OMG!!! I did not want this book to end and I am still thinking about this book long after I finished reading it.

How many times have you wished to be you could be someone else? That is what happens in this book but not in the way you think. Jenna Chen yearns to be like her successful and smart cousin, Jessica. Jessica Chen seems like her life is so easy and all the opportunities just come to her. Jenna makes a wish and wakes up shockingly the next day as Jessica....

At first Jenna as Jessica has no idea what to do. Everyone thinks she is Jessica. But as time goes on, people start to wonder what happened to Jenna Chen. Jenna as Jessica wonder how she will find Jessica and go back to her life. Does she even want to go back to life as Jenna Chen?

The other supporting characters in this book are so good too!

For example, Aaron. Jessica's family and his own think they are the perfect match. The real Jessica Chen has been accepted into Harvard Aaron is studying/is a doctor. However, Aaron actually has feelings for Jenna.

Jessica's various friends are interesting too.

I do not to reveal too much but this book surprised me. I thought this was going to be a mediocre teen/YA book and be predictable. This book had so much depth and conflict! It was also so relatable!

Definitely a recommended read for 2025.

THanks to Netgallet, Ann Liang and Harper Collins Children's Books for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

already available

I am Not Jessica Chen is another beautiful story by Ann Liang. She’s seriously one of the best storytellers of her generation! She can tell such heartfelt stories while also being extremely concise. I love her books so much!!

Ann Liang is simply incapable of NOT hurting my feelings and reading me for filth…

while it didn’t hit quite five stars, i really enjoyed all tbe pain I am no Jessica Chen caused me and i’d definitely recommend it ㅠㅠ

This book is the EPITOME of "this is me trying." Jenna Chen is "good" but her cousin Jessica is GREAT. In a Freaky Friday style twist, Jenna becomes Jessica. And realizes Jessica has trouble of her own. Beautifully developed characters and an attention-holding story line made this such a fantastic read! You should definitely check it out.

I think this is the first book by this author that I didn’t love entirely. Maybe I’m too like Jenna in the first half of the book but I personally wouldn’t wanna go back either.

And then for her to crack and want to go back ONLY after Aaron forgets her? It would have been better if the final straw was the academic pressure or the racism at the college rather than a love she wasn’t aware existed before a week ago.

. Someone described this to me as a freaky Friday situation and listen the way I loved that movie had me ESTATIC to read this. I was expecting to laugh my ass off and see the weird stuff that she would get into. Jokes on me tho lol I really need to start reading the synopsis because this was literally the opposite of me laughing.

This book had me in tears. I wanted to hug her so bad! I’m really big on support systems, and she didn’t feel like she had that at first. She was doing all of this just to feel the support that she thought someone else had. It was really sad. And this may be a bit of a spoiler, but it was even more sad when she had the chance to change back and she still felt the same way as the beginning. I felt so bad for her. I just wanted to hug her and let her know they were hard on her because they cared, but they would much rather have her as herself. She deserved so much more.

Ann is normally a hit or miss for me. I’ve only ever read her romances, so this really lit a fire under me to read her other books. This was about a romance, but it was so much deeper than that. The love interest saw her before the change and even with telling her, she didn’t believe him. The self hatred was deep in this one. I think anyone, teen or not would feel this. I hated that she felt like she had to resort to this. I know I was deep into this book when I realized I was talking about the future of a fictional character. I found muself wishing that she got into therapy later on and really talked about these issues lol And while I would wish that for a person in real life I realize me wishing that for a character was a little weird lol

As someone who’s not a sci fi person, I thank you Ann Liang lol I am NOT science person so I always head into sci fi books hoping the science lingo isn’t too heavy or hard to understand. But in this one, it’s mentioned, but when explained it doesn’t go into too much detail and I loved that. And that’s as an adult. I know there are some teens who will be happy about this as well lol (And for those that aren’t I know some good sci fi titles that have plenty of science in them. Don’t try to put words in my mouth) This book is definitely a great example of fantasy/sci-fi. It has both because of the body switch aspect and the way the switch happened.

