“Casey McQuiston is at their absolute best in this charming YA caper. It’s fun, queer, smart, and a perfect summer read. If you love scavenger hunts, runaway prom queens, Taco Bell, and young queer self-discovery, this is your book!”
— Julia DeVarti, Books Are Magic, Brooklyn, NY
*INSTANT #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER*
*INSTANT #1 INDIE BESTSELLER*
*INSTANT USA TODAY BESTSELLER*
From the New York Times bestselling author of One Last Stop and Red, White & Royal Blue comes a 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 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.
Fierce, funny, and frank, Casey McQuiston's I Kissed Shara Wheeler is about breaking the rules, getting messy, and finding love in unexpected places.
"An unfettered joy to read." - The New York Times
"McQuiston has done it again." - USA Today
"You won't want to miss." - Good Housekeeping
Praise for I Kissed Shara Wheeler:
*INSTANT #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER*
*INSTANT #1 INDIE BESTSELLER*
*INSTANT USA TODAY BESTSELLER*
A Stonewall Young Adult Honor Book
A SIBA 2023 Southern Book Prize Finalist
The #1 Spring 2022 Kids’ Indie Next Pick
One of YALSA's 2023 Best Fiction for Young Adults
A Rainbow Book List Pick
One of Publishers Weekly's Best Books of the Summer
One of People Magazine's Best Books of the Summer
Good Housekeeping's May Book Club Pick
Now & Gen's May Book Club Pick
One of USA Today's Best Rom Coms of 2022
One of Indigo's Best Teen Books of 2022
One of Publishers Weekly's Best YA of 2022
One of BookPage's Best YA of 2022
A Top Ten 2023 Texas Tayshas Reading List Pick
A Most Anticipated Book of the Year for–
Marie Claire * Parade * Seventeen * The Washington Post * The Nerd Daily * Buzzfeed * PopSugar * Book Riot * She Reads * Bookish * Bustle * Insider * Goodreads * Epic Reads * and more!
“I Kissed Shara Wheeler is an unfettered joy to read. It’s a love story starring two brilliant, ruthless queer girls who fight for what they want, and woe to any unjust authorities that stand in their way." - The New York Times
"McQuiston has done it again… A YA novel with a swoon-worthy romance readers have come to expect from their first two triumphant works.” -USA Today (4/4 stars)
"This one has it all: rivals who share a shocking kiss, a mysterious disappearance, an unexpected alliance and the kind of page-turning drama that makes McQuiston one of the best in the game. You won't want to miss this one." - Good Housekeeping
"Casey McQuiston has become the go-to author for all-the-feels queer summer romance." - Entertainment Weekly, "12 sizzling summer reads to heat up your beach days"
"[A] charming queer romance...Like Dua Lipa once sang, one kiss is all it takes." - E! News
"Funny and compassionate." - Time
"An absolute must-read." - Book Riot, "10 Queer Romcoms That Will Make You Swoon"
"Get me to a beach because I'm ready to pick this book up and not put it down." - Genevieve Padalecki
"I Kissed Shara Wheeler is a love letter to all of us queer kids who were high schoolers in the ’90s. Especially those of us who lived in small towns and whose social scenes revolved around Friday night football games and church on Sunday. [An] unexpected mystery and love story all in one." - Bust
"McQuiston says that love is indomitable, and when I’m lost in their worlds, I really believe it." - Autostraddle
"Chosen family and LGBTQIA+ elders are given weight to the central romantic story lines in this thoughtful meditation on LGBTQIA+ identity, pride, popularity, academic success, jealousy, and idolization." - Booklist (starred review)
"I Kissed Shara Wheeler assures readers that although hurt is real, love is complicated and friends can let you down, the world is wide and nothing is impossible." - BookPage (starred review)
"Brimming with classic YA plotlines, crisp writing, humorous asides, and fully fleshed characters and relationships—many queer—keep things fresh, leading to a genuinely hopeful ending that centers themes of authenticity and autonomy. " - Publishers Weekly (starred review)
"The most impressive accomplishment in McQuiston’s first YA book is complicated Shara Wheeler herself." - BookPage, "Best YA Books of 2022"
“This is a teenage Harriet the Spy – complete with romance, angst, rebellion and Taco Bell. In a year when LGBTQ youth and their families have faced intense political attacks, this book feels like a warm embrace." - NPR, “Best Books 2022”
