Thank you to NetGalley for an advance copy for review. I have been trying for several months to get through this book. I've picked it up and put it back down and tried to return to it, and it just does not resonate with me. After about 1/2 of the book, I can see that the writing style instills the same sort of feeling of anxiety in the reader as the main character is experience, hence the reason for his digital detox. While I can definitely see the benefit of that in my own life, and appreciate the sentiment, the writing was just a little too much for me. Too much time spent on describing the bodily functions of the main character, and lingering in scenes a little too long, that I found myself longing for it to end and never found the humor. Despite the fact that we've all probably (and are) an Andy, or know one, I didn't get any sense of why I should care about him. He wasn't a very likable character and I could not find myself wanting to root for him enough to finish.

Im afraid I found this a hard book to finish. To be fair its not my usual genre but I have enjoyed Nicks books in the past. It was all a bit slow for me.

"All I can do at this point is follow my own advice, and live my own life. Make my own decisions. And remember to always think for myself, instead of letting other people - or the internet - do it for me."

Thank you Amazon Publishing UK and NetGalley for providing me with an e-arc in return for my honest feedback.

Suffering from Insomnia, Anxiety and Neckache, Andy Bellows is convinced that something is seriously wrong with him and his doctor agrees with him: Andy Bellows is diagnosed with a severe addiction to technology what's with the constant texting, tweeting, online-dating, online-gaming and giving up the control on his life to the tiny apps that reside in his gadgets. Now, he is forced into following the doctor's orders and step away from them.
Left to live his life as a neanderthal- constantly searching for food to engaging with normal people, Andy's about to discover how bewildering analogue world can be.
Until one day, his sixty-days detox hits the pages of the local newspaper, grabbing the attention of the other technophiles. Narrated through his POV, the story moves on to explore if Andy Bellows will be able to survive this detox, giving up the sense that has become nearly as important as the primal ones: technology.

'Logging Off' adds to its appeal of entertaining and relaxing prose: a relevant, humorous, satisfying and thought-provoking plot for today's era, well mastered into reaching high above the expectations and with the message to find a balance between the analogue & the technological world, presiding over all of our lives. This is every bit of that book that one can enjoy to their heart's content. The characters in the story are crafted to relate to every one of us and plays their role perfectly. Based on our dependency on technology, the humour in the book feels satirical and will make you LOL through the entirety of it. "It is funny because it is true" is the case when it comes to this book!

Spalding's writing style is catchy and light, making the worst of the situations soft and hilarious. There is just something so relaxing about this read and I give all the credit to Nick's writing style. Every page flip feels so smooth and captures you within its pages!

I enjoyed every bit of this story wholeheartedly and it is a quick, hilarious, light and a necessary read that everyone must check out!

Loved this book! It's about a guy who is having health issues and he goes to the doctor and the doctor basically says to take a break from the internet. So funny to read this at a time when I've been thinking that it's a great time to take a break from influencers and the like. The story follows him as he literally navigates without google and has to talk to people and go shopping out in the wild. It was great. Finished in a day sitting in the sun on my patio and laughed out loud multiple times. It has a great message.

Andy Bellows spends most of his day online in some capacity. He is connected to the world through multiple social media accounts, and uses the internet to guide his way through everyday tasks such as dinner delivery, navigation, shopping, and staying in touch with his parents. Andy also suffers from horrifying bouts of Irritable Bowel Syndrome and has recently been experiencing debilitating bouts of lockjaw and neck and upper arm pain. After searching his symptoms online and receiving the news that his symptoms all (of course) indicate serious health concerns, he sees his family doctor who recommends a digital detox. Andy is miserable enough to follow this advice and is surprised to realize how connected he was and much he has missed due to being hidden behind a screen.

I loved the messages in this book: the need for balance with devices, the need to understand that social media personas are not really who they appear to be, and how much "real" people are losing due to connectivity. What grossed me out was the very descriptive passages of Andy's IBS episodes and his fixation with anything defecation related. There were parts of this book I slogged through and other parts I recorded quotes from because I could completely relate to Andy's struggles and opinions of social media and the use technology. I am going with a higher "star" rating because I think the messages need to be out there and I think someone looking for something completely "different" should consider this book.

