THIS IS NOT A PERSONAL STATEMENT By Tracy Badua

I received this book for free from Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

This Is Not a Personal Statement by Tracy Badua
Published by Quill Tree Books on 1/17/23
Genres: Contemporary, Realistic Fiction, Young Adult
Pages: 347
Format: eARC
Source: Publisher
Buy on Amazon

At sixteen, Perla is the youngest graduating senior of the hypercompetitive Monte Verde High. Praised—and not-so-quietly bashed—as “Perfect Perlie Perez,” Perla knows all the late nights, social isolation, and crushing stress will be worth it when she gets into the college of her (and her parents’) dreams: Delmont University.

Then Perla doesn’t get in, and her meticulously planned future shatters. In a panic, she forges her own acceptance letter, and next thing she knows, she’s heading to Delmont for real, acceptance or not. Soon, Perla is breaking into dorm rooms, crashing classes, and dodging questions from new friends about her lack of a student ID. Her plan? Gather on-the-ground intel to beef up her application and reapply spring semester before she’s caught.

But as her guilty conscience grows and campus security looms large, Perla starts to wonder if her plan will really succeed—and if this dream she’s worked for her entire life is something she even wants.

Short and Sweet Review

Perla Perez is the youngest student in her graduating class and all her life she’s worked to get accepted into Delmont University. So when Perla gets a rejection letter she panics and creates a fake acceptance letter and shows it to her parents. Perla plans to pretend to be a student and try to improve her next application and become a student in the spring.

This book was addicting and nerve wracking. Perla really went through almost every scenario when she came up with the idea of pretending to be a college student. She attends lectures, finds an empty dorm room, and makes some friends. What Perla wasn’t expecting was to have money problems and see someone from high school who may be on to her. Perla’s parents and family have high expectations for her and I felt bad because this is one of the main reasons she’s in this predicament. Perla is used to being on top so when she’s here in college she realizes that she may have been a lot more sheltered back at home than she thought. Perla has a lot of character development and that was one of my favorite things about this book, Perla just learning that this is her life and she has her own dreams and she doesn’t have to try to live out someone else’s. We see Perla make it 3 months on campus which is pretty insane because she did a lot of sneaking around, and it was always how long can she go before she gets caught or will she be successful and actually get accepted in the spring?

This was an amazing book, it will have you on the edge of your seat following Perla around campus. The biggest thing was the message that you get to pick the overall course of your life and you should follow your dreams and not anyone else’s. This is a must get book, I may have struggled in my college journey but Perla took fake it til you make it to another level and I will never forget her story!