I've never really written a post about a book I didn't like.
Mainly because when I started writing about books, I wanted to write about
books I enjoyed and why I enjoyed them. I want to start of by saying I really
wanted to enjoy this book, I love Louise and a lot of what she has to say about
feeling good about yourself and doing good.
Maybe it's because its another in the long line of 'youtuber books' that
are mainly about lifestyle and part biography that after a few they are all
starting to seem very the same and the content follows the same structure but
with another voice. Perhaps its also because I am not the target age for these
books too, I'm not old but at 22 I'm getting further away from the teen age
bracket, I just didn't enjoy this as much as I ought to.
I'm going to start with what I didn't like, so I can end on
a positive note. I'm going to give my honest opinions because that's what I try
to do in my book reviews. One of my main problems with the book was the design.
Yes it's beautiful and clearly there has been a lot of effort poured into that
I can appreciate it as someone who now does a tiny bit of design work in my own
job, I always strive for perfection in the littlest things. It worked perfectly
for the pages with quotes on as they looked great and stood out, but for the
normal sections of the book I don't feel it did. I found it created no sense of
cohesion throughout the sections, fair enough if each section had a different
design, but on every page it made it feel a little disjointed. I also felt that
often the background on some pages was very distracting to read the content.
Speaking of content, the design seemed to distract from the fact that there
wasn't a lot of content in the book with the framing of the text sometimes
there was very little on a page, maybe that's just because I'm comparing it to
similar books that had a lot more in them and that might just be the problem.
I've read Grace's Guide, Girl Online, Love, Tanya, and All I Know Now. All of
which are unique in the issues they deal with, this one is still somewhat
unique but especially with having already watched Louise on Youtube and
followed her blog for some time now like it did with the other books it just
felt like material was being repeated to be condensed in one place (which I did
feel with the other books also).
Just because I didn't enjoy this book as much as I thought I
did doesn't mean I didn't like it at all. The book had its merits. It is filled
with Louise's character which is one I love, the positivity and not caring what
people think. Although obviously a lot of the 'Need to Knows' section wasn't
aimed at me and was more for a younger and less aware audience it was still
great to read and reflect and realise that not everyone is perfect and no-one
ever will be but we can accept that and work on being better still and learn
from our mistakes. Even though we've heard about it before I loved that the
Kylie Minogue story was included (fans of Louise will know exactly what I'm on
about) and I did have to stop myself from laughing out loud on the train whilst
reading it.
I know I complained about the design, from a reading point
of view as it felt more like a chunky magazine than a book (but that's because
I'm a book lover/consumer) but there were things I loved, especially the little
doodles that featured throughout the book. I also loved pages feautring a quote
about positivity, very pinterest! As was the craft section, which was probably
my favourite partly because it's not something I've seen in any of the 'youtuber
books' I've read and it's something I'm working on this year.
I hate that throughout this review I've constantly used the
phrase 'youtuber book' as in my last review by someone who is on youtube
(Carrie Hope Fletcher- All I Know Now) I constantly avoided that phrase and
focused on the books unique merit as a great guide for teens and being a great
person. With this book it is different and it is a youtuber book I feel,
containing a combination of all Louise talks online, maybe its because I am someone
who mainly reads stories and that's why this isn't my kind of book despite it
being by someone whom I admire.
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