There is romance in this one, but I don’t think it was a huge part of it. I think I would classify this as a like second chance romance. They almost had a thing before, but they were teens and obviously didn’t communicate their feelings to one another. When everything came out tho it was head shake worthy. They should have talked a long time ago and they might have saved this whole fiasco. She just needed something to look forward to. he could have helped with that. But I also know that she wasn’t ready for anything and she wouldn’t have really listened to him. She didn’t in the first place lol However, I didn’t care for her decision making. She was content with not caring about anything, but she was mad about this one person not remembering her. And I get it, she’s a teen, but REALLY? LOL That’s what’s important to them. But as a mom, that made me shake my head a bit lol

This was a really great read and I can’t wait to share more about it. I will definitely be putting this book into the hat for my library system’s ToB titles next year. Not only is it entertaining, but it also brings to light some amazing conversations of grades and mental health. This is going to be a book I talk about for a long time coming. Thank you, Ann Liang.

Ann Liang’s I Am Not Jessica Chen is a very relatable and heartfelt YA contemporary novel that was able to explore identity, ambition, and the pressure of expectations. The way Liang was able to capture Jenna’s raw emotions and her struggles with comparison was amazing. Ann Liang never fails to draw me into every book that she writes and that’s why she is one of my favorite YA authors.

I have never felt so seen in a book. Reading this book through Jenna felt like I was reading my life. Always aiming to be perfect, to always make people happy, when in the process I was hurting myself. And every line in this book was written beautifully the quotes were so beauitful I want them tattoed on me. And can we speak about Aaron Cai. Like this man's quotes in this book. WHERE THE MOST HEART WRENCHING THING I HAVE EVER READ. Like most of my highlights were his quotes. If you want to start getting into Ann Liang read this, because this book will change your life.

Review: 4.5 stars

Ann Liang’s writing always comes from a magical place where she develops the most relatable Asian characters. I Am Not Jessica Chen is so relatable to Asian academics who were taught to strive for perfection.

Our protagonist, Jenna Chen, feels mediocre in every endeavour she strives for, especially compared to her perfect cousin, Jessica Chen. After being rejected by Harvard, the dream college she strived so hard for, she made a wish to become Jessica Chen, and in a freaky Friday moment, she became Jessica. And she got exactly what she wanted: respect, popularity, the brightest student in the academy and riding the success. However, one day, she receives a threatening message that alludes to something bad that Jessica did. Can she uncover Jessica’s secret before it threatens to ruin her life? What happened to the real Jessica Chen, and why is everyone forgetting who Jenna Chen is? Will the price of this wish she really wants pays off?

The character development is phenomenal! When Jenna finally got what she wanted, she was still always looking back as she was scared of being exposed as the fraud she was. She enjoys being Jessica Chen and struggles so much with her self-worth that she wants to stay being Jessica Chen! But, she finds that she has a supporter in her real self, Aaron Chai, her crush whom she has not seen for a year and who she thinks has a crush on Jessica.

In terms of the plot, I find the first part of the book somewhat slow as there were a lot of interludes of Jenna’s introspection as she adjusts to being Jessica. The plot picks up further with her interactions with Aaron. Their long-felt conversations, banter and heartbreaking moments Jenna and Aaron had together were amazing. Especially when we explore why Jenna relishes being Jessica more than being herself. I would categorize this as YA with a hint of fantasy. It also explores themes like filial piety, striving for perfection, the fierce and, at times, downside to intense competition as school academia and the messy journey to accepting who you are as a person and loving yourself first and foremost.

Big thanks to FrenzyBooks and HarperCollins for the eARC on Netgalley. I ended up purchasing a physical copy, knowing I was going to annotate it!

The story was very interesting from the beginning. I could feel the stress and unrealistic expectations that parents, school and society are placing on both of the characters in the story. To experience someone else's life and realize that everyone struggles was very cool. I had not had academic pressure placed on me to this extreme, so I appreciated being in the character's shoes. There was a little romance in the story which I enjoyed too!

