TEAM ZOELLA MARCH 11, 2021

21 Interiors Picks That Celebrate the Beauty of the Female Form

From peachy booty vases and ceramics to abstract line silhouettes, you can say goodbye to bare walls and lacklustre shelves as these celebrations of the female body add a fun and flirty twist to any space.

Who run the world? GIRLS. If it wasn’t already obvious, we’re pretty into celebrating, uplifting and championing women in all that we do, so it probably comes as no surprise that we’re head over heels for the female form interiors trend that has taken Pinterest by storm in the past 12 months. From peachy booty vases and ceramics to abstract line silhouettes, you can say goodbye to bare walls and lacklustre shelves as these celebrations of the female body add a fun and flirty twist to any space.

inspiration from the female form has transcended the high street and small businesses everywhere, popping up in the form of prints, candles and soft furnishings galore.

For the experts in bum ceramics (we see you), the name Anissa Kermiche probably rings a bell as the original designer of the Love Handles vases which took Instagram by storm in 2020. The adoration for these vases has since inspired and fuelled the female form trend, appearing in our daily scroll well into 2021 with no sign of slowing down. And whilst her designs are a little on the spendy side (£2.5k on a vase anyone?), inspiration from the female form has transcended the high street and small businesses everywhere, popping up in the form of prints, candles and soft furnishings galore. We don’t know about you, but turning our homes into a flirty and fabulous female shrine has never been more appealing …

Alexa: play Girls by The 1975.

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TEAM ZOELLA MARCH 10, 2021

13 Galvanising Books Every Feminist Should Read

In this blog post, we’re celebrating women and their wise words, sisters and their stories, females and their fierce bodies of work.

Hankering for an empowering, educational and inspiring read? You’ve come to the right place.

In this blog post, we’re celebrating women and their wise words, sisters and their stories, females and their fierce bodies of work. From essayists past and present and breakout names to literary powerhouses and contemporary greats, these are the books that have advocated for the lives and truths of women and challenged the way we think about gender.

1 Feminists Don’t Wear Pink (and other lies) – Scarlett Curtis

What exactly does the F word mean? This curation of funny, powerful and personal essays by a plethora of diverse contemporary female voices and celebrities explores everything from misogyny and masturbation to period tax and motherhood. Purchase the book via Bookshop.org here.

2. A Room of One’s Own – Virginia Woolf

First published in 1929, Woolf’s essay on women’s struggle for independence was a call to arms and a seminal feminist text. Her thesis is simply that in order for women to write, they have must have money and a room of their own. That is – the freedom and the space to fulfil their true potential. We don’t ask for much. Purchase the book via Bookshop.org here.

3. Dear Ijeawele – Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

From the best-selling author of We Should All Be Feminists and Americanah, Dear Ijeawele gets right to the heart of 21st century sexual politics. Adichie’s childhood friend and new mum Ijeawele wrote to ask how she should raise her baby daughter to be a feminist and this 15-piece manifesto is her funny, perceptive and utterly galvanising response. Leave it to Adichie to make her mark in 60 pages and under. Purchase the book via Bookshop.org here.

4. Slay In Your Lane: The Black Girl Bible – Yomi Adegoke and Elizabeth Uviebinene

Featuring interviews with Susan Wokoma, Lady Leshurr and Denise Lewis, Slay In Your Lane is a true insight into what it’s like to be a black girl today and a powerful toolkit to help black women everywhere take control of their lives. It will inspire, uplift and resonate with many. Purchase the book via Bookshop.org here.

5. Girl, Woman, Other – Bernardine Evaristo

Evaristo’s Booker Prize-winning novel follows the interconnected stories and struggles of 12 black female and non-binary characters, diverse in age, background and lived experiences. Brimming with humanity, Evaristo’s nuanced and achingly relevant novel flows like a lovesong to black womanhood and quite frankly deserves ALL the awards. Purchase the book via Bookshop.org here.

6. Outrageous Acts and Everyday Rebellions – Gloria Steinem

A collection of timeless essays from the trailblazing feminist Gloria Steinem, ranging from the hilarious satire “If Men Could Menstruate’ to the moving tribute to her mother “Ruth’s Song”, and the famous exposé “I Was A Playboy Bunny”. Purchase the book via Amazon here.

7. The Beauty Myth: How Images of Beauty are Used Against Women – Naomi Wolf

If you’ve ever stood in the mirror, poked at your hips and wished for a smaller, thinner, more symmetrical version of yourself that doesn’t exist, Wolf’s words will strike a chord. Her iconic critique of the oppressive function of beauty standards through the ages is a clarion call to freedom from the shackles of pretty-pressure. Purchase the book via Bookshop.org here.

8. The Bell Jar – Sylvia Plath

Sylvia Plath’s legendary novel closely parallels her own life and experience with depression. It centres around Esther Greenwood, a young promising writer interning at a fashion magazine in New York who should be having the time of her life, only she’s not because she’s stifled by a misogynistic society and spiralling into mental illness. The fig tree quote will make you feel every type of emotion. Purchase the book via Bookshop.org here.

9. A Vindication of The Rights of Women – Mary Wollstonecraft

Dubbed one of the mothers of feminist theory, Mary Wollstonecraft’s seminal text challenged the notion that women only exist to please men and called for women and men to be given equal opportunities in education, work and politics. Purchase the book via Bookshop.org here.

10. Gender Outlaw – Kate Bornstein

“I know I’m not a man . . . and I’ve come to the conclusion that I’m probably not a woman, either. . . . . The trouble is, we’re living in a world that insists we be one or the other.”

First published in 1994, Bornstein’s fearless and prescient text dismantles gender binary, unpicks our notions of male and female and questions why society defends the binary system so vehemently. In the foreword, Bornstein caveats their work by acknowledging that the way we speak about gender is always in flux and the language used in this edition will no doubt fall short, even in its revised 2006 version. That said, Gender Outlaw invites us all to consider what kind of world we live in. Purchase the book via Bookshop.org here.

