This is an intriguing tale of life turned reality show. The writing is engaging when the main character is on the run/fighting back.

After having escaped from Swickley and her faux 90's life, Jess Flynn and her boyfriend Kipps are hiding in Maine with Sara and her mother, plotting their next move. Now that Jess is 18, she is free from LLP's contracts, but Kipps is still 17. When LLP finds them and drags Kipps back to the show, Jess willingly goes back in, hoping to break Kipps out and bring the whole company down from the inside.

This sequel to This is Not The Jess Show was another fun and fast paced thriller. While this one did not have as many twists and turns as the first, I enjoyed following the characters and being back in the world. It was nice to explore a little bit more of what LLP was up to. For me, everything ended a little too quickly and neatly, but I think that fans of the first one will be excited to revisit this world and its characters. It was also nice to have Jess revisit the world knowing that everyone she knew was an actor. Overall, I would recommend, although not a required read after reading the first book.,

This is Not the Real World, the sequel to 2021's This is Not the Jess Show, continues the story of Jess Flynn, our late teen Truman Show victim from the original novel. The second novel notches up the tension from the first and puts the recently escaped Jess back on the set of the show she had spent the entirety of her 18 years of life living in. Jess's awareness that her life is a television show, along with her awareness of the nefarious going-ons of the producers, changes the series from being a book about escape to a more traditional YA-type "how do we take down the oppressors" story. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, and while the story could end here enough is left open for exploration to continue the story in more books. I'm really enjoying this story, and find Anna Carey's ability to create a futuristic world that explores nostalgia's grasp on the culture to be very engaging.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this book. All of the opinions given are my own and have been given nothing for my review.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This book was the perfect read for this current moment. The parallels to the #FreeBritney movement are maybe a little too on the nose at times, and seeing Jess' story come to a (maybe?) close just as Britney's conservatorship came to a close was... actually kind of neat.

There were times while reading that I literally wanted to reach through my Kindle screen and shake some of these characters, which is not a bad thing, as these characters weren't supposed to necessarily be likable (and they weren't).

I thought maybe the resolution of this one was perhaps a little rushed. I was 90% through it and thought there was absolutely no way things would be resolved in the time left, and... they were? Mostly? I wouldn't be mad at another book or short story set in this universe, as I've had a lot of fun in it.

A thrilling sequel to last year's underrated THIS IS NOT THE JESS SHOW sees our titular heroine facing a world she never imagined and fighting back against the only world she's ever known.

This was a solid sequel. I appreciate how using the constraints of the first book they were able to create a second without repeating storylines.