Happy release day to this beautiful book!! Full review posted on Goodreads and Bookstagram @fadhee.reads 💕

ˏˋ°•*⁀➷・❥・“𝓘𝓽'𝓼 𝓼𝓾𝓬𝓱 𝓪 𝓼𝓾𝓯𝓯𝓸𝓬𝓪𝓽𝓲𝓷𝓰 𝓽𝓱𝓸𝓾𝓰𝓱𝓽—𝓽𝓱𝓪𝓽 𝓮𝓿𝓮𝓻𝔂𝓽𝓱𝓲𝓷𝓰 𝓘 𝔀𝓲𝓵𝓵 𝓮𝓿𝓮𝓻 𝓯𝓮𝓮𝓵 𝓪𝓷𝓭 𝓴𝓷𝓸𝔀 𝓪𝓷𝓭 𝓪𝓬𝓬𝓸𝓶𝓹𝓵𝓲𝓼𝓱 𝓶𝓾𝓼𝓽 𝓫𝓮𝓰𝓲𝓷 𝓪𝓷𝓭 𝓮𝓷𝓭 𝔀𝓲𝓽𝓱 𝓶𝔂 𝓸𝔀𝓷 𝓶𝓲𝓷𝓭 .”・❥・ˏˋ°•*⁀➷

💌27/01/25
➸5 stars ~spoiler-free review💫~
Release Date: 28th January, 2025

First 5 star of this year!!😭✨ I can't believe this beautiful book is seeing the world tomorrow 🥹💖 OH MY GOD!! this book was—I don't know how to put this into words, no amount of words can describe how freaking relatable & raw this book was in every way. I SOBBED, I CRIED BECAUSE I FELT SEEN...SO SEEN...🥺❤️‍🩹 I always say that Ann writes one of the most relatable characters, but this one beats all her other FMCs. Every freaking line hit too hard home, I had to take breaks because at times I could see myself in both Jenna and Jessica's shoes 🫠 Let me tell you something, you all are not ready for this book!!😭✋🏻 (dw, it doesn't end on a sad note like ASTDR)

✨Let's meet our Academic Weapons✨

“I've always had this theory that if I want something badly enough, the universe will make sure to keep it just out of my reach—either out of boredom, or cruelty, like an invisible hand dangling stars on a string.”

Jenna Chen 👩🏻‍🎨~ Our striving burned-out academic victim, who has a passion for Art. She gets rejected by every Ivy League she has applied to, and feels like a shit person inside. She feels she's not good enough for anybody. Jenna is me, I am her. This book focuses on how striving to be successful in everything actually takes so much from you. The need to prove yourself to others because of the constant comparison with other children, your cousins, your friends, and even your own siblings sometimes....just makes things really hard. It's like you are never good enough for anything. Sometimes, you wish you were someone else. And this book was exactly that, Jenna wishing to be her smartest cousin—Jessica, the girl everyone loves, even her own parents. But jokes on her, she finds herself in Jessica's body one morning, and she doesn't know where her body or Jessica's soul is, and she slowly realizes everyone is forgetting the real Jenna.

“I'm a good student, a good daughter, a good example. But I've never been a good person. I don't know how to be.”

Jessica Chen 👩🏻‍🎓~ She's every Asian parent's dream child, the example, the picture-perfect model daughter and student, who is good in everything, and who is loved and envied by everyone. She's the definition of "academic weapon". She gets accepted to everyone's dream Ivy league, Harvard University. But she might not be that perfect "model" student as everyone sees her to be after all. She has her own shocking secrets to guard, one that Jenna unveils. I found Jessica also relatable because once you become that "top" student—your family, your teachers, and every person you meet expects you to be the best in everything. There is this constant pressure to be perfect. Otherwise, you have the fear of disappointing everyone. The glory of being a topper fades away with it. I have been there 2 years ago, and have done that. I "was" her, not anymore, because I learned my lesson very well of putting my mental health in jeopardy.

“The world just felt smaller without you.”

