Since I love reading and I really enjoy reading book reviews on blogs, I thought I'd start my own little series called the "Lipsticks & Chocolates Book Club" (L&C for short). I don't know how regularly I'll post about books, but I think I'll just post whenever I finish a good book and feel like sharing it.

My first literature post will be on this series by Scott Westerfeld. I don't quite remember where I first heard about this series, either on some kind of dystopian must-read book list or on Elle Fowler's YouTube channel.

Anyways, I ripped through the first 3 books like no one's business, but I've kind of a hit a not-really-interested-anymore-dead-end in the first third of the 4th book.

In the first book, Uglies, you get to know the future dystopian world in which Tally Youngblood lives. As soon as you reach your 16th birthday, you get to have cosmetic surgery and get turned into a  "pretty" and get to live in the city where all the pretties live. After making a new friend, Tally rebels against this future for herself and runs away. Later on, Tally and her new friends figure out how the surgery not only makes you pretty, but also changes your personality.



I don't really want to give away anything else, especially if you're interested in reading the books yourself. But as you can tell by the titles of the books, the main character, Tally, goes through all the different stages: she's ugly in the first book, pretty in the second and special in the third.

The series basically ends with the third book. The 4th book has new characters who are younger than Tally's generation and they live in this new world in which Tally is a famous hero of sorts. That's why I'm having trouble getting into this third book. It's like when you've watched a TV show for multiple seasons and all of a sudden most of the original characters have left the show and new ones have come. It's just not the same anymore! I've started and finished a new book already, but I might come back to this 4th book at some point. I'm still curious to see how it goes down.

I definitely recommend this series though. You're able to really connect with the characters and the plot has so many twists and turns - it keeps you on your toes!