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Jess Be Yourself
Jess's life begins to unravel on her thirteenth birthday.
First, she learns of her parents' separation.
Then she's forced to spend the rest of the summer living in her grandparents' camper trailer by the lake.
When she finally gets to come home for the first day of school, she discovers that her friends have abandoned her and nothing she remembers seems to be true anymore.
Everyone keeps calling her Jessica when they know she goes by Jess!
Does she have amnesia, or is everyone at school in on some elaborate joke?
The truth is crazier and scarier than she could have ever imagined.
Please note: This book was previously published under the title Jessica's Story. Significant changes have been made to the last two chapters.
First, she learns of her parents' separation.
Then she's forced to spend the rest of the summer living in her grandparents' camper trailer by the lake.
When she finally gets to come home for the first day of school, she discovers that her friends have abandoned her and nothing she remembers seems to be true anymore.
Everyone keeps calling her Jessica when they know she goes by Jess!
Does she have amnesia, or is everyone at school in on some elaborate joke?
The truth is crazier and scarier than she could have ever imagined.
Please note: This book was previously published under the title Jessica's Story. Significant changes have been made to the last two chapters.
146 pages, Kindle Edition
Published May 1, 2020
21 people are currently reading
14 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
March 31, 2022
Jess Be Yourself is a fun middle aged story that takes you through interesting events in a girl's life.
April 29, 2016
I didn't want to put this book down, literally. It had me smiling from the beginning. But, since everyone is different. I will list what I believe most will find as good and bad below.
Pros:
A-The voice. OMG the voice! Blake has humor, sarcasm, and isn't afraid to just be himself in telling this story, and I think that's why I liked it so much. I literally grinned while reading it at times.
B-This is a great story/plotline. It really is. I am a sucker for a good sci-fi, and this was right up my alley. It wasn't at all what I was thinking, but I still enjoyed it. It was honestly riveting from the beginning. I wanted to know what was happening.
C-It was a very clean read. There was not one bad word ... and yet ... the kids spoke like kids! It was great in that aspect.
D-Again, this probably all goes back to voice, but the read was easy, simple. Don't get me wrong, there were some big words. I even had to look one up, but short of a few paragraphs I mention below (like 3), I didn't have to reread sentences to understand them.
Cons:
A-The cover doesn't tell you much, but now that I've finished it, I can see that the artwork is suiting for it. Please, read the sample Amazon gives you and ignore the cover (the sample is what hooked me)
B-Jessica, and other characters, get a little over emotional at times. I really have a hard time seeing that many tears from teenagers in public. Don't get me wrong, there were times they were needed, but not that many times.
C-Every now and then, there would be a paragraph out of nowhere. It was like someone took a paragraph from another part of the book and inserted in the wrong place. This didn't happen often, and I just skipped them.
D-Parts of it were a little bit unrealistic. I don't want to spoil anything, so this may not make sense, but her mother would not have explained it all in public like that.
E-Although written in the 1st person, the narrator calls her mother by her first name all the time. That was a little off putting, like she was being very disrespectful of her mother.
Other tidbits:
—Although they have a great deal of immaturity when it comes to tears, they have a little too much maturity otherwise. I think they're supposed to be in 7th grade, but they acted like 9th grade sometimes. While some people may like this aspect, others may not.
—This was very reminiscent of the beginning of Twilight. It had a "new girl liked by all the boys" feel to it.
—He does say that this book runs parallel to another, and that probably explains some of the confusion I had reading it, etc.
—I don't get into romance. The kids do some romance stuff. It happens. But, it wasn't too much. It didn't take away from the story at all, in fact I think it added to it.
All in all, I really enjoyed this book and will recommend it to others :)
Pros:
A-The voice. OMG the voice! Blake has humor, sarcasm, and isn't afraid to just be himself in telling this story, and I think that's why I liked it so much. I literally grinned while reading it at times.
B-This is a great story/plotline. It really is. I am a sucker for a good sci-fi, and this was right up my alley. It wasn't at all what I was thinking, but I still enjoyed it. It was honestly riveting from the beginning. I wanted to know what was happening.
C-It was a very clean read. There was not one bad word ... and yet ... the kids spoke like kids! It was great in that aspect.
D-Again, this probably all goes back to voice, but the read was easy, simple. Don't get me wrong, there were some big words. I even had to look one up, but short of a few paragraphs I mention below (like 3), I didn't have to reread sentences to understand them.
Cons:
A-The cover doesn't tell you much, but now that I've finished it, I can see that the artwork is suiting for it. Please, read the sample Amazon gives you and ignore the cover (the sample is what hooked me)
B-Jessica, and other characters, get a little over emotional at times. I really have a hard time seeing that many tears from teenagers in public. Don't get me wrong, there were times they were needed, but not that many times.
C-Every now and then, there would be a paragraph out of nowhere. It was like someone took a paragraph from another part of the book and inserted in the wrong place. This didn't happen often, and I just skipped them.
D-Parts of it were a little bit unrealistic. I don't want to spoil anything, so this may not make sense, but her mother would not have explained it all in public like that.
E-Although written in the 1st person, the narrator calls her mother by her first name all the time. That was a little off putting, like she was being very disrespectful of her mother.
Other tidbits:
—Although they have a great deal of immaturity when it comes to tears, they have a little too much maturity otherwise. I think they're supposed to be in 7th grade, but they acted like 9th grade sometimes. While some people may like this aspect, others may not.
—This was very reminiscent of the beginning of Twilight. It had a "new girl liked by all the boys" feel to it.
—He does say that this book runs parallel to another, and that probably explains some of the confusion I had reading it, etc.
—I don't get into romance. The kids do some romance stuff. It happens. But, it wasn't too much. It didn't take away from the story at all, in fact I think it added to it.
All in all, I really enjoyed this book and will recommend it to others :)
October 22, 2017
I really enjoyed reading this book. I didn’t want to stop until I got to the end.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews