It’s time for another dual review, in which I somehow end up reading books with quite similar themes in a short window of time. In these two books, the main characters both have found themselves quite famous online, but not really knowing how to navigate that with their more private offline lives. While these girls each have personal struggles outside of their fame, that’s certainly the thread that brings these two books together. Also, spoiler: I liked them both! 

 

Eliza and Her Monsters by Francesca Zappia
Published by Greenwillow Books on May 30th 2017
Pages: 400
Format:ARC, eARC
Source:ALAMW, Copy provided by publisher for review, via Edelweiss

Eighteen-year-old Eliza Mirk is the anonymous creator of Monstrous Sea, a wildly popular webcomic, but when a new boy at school tempts her to live a life offline, everything she’s worked for begins to crumble.

In the real world, Eliza Mirk is shy, weird, smart, and friendless. Online, Eliza is LadyConstellation, the anonymous creator of a popular webcomic called Monstrous Sea. With millions of followers and fans throughout the world, Eliza’s persona is popular. Eliza can’t imagine enjoying the real world as much as she loves her digital community. Then Wallace Warland transfers to her school, and Eliza 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. With pages from Eliza’s webcomic, as well as screenshots from Eliza’s online forums, this uniquely formatted book will appeal to fans of Noelle Stevenson’s Nimona and Rainbow Rowell’s Fangirl.

When I heard that Francesca Zappia was writing another book, I was all sorts of excited. I loved Made You Up so much, and I knew I would love whatever she wrote next. And I did! Maybe not quite as much as Made You Up, but still a really solid book that I enjoyed immensely. OH, and if you haven’t already, don’t read the synopsis. It kind of gives stuff away.

What I Liked:

  • Monstrous SeaThe webcomic itself was so very creative, and I adored the little excerpts from it. That, and the fandom in general was so fun, that how could I not love it? (And if you want more, check out the author’s Tumblr for more great drawings and such!)
  • Eliza was a great character. She was flawed, but she was learning. She was so relatable, too. It made total sense to me that she’d be worried about having her identity revealed, as she just wasn’t a fan of the spotlight. But in making sure her secret was kept, she hurts some people along the way. She grows a lot during the book, which is always great too.
  • The other characters were equally great. Her parents and brothers seemed so realistic. Her parents just wanted the best for her, even though they were sometimes making things worse instead of better. They needed to grow just as much as she did, to realize that their way of thinking about things wasn’t the same as hers, and sometimes they’d need to change too. And the relationship with her brothers had very authentic ups and downs. I adored Wallace, and I definitely shipped  them together. And I liked Eliza’s friends (she had met them online), that felt really authentic too. I liked that Eliza’s relationships (all of them, not just the romantic one) were such a huge part of her life, and that she had to work to keep them. Again, very realistic.
  • Mental health issues are well portrayed. I don’t want to go to much into this, because some of the stuff happens toward the end, but I definitely liked that there were no magic cures, and positive depictions of treatment.
  • Fabulous writing and pacing as I had hoped! I definitely put Francesca Zappia on my list of auto-buy authors after two incredibly solid books.

What I Didn’t:

  • This is more of a “me” thing than the book thing, but I am really kind of just over the whole “lie of omission” trope in general. It just frustrates me for two reasons: One, the outcome ends up being quite predictable. And two, you know it is going to end badly and just want the character to tell the damn truth already. Again, this is definitely more of a “me” problem, but maybe some of you feel the same.
  • Some of the stuff seemed a wee bit too coincidental, and made me think that the likelihood of certain things happening really small. But it really only bugged me a little bit, it wasn’t a huge problem overall.

Bottom Line: I definitely enjoyed this book! It was so fun to read Eliza’s story, both as Eliza and LadyConstellation. Her struggles felt very authentic, as did her relationships.


Tash Hearts Tolstoy by Kathryn Ormsbee
Published by Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers on June 6, 2017
Pages: 384
Format:eARC
Source:Copy provided by publisher for review, via Netgalley

From the author of Lucky Few comes a quirky teen novel about Internet fame, peer pressure, and remembering not to step on the little people on your way to the top!

After a shout-out from one of the Internet’s superstar vloggers, Natasha “Tash” Zelenka suddenly finds herself and her obscure, amateur web series, Unhappy Families, thrust in the limelight: She’s gone viral.

Her show is a modern adaption of Anna Karenina—written by Tash’s literary love Count Lev Nikolayevich “Leo” Tolstoy. Tash is a fan of the 40,000 new subscribers, their gushing tweets, and flashy Tumblr gifs. Not so much the pressure to deliver the best web series ever.

And when Unhappy Families is nominated for a Golden Tuba award, Tash’s cyber-flirtation with a fellow award nominee suddenly has the potential to become something IRL—if she can figure out how to tell said crush that she’s romantic asexual.

Tash wants to enjoy her newfound fame, but will she lose her friends in her rise to the top? What would Tolstoy do?

I really enjoyed the author’s debut, Lucky Few, and was quite looking forward to this one. And it definitely did not disappoint! Tash (Natasha, but Tash for short) had created a web series called “Unhappy Families”. At first, it was just something she did for funsies, with her best friends and some new friends she found to act in the show. But then the series suddenly goes viral, and Tash has to face the ramifications of being pretty famous.

