We have all heard the clichés; beauty is in the eye of the beholder; beauty comes from within, and other such sayings that have to do with a person’s looks. In Beautiful Ugly by Shelia E. Lipsey, three friends are beautiful in their own way, but their ugly traits keep them from finding true happiness. They all keep running to the wrong solution to their problems.

Layla Hobbs has an angelic voice and uses it to sing praises to God at her church. However, her insecurities due to her being overweight have her doubting that she deserves to be loved. When a man shows interest in her, Layla’s self-esteem fluctuates between believing she is worthy of his attention to thinking he is only playing games with her emotions. Will she ever do something to get over her weigh issues? Or, will she be alone for the rest of her life.

Kacie Mayweather was born with cerebral palsy, but that has not stopped her from finding men willing to engage in sexual activities resulting with her having child after child. She takes care of all her children as best she can with her limited resources. Due to her disability, Kacie uses men to prove to herself and others that she is as wholesome as a person without any. When she meets a new man, who happens to be a member of her church, she just knows he is the right man for her. He treats her good and does not ask much of her. Is he really the perfect man for Kacie?

Envy Wilson is the strongest of the three friends. However, she hates her name and believes that everyone really does envy her beauty including the person who named her. Even her outer beauty cannot cover up her ugly past. Envy is afraid to connect to any man and she will not allow anyone to know the real her, not even her two best friends. Will anyone ever be able to get pass her hard exterior?

Each one of these women needed to sit and listen to what God was trying to tell them. All the characters were well-developed, even the not so nice ones. The plot was believable and also well-developed. However, the editing was poor and because of that it slowed down the pace of the story for me. The transition from one character to the next had me flipping back to see if I read something wrong. Beautiful Ugly will make for an interesting read for those who enjoy Christian-fiction novels.

Jennifer Coissiere
APOOO BookClub

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