Review: North of Beautiful

by Justina Chen Headley

Summary: Terra would be beautiful if she didn't have that port wine stain across half her face. She knows it; everyone tells her so. It's why she has to have a perfect body, why she's lucky to be with shallow boyfriend Erik, and part of the reason her jerk Dad is able to cut her down every single day. But one icy drive and a gothic Chinese stranger later, Terra starts to learn more and more about herself, about the girl behind the mask of makeup.

*note: this summary sucks. It's way better than that, I'm just awful at summaries... but I'm practicing, so stick with me here!*

Review: If you're anything like me (a fantasy geek), you'll take one look at the cover of a girl's face with her blond hair cascading down over half of it, and think... pretty, but no thanks.

And if you're anything like me you'll have a best friend who loves books like this, and tells you time and time again to read it.

And if you're like me, you'll say 'Okay, sure.' and put it on your shelf under books about faeries and talking animals and ghosts and stuff. Because it's big. And it has a cascade of blond hair across the front.

And then if you're like me, your friend sees that the book is on the bottom of the pile and says, 'Really! It's so much more than that blond cascade of hair down the front! Just try it!'

And if you're like me, you finally sigh and put down your other books and open it to please her.

So did I close it after the first 10 pages, and say 'No thanks, chick flick?'

NO!

North of Beautiful is. absolutely. fantastic.

The writing is enough to make your draw drop, if it hasn't already with the heart-wrenching dialogue and tension between Terra and her family. Headley intertwines the theme of maps and compasses with surprising ease and creativity. And then there's the characters that are spontaneous and sweet and fun and adorable and...um, hot?

And the surprise trip out of the country! Yay for scene changes that work!

Really, this book feels. You feel everything. And it's actually a breeze to read through, which really surprised me.

I don't think I'm conveying how much I loved this book.

IT WAS FANTASTIC! PERFECT! WONDERFUL! ASJF AOWIE JFALS;KDFJAS;LD!

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5 Stars

Rating: PG

384 pages

Released.