11. Bad Feminist – Roxane Gay

Ever felt like you’re a sh*tty feminist? A flawed woman with a penchant for Vogue magazines, misogynist songs and all the pink? From Fifty Shades of Grey to Chris Brown, Bad Feminist is a razor-sharp, witty and insightful look at the glossy myths and contradictions inherent not only in the feminism movement but within the human condition. Purchase the book via Bookshop.org here.

12. The Power – Naomi Alderman

In this speculative fiction/dystopian feminist fantasy, Naomi Alderman asks what if the matriarchy had all the power? It’s a woman’s world now and they can kill with the touch of a finger… Purchase the book via Bookshop.org here.

13. The Periodic Table of Feminism – Maria Bate

The Periodic Table of Feminism is an empowering look at the feminist movement through the international figures who have shaped it. Purchase the book via Bookshop.org here.

TEAM ZOELLA MARCH 9, 2021

13 Questions with Elle McNamara AKA @Bambidoesbeauty

We caught up with Elle to chat about her beauty journey online, creating skincare content and what she's up to in 2021.

First off, how are you and how is your 2021 going? 

Thank you for asking, you know, 2021 has been far more hopeful for me (and for everyone I think!) and I’m feeling more focused. 

Can you tell us about your career online and how it has evolved?

The origins of Bambi Does Beauty started way back during University (I created a print fashion magazine titled Bambi as my dissertation piece). As I got older, my interest in beauty was more heightened than ever, and that’s when Bambi Does Beauty was born. Originally it was Youtube and blog posts, then Instagram became my outlet. First, there were shelfies and the occasional selfie, now I’ve turned the brand into something more (I hope!) – skincare information and guidance for my audience, alongside an insight into my mental health journey with my posts #BambiDoesLife with a big old dose of aesthetic thrown in for good measure!

We love your IG bio ‘A less is more approach to beauty’ – what can people expect from your content online?

Thank you! My content has definitely diversified, originally it was just pretty pictures, now I want to educate, guide and relate to the people who choose to follow me. My story highlights are where you’d find most of my educational skincare content, tips and tricks and “Skinfo”. Then there’s #BambiDoesLife, possibly my most exposing content series to date. I feel so happy to be able to share who I really am, what I’ve felt and have a bit more of a laugh, and for it to have been received so well! 

We know skincare is just important if not more important than makeup, what are some of your top tips for glowing skin?

Hydrate hydrate hydrate! Not just plonking on a heavy moisturiser but actually layering different textures to get a long lasting dew. I’m also a fan of chemical exfoliation, it can be a real pick me up for skin that’s looking dull and tired. 

People often neglect the skin on their bodies, what are some of your most-used body brands?

This is so true! Up until a few years ago that was me too. I have a memory of someone commenting on how scaly my legs were and that’s just stuck with me! So now I’m really dedicated to my body care routine, and my legs are dolphin soft now haha. I love an exfoliating body cream – it does all the hard work for you without needing to scrub. I adore the Gallinee Body Milk, Dr Dennis Gross Body Peel Pads, Amanda Harrington Glycolic Body Scrub, and you can’t go wrong with a big tub of CeraVe moisturising cream!

Can you tell us about some of the features you host on your IG?

I’m loving hosting my latest feature, Skinfo. It’s basically a Q&A format where my followers enter their skincare questions, and you’ll not be surprised to hear that most people have the exact same concerns! I love that this is just there on my highlights for everyone to refer or just to have a nosey. I’m also really enjoying putting together Guides, (Instagram’s newest feature) where I collate my Top Ten products from each skincare category at different price points, I update this when a new fave comes in too! 

We love your Glamour column! How do you find inspiration for topics?

Thank you! It often just pops into my head! I can be lying in bed and be like “Aaaah that’s it!” and once I have a concept I’m ready to write. I don’t tend to plan them out, I like to write freely and from personal experience. 

What are you currently working on?

A few things will be changing for me in the next few months and I’m really excited for the next chapter! I’m working on building longer-term relationships with brands, and continuing to build an informative platform that encompasses humour and reality. In the hope it will help or perhaps inspire my audience (particularly my younger audience) to have confidence in themselves. 

Who are some of your favourite beauty follows online? 

I adore me some LC, that’s @laucapon on Instagram! Everything she puts out brings me joy, and it’s not often you can say that about a person online. I’m also really enjoying Dr Soma, @dr.somaskin, she shares such informative skincare knowledge but makes it accessible and quite visual too. Lastly, I love Peony, @peonylim, she has such a kind and humble presence, and for someone so beautiful who shares such luxurious content, I think that’s very rare and special.

What does your perfect weekend look like? 

Ooooh, I’ve lost sight of weekends! It would probably be either a trip to a Cotswolds spa with my Mum, eating scones and getting massages. I also love visiting where I grew up down South, my Dad and I are planning a visit this Summer and I can’t wait for all the nostalgia!

What do you always carry with you? 

It used to be my phone but I’ve started banning myself from it when I go to bed until I’m up the next day. So at the moment, I’d say my Milk Makeup Lip Mask (it’s the best product I’ve ever used on my lips!).

What would your last ever meal be? 

Literally, this is something I think about a lot haha. At the moment it would be my mum’s homemade vodka pasta, followed by a box of Krispy Kremes. Lol.

What is one positive piece of advice you could give to our audience? 

Do you, it’ll pay off in the end. 

TEAM ZOELLA MARCH 8, 2021

International Women’s Day: Famous Female Firsts & the Inspiring Women Who Went Where No Woman Has Been Before

From pioneering science and political milestones to radical acts of defiance, these are the precedent-setting women who blazed a trail for others to follow.

This International Women’s Day, we’re honouring the fierce female greats who changed the course of history, broke boundaries and defied societal expectations. From pioneering science and political milestones to radical acts of defiance, these are the precedent-setting women who blazed a trail for others to follow.

