kymmiejournals
Written on May 4, 2018
Bookhype may earn a small commission from qualifying purchases. Full disclosure.
The incredible debut novel from YouTube phenomenon Zoe Sugg, aka Zoella.
I have this dream that, secretly, all teenage girls feel exactly like me. And maybe one day, when we realize that we all feel the same, we can all stop pretending we're something we're not... But until that day, I'm going to keep it real on this blog and keep it unreal in real life.
Penny has a secret.
Under the alias Girl Online, Penny blogs her hidden feelings about friendship, boys, high school drama, her crazy family, and the panic attacks that have begun to take over her life. When things go from bad to worse, her family whisks her away to New York, where she meets Noah, a gorgeous, guitar-strumming American. Suddenly Penny is falling in love - and capturing every moment of it on her blog.
But Noah has a secret, too, one that threatens to ruin Penny's cover - and her closest friendship - forever.
"It's at exactly this moment that I fall into a hole. OK, it's not a big hole and I don't actually disappear inside it or anything, but I do catch my foot and end up tumbling forward—making me look about as attractive and sophisticated as a Saturday-night drunk. That's one thing I hate about Brighton, where I live. It seems to be full of holes that exist just for me to fall into!"
"But then, as I gather up mine and Elliot's coats, I trip on my scarf and crash into a waitress carrying a tray of toasted paninis."
"I hope you don't mind me writing about this. I promise I'll get back to my usual self next week."
"In a way, it's nice to know that 'panic attacks' are an actual thing and not just my mind going crazy."
"I glance at Ollie, wondering if maybe I haven't woken up yet and everything that's happened so far has just been a dream. I pinch my leg under the table to check— a little too hard."
"I'd expected the skyscrapers but I hadn't expected them to be quite so sky-scraping."
As my excitement starts to build, I feel the urge to dance. I grab the remote and turn on the TV. MTV is playing nonstop Christmas tunes. I start dancing around the room to "Santa Claus is Coming to Town." I dance and dance until I've shaken off the horrible residue from my dream. Then I collapse down onto my bed and grin at my doll.
"Happy Christmas," I whisper to her breathlessly.
"Then I do look up, and for a split second we're staring into each other's eyes. And click—I feel another part of me slotting into place with him."
"Then how can you be in love with this guy if you only just met him?"