I made the mistake of waiting a couple months before typing my review of this, so all I remember is how much I liked it. It was one of those books that wasn't afraid to be multi-layered and never felt like it was taking on too much. Terra has her port-wine birthmark to contend with; the way people treated her for it; the way she tries to compensate by being perfect in other ways; her artistic ambition; her family legacy of maps and mapmaking (which made for many wonderful metaphors in her coming-of-age journey); her budding romance with Jacob; and her relationship with her parents. Her dad's emotional abuse made my stomach clench, and her mom's journey toward confidence and independence, though not as central as Terra's, was just as compelling. For girls who like realistic fiction, a love story, and/or a family drama, this is one of the best. 
 Favorite quotes: 
 "Anyone who's been under someone's thumb can tell you that power, true power, is never about size or looks." 
 "...words chosen precisely to wreak the maximum damage ticked like a bomb in your head, but exploded in your heart hours later, leaving you scarred and changed." 
 "...none included a mapmaker's cartouche, that highly embellished mark that contains the cartographer's name, date, even the person who commissioned the piece." 
 "There is something terribly sexy about a good male driver, especially a driver with impeccable navigational skills." 
 "Frenzied activity as a matter of survival was my modus operandi, too." 
 "Inertia is so easy -- don't fix what's not broken. Leave well enough alone. So we end up accepting what is broken, mistaking complaining for action, procrastinating for deliberation." 
 "I figured if people were going to stare at me anyway, then I would choose the terms of their staring. I can dictate what they see." [dressing in a Goth getup or a preppy soccer outfit] 
 "What was the point of being an adult if you couldn't control your master plan?" 
 "Their relationship hadn't died its natural death, two people changing out of sync so they no longer fit together." 
 "How could I explain that the routine of staying together with Erik was easier than the drama of breaking up?" 
 "...watching an old man hold a calligraphy brush three feet long. He dipped the brush in a bucket of water, and with one hand behind his back like a fencer, he began writing on the pavement, his movements every bit as graceful as the tai chi practitioners, deft, assured, meditative." 
 "his eyes were so warm, they made fondue of my thoughts" 
 "Take what you have and just make it the best it could be" 
 "When the creative impulse sweeps over you, grab it...You grab it and honor it and use it, because momentum is a rare gift." 
 "As expansive as the view was, my hometown had shrunk without anything changing but my perspective." 
 "I'd never be classically beautiful, never be modelesque. But I could see what the people who loved me saw."