Girl Online follows the story of Penny, a teenage girl who suffers from panic attacks and blogs under the name Girl Online. After being whisked away to New York with her parents, she meets Noah and suddenly life feels perfect.
However, when she returns to England, things spiral out of control and leave her wondering whether things really had been perfect…
I borrowed this book from a friend after she saw me flicking through it. I asked her if she enjoyed it and she said yes. I then asked if I would like it, to which she replied “You will if you like certain types of things”. In other words, if you like YouTube(rs) and blogs and the big monster that is the dreaded Internet. Seeing as I have a blog, I decided to give it a go and found it surprisingly enjoyable. I felt like I understood Penny as a character and when, ahem, embarrassing things happened to her, felt bad for her and not like I wanted to tip my head back and howl with laughter.
This may not sound appreciative to any Zoella fan, but I was genuinely surprised I enjoyed this book. After reading it in two days, I found that it realistically portrayed teenage life and found it a nice summer read - despite the book being set around Christmas and the fact I was huddled up in bed at nine o’clock reading it while there was a thunderstorm. Actually, that was all very contradictory, so I think that it could be a cosy winter/wintery summer read or something to read by the pool in the sun (the sun! Haven’t seen that old friend for a while!).
Despite never in my life seeing a video by Zoella (or any other YouTuber for that matter - don’t rip my head off, or I’ll never again be able to write a review!), I found this book interested me and will, one way or the other, try and get hold of the second book when it’s released soon!
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