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!

FAKE by Donna Cooner

Thanks to the @kidlitexchange network for the review copy of this book - all opinions are my own.

Fake by Donna Cooner is a unique take on the high school popularity game. Maisie is tired of being ashamed of her overweight body and tired of hearing the popular kids make cutting remarks about how she looks. When she’s forced to be lab partners with Jesse, the king of these insults, she’s determined to make him suffer. She creates a fake online profile for a pretty girl she names Sienna, and gets to work making all of the popular kids believe Sienna is real. Maisie, who already escaped real life by drawing comics, now puts work into developing Sienna’s internet presence. Before too long, even Maisie has trouble remembering what is real and what happened online. She’s scared at being found out, but she‘s hooked on feeling popular and accepted.

Personally I was drawn into this book because Maisie is overweight and uncomfortable with it. Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE all these YA books with overweight main characters who love their bodies and have confidence oozing out of every pore, but that wasn’t my experience. I was a chubby kid and struggled with weight and body image all through high school, and I wasn’t comfortable with it or confident about it. I always wanted to see that reflected in fiction, because otherwise I felt even worse about myself. Why wasn’t I confident about my size like other characters? Why was I so nervous about standing in front of the class and letting them see my whole body instead of being like other characters? I love that Maisie lets body conscious teens feel seen and understood, then empowers them in a realistic way. 

I highly recommend you check this book out for yourself when it releases on October 1, 2019!