Emmeline Pankhurst (1858 – 1928)

In 1903, Emmeline Pankhurst and her daughter Christabel formed the militant wing of the women’s suffrage movement known as the Women’s Social and Political Unit (WSPU). The Representation of the People Act was passed just a few weeks after her death in 1928, granting full suffrage to women.

Emily Davison (1872 – 1913)

Often confused with Emmeline Pankhurst, Davison was a suffragette who died after she was struck by the king’s horse at the Epsom Derby in 1913. When it comes to her intentions, history is divided as to whether she was attempting to merely disrupt the race by attaching a suffragette’s flag to the horse, or she truly intended on killing herself. Whatever her motivation, she was prepared to die for the cause and become a martyr for women’s suffrage.

Amelia Earhart – The first female to fly solo across the Atlantic (1932)

Amelia Earhart became the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic in a nearly 15-hour voyage.

Claudette Colvin The first Black woman to refuse to give up her seat on a bus (1955)

At just 15-years-old Claudette Colvin became a pioneer in the civil rights movement when she refused to give up her seat for a white man on a Montgomery bus on March 2, 1955. When the driver of a segregated bus ordered Colvin to get up she refused, saying she had paid her fare and that it was her constitutional right to sit there. She was arrested on several charges including violating the city’s segregation laws. Nine months later, Rosa Parks did the very same thing and Colvin received little recognition for her act of bravery.

Rosa Parks (1913-2005)

Rosa Parks, a 42-year-old Black seamstress, sparked a turning point in the US civil rights movement when she famously refused to give up her seat for a white man on a Montgomery, Alabama bus. Her actions sparked the Montgomery Bus Boycott lead by Martin Luther King, Jr. and a nationwide effort to end racial segregation. In 1956, the US supreme court ruled that segregated buses were unconstitutional.

Marie Curie – The first female Nobelist (1903)

Marie Curie née Maria Sklodowska became the first woman to win the joint Nobel prize with her husband Pierre Curie in 1903 and again in 1911, this time for pioneering research on radioactivity.

Margaret Sanger (1879-1966)

In 1914, Margaret Sanger emerged as the founder of the Birth Control Movement in the United States. She made it her mission to educate women about birth control and give them easy access to safe and reliable contraception. In 1916, she opened the first birth control clinic in America and in the 1950s, she initiated the research and development of the first oral contraceptive pill.

Valentina Tereshkova – The first woman in space (1963)

Valentina Tereshkova was the first woman to travel to space. She spent almost 3 days in space and orbited the Earth 48 times in her spacecraft, Vostok 6.

Gertrude Ederle – The first woman to swim across the English Channel (1926)

At age 20, Gertrude Ederle became the first woman to complete what was then considered one of the toughest endurance tests in the world, a feat only five men had managed before her. She finished the 21-mile swim in 14 ½ hours, beating the fastest man’s existing record by 2 hours.

Charlotte Cooper – The first female Olympic champion (1900)

In 1900, a 29-year-old Charlotte Cooper made history on the tennis courts when she became the first female Olympic champion in any sport. This feat is made ever more remarkable by the fact that she lost her hearing when she was 26, three years prior to her Olympic success.

Elizabeth Smith Miller – The first woman to wear trousers (1851)

Elizabeth Smith Miller was a life-long advocate and financial supporter of the rights for women movement. She is best known for being the first woman to wear Turkish pantaloons under a knee-length skirt, popularised by Amelia Bloomer in her periodical The Lily. Though trousers didn’t become acceptable everyday dress until the 20th century, the outfit known as bloomers paved the way for change and became a symbol of women’s emancipation, albeit ahead of its time.

Josephine Baker The first Black superstar (1927)

From homelessness to international fame, Josephine Baker was the first African American to star in a major motion picture. She also used to walk the streets of Paris with a pet cheetah on a leash, so she was not messing around when it came to breaking boundaries.

Elizabeth Blackwell – The first woman to graduate from medical school and become a doctor in the US (1849)

Bristol-born Elizabeth Blackwell graduated at Geneva College in New York with the highest grades in her class.

Maya Angelou (1928-2014)

Maya Angelou was a poet, historian, lecturer, actress, dancer, singer, director and civil rights activist who fought for social and racial justice alongside Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcom X. Her 1969 memoir I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings made literary history as the first nonfiction best-seller by an African American woman. Her contribution to American culture was most recently recognised in 2011 by President Obama when she was awarded the Presidential Medal for Freedom, America’s highest civilian honour.

Anne Frank (1929-1945)

Anne Frank, a young German-Dutch diarist of Jewish heritage, documented the harrowing account of her family’s attempt to hide for the Nazis during the Holocaust in what is arguably the most famous diary of all time.

Mother Teresa (1910-1997)

Considered one of the 20th century’s greatest humanitarians, Mother Teresa founded The Order of the Missionaries of Charity and dedicated her life to helping the sick and the poor, particularly in India. Today, the group has over 4,000 members who care for people all over the world. In 1979 she received the Nobel Peace Prize for work undertaken in the struggle to overcome poverty and distress and in 2016, she was declared a saint by Pope Francis.

Malala Yousafzai

In 2014, Malala became the youngest person to win the Nobel Peace Prize after surviving an assassination attempt in 2012 by the Taliban for her activism work. She has since launched an education fund called the Malala Fund to help girls around the world receive an education.

Jane Austen (1775-1817)

In Austen’s day, writing a novel was a radical act for a woman. Not only did she go against the norm by publishing novels, albeit anonymously, she also made women the central figures of her writing. Her six completed novels combine tales of love, life, dysfunctional families, women’s rights, realism and wit, and centuries on from her death, her heroes and heroines have still got a hold on us.

Florence Nightingale (1820-1910)

Florence Nightingale (known as The Lady with the Lamp) was the founder of modern nursing and reformer of hospital sanitation methods. At the age of 87, she was the first woman awarded the Order of Merit in 1907, in recognition for her service in the Crimean War and pioneering work in the health care field.

