ReadOn Book Review by Mrs Redwin:

North of Beautiful, by Justine Chen Headley, is about a teenage girl called Terra who has a port wine birth mark over one side of her face which she covers with layers of makeup. She has kept up a punishing schedule at High School so she can graduate a whole year earlier and leave home to go to a distant university in order to escape her bullying father.  Her father, Grant, not only terrorises Terra with his acid tongue, but also her mother Lois who has sought refuge in food and is quite obese. A chance meeting with a Goth boy called Jacob changes Terra’s idea of herself and what is true beauty.

If you like books that are about the trials of growing up, love and how people cannot be judged on appearances then you will enjoy this book.

If you liked Looking for Alaska then you might like this book too.

One of my favourite quotes from this book is “You know… I’ve seen a run over deer look better than you.” This is one of the cutting insults Terra has to endure from her father.

I rate this book 5/5 ReadOn Stars.

I recommend this book to teenagers and adults about 15+.

Other realistic teen fiction books I would highly recommend include Go Ask Alice and The Perks of being a Wallflower.