A Review | Girl Online by Zoe Sugg aka Zoella

Buy Girl Online here

I've loved reading for as long as I can remember. Picking up a book a losing myself in a great story is something I can't resist. So, when Zoe Sugg (aka Zoella), someone who says they love reading as much as I do, released her debut novel I couldn't not purchase it. It isn't on the shelves in Australia yet so I bought it on my kindle (thanks dad) and I loved it just as much as watching her YouTube videos.

The book took me back to being a thirteen year old and it was the type of book I read then but the type of book I love equally as a very nearly twenty one year old. It is clearly a young adult novel, written with teenage girls in mind but I still really enjoyed it.

'Girl Online' follows Penny. A school girl from Brighton who writes an anonymous blog, loves photography and suffers from panic attacks and anxiety. To say I could empathise with this main character is an understatement.

The story was great with a well developed narrator making it easy to read. It was funny, sad and everything in between. It was a proper teenage read - it felt a little like Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging but slightly more grown up. It was fun to watch Penny grow and learn like all teenagers do and I could definitely see myself in her - as most post-teen women will be able to.

The themes Zoe chose to deal with were quite unique, I felt, and very well dealt with. It was clear Zoe knew what she was talking about when dealing with the anxiety that featured heavily in the novel but didn't take over from the book. She also dealt well with the up's and down's that come with the online world and finding your first love. All the major ideas intertwined nicely and didn't feel like a jumble of ideas crashed together.

There were a lot of cliches and the plot has seen before but for a teenagers novel, at a debut novel, I'll let that go. It was still a very enjoyable, easy read, perfect for when you want to curl up and feel cosy. I read this in a day when it was raining outside and I curled up on the couch with several cups of tea and candles and felt very content.

I'm not going to lie - I was sad when it came to an end. I wanted to carry on reading the story and Zoe's writing which I loved! It was an excellent first novel and I'm really hoping for more from Zoe, a very talented young lady.