I Am Not Jessica Chen review

 Book: I Am Not Jessica Chen

Author: Ann Liang

Pages: 308

Date(s) Read: March 2^nd, 2025 to March 10^th, 2025

Date Published: January 28^th, 2025

Rating: 5/5

Genre:  Asian Fiction

Characters: 5/5

Writing style: 5/5

Story: 5/5

Ending:  5/5

Cover: 5/5

Format: Hardcover

Date Bought: January 28^th, 2025

Book Cost: 17.99

Review:

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.