Girl Online Series review
Hello there my fellow bookworms,Today I am going to be reviewing Girl Online and Girl Online: On Tour by Zoe Sugg (aka Zoella).I just want to add a disclaimer, I am in no way hating on Zoella in any of the things I say (On the contrary, we actually share a lot in common), I am just giving an honest review which is all my opinion and that doesn't necessarily mean what I say is universally true to other people. Thank You!
Girl Online is a story following Penny Porter, a young, English Teen. Penny has a blog where she shares her troubles as a teen and struggles with anxiety after a traumatic experience several years prior to when the story takes place. During the novel, Penny and her family take a trip to New York for her parent's job, who work as wedding planners. During their New York trip, Penny meets the gorgeous teenage heart-throb, Noah Shaw and they fall for one another.
Girl Online: On Tour is the sequel and still follows Penny and now she is going on a European tour with Noah as his girlfriend. This sequel is about Penny as she struggles with fame and threats in the limelight as well as keeping her relationship afloat.
I read the first novel in the series when I was about 14 and I think that was about the perfect age to dive into this sort of book as there is no explicitness such as sex, drugs or violence. The second book, though, I read at 16 and I do believe that I am a little old for the plot now and I will talk about why in a few moments.
Penny, the protagonist, struggles with anxiety and I think for the ages 12-14 (which are the ages I recommend this book to), mental illness is a really key thing to understand. As someone who has dealt with mental illness, I do believe Zoe really pinpointed how it feels to have anxiety, so the struggles Penny goes through are authentic and real.
In the sequel, Girl Online: On Tour, I thought Zoe did a good job by adding in how penny got targeted/bullied over text and I think that, that is a really good lesson for the younger teen audience who would pick this book up. Cyber-bullying is very real in this day and age and is sadly quite common, the book shows how Penny deals with it and particularly for any readers who also deal with bullying, I think this is a very important issue to address.
I did enjoy Girl Online: On Tour more because It had a more complicated storyline and subplots than the first book, there was sort of a bit of mystery in this book which had you guessing and making differnt assumptions which I honestly think was a cool little nugget to keep the readers entertained.
Penny, the protagonist, struggles with anxiety and I think for the ages 12-14 (which are the ages I recommend this book to), mental illness is a really key thing to understand. As someone who has dealt with mental illness, I do believe Zoe really pinpointed how it feels to have anxiety, so the struggles Penny goes through are authentic and real.
In the sequel, Girl Online: On Tour, I thought Zoe did a good job by adding in how penny got targeted/bullied over text and I think that, that is a really good lesson for the younger teen audience who would pick this book up. Cyber-bullying is very real in this day and age and is sadly quite common, the book shows how Penny deals with it and particularly for any readers who also deal with bullying, I think this is a very important issue to address.
I did enjoy Girl Online: On Tour more because It had a more complicated storyline and subplots than the first book, there was sort of a bit of mystery in this book which had you guessing and making differnt assumptions which I honestly think was a cool little nugget to keep the readers entertained.
However looking at the storyline from my age now, I do find that I do not enjoy it as much as I hoped I would. When I was reading the books, the sequel in particular, I just felt as though they were a fan fiction Zoe wrote about Justin Bieber or Harry Styles and she just switched a couple of the names around, (To be honest, I think I wrote the same fan-fic when I was about 13.) The sub-plots are quite superficial and not very deep (which is expected with a younger teen's book), I know that if I were to enjoy the series now, there would have to be some more complications, betrayal and heavier text.
I also look at the plot now and think it just sounds like one big cliche: The quiet girl meets this handsome, famous musician man and they go gallivanting around a city and falling in love and all of that mushy gushy stuff.
Enough about me focusing on the negatives. My ratings are:
I also look at the plot now and think it just sounds like one big cliche: The quiet girl meets this handsome, famous musician man and they go gallivanting around a city and falling in love and all of that mushy gushy stuff.
Enough about me focusing on the negatives. My ratings are:
Girl Online- 3/5
Girl Online: On Tour- 3.5/5
As always, Thank you for stopping by!
Happy reading,
Love Zoe
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