[Review contains minor spoilers]

In 2020, probably later than most of the world, I finally watched The Truman Show and it became one of my favourite films. So when I read the synopsis for this, I instantly wanted to read it.

It definitely gave me Truman Show vibes, but with a teen protagonist in a late 1990s setting, which I loved! This ‘90s setting was then completely juxtaposed by the outside world being in the 2030s New York City, with advanced technology and world where interactive reality TV is literally on every screen around the country.

At first I thought the pace was moving a little too quickly and Jess was learning about everything very fast — it seemed like the plot inside the set was being moved along quickly so that Jess could get out of it. But as the story progressed, I completely forgot about that and didn’t care, because I was dying to find out what happened next. By the end, my heart was literally racing. And the ending? Perfect!

I would like to have seen more about Jess’s reaction to the outside world — she seemed surprisingly okay considering it was pretty much like she’d travelled decades into the future. I would have liked it to have more of a toll on her mentally and to see how she would cope with that, but the whole story takes more of a surface, lighthearted (kind of) approach. However, with the pace rushing at the speed it did, I bet she wouldn’t have even had much time to think!

I noticed that Goodreads says that it’s book #1, so whether that means there’s a sequel is in the works, I do not know. But if so, there are so many things left unanswered (Mims?!) and I absolutely want more.

Reality TV takes on a whole new meaning with This is Not the Jess Show. Seventeen year old, Jess Flynn, lives in Swickley in the 90s. She loves watching 90210 and listening to Alanis Morissette with her sister. Jess starts to feel that things just aren’t quite right in her life. She starts to question her friendships, her family, and life in her hometown.
This book was entertaining, and it had me thinking about the control we have over our own lives. I think this book brings up great topics of discussion that relate to society’s obsession with technology, social media, and living in the screen instead of living your own life that you dictate.

This Is Not the Jess Show by Anna Carey is a YA thriller about Jess and her family. She's having the usual high school problems, but the problems gradually start to get stranger and stranger. I can't say anything more, or it will give the twist away. I highly recommend this book though! It was fun, creative, unique, imaginative--all the things I'm looking for! Thanks to NetGalley for the free digital review copy. All opinions are my own.

Wow. Just wow. To start, this book definitely reminded me of The Truman Show (a phenomenal movie you should all watch) for young adults, and the premise is just so interesting (and scary) to me. Unlike many YA characters I found Jess’ voice fairly believable, and I was rooting for her from the very beginning. The world building was great, and I feel like I really got to know Jess and her mindset. Carey did a wonderful job of taking readers along on the rollercoaster of Jess’ emotions, from teen angst to paranoia to disbelief to anger to betrayal and everything in between. I won’t spoil what happens to Jess after she finds out about the TV show, but I will say that the book kept me guessing until the very last pages, and there were new surprises at every turn. The layers of secrets Jess lived under were insane, and I will definitely be having nightmares about unknowingly being filmed every moment of my life. A must read!

Thank you quirk books and NetGalley for gifting me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

At the beginning of the story we meet our main character Jess Flynn, who is a very fun, caring and loveable character. We meet Jess and her family during a very hard time in their lives and for Jess it just seems like life can’t get any worse, but it does. Jess is just trying to get by but it seems that trouble always finds her, her younger sister gets diagnosed with a serious illness and her friends are putting pressure on her to go out with a guy she doesn’t like. Can life get worse than that for Jess?? Yes...

This fast paced YA novel takes you through all the emotions, as the story goes on I can understand exactly how Jess is feeling, as everything opens up to her and she finds out the truth. I found the story to be very intriguing and I really didn’t want to put it down. I felt such a connection with Jess, I just needed to know what was going to happen to her. I so badly wanted her to have a happy ending because she deserved it.

One thing I did notice with this book is that it was very predictable in the first half of the book, but I think that worked really well and made the story a lot more interesting. But in the later half of the book it was a lot less predictable.

I definitely recommend this book to anyone who enjoys an action packed YA novel, which takes you on a roller coaster of emotions. I very much appreciated this book, I found it very well written and enjoyable.

Jess Flynn is a normal teenager in 1998, with pictures of Scott Wolf in her locker and a love for 90s pop culture. She has just realized she has a crush on her best friend Tyler, and has a younger sister, Sara, who has a very rare and untreatable blood disease. Everything is normal until one day she starts noticing some abnormalities - hearing odd chanting coming from somewhere outside her home, and then one of her girlfriends drops an odd device with a picture of an apple on the back. The final straw, where she realizes something is off, is when they have to take her non-responsive sister to the hospital, and when Jess and her dad return home, her dog, Fuller, is not her dog. He growls at her, his markings are off, and Jess knows something is very wrong, even if she doesn't know what.