Michelle Obama

Between 2009- 2017, Michelle Obama served as the first African-American FLOTUS. During her time in the White House, she pushed for healthy living, championed equal rights and advocated for American families in poverty.

Princess Diana (1961-1997)

Princess Diana was determined to leave the world better than when she found it and though her tenure as Princess of Wales was tragically cut short, her humanitarian work was fundamental in changing the stigma surrounding HIV/AIDs.

Queen Elizabeth II

Following the death of her father King George VI in 1952, Elizabeth succeeded to the throne and was officially crowned Queen Elizabeth II in 1953. She has now been Queen for 68 years and counting and is the longest reigning monarch in British history. Not bad for a reign that wasn’t meant to be!

Eleanor Roosevelt (1884-1962)

Anna Eleanor Roosevelt was the longest-serving first lady of the United States of America, holding the post from 1933-1945. In 1946, Harry S. Truman appointed her as a United Nations delegate where she became the first Chairperson of the Commission on Human Rights and played an instrumental role in drafting the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. In 1968, she was posthumously awarded the United Nations Human Rights Prize.

Ada Lovelace (1815-1852)

A century before the first computer was built, mathematician and writer, Ada Lovelace, was credited with writing the world’s first machine algorithm laying the groundwork for today’s computer software.

Kamala Harris – The first female, Black and Asian-American Vice President (2021)

Upon inauguration in January 2021, Kamala Harris made history as the first female, first Black and first Asian-American US Vice President. Ms Harris, 56, was born in Oakland, California, to two immigrant parents – an Indian-born mother and a Jamaican-born father.

Margaret Hamilton

Hamilton is a trail-blazing American computer scientist credited with coining the term software engineer while developing the onboard flight navigation system for NASA’s 1969 Apollo space program. She was critical to sending humankind into space and very humble about it, too.

Cleopatra

The Queen of the Nile, the last Pharaoh of Egypt and the only woman to rule in her own right, Cleopatra still captivates historians, storytellers and artists centuries after her death.

Elizabeth Eckford The first Black student to attend an all-white high school (1957)

Elizabeth Eckford was one of the first African-American students, known as the Little Rock Nine, to attend an all-white school as a result of the “Brown v. Board of Education” supreme court case.

Kathryn Switzer – The first woman to run the Boston marathon (1967)

Kathryn Switzer made history when she defiantly became the first woman to run the Boston Marathon, even as race officials tried to physically stop her by pulling at her bib number as she ran. Back then, women were deemed too feeble to run the 26.2 mile distance. Fifty years later, Kathryn returned to the Boston Marathon to race again, donning the same number: 261.

Harriet Tubman (c.1820-1913)

Born into slavery in c. 1820, Harriet Tubman grew up working in the cotton fields. In 1849, she escaped her Maryland plantation fleeing 90 miles north to the freedom of Pennsylvania where she found work as a housekeeper. Intent on helping lead other enslaved people to freedom, she returned to the south on some 13 rescue missions to free 70 slaves using the so-called underground railroad network.

The Biden administration will seek to push forward the plan to make Harriet Tubman the face of the new $20 note. The abolitionist will become the first African-American to feature on a US bank note and the first woman in more than 100 years.

Sojourner Truth (c. 1797-1883)

A powerful outspoken advocate for abolition and civil women’s rights, best remembered for her speech on racial inequality, “Ain’t I A Woman” delivered at the women’s rights convention in 1851.

Dorothy Levitt – The first female racing driver (1903)

Dubbed ‘the fastest girl on earth’, Dorothy Levitt became the first woman to compete in a speed competition at the Southport Speed Trials in October 1903. In July 1905, she set her first Ladies World Speed record at the Brighton Speed Trials, driving a Napier car at 79.95 miles per hour.

Frida Kahlo (1907-1954)

Considered one of Mexico’s greatest artists, Frida Kahlo was a trailblazing feminist best known for her fierce self-portraits featuring her iconic unibrow and beflowered hair. In her work, she depicted taboo subject matter such as abortion and miscarriage, celebrated her facial hair in defiance of gender norms and channelled her debilitating chronic pain and trauma into passion on the canvas. Today, her legendary work and uncompromising resilience continues to inspire artists, women and the LGBTQ community the world over.

TEAM ZOELLA MARCH 7, 2021

Weekly Wants: Monochrome Dressing

Wardrobe staples like the 'little black dress' or classic white shirt are always high on a stylist's list of essentials, and for those that might feel intimidated by colour or are yet to nail their personal style, you can't go far wrong with these neutral shades.

There’s something about black and white dressing that exudes cool, chic and confident, and if there’s any way of channeling those moods more often then you best believe we’re all over it. Wardrobe staples like the ‘little black dress’ or classic white shirt are always high on a stylist’s list of essentials, and for those that might feel intimidated by colour or are yet to nail their personal style, you can’t go far wrong with these neutral shades.

And who says black = boring?! The likes of Cara Delevingne, Hailey Bieber, Kendall Jenner and Lana Del Rey are some of the sleekest, sexiest ladies around, are if we’re taking style notes from anyone it will absolutely be them.

Monochrome dressing is also great for switching your lookup with accessories too, giving you the freedom to go wild with trend-led bags, shoes and jewellery safe in the knowledge that the basics of your outfit are built on solid foundations. Add a spritz of your fave scent and bon voyage friends, you’re well on your way to snatching the award for most stylishly dressed at the Voddy Revs on 21st June.

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TEAM ZOELLA MARCH 6, 2021

Snog Marry Avoid: Period TV Shows & Movies

As the 82 million households that tuned into Bridgerton would suggest, the thirst for period drama is alive and well but with so many strapping suitors and slow-burning romances to get through, how can you possibly know which bygone era or Regency romp to binge first?

Nothing radiates pure zen and provides the perfect slice of exquisite escapist viewing quite like a nostalgic period drama or film. The costumes, the regal residences, the elocution darling and the swoon-worthy ballroom dances do something to our skinny-jean wearing, cry face emoji souls and now a certain duke’s on the scene, well we’re all gladly deceased.

