ann liang did what she does best, which is make the most achingly relatable fmcs. jenna chen has always desired to be better. she’s constantly lived in the shadow of her cousin, jessica chen, who happens to excel at literally everything offered. she’s smart, athletic, beautiful, rich, well-liked.. and after jenna is rejected from every ivy league, she makes a ridiculous wish: to become jessica chen.

somehow, jenna wakes up jessica’s body. now, she seems to have the entire world at her fingers. ann liang’s writing style is so captivating & it’s so easy to get hooked onto her books. i didn’t feel like the plot was rushed or dragging at any time during the story, everything was just balanced and easy to grasp. (literally read it in one day lawl)

i could go on about how jenna is the realest fmc to ever fmc, but that would be no fun. i absolutely adored her character. ann liang does an amazing job at portraying asian family dynamics. it all felt so real, at some point i was convinced the author went into my mind and turned some of my thoughts into a book. i would give jenna a hug if she was real, i would in fact give her the whole wide world!

aaron cai has quickly become my fav mmc! his relationship with jenna had me on the floor sobbing. he also deserves the biggest hug ever, deserved so much better than what he was given. i know this book doesn’t focus on romance but i would loved to see more of jenna and aaron together & explore their relationship, because there is a very interesting point in the book which i will not name.

this book made me feel so many things, and is probably my favorite from ann liang yet. jenna’s story is going to haunt me for the rest of my life, and i’m so excited for the book to come out so i can cry about her with everybody!

This book is a love letter to the burn-out overachievers out there and academic validation-seeking pessimists who constantly feel like they’re never enough.

The premise of this was so unique, interesting, and I could not put this book down. I literally inhaled this in under 24hrs.

Jenna was such a realistic and relatable character on so many levels. She was so well written and her development from start to finish was absolutely amazing as she loved her true self and worth. I had the strongest urge to wrap her up into a hug! That obsession of wanting success and perfection to the point where it’s deeply messy and human – it was captured so well through the writing and characters.

Ann Liang truly understands and she was a genius for writing this book. The writing was addictive and the effortless switch between genres was just *chefs kiss*. This story hit hard because of its relatability on a personal level.

I love everything in the Liangverse (if that’s what it’s called) and this is truly my favorite book by her so far. The romance was absolutely heartwarming and sweet as well.

Aaron Cai is such a green flag and the best book boyfriend ever! I adored his growing relationship with Jenna. I also enjoyed the pacing of the plot, the mystery elements, the cultural background, and Jenna’s bonds with both Jessica and her parents.


I’m so grateful that I had the opportunity to read an early copy of this gem. A million thanks to NetGalley and publisher for the ARC!

many thanks to the publisher HarperCollins for the e-arc.

i can't believe it but Ann Liang does it again for the fifth time in a row. i just love the way she writes, in a way that i can only describe as simple yet heavy. the way she pieces words together always makes everything so profound and hits hard. this one in particular stuck with me because of just how well she writes Jenna's voice that as someone who was once a burnt out chinese student i felt every single bit of.

like many others i'm sure, i saw myself in Jenna. i saw myself in her, in the way she tries so hard she feels like drowning, in the way she never feels good enough, in the way the race for success and whatever it is she needs to achieve never ends. i felt that in every B and C i got in school even though i was always the first to get started on the assignment, even though i put in all the time and effort for it and still didn't manage to even do as well as someone who started a week before the deadline. truth is when i was in school, i never felt good enough. and that was the part of Jenna i understood the most. the worst part is that i understood how it felt to be in someone's shadow, to want to blame someone else for this. sometimes i felt so flat that i was just a cardboard cut out that no one would even assign a role at a table read. the moment when Jenna mentioned being left out when picking groups also made me remember that vividly. like no one would even notice if i was gone.

and somehow i saw myself a little in Jessica as well, if that was possible. no, not in being so perfect and talented all the time at all, only the pressure that comes with it. despite dismal grades, i was always touted as being 'smart and quiet' (typical asian i know) and it felt so hard to live up to that all the time when deep down i knew i wasn't. okay, maybe that's not to much Jessica as i thought it would sound.

