Review: Girl Online

On my birthday I got book Girl Online written by lovely Zoella a.k.a. Zoe Sugg. Among other gifts, which you can read all about here, this was the one I've been dying to get my hands onto. Ever since Zoe announced her book is coming out I wanted to get it, but there's so many books on my MUST BUY list I never got around to do it.

To be completely honest with you guys, I wasn't even sure I wanted to spend my money on it because recently every youtuber has been publishing their own book and I've had a feeling that a lot of them felt pressured to do it because it was a way to make some extra money and because their viewers (me included) will buy everything they put out.

Luckily I was pleasantly surprised. I've fallen in love with Girl Online as soon as I read a few pages. It's a good teen romance, easy to read and it seems so realistic. It shows the influence of social media and how easily things can go viral and mess up someone's life completely. The book has a good representation of how it feels to be a teenage girl who is intimidated by world, doesn't feel like she fits in and above all doesn't understand what is happening to her.

However, our main character Penny, isn't afraid to express herself on her blog, putting her feelings out for the world to see and share her honest opinion. In her words she is keeping it real on the blog and unreal in her life. Her blog is like a safe place to her and I believe a lot of us (people who like to write blog like she does) feels the same way.

When things get overwhelming in school, her parents offer her a little getaway to New York. There she meets a boy that goes by the name Noah. He's different that what she knows, slightly older, very handsome and surprisingly good at asking random questions. They get involved, but Noah is keeping something a secret from her and when she returns to UK, things fall apart.

But you have to read the book to find out what happens.

Girl Online is a perfect book for a lazy, rainy day when you want to escape from reality. With a cup of tea by your side and wrapped in warm, cozy blanket you have a perfect setting for a day of relaxation.

Airbnb review

About a month ago I had no idea what Airbnb is, but then my aunt invited me to go to London with her and said that she rented a room on Airbnb. My immediate response was: “On what?”

Airbnb is an online website that allows people to rent out lodging in over 192 countries. 

People who have unused rooms in their homes can create an account on Airbnb and open their homes to people all around the world. Of course there are a lot of things that you worry about when you decide to do something like that, but I must say that my experience was wonderful.

We arrived in London at about one in the morning and had to get a taxi from the airport to the house that we were staying at. The house looked lovely when we stood outside and rang the bell. We were both very anxious when no one answered the door, thinking we had been fooled and we would have to find a hotel at one in the morning, but it turned out that our host had just fellen asleep. 

She was really nice, very communicative and gave us a very warm welcome. She even left some water in our room if we wanted to make a cup of tea before going to bed. Our room was overlooking the garden they had behind their house. In the morning we were greeted by the sun shining through our window and the smell of breakfast from downstairs. 

Our host showed us around the house that morning and even let us see two chickens they had in the backyard. She made us breakfast, and later took us to the underground with her car, just to show us where it is. 

Later that week she took us to the train station when we were running late for Harry Potter Studio tour, but that’s another story. 

To sum up, even if you are sceptical about going somewhere with Airbnb I’d say it’s worth a shot. Just make sure you look through reviews the person has on the website. Overall my experience was wonderful! I met some amazing people, got to practice my English and was lucky enough to see how people really live in London. Airbnb gives you a chance to really see people’s habits and the way of living all over the world.  

The Maze Runner: book vs movie

The Maze Runner is a quickly growing franchise based on a novel by Josh Dashner. It’s one of those young-adult fiction that is located in dystopia. It became popular with the release of the movie, which features some of the best young adult actors such as Dylan O’Brien, Thomas Sangster and Will Poulter. 

But because the movie ends with a cliffhanger, I decided to read the book as well, hoping to get more information about what is going on. The writer took part in making of the movie, so I expected a bunch of similarities and very few changes, but I was surprised by the difference. 

The basic story is that Thomas, a teenager, finds himself in the centre of a giant maze without any memory whatsoever, only to be welcomed by other boys into a community that seems to be living in the maze. Soon he becomes a Runner (=a person who runs around the maze, mapping and memorising it), but that’s when trouble starts. He triggers strange events, leading to finding the solution of how to escape. When they get out, they are faced with the real world and the reason why they were put into a maze, making them question their own existence. 

So there is a question: Is it better to read a book or watch a movie?

I’m a big supporter of reading the book first, yet in this case I watched the movie before even opening a book. The movie has a lot of action in it, lots of guys trying to prove themselves, a lot of rushed decisions and it’s perfect for the big screen because of the constant tension. It has a gripping plot, just enough mystery to keep you thinking about it and a cliffhanger that makes you go insane. 

The book, on the other hand, is much more deliberate. Events that take place are there for a reason and nobody rushes into anything, because they realise their lives depend on it. Compared to a movie it is much more intelligent; from how they live in the glade to how they figure out the way out of the maze. In the book they truly are geniuses, like they are supposed to be, while in the movie they just seem like hormonal teenage boys who constantly argue. 

To sum it up, if you read the book first you will build up your expectations and be disappointed. However, if you watch the movie first, the book will fill you in on things they left out. So my advice is to do both, read the book and watch the movie, because each of them is unique and has touching moments in it that you don’t want to miss.