BOOK REVIEW | GIRL ONLINE BY ZOE SUGG

Title: Girl Online

Author: Zoe Sugg

Series: Standalone
Publisher: Penguin Australia
Format: Paperback

Source: Penguin Teen Australia
Genre: YA Contemporary
Goodreads

This review is spoiler free! :)

Blurb: 

Penny has a secret. Under the alias GirlOnline, Penny blogs her hidden feelings about friendship, boys, high school drama, her crazy family, and the panic attacks that have begun to take over her life. When things go from bad to worse, her family whisks her away to New York, where she meets Noah, a gorgeous, guitar-strumming American. Suddenly Penny is falling in love--and capturing every moment of it on her blog. But Noah has a secret, too, one that threatens to ruin Penny's cover--and her closest friendship--forever.

Plot: ★★★★★

I really wasn’t expecting much going into this as it’s by a YouTube vlogger, but I was so genuinely surprised and how much I loved this book! Keep in mind, it is written for young teens, so yes, it may be a bit predictable, but it was so much fun to read. It follows a 15-year-old girl who finds happiness in blogging about her life, her panic attacks and a beautiful boy she meets on a surprise trip to New York. What she doesn’t expect is for this boy to have a secret and for this secret to threaten her blogging life.

I love this book because it incorporates really important things that young teens (and anyone really) can relate to, such as anxiety, cyber bullying, travel, homosexuality, family issues, friendship, death etc. The list is endless! I think this is what made me love this book so much, because it wasn’t just a pointless, fluffy read. It actually had substance that could really help young teens if they read it. Along with this, the plot line is so adorable and fun that it felt like my heart was singing when I read it!

Characters: ★★★★★

So well developed and realistic! I adored the characters so much and they’re so relatable to teens out there in real life! The main character is adorably clumsy and hilarious and I just love her so much. Every single character had a story and you can just tell by reading about them that they’re all so well developed and thought out.

Writing: ★★★★.5

I feel like this section would have gotten 5 stars if I was still a young teen (as much as I wish I was!) But as I mentioned previously, it was a little predictable and at some points there would be an exclamation mark at the end of a sentence that I felt shouldn’t be there, but that’s honestly it!

Romance/Feels: ★★★★.5
OH MAN. So many. All over the place.

Ending: ★★★★.5
I docked half a star because I wanted a little bit more of an ending (don’t get me wrong – it has an amazing ending!) but I just felt like there could’ve been a small extra chapter where things were wrapped up a little more.

Overall Enjoyment: ★★★★★
I honestly just adored this book so much and will be recommending this to anybody and everybody! I’ve already recommended it to so many people at work and they’ve bought it, so don’t let the fact that ‘Zoella’ wrote it put you off. It really is an extraordinary book.

Rereadability: FOREVER AND EVER.

Final Rating: 4.75 stars!