why you need to read ‘i kissed shara wheeler’ RIGHT NOW (i’m bribing you with chocolate so it’s not really much of a choice, OKAY??) + how it stole my life and also my entire existence (it’s because i’m kind) || featuring screams and certain book recs for the desperate souls

sometimes you read a book and you wish you could frame all of these sentences and words and jumbles of letters so you could stare at them all day and not feel like they deserve a life of their own and you’re the VILLAIN-FULL-OF-EVILNESS for not being able to give it to them.

sometimes you also wish thoughts could be more coherent things instead of jumbled messes of screeching obsessions that are famous for not making any sense.

but life is disappointing in some ways.

those aforementioned two come under the unfortunate category.

it’s a well-known fact that books rule the word and take over lives when they feel like it. it’s also a well-known fact that such books are my one and only weakness.

a new book has risen to power and taken over control of my life. I am possibly combustion-levels of excitement and all of it is maybe coming in handy in the insane amounts of keyboard-smashing I’m currently doing.

i read a story about two rebellious girls who try to run and hide and fight and be brave. who break the rules and are unapologetically themselves.

and maybe I fell in love.

In a drop of ink:

→ rivals to lovers romance
→ complex characters YOU SHALL LOVE
→ messy relationships THAT ARE ALSO THE BEST THINGS OF EVER
→ a seemingly-light read that shall make you feel ALL THE FEELS
→ and also possibly cry
→ IF YOU HAVE A HEART
→ AND DID I MENTION THE BEST CHARACTERS OF EVER??

From the New York Times bestselling author of One Last Stop and Red, White & Royal Blue comes a debut YA romantic comedy about chasing down what you want, only to find what you need…

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 a puritanical administration at 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.

Fierce, funny, and frank, Casey McQuiston’s I Kissed Shara Wheeler is about breaking the rules, getting messy, and finding love in unexpected places.

~ synopsis from goodreads

people always talk about how asking bookworms to choose a favorite book is a particularly cruel form of torture.

but maybe we should also talk about how sometimes books are so amazing and have such complex and flawed characters with these brilliant imperfections that make them human. which leads to the reader in question falling in love with them ALL and panicking when asked to choose favorites.

like this book.

do I like smith better or rory or shara or THE chloe?? WHAT IF I DEMAND GEORGIA BE THERE IN THE OPTIONS?? what if I petition for a book RULED BY ASH?? WHAT THEN??

see? it’s evil. choosing is difficult. really, when people say that deciding on a single favorite book is torture, I think they mean decision making IS TORTUROUS.

i agree actually. DECISIONS ARE FREAKING HARD, OKAY??! especially when you’re the one who has to make them.

like what if you want to eat BOTH vanilla and chocolate ice cream for dinner but YOU GET TO HAVE ONLY ONE?? that is a sure origin story for rebellion and/or world domination, O K A Y??

i think all these examples work enough in my favor to earn me the right to name 893672652165 favorite characters from a single book, right?? BOW DOWN TO ME, WORLD.

so I do that sometimes. not bowing down to me, the queen, obviously (because that would just be dumb, POTATO-HEADED OLIVE OF MINE) but choosing favorites. and naming them all.

there’s people and there’s pink envlopes and there’s terribly-hidden house keys. and that’s how it all starts actually. shara wheeler, the principal’s daughter and most loved student of willowgrove academy, (aka chloe’s academic and BASICALLY LIFE RIVAL AT ALL THINGS) disappears in the middle of prom. chole hates her for it obviously. the way she hates her for most things. like, breathing, THE STUDENTS LOVING HER, exisiting AND DID I MENTION BREATHING??? but then the envelopes come into play and THERE’S A GORGEOUS MYSTERY THAT LEADS TO REVELATIONS OF LIFE-CHANGING SECRETS AND THERE MIGHT BE SOME TEARS AND AMAZINGNESS AND SASSY NARRATION AND AN UNDERWEAR-STEALING CAT AND AMAZING-FOOD-I-KNOW-NOTHING-ABOUT AND BROKEN RULES AND FRIENDSHIPS AND SECRETS AND PERFECTION.

it’s all pretty stunning actually.

chloe is amazing and badass and snarky and competitive AND DID I MENTION AMAZING?? she’s this sometimes-evil bean who breaks into people’s houses and hates most people and walks with her head held high to show the world that their opinion of her means nothing to her but also dreams of being someone else sometimes. SHE’S BASICALLY ALSO ONE OF THE STRONGEST PEOPLE I’VE EVER ENCOUNTERED AND SO UNAPOLOGETICALLY HERSELF, even with all her fears and insecurities, and WE MUST ALL LOVE HER FOR IT, OKAY?? Oh, and she’s also THE CHLOE, as in, character i love and wish to befriend and walk in the shadow of for the rest of eternity. AND ALSO THE PROTAGONIST.

the book starts with her BREAKING INTO SOMEONE’S HOUSE?? as in, stealing the keys from under a smooth-out-of-place rock in THE PRINCIPAL’S FRONT YARD while the rest of town is in church and BREAK AND ENTER. (technically it’s the key’s fault for not staying hidden properly BUT WHATEVER) Trust me when I say IT DOESN’T GET BETTER THAN THIS, yeah??

the book does though. the book gets a lot, lot better. SHHHH I know how you’re probably thinking that I LIE SOMETIMES.

and I do. (I AM ONLY HUMAN, OKAY?? and humans lie sometimes) but not right now. I DON’T LIE WHEN IT COMES TO BOOKS. (except that one time when I screeched over how insanely obsessed I was with the book thief when it was a mere ‘wow-i-like-this-book-because-of-all-the-fun-and-the-uniqueness’ kind of temporary obsession, and haven’t exactly bothered correcting people since then, BUT SHHHH. WHATEVER)

there’s so many secrets and mysteries and pink cards and AMAZINGNESS. there’s so much growth and THIS ENTIRE ADVENTURE and there’s friendship and love and betrayal and hurt and jealousy and realization thrown into the mix AND ITS ACTUALLY PRETTY PERFECT.

