Review: Eliza and Her Monsters by Francesca Zappia

Hey, everyone! I hope you’re all doing well. I’m so sorry that I disappeared. School has been keeping me busy and I haven’t had as much time to work on posts.

Today I have a review for my most recent read, Eliza and Her Monsters! This was recommended to me a long time ago and I finally got around to reading it.

Title: Eliza and Her Monsters
Author: Francesca Zappia
Genre: YA Contemporary
Series: None
Page Count: 385 (hardcover)

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.

Content Warnings

panic attacks – suicidal thoughts – depictions of grief – depictions of depression

There is one spoiler in this review, but it is marked and placed under a toggle button.

Eliza and Her Monsters follows Eliza, a senior in high school who’s a bit of an outsider in the real world. She doesn’t have any friends and she’s never been one to socialize in person with others. Online, she’s known as LadyConstellation, the creator of the popular webcomic Monstrous Sea. No one knows her true identity. When she meets Wallace, Monstrous Sea‘s biggest fanfiction writer, she decides not to tell him who she really is. But when her secret is shared with the world, everything starts to fall apart.

Eliza’s character arc was done so well. At the beginning of the book, she’s socially awkward, introverted, and friendless. I love how Wallace began to bring her out of her comfort zone. Though she wasn’t very fond of the idea at first, she soon started talking with others and meeting people face to face, not just online.

The book gets a little darker when Eliza’s secret is revealed. She struggles with anxiety, maintaining her relationships with others, and even suicidal thoughts. I was proud of what she did to turn herself around.

“Monstrous Sea is mine. I made it, not the other way around. It’s not a parasite, or an obligation, or a destiny. It’s a monster. It’s mine. And I have a battle axe waiting for it.”

Wallace is another major character. He’s had a difficult life and as a result of some trauma, he doesn’t speak aloud in certain situations. I thought how he and Eliza exchanged notes was a great way of communicating with each other.

Minor Spoilers about Wallace

The only thing I wasn’t in love with was how Wallace reacted to Eliza’s secret. I understand he was angry and felt betrayed, but he didn’t have to guilt-trip Eliza into finishing the pages. Couldn’t he see how bad it was making her feel? He was making it seem like his entire life depended on her completing the story. That’s not cool.

Eliza has two younger brothers, Sully and Church. I loved to see how much they cared about Eliza and how they stood up for her when her secret was revealed. Other small moments throughout the book show that as well and it’s heartwarming to see their relationship.

I loved the little snippets of Monstrous Sea that we got. The drawings were so cool and I love the story Eliza created. Francesca Zappia actually wrote a whole prologue on Wattpad, both from Wallace’s transcribed chapters and some other ones as well. There’s also artwork of the characters. It makes me want there to be a whole story. I need to see what happens from that prologue and then the last of Eliza’s pages.

Go here. Read this. Thank me later.
https://www.wattpad.com/story/115593723-monstrous-sea-teaser

My Rating: 4/5 dragons