My Big Nose and Other Natural Disasters

My Big Nose and Other Natural Disasters
By: Sydney Salter

Welcome to the summer of passion...
For seventeen year old Jory Michaels, that means three sun-and-fun filled months of spending time with her best friends, obsessing over her crush, trying to find something she is passionate about, and... saving for a nose job. Jory is determined to lose the big, honking, bumpy monstrosity she calls the Super Schnozz- the one thing standing between her and happiness.

So accident prone Jory takes a job delivering wedding cakes to save up for surgery; she even keeps a book filled with magazine cutouts of perfect noses to show the doctor. To find her passion, she tries yoga; she tries becoming a foreign film buff; but nothing is quite as interesting as finding a boyfriend. And that can't happen until Super Schnozz disappears...right?

Jory is in for some big surprises when passion finds her- and she discovers that the beautiful people she longs to look like are not as perfect as they seem.

summary from back of book

My Rating: 4/5

First off, I love the cover of this novel. It reminds me of the barbies I played with when I was little and I really love the creativity behind it.

Secondly, this novel was so so good! I loved Jory, she is a hilarious main character. She's honest, and naive and just tells it like it is and how she sees it. I could relate to her because when I was her age (confession: I still haven't outgrown this) I thought, if only this (insert word or item of deliberate yearning) would change, then everything would be perfect. Of course that's rarely the case and with Jory, she is tired of her large bumpy nose and thinks that if she gets it surgically altered, that everyone will like her more and that her life will be better.

There are a few little twists and surprises in this one, especially when dealing with Jory's long time crush Tyler Briggs. But mostly it is a novel about coming to the realization that things won't change because you get a brand new nose or anything else. You have to learn to accept who you are, imperfections and all. This is a really sweet and funny story, with a high dosage of relatability. I was in the middle of reading another (much sadder) novel when I began this one and it was definitely a nice change of pace, light and fun but also packed with meaning and bouts of inspiration.