Review: Eliza and Her Monsters by Francesca Zappia

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.




4 STARS

Man did I connect with Eliza. Eliza would rather live her life through a computer screen. She has friends but she doesn't need to meet them to consider them real. Her parents mean well, but the tactics that they concoct to "connect" with Eliza seem to have more to do with their own needs and interest than hers. Her younger brothers are... younger brothers, and the kids at school treat her like she's been infected by the Black Plague. Eliza has dedicated herself to keep her head down, her mouth closed, and to pray for graduation.

Amidst her issues and avoidance's at school and at home, Eliza is the creator of one of the most popular web comics around. She has fans, merchandise, and people doing fanfics and fanart about the world and characters that she's created. And while one would think that the popularity of her web comic would drip over into real life, it doesn't, because aside from her parents, only two other people know that Eliza created Monstrous Sea (sort of).

When Wallace enters the picture, Eliza, for the first time, meets a fan of her comic in real life! She meets someone who not only connects with her through her work, but understands her goals, ambitions, and her reserved nature.

It takes a while before the book tells us but Eliza has pretty intense anxiety. She hates crowds, avoids as many conversations as possible, and the idea of the notoriety that may accompany her identity as Monstrous Sea's creator seem to be almost too much to bear.

While reading about Eliza I understood her 100%. I also grew up in a family of sports addicts, and all I wanted to do was read books, write stories, listen to show tunes, and be left alone. It hard for people to imagine because I'm so chatty and bubbly and sassy. But fun fact, that's also a "super fun" way some people handle anxiety. So even though Eliza could be obnoxious and unfair and downright mean to her family sometimes. I get it. It's an almost uncontrollable reaction sometimes and can result from feeling panicked.

Between Eliza and Wallace, who struggles to speak in front of crowds I felt like this book was necessary. I wish there were most stories like this when I was in middle school and high school. I Will say that Wallace's actions at the end of this book were very out of character and almost didn't seem to fit with this book, but aside from this few chapters at the end, I call this book a win!