"Eliza And Her Monsters," by Francesca Zappia

Genre: Fiction/Contemporary/Slice-of-Life

Page Count: 400+

Published: 2017 (Greenwillow Books)

Potential Triggers: Occasional Cursing, LGBTQ+ mention, abortion mention, hints at suicidal ideation,

Mental Health Topics: Anxiety, Depression,

The first thing I need to start with is: if I had to choose a favorite book, I'm pretty sure it'd be this one, so as you read this, keep in mind that I am quite biased. I've read this book at least three times so far and I still get the happy jitters when I finish it.

As for the quality of the book, I'd say the previous paragraph speaks for itself. This isn't the kind of book where you find perfectly grammatical sentences, but instead you'll find sentences that wouldn't get past your English teacher that give it that extra level of life.

Eliza And Her Monsters is a fictional novel about a girl named Eliza Mirk. Eliza is the creator of a popular webcomic called Monstrous Sea and she publishes it all under the name LadyConstellation. Online, she's famous.

Offline... she is, as the blurb summarizes it, "shy, weird, and friendless."

One thing I love about Francesca Zappia's books—and she does it really well in this one—is the fact that the whole book is not all text. In this book, there are little pages of Monstrous Sea throughout the story, along with snippets of posts from the forum and views of her chats with online friends.

The pacing of the story is on-point. The first two chapters are exposition, giving the readers insight on who Eliza is, not only as herself at home, but also her as LadyConstellation. And as soon as you have just enough to be curious, chapter three comes and the whole story begins.

This is the kind of book—at least for me—that I would read in one sitting if I had the time to. I've done it before and I would do it again. Everything flows together so well, the characters are so dynamic and engaging, and everything about it is so relatable. That could definitely just be me speaking because I have a lot in common with Eliza, but I'm going to adamantly say that all the same because to me, it is the absolute truth.

Eliza's character especially just comes to live on the page. Her tones bounce between serious and sarcastic and without even having descriptions of her body movements, it's like you can somehow hear her emotions and how she's feeling through the words that she says and the narration that's included to lead the readers through the story.

I will probably rave about this book forever. It's been one of my absolute favorite books for over 2 years now and I doubt that'll change anytime soon.

Long live LadyConstellation and the Monstrous Sea forum! On my bookshelf, where I will continue rereading it until the end of my Eliza Mirk obsession. May that day never come.

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Eliza And Her Monsters on Amazon

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Special thanks to my sister (pen name AquaBlaze) for helping me create and take this picture. <3