Eliza and Her Monsters

By: Francesca Zappia

Narrated by: Caitlin Kelly, Kate Rudd

“A love letter to fandom, friendship, and the stories that shape us, Eliza and Her Monsters is absolutely magical.”—Marieke Nijkamp, New York Times–bestselling author of This Is Where It Ends

Eighteen-year-old Eliza Mirk is the anonymous creator of the wildly popular webcomic Monstrous Sea, but when a new boy at school tempts her to live a life offline, everything she’s worked for begins to crumble.

Rainbow Rowell’s Fangirl meets Noelle Stevenson’s Nimona in this acclaimed novel about art, fandom, and finding the courage to be yourself. “A must-have.”—School Library Journal

In the real world, Eliza Mirk is shy, weird, and friendless. Online, Eliza is LadyConstellation, anonymous creator of a popular webcomic called Monstrous Sea. With millions of followers and fans throughout the world, Eliza’s persona is popular. Eliza can’t imagine enjoying the real world as much as she loves her digital community.

Then Wallace Warland transfers to her school and Eliza 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.

Will appeal to fans of Noelle Stevenson’s Nimona and Rainbow Rowell’s Fangirl.

Young Adult Library Services Association Best Book

Best Fiction for Young Adults Top Ten

Kirkus Best Book

Texas Tayshas Pick

AMAZING TOTALY AMAZING

The story had me bawling in the middle of class I loved it it’s my all time fav now I could relate so much to Eliza and the narrator captured Elizas emotions so well it was scary

There are monsters in the sea

I love this! The story, the characters, the message. I love Church & Sully and their relationship with Eliza. I love how it starts with misunderstanding and grows. I love Wallace’s design (I love Eliza’s more) & I love the turnout with him and his friends being the angels of Eliza’s fandom. I love how Eliza learns to separate her self-worth from her passions. It’s a great and heart-warming message.
The reading performance is great too :’)

Amazing

This is going on my top book of this year. Seriously, this book is absolutely amazing.

Great YA story

I read this in one sitting, and it was so good. Just quickly what I liked about it:

-Eliza, our MC, was just someone you could support. She had her flaws, but at the end of the day you couldn’t help but root for her. It’s easy to judge her mistakes while reading this, but she had her reasons. Her passion for what she does though is pretty remarkable.
-The romance was adorable af and so was Wallace. I really loved how their relationship developed. They never pressured each other to do something they were uncomfortable with. Their relationship wasn’t perfect at all, especially at the end. They both make their fair share of mistakes, but they’re teenagers. Who here hasn’t made their share of mistakes?
-This book showed exactly how easily teenagers are dismissed as being dramatic or childish by adults.
-I liked that it had pages from Eliza’s webcomic. The illustrations were beautiful!
-I loved how this validated online friendships. As someone who’s been told that those don’t really count, I’m glad this type of friendship was shown in such a positive light.
-I thought this was going to be more lighthearted than it was, but I liked how mental illness and social anxiety were portrayed (what we saw of it anyway. I do wish it was expanded on a bit more.
-The plot wasn’t super original, but the characters more than make up for it. Introverts like me will be able to relate to at least one character.

relatable but not

essentially explains how life feels for the generation born with the internet. Then it goes down hill with selfish main characters, an unwarranted suicide attempt, cursing to sound edgey and really...a fanfiction writer getting a book deal for his fanfiction? are you effing kidding me!?