The Look
by Sophia Bennett
Chicken House
2013
336 pages
Available March 1, 2013
Read Chapter One here
Sisters Ava and Ted couldn't be more different. Ava is fashion forward, beautiful and talented. Ted is awkward and gangly and never feels pretty. She has a wild head of hair and is giant tall.
All of this changes with the chance encounter with a man who hands Ted a business card. He claims to be an agent who works at a modeling agency and he thinks Ted has "the look." Both sisters are shocked! Awkward, bony Ted? Not the more beautiful and put-together fashionista Ava? Ava tells Ted that it's probably a scam. A lot of girls are taken in by slick talk and they pay hundreds of dollars for head shots--only to find it it's a scam and they won't have any modeling jobs.
Ava has been sleeping too much lately and the lump on her neck is getting larger. Their mother decides to take Ava to the doctor for a check up. The doctor discovers that Ava has cancer. While waiting in the specialist's office, Ted picks up a copy of Marie Claire magazine and reads an article about Model City, a modeling agency. Ted catches her breath...the logo is the same logo that was on that guy's business card.
Ava pushes Ted to go down to the modeling agency and see if she really does have "the look." Ted is quickly snatched up by Frankie for a test shoot. Ted knows her mother would never approve, so she and Ava get her dad to sign all the agency's paperwork.
Soon, Ted is heading all over London for calls. She never gets any jobs and feels like a failure. Meanwhile. Ava's cancer is diagnosed as Stage II cancer. She begins losing her gorgeous hair and both sisters visit a salon and shave their heads. Ted looks absolutely amazing with the buzz cut like Xena, the Warrior Princess.
As Ted's star rises and her career turns white-hot, Ava fights for her life. Ted takes a job in New York City with one of the world's best photographers but walks out on the shoot and flies home to London to her sister's bedside.
Will Ted be able to make it in the fast paced fashion industry where one day you're "in" and the next day you're "out"?
Sophia Bennett keeps getting it right. Beads, Boys and Bangles, her earlier work, was a more girl-y novel. The Look is a serious book with some witty moments. Sisters Ava and Ted will pull at your heartstrings. Author Meg Cabot says of The Look, "No girl will be able to put it down."
Highly recommended grade 7-up. Snogging (kissing), a thong (for model shoot), a bathtub full of snakes (again, modeling). No language.
Fashion forward teens and teens who love anything British (including One Direction) will likely love The Look.
FTC Required Disclaimer: I recieved this book from the author. I did not receive monetary compensation for this review.
Model Undercover: Paris
