There's only one thing standing in Chloe Green's way of winning valedictorian: the town's favorite and Chloe's rival, Shara Wheeler. A month before graduation, Shara kisses Chloe, then does the most infuriating thing: vanishes. Chloe and two other boys Shara kissed are left with a series of cryptic notes; a scavenger hunt to find her. Can Chloe drag Shara back before graduation to beat her fair and square, or is there something else behind Shara's disappearance?
Alright John Green fans. This one's for you. As always, Casey McQuiston's prose is a breath of fresh air. The narration instantly pulls you in as if you're listening to an old friend (the easily frustrated, type-A kind you have to be patient with). Warning: this story WILL transport you back to high school. I can't explain it, but it felt like I was on campus, watching my fellow students live as the protagonists of their own unspoken stories, the entire time.
There's so much to love in this one. For the sake of being succinct (you know I can ramble):
- Chloe's amazing, artistic queer moms
- The whole found-family of it all
- The EASY, natural queerness (it's never questioned, it just IS, as it tends to be in a CM book)
- The snippets from the burn pile before chapters (giving us glimpses into the minds of side characters)
- Chloe and Shara are both equally messy and chaotic
- The rivalry, the frustration, the angst
- Every side pairing
- All the theater kids
- Smith and Ash's interaction (AGH!)
- Rory and Smith (Just...more AGH)
- The reminder that side characters are going through it, too (don't forget to check on your best friends)
- The prose, the banter, the jokes; I literally laughed aloud, and that takes a lot
This story is a reminder that there's so much more to a person than what you see on the surface. That sometimes you can romanticize someone you hardly know. And that you can unknowingly do that to yourself, too.
While I was reading this, a few people told me they DNF. The second half is SO much stronger than the first, though. I think the pacing is a bit exhausting because the scavenger hunt drags a little, but it's the second half where we see SO much character development from Chloe, Shara, Rory, and Smith.
Religion (the story is set in small town Alabama, at a Christian school) plays a big part in the story. While that could have led me to disconnect, it didn't. It only adds to the discussion that queerness and acceptance (in ourselves and each other) needs to be an ongoing discussion and that sometimes you need to step outside of your bubble to see the world from a new lens.
Recommended for fans of Looking for Alaska, Paper Towns, She Gets the Girl, Delilah Green Doesn't Care, and Imogen, Obviously.
The Vibes
⭐ Sapphic Romance
⭐ Queer Cast
⭐ Coming-of-Age
⭐ Young Adult
⭐ Enemies to Lovers
⭐ Small Town
⭐ Slight Mystery
"There's a girl with brown eyes who reminds me of the first book I ever loved. When I look at her, I feel like there might be another universe in her. I imagine her on a shelf too high for me to reach, or peeking out of someone else's backpack, or at the end of a long wait at the library. I know there are other books that are easier to get my hands on, but none are half as good as her."
"What's the point of wanting and being wanted in return if the person they want isn't truly you?"
"You know... if being a guy feels like something you have to do, like it's an obligation or something..." Ash says carefully. "Maybe think about that."
"This is the real tragedy: Everything extraordinary about her is trapped behind the myth."
"There are things out there for you that you haven't even thought of yet, that you don't even know how to think of yet. Who you are here doesn't have to be the same as who you are out there. And if the person you feel like you have to be in this town doesn't feel right to you, you're allowed to leave. You're allowed to exist. Even if it means existing somewhere else."
