 |
| Photo: REUTERS/Luke MacGregor |
Let's be honest here, would I have picked up the book Girl Online by Zoe Sugg (aka Zoella) if I wasn't an avid follower of her youtube channel; the answer is no.
Why? Don't get me wrong I like a YA romance novel as much as the next girl, but the premise did not strike me as something I immediately needed to read. The idea of an plain, ordinary girl going to New York and falling for a mysterious boy, seemed a bit over done. The size of book didn't help matters either. I tend to stay away from books which are taller than the average sized book, but only for superficial reasons, as it looks awkward on my bookshelf and to hold. I realise this isn't exactly an excellent reason to shy away from purchasing a book, but we all have pet hates don't we?
But curiosity got the better of me and like most other teenaged girls bought myself a copy at the earliest convenience. It surprised me how much I got into the book, the start was a bit clichéd, happy family cooking breakfast for each other, quirky bestfriend friend etc, but as the novel developed I found myself rooting for the main character. The writing itself I found was not at the same level as other young adult authors such as John Green and Rainbow Rowell, but I expected this seeing as this was Zoe's first novel. Recently there have been claims that Zoe had a ghost writer by the name of Siobhan Curham, Zoe denies these reports saying that Siobhan only helped her through the process of writing a book, and I believe her. Simply because Girl Online read exactly like someone's first book, rather than a well written author's sixth.
Would I recommend Girl Online? Yes, but only to other teenaged girls wanting something light and easy to read. This book is most certainly not for everyone, but that is understandable as it is aimed at the audience of Zoe's youtube channel.
Overall verdict? 6.5/10 stars
No comments:
Post a Comment