Iksw - Blog Posts

“Who is she when, for once, no one is looking?”

- I Kissed Shara Wheeler by Casey McQuiston

This book goes on sale tomorrow, and all I can say is that Casey is three for three on books that make me roll with laughter, choke up, and surge with hope. Unlike RWRB and OLS, Shara Wheeler is a YA novel, but it never underestimates its reader, delivering a plot that makes you just about as obsessed as Chloe is with the hunt for the missing prom queen, Shara. This story tackles religious conservativism, gender/sexual identity, the red state/blue state divide, among other themes, but the theme that spoke most to me was about truly seeing people as they are, as opposed to through the filter we unwittingly apply through a combination of social conditioning and our own hidden wounds.

For that reason, I painted Chloe seeing Shara through a looking glass. <3

I can’t recommend this one enough y’all. Grown-up readers: You will love it too! (I sure did!)

PS: Easter eggs abound….👀