Girl Online

If you're unfamiliar with Zoella then you’re probably old - sorry! Zoe Sugg, known as Zoella online, is a 24-year-old who started off blogging to a tiny audience. She now has over six million subscribers to her YouTube channel, and much more than the handful she use to have on her blog. Always being an avid reader, Zoe had always wanted to write a book and when she finally got the opportunity, well...she took her chance!

Girl Online is the first in a two-book deal, aimed at teenagers, capturing the pressures of growing up in a world of social media where you're expected to look and be a certain way. The lead character, Penny, who is quite similar to Zoe herself, is a Year 11 pupil struggling with every day problems that we all face.

After being embarrassed at her school play, a video ended up on social media, capturing her fall on stage. After being humiliated, Penny and her parents go on a trip to New York where she meets a Noah - a boy whom she falls in love with. But it isn't as easy as it appears as Noah is hiding a secret that could ruin everything! (I kind of worked it out around Chapter 2).

The book, whilst written reasonably well, has some parts (which to me as a teenager) are just a bit too 'does that really happen?'. Some scenes are more suited if they were 80 years old, but in their teens? I don't think so.

On the bright side, Zoe has managed to capture the hellish years of the so-called 'best days of your life'. Because being told how to look, what to wear, who to be and how successful you are based on your exam results is just great...*eye roll*

Just like Penny, all we really wants is a cup of Hot Chocolate and to cuddle up on the sofa with a big blanket, watching TV.  But despite me saying that some parts of her book were unrealistic, I still somewhat enjoyed it. To me, it is aimed at younger children maybe 16 and below so maybe that's why I did not enjoy it as much as originally planned.