Life Uploaded

by Sierra Furtado, Zara Lisbon (Cowriter)

This heartwarming, coming-of-age tale from top YouTube lifestyle vlogger Sierra Furtado explores what it means to redefine happiness on your own terms, and to stay true to who you are even in the face of Internet insta-fame.

All sixteen-year-old Harper Ambrose has ever wanted is to be recognized: for her zany sense of humor, her on-fleek fashion sense, and her love of all things makeup, flirty, and fun. After an awkward childhood where she fell out with her BFF Gwen and thought she'd never find her one true love, at last Harper feels as though she's finally discovered her voice in a space she never expected: on YouTube, making videos about her day-to-day life and broadcasting them to the masses.

Now an insanely popular vlogger with millions of followers, Harper balances the stresses of everyday high school life—SAT prep, boring teachers, and the mean girl clique staring her down in the hallway—with the glam, fast-paced world of online celebrity. But when one hater on Twitter starts targeting Harper in 140 characters or less, and a young British actor who's captured Harper's heart might not be everything he seems, Harper feels like her pitch-perfect life is suddenly going to pieces around her. Who better to help her pick them up and find herself again than her best friend Ellie and a certain tall, dark, and handsome someone she might not have realized was waiting in the wings for her all along?

Genres: Young Adult, Romance, Young Adult Contemporary, Contemporary

256 pages, Hardcover

Published October 18, 2016

Reviews

[A. B · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's been such a long time since I've been able to really completely enjoy a fiction book...Especially a book about high school girls- since when I was growing up all the books about high school girls were about cliques, gossiping, shopping, and stealing people's boyfriends- apparently that's all they thought high school girls were interested in. But finally the world is changing, and now when I walk through the youth fiction I see empowering books- books telling girls to think for themselves instead of always doing what they're told.
FINALLY.
:-)

I love how it talks about the spice girls, about parent trap, and other 90's tidbits while incorporating it all in today's world of cellphones, trolls, cyber bullies, and hash tags.

It is SO relatable and has great wisdom in it. I liked how she said "perfect moments don't stay perfect for long, life doesn't stop. It keeps going. There are no happy endings- life keeps going! Just happy moments" I paraphrased terribly.

I don't know who Sierra is. I've never seen a video. But I ADORE this book.

Parents should read it so they can see how great the characters parents were and how loving and supportive and empowering they are. #unschooling

I wish I could write all of my favorite quotes and parts of the book but I'd rather you just read it yourself.
I'll just write one, "In the midst of being bullied, I had never stopped to consider what makes people mean. Nobody is born mean. People become mean when they don't like themselves and just don't know how to handle that. It isn't me they hate... it's themselves. "

[Hailey Bishop · Rating 5 out of 5]

I chose Life Uploaded as something fun that related somewhat to myself and many other people around the world. As an Insta-Famous YouTuber Harper (Sierra Furtado) tells the coming of age story in her own perspective. As if juggling the haunting hallways of high school aren't enough Harper has this second life online in the world of YouTube. There she discovers everything that makes her for who she is. Every quirky and unfiltered moment is caught through the lens of a Canon Rebel T3I camera. One day Harper finds herself in the midst of bright lights and cityscapes with none other than her best friend/fellow YouTuber herself Ellie. As the anxiety of the crowds set in she soon realizes she is becoming a mega celebrity even if she doesn't feel like it. While on the rooftop she meets her mysterious hunk, Dalton James! Too speechless to say a word Harper somehow manages to impress the British actor and the rest is history. You'll have to read more to find out what happens during their whirlwind romance. The reason I decided on this book was to learn more about the actual person behind the screen: Sierra Furtado. I watch her beauty videos all the time and thought her new book Life Uploaded would be a good read. I can relate to her on some level myself with me being a blogger. A lot of people watching form opinions (positive and negative) about the person they are seeing. This is often a misconception about celebrities/people of any nature. They are people just like you and me who have feelings and ideas just like the rest of the population on this earth. Just because they may broadcast pieces of themselves on the Internet doesn't make them any different. I found nothing in this book nothing short of amazing! As I said before Sierra is telling her story from her perspective and I find that most inspiring. She has the courage to write her story the way she wants to. I would recommend this to anyone interested in fashion, makeup, or a good laugh.

[Gabrielle · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a great book if you are a going into middle school and need a fun book that you can relate to and have a great time reading. This story is very interesting, and because youtube has been becoming such a big thing and an actual youtuber wrote this, you will be able to read about the youtube community that people our age have been getting into.

[Cindy · Rating 1 out of 5]

I love a good YA book. Most of what I’ve read have been cute, funny, sad or all three. This was none of those thing man and did not have even a tremor of truth any of it. If this is really what teenagers are thinking and taking about heaven help us all.

[raani · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cutesy

[Evelyn Torres · Rating 4 out of 5]

Para ser sincera me sorprendio el libro, para bien y para mal. Cuando vi el video de Sierra anunciando que iba a sacar un libro y contaba la sinopsis me puse muy contenta porque la sigo hace mucho y me gustan este tipo de libros.

