I bought this a few years ago (before I knew it had been ghost written) and it's sat on my shelf ever since because I found out shortly after that Zoe hadn't written this alone and I was disappointed it wasn't something that was made clear. Even having looked all through the book now it really wasn't clear at all, other than one small acknowledgement at the end.
Girl Online is about a teen called Penny who has started a blog. She's kept the whole thing a secret, apart from telling her best friend Elliot. Her parents run a wedding planning business and when they get the opportunity to fly to New York to plan a British themed wedding, Penny realises she's going to have to face one of her biggest fears: flying. When Penny starts to talk about her anxieties online, her blog starts to take off in ways she didn't expect. And when she meets handsome mysterious boy Noah in New York, things seem to just be getting better and better.
I found this really hard to get in to. It's teen fiction, but was so cliched that I struggled to deal with the plot. A lot of inspiration was clearly taken from Zoe's life, which is fair enough, but the writing and content felt maybe a little more middle grade-esque than teen. I also wasn't a massive fan of the age gap of Penny being 15 and Noah 18 in the book, which totally put me off the romance. I don't think this aspirational romance Zoe's written should have this, or is the right message to send about adult men wanting relationships with children.
I gradually warmed a little to the plot, and I think would have quite enjoyed it when I was 12/13 or younger. I gave this 2 stars.
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