A Book Review: Girl Online

Now this book has recently caused some controversy as of late. The muchly anticipated book by Vlogger Zoe Sugg AKA Zoella was released at the end of November, it was Zoe's first novel. It later came out that the vlogger did not write the book but it was ghost written. I stand by Zoella for this book. It may have not been written fully by her but you can completely feel her input, ideas and personality shine through in the words of this very "teeny bopper" book!

The book is very much aimed towards pre-teens. It took me back to being about 12/13 reading Jaqueline Wilson's Girls in Love. I did enjoy it but wouldn't be recommending it to any of my friends to read but will definitely be telling my younger family members about it.

The story is about a girl called Penny who lives in Brighton, she's a budding photographer and works part time in her parents wedding business "To Have and To Hold". Penny writes anonymously under the pseudonym "Girl Online" she writes about her life and mishaps, the only person who knows the truth is her best friend Elliot, who has his own gripes with his own family not accepting his sexuality. Her blog starts attracting more attention when Penny starts addressing the reason why she keeps having funny moments and blacking out, she has anxiety which was brought on by an accident she had when she was younger. Her readers explain in comments that it's not as uncommon as Penny thinks.

When Penny has an incident in school just before the Christmas break so her parents (who own the wedding business) have been invited to New York to plan a wedding in the World Famous Waldorf Astoria and Penny and Elliot are coming along for the journey. Penny has anxiety about travelling to New York being terrified of travelling, Elliot gives her some great coping mechanisms to help her relax on the flight.

When they arrive they are completely in awe of the place. Penny is asked to assist with the wedding and take some candid pictures. Whilst exploring the hotel Penny stumbles across Noah, a mysterious boy who Penny immediately takes a liking to. Noah is the grandson of the caterer for the wedding. Penny is asked to run an errand for her mother and Noah is more that happy to accompany her. Penny instantly takes a shine to this boy. Could this be the start of something wonderful or can a secret that Noah is keeping from Penny ruin her for the worst and put her greatest trust and relationship on the line?

You'll need to read it to find out.

Overall I did like this book, it was a good story. It was a bit predictable but that's only because I'm not in the demographic the book is reaching out to. I would happily recommend this to the parents of 10-15 year old girls. I know all Zoella's fans will be reading this book and I commend anyone who stands by Zoe for purchasing and reading her wonderful story told through the words of someone else.

Girl Online can be purchased from most major supermarkets, bookstores and online for £5 at Amazon for the bargain price of £5.

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