La historia es bastante simple. Harper es la tipica chica super normal y que los chicos en general no consideran atractiva, que un dia se abre un canal de Youtube del estilo beauty vlogger, con DIY, tutoriales, etc, y que en dos años consigue una fanbase con 1 millon de seguidores.

La cosa es que en una fiesta conoce a este actor (por el cual ella tenia un crush y) que tiene la misma edad que ella maso menos (17 años) y pegan onda, asi que deciden tener una cita. En cuanto a esta parte de la historia siento que fue muy extraño, porque despues de su primera cita ambos se decian te amo y ya eran pareja, blablabla. Y literal, no pasa una semana que aparecen una fotos de Harper con un chico (del que mas abajo voy a hablar) y este estupido actor - que es britanico... dato importante para mi jajaja - va al show de Jimmy Fallon y él empieza a hablar de Harper y niega que es su novia. Wtf man. Por lo que, para ser sincera fue muy extraña esta relacion.

Por otro lado, esta este otro chico que era el crush de Harper desde que ella tenia 12, pero que tambien era el novio de la ex-mejor amiga de Harper (Gwen) y con este chico tambien las cosas fueron super extrañas. Te quiero, ahora no, quiero que seamos amigos, pero siempre estuve enamorado de vos, etc, etc, etc.

No se porque el romance fue totalmente extraño como se manejo en el libro, me hubiera gustado que los editores hubieran ayudado mas a Sierra a desarrollar el romance de una manera no tan de 12 años o confusa...

A estas alturas deben preguntartse ¿Por que le di 4 estrellas entonces? Porque lo disfrute muchisimo, me diverti con el personaje de Harper.

Me gustan mucho los libros que ponen a protagonistas blogger/youtubers y que cuando los leo siento que son personas reales o con los que me puedo identificar mucho. Las bromas que hacia, su timidez, su pasion por Youtube, creo que tiene mucho de Sierra el personaje de Harper y es alguien con el que podes relacionarte facil.

Me hubiera gustado muchisimo que el britanico no hubiera sido un idiota y que terminaran juntos porque al principio me gustaban como pareja, pero bueno.

Creo que es una buena novela para las chicas de 13 a 15 años. Ademas lo que mas me gusto es el mensaje que deja en relacion al uso del maquillaje, no se... me parecio buena la novela en general y para mi, lo importante es que la disfrute leyendo y me diverti mas alla de los errores que puede tener.

[Emma Fogarty]

Life Uploaded is one of the most entertaining books I've ever read. This book is about a girl, Harper, who had a tough time getting through her pre-teenage years. She didn't have very much friends and her best friend abandoned her years before over a fight they had. One day, Harper finds herself watching makeup videos on Youtube, where she found a love for makeup and creating videos. Soon, Harper found herself as one of the biggest makeup gurus on the internet. Once Harper created her Youtube channel she met tons of friends and turned around her whole life. But then, Harper gets caught up in boys which starts making her life more confusing than ever, she also finds a page on Twitter posting hate comments. This account tears up friendships and Harper can't seem to figure out who made the page. Will Harper be able to handle all this pressure?
I enjoyed this book so much. It was definitely one of my favorites I've read this year. It was hard to put the book down because it was entertaining, suspenseful, easy to follow, and so much more. I would recommend this book to people who are into makeup and beauty gurus. The author is also one of my favorite beauty entrepreneurs which made the book even better. There were no parts of the book that were boring or hard to get through, I enjoyed every single part of it. I definitely recommend this book, I loved it so much.

[Kayln Jackson · Rating 5 out of 5]

sick at home and reread an old favorite since all of my current favs are away in my dorm room! still cute, still fun. nostalgia nostalgia nostalgia!

[gab · Rating 4 out of 5]

I feel like this book was a little cheesy but I still liked it because it was cute and I liked the characters.

[Emma Garcia · Rating 2 out of 5]

Honestly, I didn't like this book that much. Don't get me wrong, I love Sierra, but this book could have been so much better.
I gave this book two stars because the book was WAY too fast paced and very predictable. I could always call what would happen next. Life Uploaded was filled with clichés. Girl gets bullied. Girl gets makeover. Girl becomes famous. Girl becomes noticed by a famous, young, and handsome actor. Turns out she has feeling for someone else. Girl loves two guys. Attacked on twitter. I can go on with the clichés this book is filled with. The characters were shallow and not well thought out. They lacked depth and needed a little more purpose.
It did have some good elements. Harper, has a very good personality and goes through some of the same struggles of high school girls. The message was great. To always follow your heart no matter what anyone else thinks. I wish this book had depth and wasn't filled with clichés, then I probably would have enjoyed it a lot more.

[Fleurine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Het was schattig, leerzaam en grappig maar niet veel meer dan dat. Het had beter geweest als de leeftijd hoger was dan had ik meer dingen geloofd. Sommige gebeurtenissen waren te toevallig of te gek om waar te zijn maar ja ik quote "That's the life of a YouTube star" hahaha. Het is een leuk contemporary boek en als je fan bent van Sierra zeker een must. De YouTube video's die in het boek verwerkt waren vond ik wel onwijs tof!

