Thursday, October 22, 2020

This Is Not the Jess Show by Anna Carey

Thanks to Quirk Books for sending me an ARC of this book! It will be released on February 2, 2021, and you won't want to miss it. 

“At once thought-provoking and hilarious, This Is Not the Jess Show is a timely, incisive book so masterfully-plotted you won't want to put it down.”—Tahereh Mafi, New York Times best-selling author of the Shatter Me series and A Very Large Expanse of Sea

I have a love/hate relationship with social media (as I’m sure most of us do), and I love taking a step back to try and understand how it affects everyone in different ways. For example, I cannot WAIT for the wave of memoirs written by influencer kids that is sure to come in 10-15 years! Until then, this book is as close as you can get, and I’ll take it!

Jess starts noticing things that are slightly off in her world, but no one else seems to see. Actually, others seem to see the problems, but they try to redirect Jess when she brings it up, so she starts to feel crazy. But when Jess realizes that her whole life has been faked for a TV show, she doesn’t know how to feel or what to believe. Now her mom making sure she always looks great makes total sense, and she sees how a bunch of drama in her life was created just for ratings. But this life is all Jess has ever known - can she escape? Does she even want to?

Whether you scoff at seeing moms on Instagram pose their kids in a pumpkin patch just for pics, or you think the kids are really getting something out of the experience, this book will make you think critically about reality vs social media. 

This book is billed as a “thriller”, which I don’t really agree with, but then again I read a lot of adult thrillers, so maybe I’m biased. It’s also described as having a hint of Black Mirror, which I totally agree with. It’s twisted in the best way, and the 90s references make me think readers in their 30s and 40s will love this just as much as the young adult audience it’s intended for!

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