The costumes, the regal residences, the elocution darling and the swoon-worthy ballroom dances do something to our skinny-jean wearing, cry face emoji souls and now a certain duke’s on the scene, well we’re all gladly deceased.

Hearing the Downton Abbey soundtrack float down the hallway after a stressful day getting interrupted on Zoom is enough to lift us out of whatever cantankerous meltdown we were teetering on the edge of next, and just one pluck of a pop cover from Bridgerton’s string quartet is enough to leave us horny for a good spooning. We don’t have the answers but we do know that we’re forever in Shonda Rhimes’ debt. As the 82 million households that tuned into Bridgerton would suggest, the thirst for period drama is alive and well but with so many strapping suitors and slow-burning romances to get through, how can you possibly know which bygone era or Regency romp to binge first?

Enter us. These are the period dramas we would snog, marry and respectfully decline an invite to ever watch again.

Danielle says…

Snog – Little Women (2019)
I absolutely loved the latest Little Women with all of my heart. I adore the story anyway but the way Greta Gerwig told the story through flashbacks whilst honouring the true life of Louisa May Alcott is something I would snog ALL night long baby. The casting, the costumes, the sets, it’s all just a wonderful portrayal of life in the late 1800s and it even weaves in modern feminism. The reason this is a snog for me is that I can only watch and enjoy it once every few months so I don’t get sick of it.

Marry – The Crown
I’m such a big advocate for The Crown, I love how every episode is its own story with a beginning middle and an end which makes it so satisfying to watch, especially compared to most series where you’re constantly left with a cliff hanger. On the first watch, I always end up googling the ‘incident’ the episode cover and I’ve learnt a lot of British history through the show.

The costumes and sets are divine, maybe I just want to live in a different era!Danielle

Every time they change the cast it takes a little bit to warm up to the new actors whilst missing the old ones but I always end up falling in love with them all, I think this keeps it fresh and of course, gives them the ability to move through generations. Again like most period media the costumes and sets are divine, maybe I just want to live in a different era!

Avoid – Victoria
I found an avoid for this really hard because most things I’ve settled down to watch I’ve loved, even those super long draw out old series you got free with the paper (possibly showing my age here). One I’ve never really been bothered to give a proper go is Victoria, I seem to remember popping it on whenever it as on TV and everyone seemed a bit too demure without much action. I think I prefer big-budget period pieces to a Sunday night BBC/ITV series, but I’m sure if I gave Victoria a go now in my current state of lockdown boredom I’d probably love it!

Lareese says…

Snog – Downton Abbey
Downton is the on-screen comfort food I can’t and won’t stop scoffing. If I can’t find anything new to watch, you bet my thumb is there hovering over The Crawleys before you can say back off O’Brien. From the Dowager’s sharp-tongued one-liners and the stately interiors to the awkward glances amongst exquisite tablescapes, great dogs and well, the one and only Matthew Crawley, it was the golden era of tv and one I like to relive on a bi-weekly basis.

Marry – Duh, it’s gotta be the one where I ran away with the spoon, aka BRIDGER-FUCKING-TON.
I’ve been waxing lyrical about this Regency horn since Christmas Day 2020 to anyone who will listen and even those who won’t. People can cross the street to avoid me all they like, I’ll still be there stroking my own satin glove and muttering something about a ladder.

It’s got the hot sex, artist orgies and tree shags.Lareese

It’s got the hot sex, artist orgies and tree shags, it’s got the romance and the modern-cum-classical bops, it’s got the dresses and the superior cutlery, what more can we viewers want? In short dear reader, it’s a diamond of the first water and as soon as season 2 drops, I’m gonna need a good fortnight off work to recover.

Avoid – The English Game
As a period drama hussy, I too am shocked that I could come up with one to swerve. From the creator of Downton Abbey, Julian Fellowes, The English Game had all the ingredients of a great period drama but a group of 19th-century footballers were no match for a Duke you could eat with a spoon. I begrudgingly stuck with it for 10 minutes before turning it off and watching The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society instead (mostly a mix of the sparkling Lily James tapping away at a typewriter in the aftermath of WWII, a literary club, scenic views and a dishy pig farmer. Thoroughly recommend).

Charlotte says…

Now I’m practically exiling myself from Team Zoella in saying this but I just don’t think I’m a period drama kinda girl. I love books set during the war but when it comes to my viewing I can’t say I’m drawn in by the royals and riches. My snog, marry, avoid is therefore written from the perspective of a period drama newbie, sharing the little scraps of tales I’ve briefly come across and my perspective as a bit of an outsider to this world. I think I need a week of intensive Netflix watching!

Snog – Atonement
Now I’m cheating slightly here as I’ve only read the book and not seen the film adaptation but Atonement is one of my all-time favourite reads and I can’t bring myself to ruin it if the film doesn’t live up to the book. I love Ian McEwan’s writing style and the emotional investment of this tale had me gripped throughout. It is devastatingly sad but I think because I invest so much emotionally into characters and storylines that feeling sad is part of its appeal- I’m not sure this is normal haha, but I’m a sucker for a sad love story and this totally encapsulates that feeling.

Marry – Titanic
This is possibly the only film I’ve seen that could somewhat fit into the period-drama genre, and that is the one and only, Titanic. When I love something I love it a LOT and when I tell you I could practically recite the script of this movie that is no exaggeration.

I love the contrast and intricacies of the upper and lower classes in every aspect of the film and find it so fascinating during a time that really wasn’t all that long ago.

I went through a very intense Leonardo DiCaprio stage (still in it tbh) and the combo of his dreaminess and the angel that is Kate Winslet and her quite frankly iconic outfits means I’ve watched this film countless times. I love the contrast and intricacies of the upper and lower classes in every aspect of the film and find it so fascinating during a time that really wasn’t all that long ago. Yes it’s a long one but I don’t feel like it ever drags because I am frankly so invested in their love story and always desperately hoping for a happier ending. Rose + Jack Dawson 4ever.

