Santoro Gorjuss book reviews

Santoro is a company that make the loveliest and cutest notebooks ever.  They also make pens, purses, bags and a range of other items but it is, of course, their journals that I was most drawn to.

I ordered the "Santoro - Soft-touch Premium Journal with Pen - Gorjuss Family in a Book" from Amazon for just over £13. (It is now being sold for £13.99).

Here's the Amazon description and Santoro's stock image.

Gorjuss Notepad & Pen. Write down your most private thoughts or just organise your life with this bound journal and matching pen from Gorjuss. In muted tones of brown and red and with a bright red pen and matching elastic band closure this journal is a must have for all girls big or small. Gorjuss Journal has a soft touch PU cover, an internal keep safe pocket for private treasures and 192 pages of paper with ruled, gridded and plain pages for varied use. Also attached is a three ribbon page marker and a separate bookmark. Size: 10 x 15 x 1.7cm

So the actual notebook is just like you see it here - adorable. This will really appeal to fans of the kawaii. It comes with a nice, useable biro (which I found a little difficult to use because I struggle with any pen that isn't on the skinny side just because of the way I've held a pen since childhood *major hand pain* but it will work fine for everyone else). I like the red band too.

I do love the feel of the soft cover but it gets dented VERY easily and even before I had used it I noticed scuffing. This will definitely annoy those who aren't accustomed to treating their notebooks in a delicate way. I mean I look after my notebooks very well but even then it already has quite a few impressions in it.

Three ribbon marker - silver, black and striped

The pages themselves are really lovely. They are divided into thirds, with one third a coral colour. The front cover image is very lightly printed in the background.

 Another third has lined pages with a red edge.

Right side

Left side additionally has this corner image

 And you also get a light grey grid pattern with two images in the top left and bottom right corner.

The pages are lovely, very good quality and take ink pen well without any bleed through (though there will be show through with fountain pen).

I really love the inside cover also.

Whilst I do rate this book highly and would definitely recommend it as a gift for journal lovers (especially fans of the "cutesy"), I cannot rate the high price tag in a similar way. £14 for a very small notebook is astronomical! I love the design of the other notebooks Santoro make but anything above £8 for such a small journal is just far too overpriced for me so I won 't be repurchasing this design or buying the others unless I find them on sale. And looking at reviews on Amazon it seems others have judged it in the same vein!

The next Santoro notebook I bought has the Puddles of Love design on it. I absolutely adore this notebook! It is A5 in size and two designs on the pages.

The front cover is made of the same thickness card that you'll find for paperback novels.

Back cover

Inside cover

Half of the book is lined with a light pink ink on a blue background. The other is plain pink pages with a really light print of the front cover image in the corner.

Again this is another "cute" purchase but I prefer the actual design (and price tag!) of this notebook. I paid somewhere around £5 for this notebook but it seems that they have replaced this particular design with a hardcover version for £10 on Amazon. I don't know if that means that this version is now discontinued or if they are selling both elsewhere but this version is no longer available on Amazon.

Overall I can completely understand why this company have called these notebooks "Gorjuss" as they really are. I think they'd make ideal gifts for a very specific target audience. As much as I love my two notebooks I don't think I'd buy any more as I do feel they are very overpriced.