So begins Jess's adventure in discovering what her life REALLY is. Anna Carey's newest book is called a thriller but I didn't see "thriller" in its pages. It was entertaining, and I adored the 90s pop culture references. And in order to allow the readers to discover the twists and turns for themselves, I'm not going to say more about where the plot goes, except to say that Carey explores relationships - both familial and friend - in a way that shows that the people you trust the most can be the people you should trust the least. I found the ending a little abrupt, but considering the enjoyment factor of the rest of the book, I won't hold that against Carey. Very cute and fun read.

3.5 stars rounded up to 4. I knew the basic premise of this book going in but still found it to be an exciting read. Jess is really likable. I loved her character development alongside her world falling apart. The story was a little slow for the first half, then very rushed for the back half, so it was a bit uneven pacing wise. The 90s references were a lot in that first half but they made sense (and paid off!) after the twist.

Unfortunately this was a DNF.
I didn't DNF because I wasn't enjoying it, not by any means, but instead it just wasn't the right time for me to read it as I fell into a massive slump. However I'm definitely going to pick this back up again at some point in the future.

Nostalgia hit me hard with this book! I was the same age as Jess in 1998. If you stayed up to watch Leo in a tux at the Oscars for Titanic while sipping a Snapple, or flipped through the pages of YM or Delia Magazine while listening to Jagged Little Pill then this is for you. If you are of a certain age there are certain things engrained in your brain like the sentence “I did not have sexual relations with that woman” or TLC warning you not to chase waterfalls. Ya know please stick to the rivers and lakes like you’re used to! Sorry I digress, but let me tell you I most definitely played Oregon Trail with my Kipling resting at my Doc Marten Clad feet and knew the TGIF lineup by heart!
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I could not stop reading this book. As the book started with a sweet trip down memory lane it swiftly took a 180 and I was (as the kids say these days) shook. It’s seemed like every chapter I couldn’t be more shocked but I was wrong!
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I don’t want to say much more then that because I don’t want to ruin the shock factor but it’s like a trippy episode of the Black Mirror and I loved it!
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Huge thank you to #netgalley and #quirkbooks for an arc in exchange for an honest opinion
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This book comes out tomorrow!

I couldn’t get over the premise for this one, so I was quite eager to get to it.

I liked Jess. She’s determined and loyal and really has her wits about her when shit goes down. There are a good amount of characters here, but this is 100% the Jess show.

Plot wise, it was fast paced once she learns what’s going on, but wasn’t the thriller that I’ve seen it described as. I loved the commentary on influencers and vloggers and really would have loved more in that aspect. The ending felt a little abrupt, yet also had a finality to this chapter of the story. I’m curious to see what the sequel will contain.

Overall, it was a quick read with characters who were easy to root for. If there really is more, I’ll definitely be reading.

**Huge thanks to Quirk for providing the arc free of charge**

This Is Not the Jess Show was an interesting read. I think it's best to go into this book without reading reviews to know as little as possible. Just read the book description as it doesn't give too much away. The beginning was a little slow, but as the plot unfolded I was more and more invested. Once I got to the middle of the book I didn't want to stop reading so I could find out what happens. However, the ended was kind of abrupt and it wasn't really fleshed out. Based on the Goodreads page it seems like there might be a sequel but after the ending I don't necessarily feel pulled to continue on. Overall, I liked the premise but I think things could have been expanded more to have a greater impact on the reader.

This Is Not the Jess Show by Anna Carey

**Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an eARC in exchange for an honest review.**

A modern version of The Truman Show for young readers.
The year is 1998, and like any other teenager, Jess Flynn is just trying to survive high school. Between a crush on her friend, overprotective parents, and her sister’s worsening health, the only constant is her hometown of Swickley. But one day she discovers a mysterious device with an apple logo, causing her to question everything and everyone she’s ever known. As more cracks appear in Jess’s world, she faces a choice: can she live the rest of her life knowing it’s a lie or should she risk everything for the truth? (shortened version of backcover)

This was a very captivating and fast-paced read! Throughout the first half, I had fun noticing all the small clues and as soon as we hit the midpoint, I was fully invested in the story. The story is very much comparable to the movie The Truman Show, but it takes the idea even further. Where we were probably many people who wondered what happened after the end of the Truman movie, This Is Not the Jess Show explores just this in a top modern world.

