READ & REVIWED: I Am Not Jessica Chen by Ann Liang

I Am Not Jessica Chen is a story that will resonate with anyone who’s grown up in an environment where academic success feels like the ultimate measure of worth.

Have you ever wished you could be someone else? Jenna Chen certainly has, especially when her cousin, Jessica, who seems to have it all – brains, beauty and a well-off family - gets accepted into Harvard while she doesn’t. One night, Jenna makes a wish, and the next morning, she wakes up in Jessica’s body. At first, living Jessica’s seemingly perfect life feels like a dream come true, but Jenna soon realises that Jessica’s world isn’t as flawless as it appears. And as people start to forget the real Jenna, she’s left questioning whether she should cling to this borrowed identity or find her way back to herself.

This story hits close to home for anyone who’s grown up in an environment where academic success feels like the ultimate measure of worth. Jenna constantly feels like she’s falling short, struggling to keep up with the high achievers around her while battling envy and self-doubt. On the flip side, Jessica’s life may look effortless from the outside, but she’s barely keeping her head above water under the relentless pressure to stay at the top.

As with all Ann Liang's books, there's romance in this - through Jenna's love interest and childhood friend, Aaron - but it takes a backseat in this one. The male leads in Liang’s books that I had read felt a tad similar: good-looking, intelligent, effortlessly cool, and initially standoffish towards the female lead. So I actually appreciated that this story focused more on Jenna’s personal growth. As always, Liang’s writing is beautiful and her observations are sharp and insightful, capturing the pressures of school, family expectations, and life’s uncertainties in a way that feels incredibly real.

Thank you, Experal Singapore, for this beautiful hard cover copy of I Am Not Jessica Chen. You can find this, alongside more newly-released fiction and non-fiction titles, at Experal Singapore's Shopee store https://s.shopee.sg/LbHUbm8Gm . Thanks to Experal, we’ll be giving away a copy of this young adult title - do hope over to my Instagram page https://www.instagram.com/p/DK6oMhFOhJ6/?img_index=1 to participate 🤗

Disclaimer: The book was provided by Experal Singapore for our review. As always, all opinions are ours.

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