Andy Bellows is in a terrible state. He can’t sleep, has horrible IBS and his jaw gets locked at the absolutely worst moments. He has anxiety and neck pain and just cannot figure out what to do. So off to his doctor he goes and there is nothing physically to blame - his doctor diagnoses a problem with his spending too much time connected to his electronics. The cure — a digital detox... a complete cessation of all use of electronics for two months. What happens after Andy’s appointment with the doctor is a humorous journey, through the analog world around Andy and the people he meets along the way.

Logging Off is both an enjoyable piece of fiction about one man who spends too much time on-line, and a commentary on how our society’s is too tied into technology and social media and the effects this has on us all.

Nick Spalding did an excellent job on this novel, tackling a topic we all need to think about... and perhaps make some changes our selves.

Such a fun book! Loved the way it was written- bright and interesting but also fun! What a brilliant, beautiful, feel-good, heartwarming book!

This was my first Nick Spalding book, and I really wanted to like this book. Because I found the premise so interesting and something I don’t usually pick up. I found the story a little underwhelming and I just couldn’t get behind the main character. Absolutely no shade to the author; I just think that I wasn’t the target audience for this: I just felt like the pacing was slow and by the time I got 50% to the book I was ready to never pick it up again.

Thank you Netgalley & publisher for this opportunity.

I was excited to read about someone taking the plunge into life without electronics. It's something that a lot of people struggle with. Unfortunately, that sot lost amid a lot of juveniles humor. This one fell flat for me..

This was an entertaining story that pitted out just how attached we are to our devices and Internet these days. Andrew Bellows is a graphic designer who loses a client because of some pretty serious health issues. When he sees his doctor, assuming the worse, he is told that he needs to go on a "digital detox" to solve his problems. What follows is filled with clarity as he goes from a life completely plugged in to one that is unplugged. A humorous look at something that is becoming an issue with many in the digital world we live in.

Couldn't put it down and finished in the sunshine in a day. Another great book by Nick Spalding. Have loved all of his books.

Great writing, fabulous plot.
The book flowed so well and throughly enjoyed this
Thank you to both NetGalley and publishers for giving me the opportunity to read this book

Overall this was a cute and humorous read that was also excessively wordy in parts and I found myself skimming at times. I thank Netgalley for the opportunity to read and review this book.

I really didnt get along with this book. I found the chapters too long, the character was actually quite annoying and the story just dragged. Not funny at all and very boring. Not the book for me

Funny and probably what we all need, is a good tech detox to learn how to function again without it.

The character, Andy, has some pretty cringeworthy moments, but him walking away and realizing how he can go with a lot less, shows how we’ve all become easily addicted to that blinking cursor and flashy screens.

Good read.

*I received this ARC from the publisher and this is my unbiased review.

I have two complaints about this book, neither of which can be fixed. My first complaint is that the chapters are too long. I found it hard to take breaks from reading at chapter breaks because they were so spaced out. My second complaint is that this book wasn’t long enough. When I say that, understand that the book is exactly the right length. It doesn’t end prematurely and it doesn’t drag out past the point where all plot points have been tied up and it’s clear the author is just trying to eke out a few more words. It really was the perfect length from a technical standpoint. The reason I say it was too short is because I enjoyed it so much that it made me sad when it ended.

I haven’t read anything else from Nick Spalding, but after reading this book, I am a fan—a follower, if you will. There are books that are amusing, while others are written specifically to be humorous, not necessarily having any other point. This book has a point, and it’s hysterical. On numerous occasions, I had to explain why I was laughing out loud. Told from the POV of Andy Bellows, a man with a very dry sense of humor, the narration is conversational and engaging. He is an everyday regular guy with a penchant for recognizing the absurdity in everyday regular occurrences. At one point, he tells the reader: “Look, I’m sorry, but I’m not making this stuff up.” He treats the reader as a confidante, someone with whom he can commiserate about the human condition.

