Wednesday, September 28, 2011

North of Beautiful by Justina Chen Headley

Summary: (from back of book) It's hard not to notice Terra Cooper. She's tall,blond, and has an enviable body. But with one turn of her cheek, all people notice is her unmistakably "flawed" face. Terra secretly plans to leave her small, stifling town in the Northwest and escape to and East Coast college., but gets pushed off course by her controlling father. When an unexpected collision puts Terra directly in Jacob's path, the handsome but quirky goth boy immediately challenges her assumptions about herself and her life, and she is forced in yet another direction. With her carefully laid plans disrupted, will Terra be able to find her true path.
Review: My favorite thing about this book is the message that it sends. I think it was a unique idea and this journey of discovering self respect, standing up for yourself and finding beauty in all places was a really great one. This was a very character driven story and the plot wasn't all that action packed but I felt like each moment had some sort of significance to the overall theme of finding beauty within yourself. There was a mix of serious moments and moments that made me laugh, which I really liked. I thought Terra was a really easy character to relate to. What teenager can't relate to the feeling of being insecure with some part of their appearance? Anyone who has problems with self confidence should read this. I thought all the characters were pretty well rounded. Terra and her family were a really great plot line. i liked seeing the way they all changed over the course of the story. I don't want to spoil anything but i think the setting was also really great, especially in the second half. My only complaint was, as I mentioned, the plot was a little slow in some places and a little bit predictable but overall, this one was pretty good.

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