Amaterasu Reads: ARC Review: Zitface by Emily Howse

Breakouts, first periods, and growing certain body parts that needs to grow. It's all part of that awkward, and very challenging adolescent phase. We ALL go through that. I don't think I've ever heard of a teen who was totally comfortable w/ transitioning from TWEEN to TEEN. So reading Zitface, I was fully prepared, and it was really nice reliving all those fun, but equally terrible times all over again.

Title: Zitface by Emily Howse
Pages: 224
Release Date: April 28th 2011
Published by: Marshall Cavendish
Source: Publisher (thanks Diana & MC!)
Buy: Amazon | Book Depository

Summary (from author's website):

Thirteen-year-old Olivia Hughes knows what she wants to do with her life—be an actress. And she’s already on her way. She just landed a national ad campaign that should get her noticed.

But then her luck runs out. A little pimple turns into a full-blown case of acne, with serious side effects for her career, relationships, and budding romance with J.W., the new guy at school.

Now all Olivia wants to do is hide, but she can’t. She goes from being the girl at school everyone wants to be…to Zitface, a girl who is teased, dumped, and even fired.

What do you do when you’ve lost control of everything in your life? Olivia has to find out the hard way. And maybe, what she finds isn’t so bad after all.

If Olivia was standing beside me, she'd probably say "See how acne can ruin your life?" and point at the ones scattered all over her face, and I'd roll my eyes and pat her. To this day I get pimples, and I know for a fact that you break out, most of the time, because you are stressed. There's no getting away from it when Olivia is stressed out because she doesn't want to have acne, and that's why she's getting them.

Readers get sucked in to Olivia's life and the various conflicts that surrounds her. She's beautiful and she loves commercials, with her face as her ticket to fame, and it's quite understandable that she freaks out when acne got in the way.

Zitface is a read filled with awkward firsts, crushes, cliques and bullying. I love how it also covers issues about families and how Olivia is dealing with having divorced parents. You can tell that Emily Howse was able to present to the readers realistic characters and situations we can all relate to. Through Olivia's experience with acne, readers will learn how important appearances are, and how people can sometimes judge another based on what they look like, and that acne is not something to belittle, as it can also have serious repercussions (like Olivia's depression because of it) physically and emotionally especially to a teen growing up.

I loved Theo. Despite his sickness, he's a great kid who deserves Olivia's attention any time of the day compared to his cousin. I also loved how Olivia had such a supportive friend, Jenna, though I'm a bit irked with Wendy. But most of all, I loved how through Olivia's unfortunate acne break out, she was able to think and stand up for herself and not let others dictate her actions and gain confidence as a person, which, I think is what's important, more than anything else, and that she was finally able to do what she loves, acting.

Zitface is a fantastic read for teens and those who feel young at heart. Filled with realistic characters, emotions and situations, Zitface is a highly entertaining read. It's short, sweet and really fun.

My rating

Content (plot, story flow, character):