Pretty Face by Mary Hogan

One cannot expect to be truly happy unless they accept who they are; body and soul.

Hayley is sixteen, about thirty pounds overweight and has a crush on cute Drew Wyler. Her best friend, Jackie, doesn't care that Hayley is overweight. She loves her for who she is, and is always telling her she has such a pretty face. The compliment of doom for any girl a bit chubby. Hayley's mom is always battling the bulge and has incorporated her new way of living into the whole family; no meats, plenty of exercise, and lots of tofu. Hayley is tired of her mom's nagging, and her new talking scale, and drowns her emotions with eating junk food in secrecy.

When Hayley's plan to capture Drew's attention backfires one day, Hayley drowns her sorrow in a large pepperoni pizza. Drew has his eye on Hayley's best friend Jackie, and would like Hayley's help hooking them up. But Hayley's parents are worried about Hayley's health, so they plan a trip for her to Italy to stay at a friend of her moms from college.

Hayley vows to herself on the plane to Italy that she will be good. She will not eat over a thousand calories a day, and when she returns to Santa Monica, she will be a new, thinner Hayley. But even Hayley's plan backfires when the family she is to live with plies her with good hearty Italian food upon her arrival. But after she settles in, she begins to tour the local Italian village and her perspective of herself and her body begins to change.

PRETTY FACE is a wonderful novel for any girl. You should eat healthy, but a healthy soul is just as important. Hayley is a wonderful and diverse character who meshes in without a ripple into today's society. Not all women are model thin, and they never will be. PRETTY FACE is absolutely charming and appealing!