About This Book
Chloe Green has spent four years at a conservative Christian school in Alabama with one goal: beat Shara Wheeler for valedictorian and get out. Then, one month before graduation, Shara — the principal's daughter, the prom queen, everything Chloe resents — kisses her and disappears. What follows is equal parts mystery and reckoning, as Chloe chases down clues alongside the other people Shara kissed, slowly realizing that the girl she's been competing against might be far more complicated than the perfect image she projects. It's a story about the performance of perfection, the courage required to be honest, and what happens when you finally stop running from what you actually want.
McQuiston writes with sharp wit and genuine warmth, and this book in particular has a layered structure — letters, notes, small revelations — that keeps the pages turning while building toward something emotionally satisfying. The ensemble cast gives the story real texture, and the small-town Southern setting is rendered with specificity rather than caricature. McQuiston is especially good at capturing the particular claustrophobia of high school, where everyone is playing a role they didn't choose, and the relief of finally dropping it.
