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Hey Zengarmy,
I know, I know,
I'm probably too late for the "Girl Online" reading party hahaha.
Well, you can't exactly blame me because :
I'm from Malaysia.
( by this I mean that "Girl Online" is
ONLY AVAILABLE NOT TOO LONG AGO in Malaysia. )
( Malaysia timing. Duh. )
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First of all,
If you're active on YouTube,
you might notice that Zoe Sugg (a.k.a. ZOELLA)
is one of the most renowned Internet sensation,
who owns a YouTube channel with more than 7 million subscribers.
I started watching her videos back in 2014,
and was very inspired by her down-to-earth personality.
She's very brave to admit to the public that she suffers from anxiety & panic attack.
( It's not a simple task, because anxiety sufferers are often attached to social stigma. )
That's when I started subscribing to her channel & following her social medias.
To be able to witness her dream of writing a book came true,
makes me feel happy for her success.
WAY TO GO !!! ZOELLA :)
Okay. Back to the book review.
I would actually say that RM40++ is a pretty good deal for this book.
The font of the letters in this book is VERY comfortable to be read.
( Am I the only one who hates small font ? )
And on top of that, the book is hard-covered !!!
When I'm reading this book,
I can't help but feeling a sense of familiarity.
This is probably because I'm quite similar to the main character, Penny.
I'm a blogger, I suffer from minor anxiety, I have a brother & I have a funny BFF too !!!
( what a coincidence? I'm not joking! )
Except that I'm not a girl & doesn't live in Brighton,
I can totally relate to the other characteristics of Penny hahahahaha.
And without further ado,
H E R E ' S A G L I M P S E O F T H E P L O T :
The novel surrounds Penny Porter, a sixteen year old living with her parents in Brighton.
Penny starts blogging about her problems, such as cyber-bullying and her panic attacks.
Her family travels to New York where her mum is organizing a wedding.
Attending the wedding, Penny meets a musician Noah with whom she falls in love,
resulting in her blog going viral.
( most of you guys probably already read this book but I'm writing this anyway. )
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Of course, I won't tell you the whole story, LOL,
but I do wish to point out that SOME PART of this novel is a little bit similar
to 《The Fault In Our Stars》, especially the "messaging" part.
( or maybe TFIOS is the classic template for all romance novel? haha )
I'm very impressed by how the topic of PANIC ATTACK is precisely addressed in the plot.
When I read several parts that involve panic attack scenes,
I can instantly empathize with the agony & struggle that the character is going through.
I really have to give credit for this one, because I myself suffers from anxiety too.
If you're one of the anxiety sufferers like me,
or you have friends that suffer from anxiety & you want to know more about anxiety,
T H I S B O O K I S T H E B O O K F O R Y O U !
Furthermore,
I love how Zoe instilled her real-life personality into the main character Penny.
When I'm reading Penny's line,
it's as if I can hear Zoe's voice talking in my brain hahaha.
Additionally, the interspersing blog post within the chapters of story
is also one of my favorite parts in the novel.
There're a few lines in this book
that I especially love :
✔ I have this dream that secretly all teenage girls feel exactly like me.
And maybe one day, when we all realize that we all feel the same,
we can all stop pretending to be something we're not.
That would be awesome.
✔ You can't take away a teenager's online access;
it's like taking away their right to breathe.
✔ But then I wondered if sometimes our friendships are a bit like clothes
and when they start feeling uncomfortable
it's not because we've done anything wrong.
It just means that we've outgrown them.
✔ When I was little I used to think that a witch lived under my mum and dad's bed.
Every time I had to go past their bedroom to get to my own room,
I'd run as fast as I could, so that the witch didn't fly out on her broomstick
and turn me into a toad.
Then one day my dad saw me racing along the landing looking all scared
and he asked me what was up.
When I told, he made me come into the bedroom with him
and he shone a torch under the bed.
The only thing that was under there was an old shoebox.
Sometimes you have to face up to your fears to realize that they aren't actually real.
That you aren't actually going to die - or get turned into a toad.
✔ When you get panicky, don't fight it.
That makes it a million times worse.
Just say to yourself,
"OK, I'm feeling anxious right now, but that's all right."
✔ So, if your fear is making you feel all tense in your head,
or sick in your stomach, or tight in your chest,
you have to picture it as an actual shape and give it a colour.
And then just think to yourself that it's OK to feel anxious
and just allow it to be and it will start to fade away.
✔ For so long this blog has been my safe place -
the one place I felt I could talk about my innermost feelings
and not to be judged.
But in the past couple of days I've seen
how swallow the online world can be.
It's a world where people think it's OK to hide behind their screens
and their usernames and say poisonous things
about a person they don't even know.
✔ 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.
I tried to add something by starting Girl Online.
And for a while it really seemed to be working.
So, next time you go to post a comment or an update
or share a link, ask yourself :
is this going to add to the happiness in the world?
And if the answer's no, then please delete.
There's enough sadness in the world already.
You don't need to add to it.
I won't be posting on here anymore.
But to everyone who added to my happiness while I did,
thank you so much - I'll never forget you ...
Penny Porter aka Girl Online xxx
♥
Overall,
I personally think that this book is definitely worth buying -
even if you're not a fan of Zoe Sugg (aka Zoella).
The flow of the story is considerably smooth compare to TFIOS
& the PLOT TWIST IS VERY WELL WRITTEN.
I mean, you can actually guess what will happen at the climax,
BUT YOU'LL NEVER KNOW HOW SEVERE IT WOULD TURN OUT.
There are tonnes of humorous lines in this novel
that I promise you'll NEVER get bored reading halfway.
Although the plot is not as epic as 《The Fault In our Stars》
& it's ghostwritten by another author besides Zoe Sugg,
I still love this book no matter what :)
H I G H L Y R E C O M M E N D E D
FOR THOSE OF YOU WHO LOVE READING ROMANCE NOVEL.
" Girl Online " is one of those books
that you wouldn't regret buying it at all.
Don't miss it !!!
♥
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