North of Beautiful

I forgot how much this book influenced me. I really love the story and the focus is on how to be yourself. Terra Nullis is a teen with a super gorgeous body that she works hard to keep in order to make up for her more than imperfect face. She has a huge birthmark that completely steals the attention away from her creative mind. She is an artist. However, she is hidden and no one really knows her, not even her boyfriend. When she meets Jacob  he can see through her act. Its beautiful. He is one of those characters that you always hope exists in real life. He is very real and does not care about the opinion of others. He may not be a super cute guy that everyone dreams about, but he is the kind of person that it would be exciting to have a conversation with. I like Jacobs confidence and I love his insight into people. I do not know if I am just a difficult person to read or if I just have not met the right person that can read me. It seems very easy for me to hide what I am thinking. I swear I have to spell things out very clearly in order for anyone to understand how I think. However, when Terra tries to hide herself, Jacob can still read her. To have someone like that around must be both scary and a relief. You may never be able to hide from them, but at the same time you will always have someone to take into account what you are thinking and try to talk you through it. Like I said before, this book influenced me. The characters made me want to be creative and to seek relationships that are meaningful, and most importantly to walk to your own beat and ignore the stares or the whispers. Not to mention the concept of maps and compasses that are threaded through this book have stuck with me through the years.