46. Girl Online - Zoe Sugg



So I've skipped a couple of books on the list so I could get this one out of the way.

I'm a bit of a youtube fan - I like watching vloggers and used to like watching videos by Zoella and all that lot. Ive gone off her a wee bit but I'm so nosy that I couldn't resist reading "her" book. I put that in quotes because due to the fact she never once mentioned in her daily vlogs or anywhere that she was writing her book, there is some debate of whether she did write it or if she had a ghost writer. Either way, I'm here to review the book, not discuss that.

Although fiction, the book kind of reflects her life - Penny starts an anonymous blog when she feels she can't be herself and finds solace in the online community. She's drifting from her old friends, except Elliot, her gay best friend and neighbour. After a huge embarassment, her parents conveniently get a job in New York, taking her and Elliot and they end up spending Christmas there. She meets a boy, they fall in love, there's secrets and controversy and yadda yadda yadda.

It's all very predictable young adult romance smush. It's full of cliches - like New York at Christmas, meeting on the beach, going for hot chocolates....its just like someone took all of the YA cliches and stuck them together like those poem fridge magnets you get. Ok, I did like that she included panic attacks and her description of how they feel and how to try to deal with things like that, which I get would be helpful if you're a young teen and are in a similar situation, but that's about it to be honest. Noah was a cliche; the bitchy former best friend and gay best friend is a cliche; the fancying the hot boy at school but being awkward and then when you realise you don't want him, it turns out he does actually fancy you back thing is SO.OVER.DONE it's unreal!

I will openly admit, it's not a TERRIBLE book, not at all. The writing is kind of halfway decent (for what it is, I mean) and it was read-able (I read it in about 2hrs before I fell asleep) but it's so fluffy and twee and probably exactly what her teen fans want, but that doesn't make it good. I'm neutral on Zoe so I would like to think this is an honest review but all of her viewers and fans will love this PURELY because it's written by Zoe, even though it's an overdone piece of fluff. The fact it was a bestseller before being published says it all. Zoe is a powerful brand but she could have done so much more with this.

So overall - I like a bit of romantic trash as much as the next girl (well, ok, sometimes I do! It's often needed after reading some heavier stuff) but this is just a YA template with the names/places filled in (what do you call that game? is it madlibs?) (yes it is). I know most YA romance stories have a similar premise but the fact of the matter is, the way it's been marketed, you'd think there'd be something special about it. But there's not.

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