(spoilers ahead!)

once again, i loved the chinese whole family dynamic portrayed in here, with the subtle nod to classism in the difference between Jessica and Jenna's households, even within the family. though honestly i would have liked to see more explored in the relationship between Jenna and Jessica since that was so crucial to the story. i felt like i needed more than one scene of them together before Jenna took over to really be convinced of their bond.

but of course Ann Liang writes spectacular romance, and i loved the slow burn childhood friends to lovers thing going on with Jenna and Aaron, and how he was the only person to eventually piece together that she was Jenna and not Jessica. okay, him flying to Paris to run from his feeling from her was a little dramatic. but he's a teenager with talent and money so i can't say much. but still, the tension between them is always sizzling on the page and i love how they are always there for each other. and the banter. god. the scene where Jenna calls Aaron on the anniversary of his mother's death to distract him and lets him yap for two hours on medical stuff? hot damn.

and the art stereotype, the painting, the pressure cooker education portrayed? phenomenal.

i can't wait for this book to be published so i can own a physical copy.

3.5 ☆ i am not jessica chen follows a young chinese girl, jenna chen, who often feels overshadowed by her smart and successful cousin, jessica chen. after receiving her rejection letter from harvard, she believes that all hope is lost. but who does get into the ivy league? jessica, of course. as they're all gathered that night, a shooting star passes through the sky and jenna makes a wish to be jessica. the next morning, she wakes up in a different body - jessica's body. she's forced to go through life as a top student who participates in all the extracurriculars, gets all the good grades, wins all the awards, and sweet talks all the teachers. but is this the life she really wants to live?

growing up in a chinese family, the feeling of being compared to your relatives and parent's friends is honestly something you just... live with. because of this, i resonated with jenna's story of feeling lost and hidden. this brought back a lot of anxiety, not gonna lie! this was extremely relatable and i actually enjoyed the touch of magical realism within the story. however, i felt like there were some missing pieces in all of this. i think the romance with aaron was pretty much forced - he was kind of a side character and i honestly could have gone without him. this book didn't need the romance at all! the mystery element was also fun, but was resolved too quickly in my opinion and didn't end up being of much importance to the book. however, ann liang did such a great job at instilling that fear and anxiousness in the reader through jenna. i also loved the different chinese elements and the mandarin speaking!

Very obvious 5 stars from the start, after all who can expect less from the very best? This was intricaticly written showing Jenna's jealousy and wishfulness in the beginninng began to ebb and fade away as she learns how truly lonely a successful life was. We see her character developement as she learns the dark truth about Jessica's acceptance into Harvard and how Jessica feels about her life through a series of diary entries. Despite all this, Jenna still continues to live in Jessica's body, until something unexpected happens, and her life-long love finally forgets her. This starts to worry Jessica "Jenna" and she promtly make the wish to return back. In the end we see her wish fulfilled, and she now shows more apprecciation to her life. Thank you to NetGallery for the early version of the book!!!
Review on Goodreads -> https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/6515133188

A stunning and heartfelt work. I enjoyed this book so, so much. The romancea nd themes it was all so good. Can't wait to read everything Ann writes!

I’m mean duh we see this coming didn’t we ?!
first the writing is my favorite thing about the book because Ann liangs writing is my favorite thing !!! I noticed that Ann Liangs FMMs at first are quite insecure and closed up and they have A LOT of similarities in different aspects of life but then they improve as the story goes on which I love because you notice the character development. And Arron boy oh boy this guy had me questioning who is my favorite Ann linag MMC (which I still don’t know the answer to ) he is very expressive of his emotions and didn’t hide that he cared about her ( which I ABSOLUTELY LOVED ) his confession had me KICKING MY FEET especially that the romance isn’t the main plot so you eat it up so much and I absolutely did . I had questions about how the love story is going to be since she is in someone else’s body but don’t worry guys it’s good and I had another question about where is Jenna’s body since Jenna was in Jessica’s body but this was also solved . Overall so so so good per usual mother Ann Liang does not disappoint would happily volunteer to read everything she puts out