Avoid – Pride and Prejudice
I think at one stage or another I could have really loved Pride and Prejudice but I do sometimes feel like any book related to school is forever tainted, which is exactly how I feel about P&P. I can’t help but envision my countless revision notes, flashcards, frantic highlighting and scribbled notes in the corners of this book, which has since spoilt the storyline a little. I also think I’m drawn to more recent period dramas (if that’s possible) and the 1812 setting feels a little (dare I say it) irrelevant. I am painfully aware that Jane Austen did not write this iconic novel to appeal to the relatability of 2021 readers, but I just personally don’t feel much emotion or connection when reading this book.

What are your best and worst period tv shows & movies?

TEAM ZOELLA MARCH 5, 2021

February Book Club 2021: Untamed by Glennon Doyle

It’s already been endorsed by Oprah, Reese Witherspoon’s a fan and Adele said it was the book that changed her life, so something tells us we’re going to be roaring all over the place when we’re done here.

With International Women’s Day just around the corner, it seems fitting that our latest book club title comes from a female force to be reckoned with.

Glennon Doyle is an author, activist, speaker, mother and most recently, a woman who reclaimed her wild. In her third self-help memoir, Untamed, Glennon explores the power and peace we discover when we follow our instincts and start living a free, authentic life.

It’s already been endorsed by Oprah, Reese Witherspoon’s a fan and Adele said it was the book that changed her life, so something tells us we’re going to be roaring all over the place when we’re done here.

Keep scrolling to read the team’s reviews! But first, a reminder of the blurb:

Who were you before the world told you who to be?

Part inspiration, part memoir, Untamed explores the joy and peace we discover when we stop striving to meet the expectations of the world, and instead dare to listen to and trust in the voice deep inside us. From the beloved New York Times bestselling author, speaker and activist Glennon Doyle.

For many years, Glennon Doyle denied her discontent. Then, while speaking at a conference, she looked at a woman across the room and fell instantly in love. Three words flooded her mind: There. She. Is. At first, Glennon assumed these words came to her from on high but soon she realised they had come to her from within. This was the voice she had buried beneath decades of numbing addictions and social conditioning. Glennon decided to let go of the world’s expectations of her and reclaim her true untamed self.

Soulful and uproarious, forceful and tender, Untamed is both an intimate memoir and a galvanising wake-up call. It is the story of how one woman learned that a responsible mother is not one who slowly dies for her children, but one who shows them how to fully live. It is also the story of how each of us can begin to trust ourselves enough to set boundaries, make peace with our bodies, honour our anger and heartbreak, and unleash our truest, wildest instincts.

TEAM ZOELLA MARCH 3, 2021

The Unsung Joy of Reading, In Celebration of World Book Day

Books became the one government-approved friend we were allowed to invite into our homes and like babushka dolls in paper or e-reader form, they had more people and places hidden inside of them, waiting for us to read into being.

Stories have always mattered but never more so than now. When our worlds got smaller and darker way back when in 2020, many of us turned to fiction to fix it.

We craved stories a whole world away from our complex reality – tales of book binding magic and make-believe realms where characters were still allowed to hug. The art of doing nothing was no longer just a nice phrase to caption our Sunday photo dump with but a legal requirement.

Staying at home gave us a unique opportunity to indulge in the simple pleasures we were always too preoccupied and too booked to appreciate. Without the usual noise of The Daily Grind, we noticed sunrises narrated by birdsong and small talk over the garden fence, even the bubbling of the kettle five times a day seemed to do extraordinary things for our wellbeing – the soundtrack of small victories and bright sides.

Plans gave way to dogeared paperbacks and introspection, and we quickly rediscovered the estranged joy of reading for pleasure, from our sofas, our doorsteps and every available patch of hope-giving sun.

Scanning inky ideas from left to right was all we had, so we sat still in the safety of our four walls, took a deep unknowing breath and watched the murmurations of a writer’s mind scatter and dovetail before us.

Books give a soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination, and life to everything.

Plato

On rainy days, we let go of the pressure to seize fresh air and took provisions from our bookshelves instead. Like hygge hunters, our instinct told us to forage for our softest corners and fold ourselves away, as if we were sweet piles of weekend laundry or daily newspapers for pressing.

We sought comfort in all its motherly shapes; in midday baths and too many cups of coffee. The vanilla essence of our ordinary lives turned out to be the big beautiful breadcrumbs upon which we’d rely on to find our way home.

Books became the one government-approved friend we were allowed to invite into our homes and like babushka dolls in paper or e-reader form, they had more people and places hidden inside of them, waiting for us to read into being.

We yearned for words that would rest on our chest for months and rob us of sleep; the kind we’d frantically tap into the notes section of our phones at midnight alongside the shopping lists, passwords and baby names.

As each of those stories unfurled in our hands, blossoming like pavement flowers between bad news and political f*ck ups, we told ourselves that we’d read a few more chapters before making the bed or sorting the drawer of miscellaneous cables but we couldn’t seem to tear ourselves away from this other life we were clinging to. Somehow living vicariously through fictitious people and their often crumbling lives, makes returning to ours that little bit sweeter.

In fairer seasons, fresh cut grass and cordial daisies beckon us to kick off our sandals and sit under a tree, a face full of new freckles and a handful of fiction – a breeze just confident enough to fuss with the page numbers below it. In that moment, we’re all barefoot bookworms with nowhere else nor better to be, plucked from reality and sown amongst plot twists, leaning against grand oaks and chomping on the best apple you’ve ever had.

That is part of the beauty of all literature. You discover that your longings are universal longings, that you’re not lonely and isolated from anyone. You belong.

F. Scott Fitzgerald

As lockdown’s final denouement plays out, albeit tentatively, we must try to remember the soul tonic our fictional and non-fictional friends afforded us, and despite the return of full diaries and weekends bookended with pub gardens and dancing in the moonlight, we will always need stories to bring us back to life.