Nick Spalding has some truly insightful observations about the internet and its effect on us, like when he makes this statement: “I’ve been so used to outsourcing my general knowledge to Google that when I have to fall back on the contents of my brain, I find that it’s a sluggish, stupid thing, with far less recall of facts than it should have.” Later, he says: “Has my brain been so starved of stimuli that it’s begun to critically evaluate the meat sack it’s being carried around in?” There have been many times when I’ve wondered the same thing as I pull up the thesaurus to remind myself of words that I once used with ataraxia (full disclosure: I’ve never even seen this word before).

Nick is also quite good with metaphors, which are always quite funny, like this one: “The irony is so thick, I keep expecting Alanis Morisette to jump out of the bathroom cabinet and hand me some toilet paper.” Or this one: “My kitchen looks like several wars zones have been through it, on their way to the pub.” And this comparison made me chuckle out loud, which again prompted the need to explain why I was laughing: “..the band start(s) to play what I can only describe as the sound of a large brass band falling down a flight of stairs.”

There’s a scene where Andy imagines a duck is talking to him, although the only word he keeps repeating is “duck,” that had me clutching my sides as I laughed. But the best part of that was when he asked someone else if the duck was saying “duck” and the person assured him the duck said “quack.” The duck says “duck, duck,” in “agreement” and Andy tells the reader, “But I can tell the little bastard is lying.”

I could go on quoting all of the parts of this book that I found especially funny, but suffice to say, the book is a treasure trove of amusement. If I could give it more than 5 stars, I would. In fact, I’d say this one goes to eleven. I loved it and highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys laughing. Thank you Netgalley!

This was an entertaining book about internet/tech addiction. The message is balance. I think the author did an excellent job in getting the readers to see themselves in this story. It has certainly opened my eyes about myself.
Many thanks to Amazon Publishing UK and to NetGalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

What would be the symptoms of too much internet surfing? In LOGGING OFF, we learn many, some not mentionable in polite company. What we do learn is that living life off line has it's own unique entertainment value. Nick Spalding is a seriously entertaining writer. No subject is off limits and no one takes the relearning of face to face communication more to heart than a man whose diagnosis of his aches and pains changes according to which google version he sees at the time. This book is a quick read. The story moves from one mishap to the next and keeps the laughs coming at warp speed. Definitely a different kind of humor/ life story than we are used to.

I found this book very entertaining and even laughed out loud at several parts. It is very relatable for those of us who find ourselves pushed into situations that are out of our comfort zone and wonder how in the world it happened. The main character just kept digging the hole deeper. I admit that I wasn't tempted to follow in his path, but I could definitely relate to the problem. It is one that a lot of people fall into. I would definitely suggest this book to all my friends.

Ouch! Ouch! Ouch! That’s the sound of my toes being stepped on by Nick Spalding in his book “Logging Off”. The basic premise of the story is about a 30 something man named Andy who is suffering from a number of physical ailments. Andy visits his doctor to find out what is wrong with him (believing he has a very serious terminal illness based on his internet research) and is surprised to find out that there is nothing wrong with him and that his various ailments are being caused by his extreme addiction to the internet world. I know, how could that possibly be true? I didn’t believe it anymore than Andy did. The doctor recommends that Andy go on a 60-day digital detox and the remainder of the book is the story of Andy’s journey through the next 60 days. He suffers a lot of digital withdrawal, remorse for committing to such a foolish idea and misadventures caused by not having access to such digital tools as GPS and restaurant ratings. But along the way, Andy also finds a lot of positives that he had been missing out on when he had his nose buried in his phone or his tablet. Now to explain the “stepping on my toes” comment at the beginning of this review. I’m an older woman who did not grow up with digital technology so came late to the internet game. But I embraced the digital life with gusto. Ok, I’m not nearly as bad as Andy was when we first meet him in the book (or at least I don’t think I am) but it made me have some second thoughts about whether I was becoming too dependent on my iPhone, iPad and laptop to the exclusion of actually living my life. No, I’m not that bad – I swear I’m not……….. PS – I just went online and bought the rest of Nick Spalding’s books and downloaded them on my Kindle, of course.

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