Hello people!
I actually wrote my thoughts on Girl Online earlier last year (HERE), but since I'm going to give my opinions on the second book, I feel like it wouldn't hurt to review it once again.
I only bought the first book because I'm a huge YouTube fan, and the author of this book is Zoella, who (if you don't know) is a famous YouTuber with almost 10 million subscribers on her main channel. I watch her videos constantly, and when she announced that she's going to come out with a book, of course I was excited and determined to buy it. The rest is history, and what really matters is I bought the book and read it.
Zoella actually started off as a beauty blogger and even though I'm not terribly into beauty stuffs, I still read her lifestyle or recipes blog posts. Therefore, I'm quite familiar with her style, which is a little quirky, bubbly and she has a very positive aura around her, all smiles and shiny blue eyes. So it is completely safe to say that I expected how the book's going to be like, and I was right. The first book, which is Girl Online, is more to a bubbly tween read, which involves a lot of pure, silly romance between two teenagers. It is an easy and light read, which doesn't require a lot of focus or brainpower whilst reading it.
The story is about a girl named Penny which lives in Brighton, who has an anonymous blog where she blogs about her feelings and her panic attacks that's affecting her life. When the panic attacks get worse, her parents bring her and her gay best friend to New York, and there, she meets a handsome boy by the name of Noah. Well, of course there's a lot of romantic stuffs in the middle, but what Penny doesn't know is, Noah is actually a pop star in America. When she gets back from New York to Brighton, that's when she finds out that Noah is actually a well-known singer, and then all hell break loose when she loses her anonymity on her blog and the media discovers that Noah and her are dating. And well, as for the ending, I don't want to spoil it for you, but there's a book two so I guess you can pretty much guess it.
I know there's a lot of controversies on this book (go Google if you want to find out) but I'm not going to address those in here. I just feel like the writing isn't that smooth, and the whole book feels a little bit too cheesy and childish. The plot is very predictable and almost every character in the book is kind, even the bad characters, you can hardly hate on them because you can't really "feel" that they're the bad people. The writing style is more to a children's book style, as the sentences are often very "essay-ish" and that's why I say it is very easy to read if you're a keen reader.
Although the book has it flaws, there's a lot of pros to it, too. I think one of the reason that lots of teenage girls and tween love this book is that apart from the meeting-pop-star-in-real-life-and-get-together-part, which is unrealistic, the book discusses a lot of issues that most of the youngsters are dealing with today. One of it must be the main theme of the novel, which is the panic attacks that Penny gets. This surely is relatable to most of the people who have panic attacks that affect their lifestyles. Zoella herself also suffers from panic attack, therefore she is able to empathize and include those experiences into the story. Another issue that is also relatable is cyber-bullying, or bullying in general. It shows that any form of bullying can break down a person, and make the person extremely vulnerable and depressed, which is a good exposure to lots of the readers, telling them that they're not alone in going through these things in life.
Now, let's move on to the second book.
Girl Online On Tour is the continuation of the first book, where Penny spends her summer break touring around the world with her boyfriend, Noah, and discovers that touring life isn't as fun as she thinks it'll be, and that Noah doesn't have time for her like before, as he's very busy trying to improve his career. I feel almost the same thing about the second book as the first one, that it is easy and light to read, but it's targeted to a younger audience, so if you don't like reading storyline that's bit cheesy and involves lots of teenage romance (or what teenagers hope their romance is like), then don't read this book. Or if you want to broaden your horizons and try out, you're most welcome to read it! Even though both books are little bit too "adorable" for me and most of the plots are stuffs that don't even stand a chance to happen in real life, it's still enjoyable to read them!
For the second book, what I really like is that Penny starts to stand up for her rights more, and learns how to protect herself. Also, that she's getting braver and braver each chapter, and starting to chase after her own dreams and follows her heart. The ending of this is a little bit surprising, as it kinda left off as a mystery, so I'm guessing there must be a book three. If there's a book three, I think I'll most probably buy it. I don't mind the first two books too much, and the covers of the books are so pretty and photogenic! Also, I hate not knowing what happens next, haha!
I've actually seen a lot of people hating on these two books, critiquing them really badly; yet I've also seen a lot of people loving on these two books, saying how they brighten up their days and make them feel good about themselves. The reactions are poles apart, and I do respect both sides. I'm somewhere in the middle ground, where I don't love it too much, but I don't hate it, not even a single bit. I guess all the drama somewhat also stems from her being a YouTube celebrity. What I have to say is, it is totally okay to express your opinion on books, whether you like it or dislike it. It's completely fine, but please do so in a polite manner. Do not leave foul words and drop the F bombs all the way and also judge people who love these books! That is very unkind, as different people have different tastes in books, and one shouldn't judge the other just because they prefer different genre! I've actually been told why did I read this book as it is so "poorly written", and I politely replied that because every book has its bad sides and its good sides, and I'm seeing more of the good sides than the bad sides.
This world is too judgmental, and that shouldn't be happening. So to whoever is reading this blog post, if you dislike these books, please express your opinions politely, so the fans won't get hurt. On the other hand, as for the fans, if you see any hurtful or bad comments about the books, don't get all defensive and start a whole new shitstorm, as the author would not want that to happen either!
These are my honest opinions on the books, and I don't like rating books, but maybe both of the books will be 2.5/5 for me. I do like the light atmosphere these books bring me, and I hope you like it too! However, do keep in mind I'm not a professional book reviewer, so if I wrote anything inaccurate, just tell me in the comments below! Also, if you do not like my opinions, feel free to voice out yours, too! I welcome and respect your comments, but let's just be responsible, mature people, shall we?
This is the end, I suppose. Stay happy and keep reading guys!
Till next time people.
xx