Aaron Cai 🩺~ Aaron freaking Cai, the man he is 😩💓 He is the definition of "quiet prodigy". How come a guy can be that perfect? I LOVE HIM SO MUCH, he makes me wish I had someone like him during high school aahhh. Even though everyone started forgetting memories of Jenna, he still recognized her in Jessica's body, he still looked out for her and missed her. 🤧 The romance is a subplot in this book, there is a hint of romance between Jenna & him, but don't let that stop you, bc this book is too GOOD to pass!!

“For anyone who's ever wished they could be someone else.”

From the moment I read this dedication & the author's note, I knew that I was going to freaking love this book to pieces. Ann really did it with this book, she portrayed the anxiety of her characters really well! I'm telling you now, right here, this second, that this is hands down the BEST BOOK OF ANN LIANG after "I hope this doesn't find you" 🙂‍↕️🙌🏻 RUN AND ADD THIS TO YOUR TBR BESTIES!!😌✋🏻

Read this if you like 💌:
🎀 Young Adult
🎀 Dark Academia
🎀 Artist x Muse
🎀 Asian Fiction
🎀 Students Burnout
🎀 "This is me trying"
🎀 Coming of Age

Thankyou to the author, the publisher & Netgalley for giving this incredible masterpiece ARC! I'm forever grateful🫶🏻💕

Thank you NetGalley and publisher for this ARC publication for an honest review.

What a gorgeous cover with the perfect words within!

This book could be classified as magical realism considering we have an adaption of "Freaky Friday." But the premise was the most genuine, realistic, emotional read that made you feel it could absolutely be true. Our lead Jenna is a hard worker, creative, but no matter those things she was considered mediocre especially when living in the shadow of her perfect cousin Jessica. Jenna's feelings were so raw and easy to relate to as she was filled with self-doubt, unworthiness, inferior...daily she was relegated to the background as Jessica was the shining star in everything she did. At a breaking point, Jenna makes a wish to be Jessica Chen. While initially she is on a high of leaving behind her "less than" life, living as Jessica comes at a cost. Perfection is not easy to hold onto. It is a constant battle to keep attaining success after success...Jessica's perfect life is not so perfect.

There is the mystery as we have no clue where the real Jessica is. And day by day, Jenna is starting to lose her real self. Is she willing to truly let her life as Jenna disappear for good? And what about Jessica?

I adored Aaron! Jenna's person, the one who always saw her for who she was in the past and in the present. Their relationship was genuine and just so sweet. While the romance wasn't the main plot of the book, I loved all the shared moments between these two.

This book was so thought provoking! Jenna's struggles were heartbreaking and so emotionally charged. You could totally understand why she would be conflicted to let the persona of Jessica go even as she would be losing herself.

5 stars

This was both haunting and intriguing. I definitely think and hope that high school students will get a lot out of this. I am certainly very happy to have graduated and not deal with all that school stress anymore.

I really enjoyed the cute romance and the lyrical writing of this book. Ann Liang is so talented and I love the way she puts sentences together. I thought the themes and feelings of inadequacy that the main character experiences were believable and relatable, and I think that she and Jessica were characterized really well.

This book was amazing and the message was so touching. Ann Liang is one of my favorite authors and each time I pick up a book by her, I fall more and more in love with her writing. Even in a reading slump, Ann Liang can capture my attention like no other and pull me into the story. I really enjoyed this book and the main character Jenna, was so relatable and I loved that I was able to see myself in the character. Overall, this was such a beautiful and emotional story that I 100% recommend!

4.5 ⭐️

This was a beautifully written story of two cousins, Jenna and Jessica Chen, who both superficially present themselves as what they are not and secretly want one another’s lives. Jessica Chen is seemingly the perfect girl—good grades, perfect skin, sleek hair, master of everything she tries, adored. Jenna Chen is more of the artsy creative who has spent her entire life trying so hard just to feel average and like she’s living in Jessica’s shadow. One evening, Jenna wished upon a shooting star to be Jessica, and she learned one thing…be careful what you wish for.

