I would recommend this book for high school readers. Very good. Very insightful. ( )

This book was amazinig. Every girl should read this coming of age story. ( )

Advance copy. ( )

A beautiful and heartwarming book that skillfully navigates all the facets of a great novel, leaving you touched, inspired, and satisfied.

Terra wants more than anything to get away; away from her small town, away from her controlling father and his constant barbed comments, away from her cringing mother who so quietly endures his abuse, and away from the people who stare at the port-wine birthmark that mars her otherwise flawless face.

But then Terra almost runs over Jacob, and her whole life changes. Jacob, the honest, level-headed, unjudging Goth guy who is definitely far from her type, but ends changing everything anyway.

Because somehow, with the steady and unobtrusive guidance of Jacob, Terra finds her life, which has been so much about control, diffusion, and wishful thinking, could really be so much more.

From small towns in the northwest all the way to China, Terra will allow herself to slowly grow away from the person she always has been, defined by her birthmark, into someone who sees the beginnings of True Beauty in everything around her, including herself.

Everything about this book flows beautifully. Terra, Jacob, and even minor characters like her mother, father, brothers, friends, and Jacob's family are fully realized. Terra's life, emotions, and the plot are woven meaningfully and powerfully together, with tiny details playing big roles, and deep conversations mixed amid realistic fun and heartache. The parts in China were some of my favorites, because they were treated so honestly and yet so lovingly by the author. There are so many themes and lessons, and yet they all seem to come down to one simple conclusion: Don't be afraid to seek the truth and the beauty in everything.

Fantastically done novel, definitely one for the favorites collection. ( )

3.5 stars

Terra is beautiful, tall, blonde… and has a giant purple birthmark on the right side of her face. She wants to go to art school across the country to get as far away from her father and the small town she is living in as possible. In the meantime, she works at a small gallery in her town, and has tried many different ways to get rid of her birthmark. On the latest trip to Seattle to do so, she and her mother get in a car accident on the way home, where Terra almost runs into an Asian Goth boy, Jacob.

I liked this. There are a few themes going on here, beauty being the main one, both Terra’s face and her art, but also the (emotional/verbal) abuse she and her mother (and brothers, until they left home) face from her father. Cartography is big in the book, and there is a trip to China. This was more than your usual lighthearted YA romance book; it felt a bit weightier. The trip to China was interesting to see a bit of the Chinese culture. The romance, Terra’s birthmark/face/beauty, and the family situation were probably the best parts for me. I really liked the interactions between the siblings (before their father came home). ( )