How necessary it is to lose ourselves in the make-believe to face the real world once again.

TEAM ZOELLA MARCH 2, 2021

13 Questions with Holly Jackson

In celebration of World Book Day on the 4th March, we caught up with one of this years £1 authors Holly Jackson to chat about her best-selling series A Good Girls Guide to Murder, her prequel Kill Joy and life as an author in lockdown.

First off, how are you and how is your 2021 going?

Hello and thank you so much for having me! I am well – ish! The well is qualified with an ‘ish’ because on top of all the pandemic related stuff of 2021, I am also having one of the craziest, busiest times in work and personal life. This week alone I have three massive work-related things going on. It’s World Book Day and I’m one of the authors who wrote a £1 book for the event, called Kill Joy.

It’s World Book Day and I’m one of the authors who wrote a £1 book for the event, called Kill Joy. Holly Jackson

It is also the publication of my sequel in the United States AND I have an encroaching deadline for the edits on the third and final book in my YA Crime Thriller series A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder. So it is all go go go on the work front. And in my personal life, I’ve literally just moved house so I am also on a very steep DIY learning curve, and don’t currently have any furniture! So lots of exciting things going on, but I am looking forward to a time when life has calmed down a tad and I can chill (and own a sofa on which to do said chilling).

This week we’re celebrating World Book Day, how are you getting involved this year?

Yes – very exciting! I love that there is a day dedicated to the love of books and reading. To be honest, almost every day of my life is a World Book Day, as books and stories occupy about 300% of my time. This year I will be getting involved by shouting about my WBD title, Kill Joy, which is a small prequel story set just before my first book, A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder. I think the £1 book scheme is such an incredible idea, and I remember when I was a kid at school being SO EXCITED when the book tokens were handed around. I remember dragging my poor mother to Waterstones IMMEDIATELY after school ended. I am incredibly honoured – and honestly still quite surprised – that I am playing a part in that this year: little Holly would never have believed she’d grow up to be one of those World Book Day authors! I am also incredibly impressed that WBD is managing to power on through a pandemic and school closures. If ever we all needed a time to celebrate and be distracted by books, now is the time!

A lot of our audience will know you from your series A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder, and your prequel Kill Joy is part of the World Book Day £1 book list, what can we expect from it?

Kill Joy can be very neatly summed up by its tagline: Six suspects. Three house. One murder . . .  I had a lot of fun writing Kill Joy over a few weeks last summer. And honestly, it was quite tricky for me to write such a small book. My full-size books run from around 93,000 words – 130,000 words, so fitting an entire mystery plot into just 25,000 words was a really fun challenge.

essentially set out to create the most fun murder mystery / escape room type party imaginable, because I love a good murder mystery dinner party – one of those post-pandemic things I am very much looking forward to!Holly Jackson

In Kill Joy, we join Pip before the events of A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder, as she attends a murder mystery party hosted by her friend Connor. The game is set in the roaring twenties at a remote manor on a private island – but really just in Connor’s dining room – and the larger-than-life characters have to work out who murdered the patriarch of the family, Reginald Remy. I essentially set out to create the most fun murder mystery / escape room type party imaginable, because I love a good murder mystery dinner party – one of those post-pandemic things I am very much looking forward to! I hope readers love the story and feel like they are attending this mysterious, jam-packed evening alongside Pip, and will be forming their own theories as to WHODUNNIT, as well as spotting all the easter eggs and nods to events from A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder and the sequel Good Girl, Bad Blood.

Why is World Book Day so important and what do they do?

World Book Day changes lives by encouraging a love of books and shared reading. Their mission is to promote reading for pleasure, offering every child and young person the opportunity to have a book of their own. They say that reading for pleasure is the single biggest indicator of a child’s future success – more than their family circumstances, parents’ educational background or their income. WBD want to see more children develop a life-long habit of reading for pleasure and the improved life chances this brings them. And I am thrilled to be a part of that this year!

How can our audience get involved with World Book Day and help raise awareness for their cause?

This year, World Book Day are looking into teen and young adult reading habits by running a nationwide research project. Anyone wanting to help raise awareness can go to www.worldbookdaysocial.com and look at their mission statement. Also, just talking about reading and the power it can hold is so important! Books are as magical as films, podcasts, YouTube, video games, and there are corners of the internet dedicated to a love of reading – find yourself at home with other book lovers on #Bookstagram.

Why do you think reading at a young age is so important?

I think that encouraging a love of reading is so important because books are, quite honestly, powerful and magical items. They can transport you to other times and places, both real and not, allowing you to explore history or hypothetical futures. They can teach you an incredible array of skills; there are so many random facts I know now that I learned from a book.

Books can transport you to other times and places, both real and not, allowing you to explore history or hypothetical futures. Holly Jackson

I learned that you should eat charcoal after ingesting poisonous berries from a fantasy series – I hope to never need that knowledge, but you never know! But even more importantly, books can teach you about yourself, and provide a safe space when the real world is a bit scary – something I think we have all needed this past year. I think the pandemic has proven – certainly in my eyes – that when times are tough, people turn to the things that bring them comfort, whether its re-reading your favourite books series, or binge-watching a new show on Netflix. Stories, in whatever format they come in, are always there for us when we need to escape.

What are some of the other £1 books you think our audience would love?

Alongside my £1 book, Kill Joy, the brilliant Derek Landy has written a teen title for World Book Day this year, Skulduggery Pleasant: Apocalypse Kings. Older readers might also enjoy Skysteppers by Katherine Rundell and The River Whale by Sita Brahmachari.

We know you started writing from a young age, what would your advice be to anyone who would like to start writing?