This hit a lot harder than expected. Jenna was so relatable because which Asian kid hasn't been compared to their superior relative or parent's friend's daughter/son? This is a shared experience, almost a rite of passage, might I say, when the downtrodden low achievers must overcome self-hatred and envy. There is so much to love within ourselves, and we must search and embrace the positives and hopes in our lives, which can not be defined by others' expectations. I wish I had learned that lesson sooner, too. Growing up in America, it was not always a welcoming place for Asians in academic, workplace, and community settings. People stereotype us, undermine our efforts, and ridicule our culture. But sometimes, we are our own enemy when it comes to striving for a better life. IANJC shows how toxic it is to be competitive and pitted against each other instead of united in our struggles. Ann gets it.

Jessica Chen is the perfect student – beautiful, top in all her classes, in every club and she even got into Harvard. Her cousin Jenna Chen is blurry, never popular, never as good, and didn’t get into Harvard cousin. Jenna wishes to become her Jessica and surprisingly she wakes up in her life – all the adulation but also all the hard work. Jenna becomes addicted to it.
A good story that I had a lot of empathy and understanding of looking at that greener grass but I think it just didn’t go far enough. The what happened to Jessica part was weak and Jenna didn’t really feel like someone who loved art.

Thank you to NetGalley and HarperCollins Children’s Books for this DRC.
#IAmNotJessicaChen #NetGalley

Thank you to Netgalley and the Publishers for providing me with an ARC of this book.

I liked how the book dove into themes of insecurity, jealousy, and mediocrity. On the other hand, I also loved how it explored what it's actually like to be "perfect", along with the burden that comes with it—the dissatisfaction. When you set the standard for everyone else, what is there left to strive for?

I loved how the book portrayed the intoxicating feeling of finally getting what you want, and never wanting to let go of it. It captures selfishness in its rawest form. If I had to describe this book in one word, it would be raw, with Jenna’s unfiltered thoughts and emotions laid bare for us.

The premise is intriguing and really drew me in, and the execution of the body swap was interesting. However, it felt a little underdeveloped towards the end. I wanted to see more of Jenna’s overall growth. I wish there had been more focus on Jenna’s artistic path, because the end didn't feel satisfying enough for a conclusion. Additionally, from the middle to the end, some parts felt a bit repetitive. The inner monologues get a bit tiring because they all practically say the same thing, so there were times when it felt a bit shallow. Don’t get me wrong—a lot of the lines hit hard—but I hoped the later part would have more substance. Overall, it was an enjoyable read; I just think it could've been better with a little more character development.

I loved Ann Liang’s I Hope This Doesn’t Find You, so I was over the moon when I got the ARC of I Am Not Jessica Chen. And it didn’t disappoint!

Sometimes, I like magical realism, and sometimes, I don’t, but this story was so well done. I love harder-hitting stories, and this one sometimes tore me apart, so it was good! There’s a lot of character development, and I love to see a character grow.

Be aware that the romance, childhood friends to lovers, is just a B-plot, but it is a sweet one.

Overall, it's a great story!

Jenna was so relatable I was tearing up in certain parts, it just felt so good to not be the only who feels like you are never enough. I loved the story, Ann Liang prose was beautiful and eloquent. She is one of my favorite authors after reading this books.


Jenna's character development had my tearing up at the end 😭. I just wish I could give her a hug. Everyone can relate to this book at some point.

Aaron was amazing. He was just perfect but perfect in a way that is good, comfortable, like a warm hug. I don't know how else to describe him. L loved how he supported Jenna throughout the story, he is a gigantic green flag. The way the book shows Jenna gradually losing pieces of her identity is both haunting and beautifully written. Her internal conflict, as she realizes that perfection isn’t everything, is so real and raw that it leaves a lasting impact.



