REVIEW: Eliza and her Monsters by Francesca Zappia

Genre: Young Adult/Contemporary

Publisher: Harper Collins

ISBN: 0062290134

Release Date: May 30th 2017


Links: Goodreads, Amazon.com, Indigo
B&N, Book Depository


Rating: 9/10


Summary:

Her story is a phenomenon. Her life is a disaster.

In the real world, Eliza Mirk is shy, weird, and friendless. Online, she’s LadyConstellation, the anonymous creator of the wildly popular webcomic Monstrous Sea. Eliza can’t imagine enjoying the real world as much as she loves the online one, and she has no desire to try.

Then Wallace Warland, Monstrous Sea’s biggest fanfiction writer, transfers to her school. Wallace thinks Eliza is just another fan, and as he draws her out of her shell, she begins to wonder if a life offline might be worthwhile.

But when Eliza’s secret is accidentally shared with the world, everything she’s built—her story, her relationship with Wallace, and even her sanity—begins to fall apart.

Review:

This book guys... this book. Okay, so this one has been on my TBR since before its release date. It took me this long to read it, but am I glad I finally have.

Let's take a second to admire the book cover. Isn't it wonderful?

So, onto the story.

We meet our main character Eliza. A girl with anxiety who writes an epic comic called Monstrous Sea. She really is an amazing character and I found myself relating to her in various situations. I loved how realistic she felt to me. She had everyday problems that all of us face: an arguing family, stress at school, etc. I love her growth and development throughout the novel.

I have to mention her family. Her parents are like many. They constantly worry about their children and often tell Eliza to stop going on the internet so often (don't we all know how that feels). They don't understand Eliza and her work, leaving her to take control of everything including taxes. This is big thing to be left in control of.

It almost felt like they did that hoping she'd abandon her work when she realised how much work and such goes into it. It seemed a little mean of them- like they wanted her to fail. But, maybe that's just me.

Her brothers were great characters. They argue with each, with their parents and of course with Eliza. But that's to be expected no? Who didn't argue with their siblings? They understand Eliza, realise how much she loves working on Monstrous Sea and even take it upon themselves to research what she does. They understand her in ways her parents don't.

There was a love interest in the book and I liked that it wasn't a major focus of the story. Wallace was a great character. He was written to portray the 'inner fangirl' that's inside of all us really well. He was funny and had a deep loving personality. I had tears in my eyes when reading an email he sent to Eliza about his past.

The storyline itself is fantastic. Francesca Zappia is a fantastic author and I'd love to read more of her work. I felt really involved with the story and didn't put it down until the end. I'd love to read more about Eliza but the ending was truly perfect.

Be sure to check out this book if you haven't already. It's a wonderful read- full of fanfiction, art, love and a great main character.

(If you do pick up this book-I do want to warn people there are themes of suicide)