The Look by Sophia Bennett

Ted doesn't think of herself as glamorous. But her gorgeous sister Ava is. So when it's Ted who spotted by a model agency, at the same time that Ava is diagnosed with cancer, things have clearly gone very wrong. Ted isn't interested in modelling but Ava wants her to give it a try. Just how far will Ted go to please her sister? And what sacrifices will she have to make?

Every girl out there has had a moment, or several, where you cannot see your own beauty. Ted Trout has been living that moment all her life until a model scout picks her out on the street. What makes this even more unbelievable is that he wasn't interested in her completely gorgeous older sister. As a premise, it held infinite possibilities and Bennett definitely delivered. Ted doesn't want to be a model, she is the typical teenage girl uncomfortable in her skin and I loved that about her. She only agrees to humour her sister.

Speaking of her sister, Ava was just amazing. At first, with her sure fire confidence, I wasn't sure I would like her but after seeing her relationship with Ted, and then getting the worst news possible, Ava went up in my books and I fell for her completely. Dealing with cancer and a mad little sister, Ava was surprisingly strong and I admired her a lot for that. 

I loved the turns this story took. Not only was the modelling deal legit, but Ted handled it just I expected she would: not very well. She wasn't exactly suited to it but stuck with it to cheer up Ava. But when she has to make a choice between a gig in New York and her sister, Ted is swept up in the glamour and intrigue. I can't say I blame her, Ted's new agent was a force to be reckoned with. But of course it wouldn't be a great Sophia Bennett novel without learning something about yourself, and Ted needed the push to start pushing back, to do what she wanted and not what the modeling people told her. 

Not only was this an interesting take on the modelling world but also a great story about sisterly love and growing as your own person. A great example of UKYA too!

Published 1st March 2012 by Chicken House.