My biggest piece of writing advice might sound a little contradictory. Of course books and reading are a major part of writing, but those aren’t the only places where you can learn to hone your writing and storytelling skills. I think that watching films and TV shows and playing narrative games can be incredible resources in learning how to craft a plot, or perfect your characterisation. Screenwriting can be especially handy for anyone looking to write something pacey and fast-moving. Storytelling doesn’t only happen in books, and I think that there are incredibly valuable lessons to be learned in exploring other story formats, and then cherry-picking the best parts of them all! Beyond that, I would say not to be alarmed by other writing advice that tells you: You must write everyday to be an author. It just isn’t true. I do not write every day. I think, actually, in a single year, there are more days when I am not writing than when I am. That’s not to say I’m not working – there are a lot of jobs involved in being an author, but part of my process is taking a lot of time to research, and plot and plan the story, before I ever put pen to paper (or finger to keyboard as it were).

What are your top tips for getting into reading?

Find a genre that excites you! There are so many books out there, your perfect read is just waiting for you to find it. If this is your first foray into reading, try finding something that is similar to a TV show or film series you enjoy. Buzzfeed often make fun listicles in the form of ‘If you enjoyed – insert show – then you’ll love – insert book.’ A huge number of shows and movies are actually adaptations from books, and if you want to get ahead of what is looking like the next big Netflix hit, then I recommend reading the fantasy series Shadow and Bone and Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo, which I loved.YA is a great place to start for reluctant readers, because even if the books are long, they tend to be very pacey and page-turning to keep your interest.

What does your perfect weekend look like?

Great question! I’m actually about to pick up a puppy in a few weeks – so excited!!!! – so I’m going to cheat slightly and design my perfect weekend for a few months in the future.

And in a perfect weekend after the pandemic, I cannot wait for drinks outside in a sunny pub garden and to be able to see friends and family again.Holly Jackson

It will involve a huuuuuuge breakfast and then going on a muddy dog walk (I just got new wellies so the muddier the better). Followed by more playing with the puppy, and then lying on the best place on the sofa and playing PlayStation or Nintendo Switch, or binge-watching a show on Netflix, saying ‘just one more’ when we’ve already said that three times. And in a perfect weekend after the pandemic, I cannot wait for drinks outside in a sunny pub garden and to be able to see friends and family again.

What do you always carry with you?

Lip balm! I literally cannot be without it. My body has developed some kind of dependence to it now so if I go for more than say 5 hours without applying it, my lips shrivel up like a skeleton. This is not helped by the fact that I am consistently losing my current lip balm. When I moved house, we found a Lip-balm Graveyard under my old bedside table!

12.What would your last ever meal be?

This is a tough choice between either Nutella pancakes (English kind) or a cheese board spread with camembert and port salut and great chutney and crackers. Great . . . now I want cheese. BRB.

13.What is one positive piece of advice you could give to our audience?

This is a slightly strange one, but – get enough sleep! I only worked out recently that when I am in the actual writing stage of writing a book, I need around 9 and a half hours of sleep for my brain to be functioning properly and cope with the output and the constant working out of tricky plot problems. I feel like I have uncovered a true life hack here, and I am unashamed of my 9 ½ hours – although recently with my house move it has been more like 5 or 6 hours sleep a night, so I need to heed my own advice.

TEAM ZOELLA MARCH 1, 2021

How to Make the Most of March

As we begin to emerge from our year-long loungewear cocoon (albeit still reluctant to give up our comfortable braless existence) and ride out what is hopefully absolutely definitely the very last leg of lockdown, here’s a few ideas for how you can pass the time between now and freedom. What do you say, one more banana bread for old time’s sake?

Klaxon: the tentative we’ll-believe-it-when-we-see-it roadmap to jeans and a nice top recovery is actually happening and sitting on a bench is nearly legal again.

Soon enough, we’ll be roaming around in an arid pub garden somewhere with a gaggle of pals, ordering a lukewarm white wine without the substantial bowl of soup to go with it and trying to relearn how to be sociable creatures again. And we can’t ruddy wait!

As we begin to emerge from our year-long loungewear cocoon (albeit still reluctant to give up our comfortable braless existence) and ride out what is hopefully absolutely definitely the very last leg of lockdown, here’s a few ideas for how you can pass the time between now and freedom. What do you say, one more banana bread for old time’s sake?

1 Delight in the hell of the school run small talk again. What a novelty.

2 Realise that out of the 1,037 things you bought in a previous lockdown life, you can wear approximately none of them

3 Book the 22nd June off work for personal development

4 Despair at the thought of actually having to reconnect with your estranged bras, wherever they may be

5 Get to work on your ‘songs I’m going to cry at this summer’ playlist

6 Start planning your comeback body by doing absolutely nothing because your body is a wonderland 24/7/365 and there’s a special place in hell for anyone who suggests you need to change for summer ‘21

7 Circulate Phil Mitchell memes to all squad WhatsApp groups like it’s your job

8 Delight in pissing off the neighbours with your noise because you have a life again and nothing else matters. Until you have to knock on their door at 1.15am to reclaim the hammock that just landed in their pond…

9 Wish nightclubs would have a soft relaunch strictly for those of us who would be in the overs category on X Factor. Special queue jump offer for those with a bad back.

10 Realise you have no authority over your hair anymore. No authority at all.

11 Exercise your right to feel genuinely excited about sitting in someone else’s garden, knowing full well you still have no intention of going. It’s just nice to be included.

12 Stress yourself out at planning another virtual Mother’s Day / Zoom tutorial addressing her forehead. Love you mum.

13 Admit you’d happily go to Frankie and Benny’s out of choice at this point. Regrettably.

14 Raise a glass for International Women’s Day and all the legends in your life

15 Get weirdly emotional at the prospect of cooling things off with the delivery guy. You’ve got places to be and parcels to miss as of 29th March. We pray he takes the breakup well.

16 Ponder how you’ll ever be able to enjoy casual sex again if you’ve got to stop to get your covid passports out

17 See if your feet can remember how to behave in heels…

18 And immediately require ibuprofen. Can’t believe we used to call this niche pain living.

19 Hope to dear god that in this new post-social-distancing world, the clammy awkward handshake shall remain outlawed

20 Wonder how socially spent you’re going to feel once you’ve used up all your energy on 21st June. Bring it on.