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When you’re a teenager, every decision, every argument, every challenge seems so important. It sometimes seems like the entire world revolves around the choices you’re struggling to make. And that’s certainly the case for the conflicted teen in author Anna Carey’s This Is Not the Jess Show.
The story follows the teenage adventures of Jessica Flynn, who’s struggling to work through the ups and downs of high school life in a small town in 1998. Mostly, Jess’s life is pretty typical. Her mom is maddeningly overprotective, and Jess is just trying to figure out what to do about this crush she has on her childhood best friend. At the same time, though, she’s also dealing with the uncertainty and fear of her younger sister’s mysterious illness. But her normal teenage life is shaken when a series of strange events makes her start to question everything.
For a while, This Is Not the Jess Show seems like just another teenage novel about one girl’s attempt to survive the constant drama of high school: dealing with her controlling mom, some awkwardness with her best friends, and the all-important question of whether to go to the dance with popular but dull Patrick Kramer.
It may not be perfect—and it may come with its share of struggles—but there’s just something cozy about Jess’s story. She faces all of those teenage trials that once seemed so critical to all of us—that will bring back memories of a simpler time (or, for younger readers, make the character relatable). And the retro ‘90s setting of the story gives it a nostalgic feel, bringing back memories of music and movies and favorite fads.
As soon as readers settle into the coziness, though, things start to crumble around Jess. And suddenly, her whole story changes into something very different. This wild twist ups the pace of the story as Jess tries to figure out her next steps in a new and completely unfamiliar situation. And while it completely changes the style and tone of the novel, the twists make it an even more entertaining read.
Both comfortably nostalgic and (later) wildly entertaining, This Is Not the Jess Show takes the same old teen drama and turns it into something completely unexpected. The concept may not be entirely original, but the action and suspense will make readers feel incredibly conflicted: you’ll want to know how it all ends, but you won’t really want it to end.
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