Eliza and her Monsters by Francesca Zappia

Pages: 385

Intended Audience: Teens

Genre: Contemporary

Notes for Parents: Contains coarse language and mature scenes.

The Back Cover

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. Then Wallace Warland, Monstrous Sea’s biggest fanfiction writer, transfers to her school and draws her into a life offline she never could have imagined. But when Eliza’s secret is accidentally shared with the world, everything she’s built—her story, her relationship with Wallace, and ever her sanity—begins to fall apart.

What the cover doesn’t tell you:

The novel includes drawings from the main characters webcomic, Monstrous Sea.

What’s good?

Eliza is living a double life -- one online as a confident, gifted artist and storyteller, and the other in real time, where she suffers from social anxiety and keeps to herself. Her two lives inevitably meet and Eliza must cope with the outcome. Eliza is a realistic, relatable teen whose online success only seems to increase her inability to deal with real life situations. Her family is present, but can’t relate to her (because she never talks to them!), and her new “real life” friends only seem to add to the pressure she feels she’s under. The plot is simple but emotional and the pace is steady.

Best Part: Monstrous Sea.

What isn’t good?

This is yet another story about a someone keeping a big secret that’s destined to be revealed and ruin trust and relationships. Fortunately, this story has the added bonus of the Monstrous Sea story line (and fabulous drawings!) that adds some uniqueness to a trope that’s getting old.

Worst part: Are people going to discover her secret? Of course they are!

Recommendation ☺☺☺☺ (4/5)

I really enjoyed this story despite it having an overused plot line. The character of Eliza should resonate with many readers for her online confidence and offline anxiety. The supporting characters are well drawn and the pace makes this an easy read. Definitely recommended.

Zappia, Francesca. Eliza and her Monsters. New York: Greenwillow Books, 2017.