissed Chloe, Chloe didn’t know what it was about. Despite being fierce competitors and rivals for the duration of their high school careers, Chloe had never looked at Shara in that way. And she was certain that Shara had definitely not looked at her that way either.
But then Chloe works out where Shara is, and Shara comes back. While it takes Chloe a hot minute, it becomes pretty clear to both of them that the competitiveness that exists between them runs a lot deeper than just academics.
But Shara is Principal Wheeler’s perfect daughter – she couldn’t possibly be gay, right?
There was this one weekend, a million summers ago, when I sat on the shore drinking a frozen limeade, and I realized the only thing I wanted to look at was the way the sun hit the girls swimming in the lake.
(Casey McQuiston, I Kissed Shara Wheeler, 2022)
The problem has always been this: When I look at you, I taste lime, and I see light on water.
I Kissed Shara Wheeler is a light read that is a queer exploration of adolescence in a landscape of conservativism in bible belt America. We’re not going to compare it to any of McQuiston’s other works, because it sits in an entirely different genre. But we’re glad we read it, and we think you will be as well.
I Kissed Shara Wheeler is available to purchase through all reputable retailers. Follow us on Twitter and Instagram for all queer stuff!