"...a delightful, heartwarming, accessible-for-all read...It made me smile and think back on how a book like this could have changed my whole life when I was 17." - Newsweek, "Newsweek Staffers' Favorite Books of 2022 for Everyone on Your Gift List"
"...classic and familiar, and yet, something genuinely new and exciting all on its own...the perfect recipe whipped up into a movie-ready story." - Joey from Joey's Nook, Buzzfeed
"In every possible way, I Kissed Shara Wheeler is the perfect YA novel...If future YA novels read anything like I Kissed Shara Wheeler, I can assure you I will be reading them." - The Michigan Daily
"Chloe is a wonderful protagonist, whip-smart, determined, flawed, but bold enough to be fully herself even in unwelcoming circumstances... Since reading I Kissed Shara Wheeler, I’ve found a new place in my heart for YA novels."- Susie Dumond, Book Riot
“Crisp, smart writing, fun twists, and a genuinely charming mystery surrounding the search for a missing prom queen.”- Paste Magazine
"Electrifying... a perfect summer read." - The Buffalo News
"I really can’t wait for this one...I can already see [a] movie being made." - Betches
"Raise your hand if you’ve been personally victimized by this funny, weird, razor-sharp, intensely compassionate, subversive, sweet, electrifyingly romantic knockout of a book. Casey freaking McQuiston, you’ve done it again.” - Becky Albertalli, New York Times bestselling author of Kate in Waiting and Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda
"The master of meet-cute yet empowered romance novels that delve deep into the LGBTQ+ experience, McQuiston creates swoon-worthy, funny stories that should appeal to every reader. I am a sucker for coming-of-age novels, and this book — McQuiston's first young adult novel — feels like The Breakfast Club meets Election." - Emily Giffin, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Something Borrowed and Where We Belong
"In their first YA novel, Casey McQuiston brings their A-game once again." - Cosmopolitan
"The author of Red, White & Royal Blue and One Last Stop brings their whip-smart rom-com sensibility to the young adult genre." - Bitter Southerner
"...will keep ya hooked until the last page." - the Skimm
"Quirky, fun, revealing. Lesson: everyone can learn; everyone can grow." - Lavender Magazine
Praise for One Last Stop:
"Absolutely brilliant." - The New York Times
"One Last Stop is an earnest reminder that home - whether that means a time, a place, or a person - is worth fighting for." - New York Magazine
"The story of August and Jane's chance meeting is swoony, thoughtful, and one of those big-hearted romances you'll gush about long after finishing." - Hello Sunshine
"This delightful love story is everything you need for a feel-good day of beach reading." - Elle
"Casey McQuiston has done it again." - Hypable
"One Last Stop is an electrifying romance that synapses into the dreamy "Hot Person Summer" kind of story you wish you were a part of. McQuiston is leading the charge for inclusive happy-ever-afters, radiant with joy and toe-curling passion, and bursting with the creative range to make anything from electricity to social activism sound sexy." - NPR
"A dazzling romance, filled with plenty of humor and heart." - Time
"A funny, modern, and entertaining novel, One Last Stop will have you rooting for love that makes people feel free to be their truest selves." - Shondaland
Praise for Red, White & Royal Blue:
"[An] exquisite debut... It’s hard to watch [Alex] fall in love with Henry without falling in love a bit yourself with them, and with this brilliant, wonderful book." - The New York Times Book Review
"[A] fireworks in the sky, glitter in your hair joyous royal romance that you’ll want to fall head over heels in love with again and again. A+" - Entertainment Weekly
"A rivalry between the son of a U.S. president and the Prince of Wales turns into a whirlwind romance in this charming story about true love." - Us Weekly
"[An] escapist masterpiece... It’s a truly glorious thing to live inside the world of this book and to imagine it becoming reality, too." - Vogue
"The super specific love story you never knew you needed." - Cosmopolitan
"Effervescent and empowering on all levels, Red, White & Royal Blue is both a well-written love story and a celebration of identity. McQuiston may not be royal herself, but her novel reigns as must read rom-com." - NPR
