I Am Not Jessica Chen by Ann Liang
Publisher’s Summary: Jenna Chen has spent her life in the shadow of her flawless cousin. Jessica Chen is so smart she gets the top score on every test. Jessica Chen is so beautiful people stop in the hallway to stare at her. Jessica Chen is so perfect she got into Harvard.
And Jenna Chen will only ever be a disappointment.
So when Jenna makes a desperate wish to become her cousin, the last thing she expects is for it to come true–literally. All of a sudden she gets to live the life she’s always dreamed of . . . but being the model student at cutthroat Havenwood Private Academy isn’t quite what she’d imagined. Worse, people seem to be forgetting that someone named Jenna Chen ever existed. But isn’t it worth trading it all away–her artistic talent, her childhood home, even the hope of golden boy Aaron Cai loving her back–to be Jessica Chen?
My Thoughts: Be careful what you wish for is certainly the warning that Jenna missed or ignored. But being Jessica looks easy. She has everything, even teeth that didn’t need braces. Everything comes naturally for her including grades, friends, and college acceptance letters. In Jenna’s mind, Jessica was “born the best, while I’ve spent my entire life trying to just be good, and I have failed at even that.” Swapping places is the sure way to find out though, and she discovers that while some things are pretty effortless, others are taking a huge toll. Jenna thinks she knows Jessica, but she learns a lot more about her from this perspective.
The body swapping is a bit of a brain breaker and it’s also a big reason why I was compelled to read almost the whole book in one sitting. I really wanted to know if it would be possible to switch back and if she would even want to in the end. That tension is always there from the moment Jenna wakes up as Jessica. It’s a dream come true so who would want to go back to the way she had been?
Jenna discovers a lot about her cousin, but this book is even more about learning about herself. We can all be a little clueless about ourselves and coming of age stories seem to be about getting to know what makes us who we are and beginning to explore that more fully. Both cousins have been under pressure to be a certain way and what makes the book interesting is seeing how they navigate that.
Part of how we see and understand ourselves comes from how we are reflected by our friends and family so that definitely comes into play here. Aaron is a big part of this reflection though the romantic interest doesn’t dominate the story.
Recommendation: Get it soon. It has a bit of a Freaky Friday vibe, if you enjoy that particular type of story, but it also has very realistic moments that most people will be able to relate to if they have ever measured themselves and felt that they missed the mark.
Extras:
Author’s Spotify playlist
Publisher: HarperCollins
Pages: 320
Review copy: Final copy via publisher
Availability: On shelves now