Tome Thursday: Girl Online

Hello everyone!

Back in force this week, it's time for another book review, or semi-review, since I don't want to give absolutely everything away, although granted, I'm aware that some of you might still go all ACK if you haven't read this yet. The book I'm talking about is Zoe Sugg's 'Girl Online'. Now, as you know, or probably know, but if you don't you'll learn right now, Zoe Sugg is mostly known as 'Zoella', the beauty and fashion blogger&vlogger from the UK, and she recently published her first book, too. I think she might be in talks for a second book right now, but I'd have to check back through her vlogs to be absolutely sure. Now, I'm not really a beauty kind of girl, as in, I don't own a ton of make-up and I tend to throw on some mascara and concealer, and that's pretty much it (oh, and perfume, but that's another story). So I don't necessarily follow Zoella for her beauty vlogs. I do, however, follow her because she just seems to be an absolute sweetheart! I mean, she's adorable, half the time I want t hug her SO. MUCH. It's pretty insane I suppose. Anyway, when I heard she'd released a book, I was all YES!!! because, as you may have noticed, I'm a book nerd. I managed to somehow let it slip my mind a little until a blog post from my friend Maegan reminded me about it (by the way, you should totally check out her other blog posts here, or her articles on Glossyfinds.com). So, this past Sunday, I snuggled up with some candy and about a litre of water and got down to it.

So the book is roughly under 300 pages long, which makes it ideal for a lazy day because, if you're like me, you'll be able to finish it in a couple of hours. And if not, you can easily pick it up again once you have more time, although to be honest I tried doing that - it didn't quite work. I was sucked into Penny's story and just had to read it to the end!

The story starts in Brighton (clever idea, you write about what you know about, and Zoe obviously did just that) with a teenage girl named Penny Porter, who starts a blog called Girl Online where she is able to express herself, and everything she's feeling, without censure or anyone putting her down like they do in real life. She's a pretty shy, introvert kind of girl with panic/anxiety attacks due to a car accident her family had been in, and her shyness makes her klutzy around others, namely a boy she likes (Ollie, aka the Walking Selife) and her best friend Megan. But we quickly figure out that both of these just want to get the best of her, Ollie for pictures (Penny is an awesome amateur photographer) and Megan ... well, let's just say the BFF status is totally not working there. She does, however, have a real best friend in her next-door neighbour, Elliott, who is openly homosexual but his parents think it's a 'phase'. Sigh, right?

Anyway, so we come to a catastrophic (for our heroine) event that pretty much shatters her world; luckily though, her mother got an offer to organize a wedding in New York (she's a wedding planner) and the whole family (minus older brother Tom, but plus Elliott) tag along. In the Big Apple, Penny meets a handsome guy named Noah ... and you can probably already tell what happens. In the short span of time that she's there (lengthening to after New Year's), they fall in love, but in the process, Penny has a slight falling-out with Elliott, who has to return home for Christmas.

Now, things don't necessarily add up the way Penny might like them. The book follows a slightly predictable pattern of a movie with ups and downs; she returns home to the UK and pretty much tells Megan where to shove it, but unfortunately is told that Noah is quite a famous singer ... who apparently has a girlfriend.

Cue break-up music.

Things spiral from there, but luckily, things aren't black until the end, they actually patch up quite nicely with a happy ending on all fronts - minus Megan and Ollie's, that is. Penny and Elliott patch things up, Noah and Penny patch things up ... you know the drill.

I can honestly say I liked the book. It was uncomplicated, sweet, and it also brought the negative side of things posted online to attention, because really, whose identity can remain hidden on the internet? I enjoyed the characterization of Penny and her family, the loving, warm atmosphere they projected together, and Elliott was a charm to read as well. I kept imagining Zoe as Penny and Alfie as Noah, but I guess it's a possitive side-effect!

The one thing I wasn't too thrilled about was ... the ending. I honestly figured what it was going to be around the time of the break-up, because it really wasn't that difficult. I would have been quite surprised, to be honest, if the ending had turned out drastically different - as in, no getting back together at the end of the book. Now THAT would have been a shocker, but probably a pleasant one for me! I know what you're thinking - we all deserve a happy ending. But there are just SO MANY similar stories (well, not the exact same ones, obviously, but the general gist of things, boy meets girl, they fall in love, they break up over a lie/misunderstanding, they get back together kind of thing) that it would have been refreshing to see something different. I'm not saying Noah should have been made into a lying jerk or something - but maybe an alternate ending with Penny on the pier thinking about how she'll be able to move on from this and how it'll make her stronger through everything that happened would have also been nice, I suppose.

However, that's just my opinion. And I liked the book so I'm not really complaining, either. It was a very nice Sunday read, and I'm definitely looking forward to more works from Zoe. I can't wait!

xx

(yes, I know this blog is late - oops! And the picture isn't mine, either)