The Ugliest

Tally Youngblood has spent her entire life waiting for the day she can finally become Pretty and join her best friend, Peris, across the river in New Pretty Town. But just as her sixteenth birthday arrives, everything she has ever wanted is suddenly put on hold. After Shay disappears into the Smoke with David, Dr. Cable refuses to perform Tally's surgery until she helps Special Circumstances find them. Torn between the promise she made to Shay and her lifelong dream of becoming Pretty, Tally is forced to confront how much she is willing to sacrifice for the people she cares about. When Peris unexpectedly returns to her life before she leaves for the Smoke, their reunion gives Tally the reassurance she desperately needs while making her decision even harder.

Determined to keep her promise to Shay while finding a way to reclaim the future she always imagined, Tally leaves the city and sets out to find the Smoke. What begins as a desperate attempt to earn her surgery becomes a journey that forces her to question everything she has been taught about being Ugly, being Pretty, and what it truly means to be free. As Tally becomes closer to Shay and David and uncovers the truth behind the Pretty operation, she must decide whether the life she dreamed of is worth betraying the people who trusted her. Along the way, her relationship with Peris remains an emotional tether to the world she left behind, making Tally's eventual choice-and the consequences that follow-far more personal.