🎧book review🎧 This book is a love letter to all the gifted students out there who suffer(ed) endless burnout climbing up the tallest mountain only to reach the peak and still feel like you’re not good enough. Jenna Chen is smart, but she’s not /as/ smart as her cousin Jessica Chen, who receives about every award there is and gets top marks. She even got into Harvard, whereas Jenna didn’t. If only Jenna could hate her, but Jessica also happens to be the kindest person. This book really harps on the damaging effects familial expectations can have, as well as generational guilt. “I have to be the best— because my parents sacrificed everything for me to be here”. I feel like a lot of kids of immigrants feel this way, myself included. Jenna made a wish to be Jessica, and it came true. But there was no Freaky Friday situation. Jessica was essentially in the ether, and Jenna’s real life and memory (people’s memory of her, not actually her own memory) began to fade the longer she became Jessica. She also learned that life isn’t always greener on the other side. Jessica struggles a lot—- what looks like so much on someone’s plate IS a lot. She has pressures of her own. I am glad that Jenna got to experience both the highs and lows of being Jessica, because I think it enabled her to appreciate more who she is and their differences, and begin to move past the self-hate. Aaron was also a great support, and I love that he was always there rooting for the real Jenna. In the end nothing really changed, just how the two girl’s viewed their own lives. It was a good coming of age moment right before they head off to college. bookreview LTKSaleAlert LTKHome LTKFindsUnder50