Eliza and Her Monsters
Author: Francesca Zappia
Genre: Young Adult Contemporary Romance
Publisher: Greenwillow Books
Published: May 30th, 2017
Pages: 385
My Rating: ★★★★★
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.
A young girl who has yet to discover her true self.

Eliza created a webcomic from a very young age. She has no idea how to live in the real world but when she escapes into her comic she becomes the person she has always wanted to be. Eliza deals with major anxiety and suffers from depression. Eliza often feels like she never fits in. Not even with her family. The webcomic she creates is a secret outside of her family. Her parents do not even know the extent of how famous it has become. Eliza keeps the profits and all aspects of her blog to herself. 

One day, Eliza meets a young boy Wallace in school who happens to be the biggest fan of her webcomic series. When passion starts to ensue between the two of them, Eliza will stop at nothing to keep her secret from Wallace. This book is about self-discovery and learning its okay to be who you are. From start to finish this book really warmed my soul and I felt for Wallace and Eliza on so many levels. I could see myself and struggles in both of them. 

The mental health depiction in this novel was very accurate. I picked up this book because of the hype surrounding it and this one did not disappoint in the slightest. Issues were tackled in a very realistic way and I have nothing but good things to rave about it. I breezed through reading it and was sad when it ended. 

There were some plot holes that could have been avoided. However, that is the only criticism I have. This book really left me thinking about my own life and experiences that were very similar to Eliza. I see so much of my high school self in her. I love how this book showed the difference between people in real life vs on the internet. How you can create a so-called fake facade online. Zappia's writing is one of my new favorites and I will be picking up some of her other works.

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Writer of MADE YOU UP and ELIZA AND HER MONSTERS. Represented by Louise Fury of the Bent Agency. Also wrote The Children of Hypnos. Social Media: @ChessieZappia You can find links to all my social media on my website www.francescazappia.com.