What I Liked:

  • The characters. Tash was a very relatable main character, and I really felt for her when the stress of going viral got to her. I imagine I would have felt the same, excited, yet overwhelmed. Luckily, Tash has awesome friends, especially her best friend Jack and her bother Paul. (But sidenote, why is everyone’s name 4 letters? That confused me a bit, especially in the beginning.) Her parents also seemed like actual parents, which was great. They were protective, and supportive, and you know, present.
  • The relationships Tash had with her friends. She went through a lot of growth especially in terms of being a better friend. She kind of takes her friends for granted sometimes, and I like that she had to navigate how to keep a friendship going when times are hard. It was just very realistic, I feel like it is something everyone goes through, and I loved the way the author handled it all.
  • The asexuality rep! Tash is asexual heteroromantic, which means that she does have romantic feelings for guys, but is not necessarily attracted to them sexually. In this case, she has some feelings for a fellow YouTuber, Thom, who… well he is the actual worst, honestly. But that’s for you to read about.
  • The plot was really great. I loved the concept of the show, and how it is based on Anna Karenina. I kind of want to watch it, basically. And I loved how the cast and crew bonded, that was probably my favorite part. I also liked stuff that happened toward the end which obviously I cannot discuss. But know that there were things I approved of very much 😉 And of course, the evolution of the show from unknown to being really popular, and how Tash and the others handled it was great.

What I Didn’t:

  • The aforementioned moderate confusion, especially in the beginning. Luckily this cleared up as the story went on, but in the beginning, I was confusing Jack with Paul and George with Paul and I felt like everyone had these same one syllable names and I was just lost. But again, this got better.
  • I actually kind of wanted to know more about the show! I know this might have been nearly impossible with so much going on in the book, but still, I wanted a bit more of the show, and even the cast.

Bottom Line: Definitely a fan! I loved the story, and the asexual rep. Tash grew so much as a character, too, and I enjoyed reading about her journey.

How do you think you’d feel if you became really famous online? Would it make you uncomfortable, or would you love it? Maybe both?

(I think I would be both, but more love it than hate it 😉 )

Posted May 22, 2017 by Shannon @ It Starts at Midnight in Dual, Review / 15 Comments

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15 responses to “Dual Review: Internet Fame Complications

  1. Sam

    I really enjoyed Eliza (for many of the reasons you mentioned) and am looking forward to reading Tash. It is interesting how many of these backlash type books I am seeing lately. I just finished Internet Famous last night, and there is a similar theme in that book. This desire to connect online, but still keep that wall of anonymity. Lots of food for thought as people’s online lives grow and grow. Great reviews as always.
    Sam @ WLABB

  2. I adored Eliza & Her Monsters too. I loved Eliza’s voice and omg yes! Her webcomic sounded so cool. I kinda wish it was real, because I would read the heck out of it. I’m with you on lie-of-omissions, but honestly I think I’ve become really used to them now because of how common of a trope it is in romance books. I’m glad you liked the book though. 🙂

    I don’t think I’ve ever read a book with asexual rep but I would certainly want to learn more. I didn’t know what this book was about but I love the idea of the web series. The characters all sound so great too. If only the cover was a bit more appealing ….

  3. Great reviews! I don’t think I could handle being Internet famous. I’d probably get so freaked out by the attention that I’d stop going online. Then I wouldn’t be famous anymore. Problem solved!

  4. Great reviews! I haven’t read anything by either of these authors but both books sounds good. I like that in Eliza and Her Monsters the author does a great job creating very relateable characters I always find that enjoyable to read and not a big stretch for me.

  5. I don’t know if internet fame is something I’d relate to ever, but I like that authors are exploring internet culture and its effects on a person/people. The internet is part of so many people’s lives, so…it’s nice to get some representation (finally). YAY FOR ASEXUAL REP! I’m asexual, and it took me freaking thirty years to figure it out because NO ONE talks about it, and there’s little to no rep for it. So, I am ecstatic that there is finally a book with an ace character. Now, if only there were an aromantic character, too. Because, that would be swell. (I am aro ace, so no romantic feelings and no sexual attraction).

  6. I think I might like Eliza and her Monsters. There seems to be a trend towards examining the online/ offline/ Internet fame thing, Radio Silence and even Queens of Geek had similar themes, but this sounds like its own thing and now I want to read it! Plus Monstrous sea sounds kinda cool anyway! Nice that she includes excerpts from the webcomic. I’ll definitely be checking out that Tumblr.

    I’m not usually a fan of the overdone coincidence either, or the lie of omission *sigh* but in spite of that I’m definitely adding this one.

  7. Both of these sound great! I’m really excited about Eliza and Her Monsters. I love this influx of nerdy/fandom YA books. I think I’d love this one! Great reviews.

  8. These both sound like really cool books. I already had Eliza on my radar and it sounds brilliant but Tash Herts Tolstoy is a new one for me. I’ll have to add to my TBR and see if I can get ahold of a copy because that looks like a book with a good story and great representation.

  9. I’m excited for Eliza just because of the webcomic. I rushed over to Edelweiss to download this one before it’s too late—hopefully the pics work well on the ebook version (did you check them out there or did you only read your physical copy?). Oh, and thanks for the hint about the synopsis. I avoided it. 🙂

  10. I mean, I don’t think I would mind actual internet fame, because it would probably be for my blog or channel or something – and that just means all the more reach for authors, right? And that’s my goal in the end for all of this 😀 Anyway, I read Made You Up by Francesca Zappia and I loved it, so knowing that this one is pretty good as well has me writing it down on my TBR list 😀 I am glad you enjoyed it, especially the fandom webcomic aspect of it. I hadn’t heard of the second story, but it sounds quite intriguing. I’ll look into more reviews.

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