Joint review- North of Beautiful

First joint review. It's taken a while. :P We apoligize if the conversation jumps a lot and may be a little disjointed. It was all through msn with a little editing by Alex to make it easier to read and to take up less space. Also to delete the useless conversation that had no relevance to North of Beautiful. XD Ignore the fact that is says Alix. It's really Alex, just with a different name.

North of Beautiful by Justina Chen Headley

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 stifling small town in the Northwest and escape to an 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?

Written in lively, artful prose, award-winning author Justina Chen Headley has woven together a powerful novel about a fractured family, falling in love, travel, and the meaning of true beauty.

[ a l i x ] says: So, what did you think of the book?

lαuren says: it was lurvely. I very much enjoyed the reality of it. And the fact that Jacob was not a dreamboy.

[ a l i x ] says: Yes, exactly. Um, except that Jacob is TOTALLY a dream boy. Or at least, he's my dreamboy...

lαuren says: I mean not a typical dreamboy. I'm not that into goth... but yes

[ a l i x ] says: lol, well, not the goth bit. But he isn't really goth. He just uses fashion to make statements. Which is awesome.

lαuren says: Once he stopped wearing that black lipstick.

[ a l i x ] says: Oh I just ignored the fact that he wore makeup. That just creeped me out a little.

lαuren says: Well he stopped. Awww you'd be the cute little asian couple.

[ a l i x ] says: aaaw, wouldn't we be?

lαuren says: sure.

[ a l i x ] says: Why are all the best guys fictional?

lαuren says: I forget how tall he was...

[ a l i x ] says: hush.

lαuren says: If he's over 5 feet you guys are screwed.

[ a l i x ] says: Hey, I'm 5'1"!

lαuren says: sure.

[ a l i x ] says: It's true!

lαuren says: alrighty.

[ a l i x ] says: Opinions on characters beside Jacob? I think we can unanimously agree Jacob is amazing.

lαuren says: Yes. Uhhh… Her dad is a douchebag.

[ a l i x ] says: Oh god, no kidding. If I could, I would strangle him. It made me wish I had Mo's powers from Inkheart to bring characters from books and make them real JUST so I could strangle and kill Terra's dad. Such an ass.

lαuren says: Seriously. No one should have to deal with that.

[ a l i x ] says: It's so horrible!

lαuren says: I wish she'd stood up to him more - and her mom.

[ a l i x ] says: I know. It made me so angry. But it's a good thing in the book. Because it made the story great, you know? Actually, her dad made me want to stop reading.

lαuren says: Yes. It drove me nuts too. I want to smack him.

[ a l i x ] says: but i kept going for 2 reasons

1) JACOB

lαuren says: 1. because I love Jacob.

Hahaha.

And 2. Because I love Jacob.

[ a l i x ] says: and 2) well obviously, they'd stand up to him eventually.

Lmao. We're on the same page about Jacob.

lαuren says: The naked spa scene was cute... cute? whatever. made me want to go to a spa. I want to go find a geocache. That was so cute.

[ a l i x ] says: Yes! And the writing was good too, huh?

lαuren says: Yeah.

[ a l i x ] says: It flowed.

lαuren says: I liked all the geographical references

[ a l i x ] says: Yeah and all the map stuff.

lαuren says: yes. And Terra incognita and Terra Firma. All the names of each section or whatever were different which was cute.

[ a l i x ] says: The ending was so adorable, although it seemed a little forced to me. The rest of the book seemed more natural to me.

lαuren says: Except I wanted it to be a little more romantic... I wanted more kissing.

[ a l i x ] says: Mmmm yeah. But she did have her boyfriend and if she kissed jacob so easily, Terra wouldn't be Terra. She'd just be some cheating slut.

lαuren says: I'm sure they could have.

[ a l i x ] says:... at the end maybe. I wanted more. For such a thick book, it didn’t seem to be enough. Probably a sign of a good book. :P But I don't want a sequel, cause that would ruin it.

lαuren says: No. Sequels suck.

[ a l i x ] says: The art references were cute. I loved that she collaged.

lαuren says: I know. Terra’s mom was cute too.

[ a l i x ] says: Actually, I loved Terra too.

lαuren says: It was the whole "I want to actually do what I want and go where I want" and to not listen to her dad.

[ a l i x ] says: Yes. And when it finally happened, it's like HELL YES. Readers, it is definitely worth to read to get past Terra’s awful dad and keep forging through, because he does eventually get what he had coming. I think Terra's got a lot of stuff going for her. She’s artistic, strong, beautiful. I thought it was interesting all the different strengths and power there was in the book, you know? Like, Terra was strong for some things, but weak for others. Too weak to stand up to her father at the beginning. Too weak to say what she wants. Too weak to break up with her boyfriend. But strong to keep waking up at 5 every morning. Strong to finally stand up for what she believes. Ulimately, she has this huge strength. She's an incredibly multidimensional character

lαuren says: Yes. And her growth throughout the story. Yeah, but the 5 am thing is so that she can make up for her face.

[ a l i x ] says: But also to get exercise and tone her body.

lαuren says: I feel like she was doing it for the wrong reasons, you know? There's a difference between like wanting to be healthy and in shape, to take care of yourself and then exercising to have a good body and to look good.

[ a l i x ] says: True.

lαuren says: Trust me. Therapy has taught me well.

[ a l i x ] says:: lol. Terra was being the latter for the first while.

lαuren says: Yeah. She was doing it to cover up her imperfection, the port wine stain covering her face.

[ a l i x ] says: She shouldn't have been. She made sure her body was amazing to offset her face but that's not really a good thing.

lαuren says: exactly.

[ a l i x ] says: especially since, really, is a port wine stain an imperfection? Jacob didn't think so, which is why he's so amazing.

lαuren says: Bottom line: Really good book. Recommended. Good message. Not superficial. Real. Plausible.

[ a l i x ] says: Exactly. Cute romance. Very interesting and engaging. For fans of Sarah Dessen, John Green, or really, for anyone who likes contemporary fiction.

6 shelves from both of us. :D So go read this if you haven't already.

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