I Am Not Jessica Chen Hardcover – January 28, 2025

I Am Not Jessica Chen is a profound and moving work. It's a beautiful, touching, and moving work of literature that is impactful, especially for the age group it is geared towards. I'll admit I rushed to preorder this book when I saw the cover, an artist myself, I found the cover to be a stunning work of art on its own and couldn't resist the allure of a beautiful portrait. The premise was interesting too.Jenna Chen is an artist who feels that no matter how hard she pushes herself she's just never good enough. She has a very negative perception of herself as a person culminating in an extremely low self worth (oh! how I could relate to this). To Jenna, her cousin Jessica is the antithesis of her. Jessica is beautiful, graceful, intelligent and successful. She was born to be successful. Jenna wishes for nothing else than to be Jesssica. After wishing upon a star Jenna wakes up to her dream come true but starts to find out high successes and expectations can be crushing benchmarks even for the academically inclined. Jenna learns to see her world and self through a different lense as she navigates the world while inhabiting Jessica's body.As someone who has always struggled with self-worth I found Jenna to be relatable in nearly every way. I felt like her as a teen and still do when I compare myself to my coworkers, which I admit is more often than not. This not only teaches us to love ourselves and appreciate our own lives but challenges society's expectations of the classical model student as well as the expectations we unnecessarily place on ourselves.I am not Jessica Chen is an entertaining teen novel that's highly relatable. This book will leave a profound impact on any teen whose ever struggled with low self-worth. This book will stay with you long after you've finished the last page.

Okay, wow. I finally understand the Ann Liang hype.This book resonated with me on such a deep level. As a Korean American, I know all too well the pressure to be the best, to be perfect. That soul crushing feeling of constantly being compared to others and being asked why you can’t be more like them. I’ve been there too many times.Our main character, Jenna, is constantly being measured against her perfect cousin, Jessica. She believes that if she could just be Jessica, all her problems would disappear. But when she magically wakes up one day in Jessica’s body, she quickly learns that perfection is nothing more than an illusion and that comparison truly is the thief of joy.I highly recommend this book to anyone who struggles with self comparison.Success does NOT define you. YOU are enough. YOU matter.🅁🄰🅃🄸🄽🄶 : 4🄵🄾🅁 🅁🄴🄰🄳🄴🅁🅂 🅆🄷🄾 🄻🄸🄺🄴☆ Young Adult Romance☆ Childhood Friends to Lovers☆ Self Discovery☆ Cultural Identity☆ Golden Boy x Insecure Girl🄵🄰🅅🄾🅁🄸🅃🄴 🅂🄲🄴🄽🄴This."Nobody else connected the dots when he signed himself up for a first-aid course the summer after his mother passed, when he memorized the fastest route to the hospital from every major road and fastidiously refilled their supply of medicine every year, just in case of another emergency. Nobody else seemed to notice how he’d tense whenever someone complained about chest pain or feeling lightheaded, how he’d spend his spare time reading up on every documented illness while other boys his age were partying or playing video games."🄵🄰🅅🄾🅁🄸🅃🄴 🅀🅄🄾🅃🄴"I’m simply not that good. Not in academics. Not in extracurriculars. Not as a student, or a daughter, or a human. Something in me is missing. Lacking.""They’ve bet everything on me—their time and energy and savings—and this is what I have to show for it. Sunk costs. A failed investment.""I can never just be okay. I have to be perfect. I have to astound them. I have to prove that I’m intelligent or I’ll stop mattering.""So I had to be better. I had to be so good they couldn’t ignore me anymore. If I wanted to be loved, I had to best them all."

The book itself is probably good but I didn’t expect it to come with this big ol rip in the back. Not that big of a deal but like for a 17 dollar book i preordered i would like it to be in good condition

As an Asian American 28-year old woman who remembers her childhood with a tiger mom all too vividly, this book really hit home for me. I loved the message of the ending! And, I can't wait for Liang to continue to write books about the female Asian-American experience through all ages (: would love to see her tackle the challenges of later adulthood - working, isolation in work, even topics like divorce, etc. Well done!

I pre-ordered this book and I have to say, Ann Liang NEVER disappoints. I’m Not Jessica Chen is one of the most relatable and tear-jerking, and an absolute page-turner of a book. Jenna Chen and Aaron Cai have to be one of the best couples after Julius Gong and Sadie Wen written by this author. I would reread this book and never get bored.