Grace Helbig is most famous for being a YouTube personality. She has also appeared on TV and earlier this year launched her own TV show. And she’s an author! This, her first book, is a self-improvement guide aimed at older teens and the college crowd. She is first and foremost a comedian so the book is written in a light hearted, self-depreciating style that invokes her YouTube and TV personas.
I wanted to like this book more than I did. I like Grace Helbig on YouTube and find her brand of humor entertaining. She has a somewhat awkward way of looking at things that I find endearing. The book is written in that same style but that style did not translate easily to print. In her videos her facial expressions and body language enhance her delivery. That enhancement is somewhat lost in her book even though it contains a number of photos.
Grace’s Guide didn’t meet my expectations. It was good, and I enjoyed it, but not as much as I had hoped. In the book Grace gives good advice which the young adult reader will find useful and appealing. She manages to slip in a fair number of helpful tips on life among the humor. You will smile, you will laugh, and if you don’t watch out, you will learn something. Grace also relates a number of personal experiences which her fans will find interesting. Not a bad read, but all in all , I didn’t enjoy Grace the author as much as I enjoy Grace the YouTube star.
In all fairness, I am way past the age of the target audience of this book. I suspect, as much as I hate to admit it, that there is probably some generational slippage. On Amazon the book has a solid five star rating. I would give it four stars, maybe 3.5. If you like Grace you will like the book, and if you are of the right age, you will likely even love it. If you don’t know Grace check out some of her YouTube videos first. If you like them then you too will enjoy her book.
Review by Phillip Whitford, Associate Director For Support Services.
Braswell Memorial Library 