Teodora’s Book Reviews: “Girl Online – Books 1-3” by Zoe Sugg (Penguin Random House Books, Great Britain, 2014-2016)

Whenever I finish reading a book, I hesitate to check online reviews. I generally don’t like to be influenced by other people’s thoughts. However, after binge-reading the Girl Online books, the first thing I did was to look up what others had to say about them. Oddly enough, I couldn’t exactly describe my own opinion. I didn’t like the novels, but I also didn’t hate them. I was quite surprised to find out that most reviewers were annoyed with the fact that YouTubers (like Zoe Sugg) kept having unnecessary book deals. Some of them even complained that the first book was mostly ghostwritten. Should Zoe stick to making beauty, fashion and lifestyle videos? Not necessarily. When I started writing this review, I finally realized what my thoughts were: the novels have their flaws, for sure, but in the end, they send rather positive messages.

What made me buy the Girl Online series? Although I’m one of Zoe’s viewers, what really piqued my interest was the main character’s secret: a blog written under the titular pseudonym. Being a blogger myself, I instantly feel a strong connection with any other people (or even characters) who choose the internet as the perfect place to write about their experiences and thoughts on all sorts of topics. Penny Porter, the lead character, starts a blog in order to create her own virtual corner of happiness and confidence:

“The thought of writing stuff to myself in a diary seems a bit pointless, really. I want to feel like someone, somewhere, will be able to read what I’ve got to say. That’s why I’ve decided to give this blog a go – so that I have somewhere I can say exactly what I want, when I want and how I want – to someone. And not have to worry that what I say won’t sound cool or will make me look stupid or lose me friends. That’s why this blog is anonymous. So that I can be totally me.” (page 2, extract from Girl Online)

So who exactly is this Penny Porter? She is a teenage girl who struggles with awful panic attacks (which have pestered her since she got into a car accident). She is an amateur blogger and a curious photographer, who shows off a lot of progress in time. Quite predictably, her life is described as being awkward and all over the place. Her clumsiness mostly lands her into embarrassing incidents. But despite these unfortunate events, the girl is always surrounded by her loving family, her crazily energetic best friend, Elliot, and the growing and supportive community of blog readers. What else could someone ask for? Well, apparently there is still one more person that needs to step into Penny’s life and brighten it up a bit. During a Christmas holiday in New York, the young blogger meets a boy called Noah Flynn. They spend a few hours together and they’re already falling in love with each other. It’s pretty much “Everything, Everything” all over again.

From this moment on, Penny’s life dramatically changes. Her meeting with Noah could surely be seen as an “inciting incident”. I could go on and on about their little adventures, but it’s better to discover them by yourself. To make long story short, their developing relationship has both its ups and downs. While spending time with Noah, Penny goes through a lot of internet drama, meets new people, learns how to take mature decisions, pays more attention to herself and boosts her confidence with each day passing by.

Penny is a whole other person in each book. In Girl Online she is a clumsy, naive teenager with a lack of self-esteem. Girl Online On Tour features a more courageous girl who has the guts to speak up and knows that she has a purpose in life. As for the last book, Girl Online Going Solo reveals a more-determined-than-ever Penny who takes care of herself, focuses on her talents and is capable of helping old and new friends. Her evolution is probably my favorite element from the entire series.

If I were to talk about the plotlines and the choice of words, I would say that there is a slightly acceptable progress here, as well. Of course, all 3 books will forever be “sugary as a frosted cupcake”, as The Telegraph mentioned in a review. There are plenty of sappy moments and cheesy conversations, not to mention predictable scenes. However, you can definitely notice an improvement to a certain extent in Zoe’s writing style. Going from one book to another, there is less use of the common “everyday language” and (more or) less predictability (the action development is still questionable, all readers surely have different opinions on that).

Leaving the flaws behind, here are some worth-mentioning life lessons from Penny herself:

“Every time you post something online you have a choice. You can either make it something that adds to the happiness levels in the world – or you can make it something that takes away from them.” (page 333, extract from Girl Online)

“We all have one life, and we can choose how we want to live it. It’s important to realize that, no matter what anyone else says or how people may try to influence the way you do things, it’s ultimately down to you. (…) You can’t live in someone else’s shadow, or permanently try to please someone else, because then what do you have to show for it? You won’t have any of your own accomplishments, you won’t reach your personal goals, and you’ll only be ticking someone else’s boxes for them. If there is something in life you really want to do, then do it.” (page 324, extract from Girl Online On Tour)

“I think the main thing that helped make everything better was choosing to work on me before anyone else. How can you be truly happy with someone else when you aren’t in the best place you can be for you? (…) I was more determined than ever to prove to myself that I CAN do whatever I want if I really put my mind to it.” (page 326, extract from Girl Online Going Solo)

Final thoughts? I wish Zoe could have talked more about the themes she carefully slipped throughout the stories: outgrown friendships, teenage love, cyber bulling, dealing with anxiety and other issues. As Penny always has good intentions and wants the best for everyone (including herself), I think it would be great if the readers would see her as a role model. I also appreciate that she throws some subtle hints about full caution with what we share about ourselves on the internet. However, I think most of the readers will still look up to Zoe. After all, she did become more famous and admired by sharing personal information about her life and being completely honest with her fans.

All in all, the Girl Online books will most likely provide an enthusiastic reading time for Zoe’s most dedicated fans. As for the general audience, I guess the novels could classify as being simply okay.