This book details the life Jenna obtains as “Jessica” and at first, Jenna falls in love with the attention and success, but quickly realizes the perfect world doesn’t actually exist. Jenna finds Jessica’s diary and realizes how lonely and cold Jessica felt in her life before Jenna took over her body and her life. The more time goes on and the more Jenna is erased completely from her old life as she takes on Jessica’s life, the more she realizes she wants to be Jenna again. But is it too late?

This book is relatable, poetic and well written. Thank you to NetGalley and HarperCollins Publishing for the ARC.

What has always stood out to me the most about Ann Liang’s writing is how she’s able to write stories that are so relatable and grounded in the struggles that a lot of young people deal with and yet completely far-fetched at the same time. I Am Not Jessica Chen is all about comparison and how you never know what someone else is going through until you’re in their shoes. In this case, literally in their shoes.

One aspect of this book that didn’t quite mesh with me was the pacing—it felt like it slowed down too much in the middle—but I do think that was partially my own fault as I read this over a somewhat long period of time for my standards. If I had sat down and read longer portions of it at once, the pacing likely wouldn’t have felt off. We also don’t get a literal, scientific explanation for how Jenna could end up in Jessica’s body—because that’s not the point of the story.

If you’ve ever felt like you’re not enough, or that there’s always going to be someone better than you no matter how hard you try, you’ll probably see pieces of yourself in this story. And I think it’s important that we keep telling these kinds of stories in an age where we’re constantly comparing ourselves to others online, the number of people struggling with their mental health is increasing, and access to support for these struggles is nowhere close to where it should be.

this book would've healed my high school self.

the "this is me trying" aspect is brilliantly explored. i felt like i was reading my own thoughts --- scary! the writing was fantastic in a lot of places and had an eerie atmospheric quality which made my heart race and kept me glued to the book.

but the rest of it was too rudimentary. the "picture of dorian gray" aspect did not have the same richness. the touch-and-go racism ticked off a box and nothing more. the romance and all the characters except for Jenna were underdeveloped.

also, a personal preference: i was irritated by how American the dialogues were >-< usually, this is subdued in written form, but not here. my rating would've been much lower if i had picked up the audiobook instead.

i'll still hand it to the author for making me feel seen. I Am Not Jessica Chen is an important book for anyone in academia.

I didn't quite get to this book on my endless TBR, but the cover, not picked here, is so good I'm giving five stars.

I Am Not Jessica Chen was one of the books I looked forward to for 2025, and it did not disappoint. I think it became my favorite by the author. It's a story that, despite its magical realism, is very real and you can identify a lot with Jenna; no matter how hard she tries, she is always second, never the best. That position is occupied by her cousin Jessica, whom Jenna considers perfect, she is the one with the highest grades, the one who gets invited to international competitions, the one with wealthy parents, a big house, designer clothes, and popular friends, while no matter how hard she tries, Jenna is always in the background.

It is a story for those who like school, and who try hard, but it seems like it is never enough, where getting the highest grade and winning prizes is the goal, but no matter how much you study, you are never good enough. Jenna is struggling and burned out, her last failure, is not having entered Harvard. One starry night, Jenna wishes to be Jessica and her wish is granted, now she lives in Jessica's body and little by little everyone is forgetting about Jenna.

After the first impression, Jenna loves being Jessica, she feels powerful, and everyone loves and envies her, everything it's perfect. Little by little Jenna loses a little perspective of who she is, her virtues, talent, and strengths, she finds herself in a dilemma, whether she should return to her body or continue being her cousin, she also discovers Jessica's secrets, it seems that she is not yet perfect as Jenna idolized her.

I Am Not Jessica Chen is a story that makes you think, try not to compare yourself with others, and appreciate your talents, nobody is perfect and not everything should be a competition. One of Jenna's talents is art, she paints with feeling and inspires emotions in those who see it, but for her, that is not enough achievement. The characters are realistic and raw, it's a little romance, is sweet, but not the main focus, Jenna first needs to learn to love herself and not to be so hard on herself.

Thank you so much HarperTeen for the ARC

Read it if you like:
YA Contemporary
Academic setting
Realist struggles with a touch of magic