“Terra, a sensitive, artistic high school senior born with a facial port-wine stain, struggles with issues of inner and outer beauty with the help of her Goth friend Jacob.

I was initially dismayed by the first few chapters of this book because of the intense amount of references to maps and cartography, of which I was not well-versed in, making it feel like I was reading an encyclopedia and in need of constant referencing with a dictionary to find the meaning of certain words. The cartography metaphors slowed down my reading and almost turned me off from continuing on. But with the encouragement of fellow ‘goodreaders’, I trudged on and gladly that I did. Because once I’ve finished peeling the top layers of map metaphors, I was gifted with such beautiful ,smart, and heart-warming prose. I realized that the use of cartography references in the beginning and throughout the book was Justina Headley’s way of mapping and building Terra’s story. I felt that Justina Headley was ingenious in writing this book, in picking out her heroine’s name (Terra: ), in breaking the book in three parts according to the protagonist’s journey into finding herself (Terra Nullis, Terra Incognita, and finally Terra Firma).
“Dad has done his damnedest to do that, to steer me to Terra Nullis, that godforsaken empty land where one might survive but never flourish. To keep me in Terra Incognita and remain a girl as undiscovered as Unknown Land itself.”

I-love-love-this book!!! Reading Terra’s story made me wistful. It made me long to be with my mother and brothers. It made me shed a bucket of tears. I might not be the most objective reviewer of this book because I could only sing praises for it. This book hit too close to home for me. There were times that I was left speechless and stunned as I felt that Justina Headley was talking about my life: about me, about my family. How could she know? It was like déjà vu, over and over again. The reading experience was just too personal, too painful at times, but therapeutic. There’s much to learn from reading this book as it touches different topics: poor self-concept and low self-esteem, abuse from a spouse and parent, divorce, mother and daughter relationship, teenage romance, and self-discovery. Though it touches such deep and emotional topics, the mood of the book is not depressing at all. Instead it is touching and heart-warming especially when each of the characters of the book discovers themselves and overcome their personal struggles.

The story: Terra struggles with low self-esteem due to a port-wine stain on the left side of her face. Her concept of beauty has always been skewed as she was teased early on about her face. It didn’t help that her father was not the most encouraging parent in the world, often condescending and belittling Terra and her mother and brothers. Her father’s disgrace from the cartography world has made him an a$$h0le, elevating his ego by trampling on everyone else around him. Terra, her mother, and brothers all suffered from verbal and emotional abuse from her father. As a result, her brothers had all left town and hardly visited, and her mother took refuge from food and became very overweight, taking all the abuse without standing up for herself or for her kids. It was heartbreaking to read about Terra and how low she thought of herself. She hid behind thick make-up and behind a relationship of convenience with one of the popular guys in school. It never occurred to her how she could be beautiful just by being herself. She never thought that she was good enough to be with someone great or that her artwork was good enough for a show. She couldn’t learn to love herself until she met Jacob.
“You know what’s funny?” Jacob asked. He didn’t wait for my answer. “You can see beauty in everything, except for yourself.”

Jacob is a 17-year old teen whom Terra happens to literally crash into while driving on her way home from a doctor’s visit. Jacob is Chinese-American who was adopted when he was 3 years old from a Chinese orphanage by his adoptive mother, Norah. Though a boy and valued in China, he was left at the orphanage by his birth parents because he had a birth defect: a cleft lip and palate. Norah adopted him and brought him back to the United States where she had his cleft lip and palate surgically fixed and raised him like her own. Jacob grew up being different, having a scar on his face due to the cleft palate and having Caucasian parents. He dealt with the prejudices by deflecting under Goth clothing and personae. Because of Jacob’s life experiences, he was more appreciative of Terra and found her beautiful despite her port-wine stain and her low self-esteem. Through Jacob, Terra learned to accept herself and understood what True Beauty is.
"Some things are meant to be kept – what you learn from experiences good or bad, smiles from an orphaned girl, a boy who is your compass pointing to your True North. So I look Jacob full in the face with nothing obscuring him. Or me. And then I step closer to him. And closer. And closer yet."
“Here I am,” I tell him. “Here I am.”

A book that makes me cry always gets a Five from me. And this book wasn’t lacking in that arena. There were so many parts in the book that made me cry: I cried tears of pain when the book mentioned about t how Terra’s older brother, Claudius purposefully got into accidents to distract the father from their mother when the father got upset. I cried tears of relief and joy when Terra’s mother finally stood up to the father. I cried wistful tears when I read about Terra and her mother and their self-discover together when they traveled to China.

Other note worthies: Geocaching! Now that’s fun!!! Am I alone into thinking this is such a smart and fun hobby to pick up? Is it because I’m a nerd that’s why I find this so interesting and exciting? It’s the modern day version of treasure hunting using a GPS! How could treasure hunting not be fun?!!! And Terra and Jacob did it in China to boot! Now that’s crazy exciting! And what about tobogganing at the Great Wall of China? Who would have thought?! Now the Chinese definitely know how to have fun! Just thinking about it gives me the butterflies! Boy, I would love to do that! Two exciting activities! Two things I’ve already added to my bucket list!

If I had the opportunity, I would have read this book with my Mom or with my girlfriends who wouldn’t mind being emotional with me. I went through so many emotions reading this book. It is such a touching and empowering book! I highly recommend!