I did however still feel left hanging by the last pages of the book. There was something about the few consequences for everyone involved that just left me wanting. The reason I can't give this book five stars is that I felt the characters and the world could've been developed more. And on top of that, I just wanted a few more chapters.
***Okay, I just found out that this is in fact just the first book in a duology?? series??? So I'll definitely want to pick up the next book! This doesn't change that I felt there could have been more dept to the story and characters. Maybe I just expected more social commentary than I got from the story.***

A wonderful story with a catching mystery told in a fast-paced manner with plenty of action. I'd totally recommend this compelling thriller for fans of the Truman Show and Black Mirror.

3.5/5 stars!

I absolutely adored this book!

It’s was such an amazing concept and the book had me gripped the full time.

What I thought was going to be a lovely teen style romance was quite the opposite. I live the fast paced nature of the book and how quickly the plot unfolded but also kept you hooked with lots of twists and turns.

Patrick is such a good egg. Definitely my favourite wholesome character

Definitely a heavy riff on The Truman Show, with touches of Black Mirror. (So many things that I like!) But what would have worked for an hour of tv didn't feel quite as fully fleshed out in book form.

At the beginning, I wondered who the audience was for this, with the constantly peppered 90's references. Fortunately, the "reveal" for the main character came quickly, and the second half of the book was everything that the Truman Show wasn't - the main character out in the real world. Every beat felt real, but rushed, all the way to the not-unexpected but not deftly executed "twist" ending - and it ultimately felt like too much plot packed into too short of a book - like a novelization of a TV show that left out some crucial details and character development.

Personally, I enjoyed reading it in the same way I enjoy reading straightforward fanfiction, but it's bound to be a filler book, and I don't know if I would go out of my way to purchase it for a smaller teen collection.

The Truman Show for the 21st century - a fascinating YA thriller that was hugely compelling from start to finish. This has the potential to be a smash hit!!

The Trueman Show for the next generation
I always wondered what happened to Trueman when he managed to escape his show and this was a wonderful example of one way it could have gone.
Jess was such a great character who didn't just brush things off but went out of her way to find answers. I liked that she wasn't just some airhead but an intelligent girl with real flaws and reactions.
Full review will be on my blog on 2/2/21 which is the release date.
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A massive thank you to Netgalley and Quirk Books for this review copy!

Well, this is almost certainly a nostalgic read. It takes place in the nineties, and it was so much fun to read.

What Jess doesn’t know is that her life is live-streamed. I don’t want to give too much away (it is so hard to write this review without spoilers!)

When things start to go wrong, when things start to seem out of place, Jess goes on a mission to find out why.

I really liked the characters, Jess, Tyler and Sara to name a few. The author depicted the story well, and I found myself so immersed in the story.

This is a nod to The Truman Show (a movie I love!) and is action-packed! The second half of the story is a bit more erratic than the first, but overall it was a really fun, mysterious read.

I gave it ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

The Truman Show is one of my favorite movies, so when I saw the plot of this book I was immediately excited, as it is very similar to the movie. I loved seeing the initial bits of Jess' life in 1998, all the references were great, and I was really liking how the story was progressing - how weird everyone was acting and her friend's iPhone slip up. What I really wasn't expecting was for this to change so fast and for Jess to find out the truth not even half way through the book. I wanted more of her life in 1998, and of little hints of what reality really was. Still, I enjoyed the rest of the novel, as a fly threw it, even though some things seemed farfetched for the year it was.

A super interesting prospect, but it never fully formed for me. I DID like that it was the late 90's settings though, that's my decade lol.

A huge thank you to Quirk Books for providing me with an eArc in exchange for my honest review!

I was really looking forward to reading this book and thought the premise was really interesting and, like nothing I had read before. The first third of it, I could honestly not put it down and just wanting to keep reading to see what was going on and how Jess would react. However as it progressed I felt that writing and story didn't grip me as much and I was reading it just to get it done.

I felt a disconnect with a lot of the characters and felt that there was something missing. It could just be how they tried to combine the 1990s with a world that is supposed to be set in 2037, the two different eras clashing and confusing me to a point.

I wouldn't particularly call this book a thriller. The first part before she knew of what was happening was interesting enough and had elements of being a thriller in it but overall I wouldn't say it's a thriller book.

I was slightly disappointed in seeing Harry Potter references in this book and hope that they might be taken out in the final copy. With everything that JKR has done, harshly affecting the lgbt+ community, I don't like knowing that upcoming books are still giving her a platform. Even though the books are big, there are so many other authors and series that could be recommended instead that will prevent any encouragement in reading/ giving JKR more money.

Again a huge thank you to the publishers for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review!