"Uglies" by Scott Westerfeld

Book Title: Uglies

Author: Scott Westerfeld

Genre: YA, Science Fiction, Dystopian

My Rating: 5 out of 5

What's it about? Tally Youngblood is about to turn 16 years old. When she does, she will undergo an operation to turn her pretty. She'll get to leave Uglyville and start a brand-new, carefree life in New Pretty Town. But right before the operation, she meets a friend named Shay who doesn't want to be turned pretty. Shay leaves Uglyville in search of The Smoke, a city where people are judged for what's in their heads- not what they look like. Tally is forced by the authorities to go after Shay and bring her back OR stay ugly forever... When she finally arrives in The Smoke, Tally needs to decide: does she betray her friend and turn herself pretty? Or does she leave her old pretty dreams behind to stay in the wild forever?

What type of reader is it for? You'd think that, based on the cover and the title, this book is meant for teenage girls. But I could totally see any lover of YA fiction reading this book. Especially if you were a fan of Hunger Games or Divergent. It reminds me A LOT of Delirium, with a romantic interest for the main character and having to make the choice of whether to stay in an extremely controlling environment or branch out into the unknown. If you liked any of those books, Uglies is a great next read.

Should you read it? If you haven't already, YES. I really enjoyed this book. It took me a few days to get through, but that's only because I was super busy with work. It's the first book in a series and really hooked me. I was lucky to find the entire rest of the series at Savers all in really good condition. I will be reading the rest of these books after I tackle a few others on my TBR list.