I love this book to bits, I want to go back and read it all over again. I will think about the characters and story a lot. Definitely a six star read for me ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.

P.S I sincerely would like to thank NetGalley and HaperCollins for the e-arc.

I have loved all of Ann Liang's books so far, and I'm so glad she keeps writing! I liked the premise of this story - the magical realism aspect of it. I did not like the main character, Jenna, as much as I hoped, and I didn't get to know Jessica well enough to feel invested in her as a character. It might have worked better for me if Jenna's self-realization was drawn out a bit more. That being said, the book is incredibly readable and I loved the romance between Jenna and Aaron.
I will definitely recommend this to readers of YA fiction.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC!

When I picked up I Am Not Jessica Chen, I wasn't expecting to be forced through a journey of my life's failures.

...multiple times.

Liang's only other book I have read, If You Could See the Sun is very enjoyable. It's an easy, breezy read that feels like you're transported into a contemporary C-drama school rom-com. While I had fun reading it, it didn't particularly pull at my heartstrings or leave a deep, lasting impression.

So, I wasn't expecting this book to be as difficult for me to read as it was. Not in a literal sense--I finished this book in about a day and a half, and the writing is simple and easily digestible. But I dare anyone who has dealt with feelings of failure, of insecurity, of constantly feeling like you're wasting your potential and will never measure up to the people you envy so terribly, to come away from this book without having to stop mid-page and wallow in your own emotions for a while.

I may be years removed from high school but, like any good YA book, Liang manages to transport me back to being a teenager while also making me wrestle with the best and worst parts of my teenage self that still linger. From the very first chapter, Jenna's anxious despair over her failures threatened to swallow me whole. Once I got into Jenna's head, it was impossible to leave.

But I expect this book will resonate even more strongly to Asian diaspora readers. Along with universal feelings of insecurity and self-loathing, Liang delves specifically into the model minority myth and the destruction it causes individuals, families, and communities. Asian students (and adults) are often held to impossible standards both academically and personally. Their successes never seem to hold the same weight as that of their white peers, while their smallest mistakes are amplified.

The books flaws are small compared to its strengths. While our heroine and her cousin/rival are fully realized characters, that same complexity is not necessarily extended to some of the supporting characters in the book. But this book is intentionally self-centered, with the narrative facing inward. Jenna is so preoccupied with herself and her surface-level understanding of Jessica Chen that it leaves little room for anyone else. Her love interest seems to mostly exist just to be Jenna's love interest, her parents existing to be her parents. But again, within the context of the book and its themes, it's not something that really bothered me.

Because when it comes down to it, this is a story of a girl learning to value herself. And Liang manages to achieve this well, skillfully toeing the line between making her protagonist irritatingly relatable while still allowing readers to see what she fails to: despite her flaws, there is so much about her to love.

Sadly this was a DNF for me. I think it would be relatable to a younger audience but I think I’m growing out of my Young Adult reads. It’s hard to find a good one I like anymore. I just couldn’t get into this one. Thank you so much to Netgalley and the Publisher for a copy of the arc in return for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are solely my own.

what an excellent YA novel. this is my first ann liang and i’m glad to say she hasn’t been overhyped— i wish i’d had this book as a teenager. i’ve been both jessica and jenna throughout my entire life, and this had me feeling So Much.

I like to thank the publisher and NetGalley for allowing me an early read.

An Liang is one of my new favorite authors. I love how she can write anything and make it sound original, new, and fresh. She says in her forward that this book is for people who felt like they wanted to be someone else, or wanted to have everything. This book is certainly that.