shara’s SECRETLY EVIL AND TWISTED AND REBELLIOUS AND I LOVE HER. she’s so human and REAL and there’s this entire mystery around her, and who the world thinks her to be AND WHO SHE ACTUALLY IS and there’s also chocolate and ALL THE GOOD THINGS.

all the characters are extraordinarily realistic AND I KIND OF WHOLEHEARTEDLY LOVE THEM?? and did I mention THE FRIEND GROUP IS GOALS AND I DESPERATELY WANT TO BE ADOPTED INTO IT???? like this one time they collected all the mozarella sticks available in every single place of EVER and then ranked them on a one-to-ten scale based on ALL THE DIFFERENT THINGS AND CAN SOMEONE EXPLAIN TO ME HOW THE HELL I WASN’T INVITED ON THIS SUPERIOR-THAN-THE-UNIVRSE EXPEDITION?? the world is ridiculous like that.

there’s also SO MUCH DIVERSITY and it’s all just so so amazing okay?? all the side characters are given so much personality too somehow?? THEY’RE ALL THESE AMAZING QUIRKY LITTLE BEANS AND I LOVE. some of them aren’t even shown for that looooong BUT THERE’S SO MUCH OF WHO THEY ARE STUFFED INTO ALL OF THE SMOLLEST SCENES, IT’S KIND OF LIKE I’VE ENCOUNTERED PERFECTION.

on second thoughts, I’m like 926723626% sure i have.

OH AND DID I MENTION I FELL IN LOVE WITH THE WRITING 5 MINUTES INTO THE BOOK?? IT WAS INSANELY DELICIOUS.

plus the narration was INCREDIBLE AND I LOVE. some parts of it are just freakishly hilarious ok?? not the I-am-a-madman-and-laughing-over-words-at-midnight sort of hilarious, more like the gosh-these-words-are-hilarious-together-i-think-i-need-to-frame-them-so-i-can-keep-reading-them-over-and-over-again-and-obsess-over-their-perfection kind of hilarious. THIS IS THE MEANING OF LIFE. also THE DIALOGUE IS GORGEOUSNESS AND I GOT SLIGHTLY OBSESSED.

if the cruel prince is considered the pinnacle of enemies-to-lovers romance (aka the MOST LOVED romance trope of EVER that we’re all ridiculously starving for. BECAUSE OF A LOT OF REASONS. BUT THAT’S FOR ANOTHER TIME), then I kissed shara wheeler is possibly the closest any book I’ve EVER read has gotten to it. THE ROMANCE IS PERFECTION, OKAY?!?! the way shara and chloe absolutely HATE each other with such a burning passion and kind of live for being BETTER than the other one and bringing the other person D O W N?? To how they love and support each other?? IT IS BRILLIANTLY PHENOMENAL. And, just saying, BUT I THINK YOU NEED THIS IN YOUR LIFE.

PLUS. all the development and realizations both of their characters go through during the course of this book?? IT’S SLIGHTLY HEARTBREAKING. the way they come to terms with who they are and accept themselves, EXCUSE ME WHILE I GO SOB.

basically. i love this book and chloe and shara and smith and rory and georgia and ash and benjy AND JUST EVERYONE ELSE TOO OKAY?? it’s so messy and beautiful and heartbreaking and INCREDIBLE.

what do you mean ‘no’??? OBVIOUSLY IT FEELS LIKE LIFE ENDED WHEN THIS BOOK DID, AND WE CAN’T LET THAT HAPPEN BECAUSE YOU STILL NEED TO DEVOUR ALL THE BOOKS SO WE MUST WORK ON KEEPING YOU ALIVE BY PROVIDING…. MORE RECOMMENDATIONS!!!! look?? I AM KIND SOMETIMES.

why you need this in your life:

📌 the unique, laugh out loud humor that will be the best thing you’ve ever read I swear
💖 amazing, lovable, realistic characters that will own your heart for eternity
💃 lesbian MC who is also chaotic and basically her life is a mess but YOU WILL LOVE
🎃 revolves around friendships AND IT IS EVERYTHING, OKAY?!
💥 rivals-to-lovers romance THAT SHALL MAKE THE UNIVERSE EXPLODE

ALSO ALL THE CREDITS TO SUHANI FOR COMPARING THE SIMILARITIES BETWEEN THE TWO NOVELS AND PROVING HER GENIUS. SHE’S AMAZING LIKE THAT.

why you need this taking over your existence:

🧨 talks about the brutal and evil parts of high school
📝 deals with racism and SHALL MAYBE MAKE YOU PARANOID???
🚀 is basically a DARK DARK DAAAAAARK ROLLER-COASTER
🎀 dual pov narration WITH BADASS FEMALE CHARACTER
🔑 also you might get addicted SO THERE’S THAT

i could scream for the rest of EVER, really. but you’re probably yawning at this point. SO I SHALL BE KIND. and say good bye. ALL WHILE THREATENING YOU TO READ THIS WHILE HOLDING A DAGGER ABOVE YOUR HEAD AND BRIBING YOU WITH CHOCOLATES. READ THE BOOK. YOU SHALL DEVOUR IT AND FALL IN LOVE AND WILL THANK ME LATER. BYE NOW.

have you read THE GORGEOUS PERFECTION THAT IS ALSO KNOWN AS THIS BOOK?? is it on your TBR?? are you dying to get your hands on a copy?? ANY RECENT FAVORITE BOOKS, PEOPLE???