Girl Online: Going Solo No Spoiler Book Review

by Unknown - Wednesday, November 23, 2016

Hey lovelies!

Today I am reviewing Girl Online: Going Solo by Zoe Sugg or Zoella!

Now, some background! I am such a huge fan of Zoella! I love her videos, her infectious personality, her cute lil puppy Nala and most of all her books! She has written three so far in the Girl Online series, Girl Online (Book 1), Girl Online: On Tour (Book 2) and finally Girl Online: Going Solo (Book 3).

We aren’t sure yet if this is to be her last book from their series and I do hope there is more!

I love all her books and although I’m mainly talking about her latest release which is Girl Online: Going Solo which came out just last week, there is going to be a little about the other two books in her too!

Also, it's okay if you haven't read the other two books in the series because this DOES NOT contain spoilers for anything in the series, at all! SO EVERYONE CAN READ IT!

Let’s just get started!

About the book.

Book: Girl Online Going Solo
Series: Girl Online
Author: Zoe Sugg

Pages: 352

Publisher: Penguin Random House
Synopsis: As Penny starts the school year she's ready to face the world - alone. Noah has gone off the radar after ending his world tour early and no one, including Penny, knows where he is. So when she accepts Megan's invitation to visit her performing arts school it seems like an opportunity to make some new friends.

Helping everyone else seems to be the right remedy - Elliot needs her friendship more than ever, and she meets Posey, who she can really help with her stage fright. But is charming Scottish boy Callum the right kind of distraction? And can Penny truly move on when Noah's shadow seems to haunt her round every corner? (source)

Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary, Romance

Recommended for: Anyone 12+.

This book was sent to me from Penguin, unsolicited, however, all thoughts and opinions are my own and this is an honest review.

My thoughts

{ WRITING }

So while I love the books, Zoe Sugg’s writing doesn’t do much for me unfortunately! However, that’s not to say I don’t enjoy it, because I really do! It has a really, friendly cosy vibe to it that just reminds me of rainy days spent curled up with a book. I also love how relatable her writing and what she writes about is, but that’s more below!

Zoe’s writing has this way of making anyone and everyone feel really at easy and she is really good at capturing the reader’s attention! Her writing is awfully simple and nothing like the carefully constructed prose in other novels but she is really good at drawing the readers into her story and making them feel a part of things!

Her writing just gives me such positive feelings and I really, really love that about her! She is great at making the reader feel included and I found that is what makes her so popular!

Zoe’s writing is also very easy to read and meant I was able to finish the book in 2 days, which is my ideal reading time spent on a book! With longer books that take me a few days to read, I find myself drifting off and quite disinterested in what’s going on, however Zoe’s books are short and sweet!

{ IDEA }

So as mentioned above, I love how relatable Zoe’s novels are! As an internet kid myself, one who is also a blogger and lover of all social media, I adore Girl Online because of how relatable it is to me! I find myself nodding along more than once to something Zoe has said in her books and I love how that makes me feel a part of something!

Another thing I love is how Zoe incorporates her own life and passions into her books! Her characters live in Brighton, Penny loves photography and has anxiety and has a brother and I feel because these aspects also match up with Zoe, it makes the book so much more authentic and vibrant!

I like how Zoe brings awareness to issues such as anxiety and how she teaches her readers indirectly how to deal with that! She is also SO positive in her novels through Penny and I love how happy and excited that makes ME feel! I love how she spreads love – love for friends, family, passions and your life – and I feel that is such a fantastic message to be putting out there!

{ PLOT }

The plot is always where contemporary novels let me down and unfortunately, this did too! But when I say let down, I wasn’t really disappointed because I wasn’t expecting much! I feel the events in Girl Online Going Solo also happened in the other two books, just slightly varied and the fact that there wasn’t much new going on didn’t make it as exciting.

I feel like while Zoe does introduce new characters in each of her books, she also keeps rotating all the same characters around and it can get a little bit dull.

There wasn’t a plot twist or something unexpected, which I was secretly (or not so secretly I guess!) hoping for, which would have, no doubt added interest to the book!

In saying that, the fact that this book doesn’t have much of a plot is compensated by the fact that it is quite character and issue based and driven rather than a plot and I feel that works better with the style and purpose of the book!

{ CHARACTERS }

I ADORE Penny as a character! She is a lot like me in the sense she loves the more simple things such as photography, her friends, Beyonce! I love her character because she's so inspirational, not only for me, but also for other girls reading it! She's such a lovely person and she has such valuable life lessons! I love her blog posts and I love her relationships with her loved ones! She is such a sweet, genuine and realistic character and I LOVE HER TO PIECES!

Noah is pretty great too, although I wish he was a little more in this book! Nonetheless, he is so fantastic and sweet and THE CUTEST CINNAMON ROLL EVER!

AND ELLIOT! OMG! S A S S Q U E E N. Basically all I need to say!

The characters overall are such lovely people and so realistic and fantastic and I LOVE READING THEIR STORY!

{ FINALLY... }

In case you couldn't tell, I LOVE THIS BOOK! I love the characters and the story and EVERYTHING! I woudn't give it 5/5 stars just because of the writing being a little too simple and the plot being a little uneventful however, it's such a fantastic, cosy read and one that I will be going back to no doubt for a re-read!