Our main character studies hard, tries her best, and hopes to get into Harvard. To impress her parents who hope / wish the best for her and have Chinese focus/aspirations. It sucks that she is compared to her cousin, Jessica Chen. Beautiful, smart, rich Jessica Chen. It is at a family gathering at Jessica's house that you find out Jessica got into Harvard (earlier that day the FL did not) and it sets her off, makes her realize how much she believes herself to be a failure. It is also at this same gathering her childhood friend Aaron has returned from his year long medical school study. Our FL and he parted on not so great terms a year ago and he left without saying goodbye. This lack of securing a spot in Harvard makes her seem inadequate to his life and future.

So she makes a wish, and she wishes to be her cousin. She wakes up the next morning to find out she is now Jessica Chen and Jessica Chen is missing... as well her real body.

This is where I have a tough time with the book. There is so much emotional weight and focus about Jenna learning her new role as Jessica and how much she craves it and wants it. It also allows her to see that perhaps life as Jessica isn't as rosy as it seems and that Jessica was hiding stuff. And Aaron? What are his feelings for Jenna when the world almost sees him and Jessica as the perfect / end-game couple. Meanwhile, Jenna is vanishing from existence every day from the memories and literal space she once occupied in everyone's life.

Then, Jenna gets wrapped up in a mystery featuring the real Jessica and someone who "knows what she did".

There is a lot to unpack in the book, and while - don't get me wrong - it's a GOOD book it's just not the best that Ann has written (for me). The body swapping story, the emotional baggage and desire that comes with being someone else, the love story, and the mystery all felt kind of sloppy and didn't really feel like it flowed together with the story. Like they were just individual ideas that could or could not be in the story and didn't feel cohesive.

I think the strongest and the best part of the book was being someone else and the emotional hardship that comes with desire and getting what you want.

I knew this was gonna hit hard, but damn. This is painfully relatable in the best way.

We've all wished we were someone else. Someone prettier, smarter, popular, a person so much better than what they believed they were. Liang took that concept and really turned it on its head to show how that wish is never what it seems to be. Liang being able to take these concepts and ground them to reality, despite the huge fantasy elements, really is stellar. It's why I fell in love with her debut If You Could Give Me the Sun, and I'm so happy she returned to that after.

The romance plays a very small part, which I do very much like. Aaron did his part in helping Jenna realize she was beautiful the way she was, but he wasn't the sole reason. It's still kind of weird how only he remembered her after her disappearance but not her parents, but I think that's commentary on how they didn't really "see" her like he did. I dunno, that's just me speculating.

It's hard to talk about the book too much without giving it away, but what I will say that it's so worth reading. Not my favorite Liang book, but it's still one I'm very happy she wrote and will proudly display on my shelf once it officially releases this coming January.

I Am Not Jessica Chen was everything I expected from an Ann Liang novel. She expertly captured the feeling of "wanting" and how desperately sometimes we wish to be something more (or someone else!). The romance in this one came secondary, which worked well for the plot. I would have loved to better understand the relationship between the cousins — it seemed fairly surface level and we didn't really get to know Jessica as well as I would have liked.

Rating - 3.75 stars

Thank you to the publisher for providing me with an early copy of ‘I am not Jessica Chen’ by Ann Liang.

The constant fear of falling behind and never being enough is a familiar dread. Jenna Chen has always felt this especially when her cousin Jessica is always Perfect, a model student on her way to Harvard. In a moment of despair, Jenna wishes she could live her cousin’s life and unexpectedly finds that her wish comes true. It’s everything she dreamed of, and being admired by everyone is intoxicating. But soon, she discovers that no one remembers Jenna, and the longer she remains as Jessica, the more Jenna will cease to exist. Will she abandon her own self in her quest for perfection?

I related to Jenna’s desperation and the constant struggle to be great, especially when you’re constantly compared to your peers. The start was promising, but in the middle, I found the plot lacking momentum, and the climax felt too abrupt. Aaron and Jenna’s relationship was all talk and no show. I couldn’t truly invest in their connection. Overall, this wasn’t my favorite of Ann Liang’s works