📚This Is Not A Personal Statement by Tracy Badua

“𝙸𝚗 𝚏𝚊𝚌𝚝, 𝙸 𝚍𝚘𝚗’𝚝 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚔 𝚒𝚝 𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚗 𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚕𝚕𝚢 𝚖𝚊𝚝𝚝𝚎𝚛𝚜 𝚠𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚔 𝚘𝚏 𝚖𝚎 𝚊𝚗𝚢𝚖𝚘𝚛𝚎. 𝚃𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚒𝚜 𝚖𝚎, 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝙸’𝚖 𝚗𝚘𝚝 𝚙𝚎𝚛𝚏𝚎𝚌𝚝. 𝙸 𝚍𝚘𝚗’𝚝 𝚗𝚎𝚎𝚍 𝚝𝚘 𝚋𝚎.”

⭐️⭐️⭐️.5 / 5

Review:

A huge thank you to Harper360YA and the author for this ARC edition in exchange for an honest review.

I think everyone has dealt with what feels like an insane amount of pressure to know what they want to do with their life. At such a young age we’re just expected to pick a career path and then spend thousands of pounds to achieve it without really knowing if it’s what we want. In that sense I think we can all relate to Perla. Don’t get me wrong a lot of us aren’t 16 and super smart when we start uni/college but I know most people still have that blind panic when we start doubting if that’s what they really want. I think having that personal experience of suddenly deciding I didn’t like what I wanted to do for so long made that connection to Perla much stronger and definitely made her actions and thoughts more relatable and honestly a bit relevant😅

TINAPS is a great exploration of the complex relationship between teens and their parents, which navigates the difficulties of living up to parental pressures and being perfect while still trying to understand oneself and figure out what the future looks like. Many aspects are relatable to many teens and students and while not a particularly challenging and complex read, I still got the anxiety, stress and fear of Perla being detected and the reactions of those around her.

It breaks my heart that some people feel like the pressure from society and their parents means they have to be perfect and that their love can only be bought through good grades and achievements. I’m not from an immigrant family, but the pressure Perlas parents put on her to do well, to succeed because they had to struggle is heartbreakingly sad and reminds me that’s not how I want my future kids to feel; and I’m eternally grateful to my parents for not putting that pressure on me when I was growing up.

I’ve actually been reading a lot of YA this year and it honestly reminded me why I loved Percy Jackson and Harry Potter so much, I’m definitely going to be reading both of them at some point! TINAPS was funny and witty and definitely gave me all the feel good vibes I love from YA; while still showing a somewhat realistic response of a teenager to a situation. I thank that’s my favourite aspect of YA the situation is often relatable and the response is something I could see myself or another person doing😅 tho lying a pretending to go to school is a bit extreme; mainly because I hated school and i honestly didn’t think id be going back into education😂

Although I got this gorgeous ARC edition, I ended up listening to the audiobook as I drove and i really really enjoyed it! Audiobooks are something I’m experimenting with this year and I’ve loved ass of them so far! I loved Ferdelle Capistrano’s narration and the little bits of personality she gave Perla and all the characters. I will say I absolutely detested Brad he’s a douche and honestly just lead Perla on for the whole book.

For lovers of:

• YA Fiction

• BIPOC main character and side characters

• First Crushes

• Navigating Collage / Uni

• Self discovery

What are you currently reading? I’m about to start Holiday Read and I couldn’t be more excited! Have a fabulous rest of your day!

Pip✨