Trying Something New

I recently discovered a website called NetGalley. The site is aimed at publishers and ‘professional readers’. Now I’ve never considered myself a ‘professional’ reader before, despite the fact that I’ve loved reading for as long as I can remember. However, according to NetGalley, anyone who likes to, ‘review and recommend books online, in print, for your bookstore, library patrons, blog readers, or classroom’ is considered a ‘professional reader’. I found this extremely cool and am definitely planning on adding it to my list of skills/achievements on Facebook.

A girl online writing about Girl Online

Last week I finally read a book I’ve been looking forward to reading since last year. Girl Online by Zoe Sugg, the YouTube sensation who is taking over the world.

I’ve been watching Zoe’s videos on YouTube for over a year now. She has two channels; her main channel (called Zoella), which contains fashion and beauty videos, and then her vlog channel (MoreZoella), on which she sometimes records her daily life. She is a charismatic and bubbly person, with just enough humour and charm to make me wait excitedly for the release of her videos every Sunday.

Something that I realised after watching her vlogs for a year, especially when she was a daily vlogger (she posted 10-15 minute long videos every day about what happened in her live the previous day) is that it becomes very easy to start feeling as though you know Zoe personally. You learn what she wears, what she eats and who her friends are – pretty much all of the details that you would learn about your own friends…except Zoe is still technically a complete stranger.