[kazcrumbs · Rating 2 out of 5]

i liked this book .. but it was quite predictable
no this book is shit

[Emma · Rating 5 out of 5]

Life Uploaded is about a charming 16-year-old, Harper Ambrose, as she struggles in her day-to-day life as a teenager. Unlike most teenagers, she is a creator on YouTube, where she makes videos about fashion, make-up, boys, and other popular topics. Although she has a large following, she is constantly doubting herself and she struggles with her self-esteem. When she meets a popular movie star (and her celeb crush), Dalton James, she thinks that he would have no interest in her, but to her surprise, she was wrong! She has a taste of what it is like dating a famous star, while dodging paparazzi and having glamourous dates. However, trouble arises in multiple fronts in her life. She has a best friend, a fellow YouTuber, Ellie who she confides in with her secrets, but there friendship crumbles when they are on a girl-date to Jamba Juice and a hate tweet (on Twitter) is posted about her which mentions that she’s at Jamba. Harper jumps to conclusions and believes it is her best friend who posted the mean message; who else could know where she was at? On top of that, she has had a crush on her classmate Jack for years, but the interest isn’t reciprocated until she becomes star on YouTube. She struggles with trying to find out if his interest is real, all the while the hate account on Twitter is bashing her and trying to ruin her life by tweeting mean things about her and pictures that make it look like she is kissing Jack, even though she has a boyfriend, Dalton, and she tries to navigate the chaos that has become her life, meanwhile she uploads videos pretending that everything is fine.
Don’t worry, the story has a happy ending! It is a cute book that is relatable to teenage and young adult girls. It is fast-paced and is hard to put down. I really enjoyed it! Although some may say it’s escapist literature, I think it does have deeper meanings that can be learned. It is fairly predictable and has some errors in grammar, but you have to take into account that a girl (who is a YouTuber) with little college education wrote it. With that in mind, I think it’s good!

Content warnings: none

[Orlitca]

some of the genres would be that this book fits in life style category because it is about a girl named Harper and she is high school with some strugles that she ends up facing because of making youtube videos.This book is explained in a very detail way in which helps readers understand more as they read the book. I like how all the characters play a great role they are really different in how they act with the main character "Harper" as the story goes along the book. I think some events can be belivable and some events not really, because the book is fiction. Being the book fiction alredy shows that its made of imagery, most of events can be a little exageratting but they fit well with the personality of "Harper". One moment in the book that made me feel provoking was when the mean girl in "Harpers" class put gum in her hair. This made me feel bad for her because I love my hair and I would not forgive anyone if they would do something to my hair. The book is written by Sierra Furtado and she is a Youtuber star. Sierra wanted to write a book about a story that was similar to her life because she did not want to write a book about her life. She wanted the audience to see what a teenage girl was going through in high school and what she did outside school to feel better. A book that I notice while writing my review that might be similar is "A Girls Guide to Modern European Philosophy" both main characters have in common about talking about their life and they also both have a boyfriend throughout the book. I learned while reading this book that if your being yourself and doing what you like to do can make you happy by not caring what other people think about you because you can get better opportunities for yourself. I would recommend this book to one of my bestfriends because I have always wanted to do the same thing that the main character does after school and I want her to read this book because it is very interesting.

[Eve L-A Witherington · Rating 4 out of 5]

Harper is a fourteen year old when we meet her, in love with her then best friend's boyfriend, Jack. However, soon her bff moves away as she can't cope with Harper and other girls getting Jack's attention and liking him back.

Then, in the future thanks to her new best friends, the Jessica's, she finds YouTube, a major clothing and make-up makeover and begins her own YouTube and blogging career.

At sixteen, with new YouTube Mia she meets an actor idol and major crush, Dalton James. She also started hanging round with Ellie after the Jessica's started treating her differently after she became internet famous however, Ashley Adler the school bully and jealous of Harper's success likes to treat Harper meanly by for a start, sticking gum in her hair so she freaks and acts like a drama queen as she loves her long hair so much.

After a whirlwind trip with Dalton and falling hard, pictures and tweets from a Harper troll account cause parts of Harper's life to fall apart much to her dismay and regret, until a breakthrough in the troll's identity clicks in Harper's mind leading her to a doorstep she never expected to visit again.

Meanwhile, will she figure out her love life at last too after a couple of years of mixed love options?

I don't watch Sierra on YouTube personally, with no offence to her or her content at all I'm just not a typical girly girl, I'm very sporty and thrown together in life! But, I do enjoy trying youtubers books alike my past reviews a while ago. This one has been the best fiction so far but some areas of the writing style lagged detail and development other parts had.

[Caitlin O · Rating 5 out of 5]

Over Christmas break, I was searching the web for gift ideas and found Sierra Furtado. I was intrigued by her DIY videos and spent a portion of break watching some of her videos. Later I found out about Sierra’s book, “Life Uploaded.” Immediately I went to amazon and purchased her book. Over three weeks I have been reading this book during school, the weekend, and even when doing homework. The book follows Harper Ambrose, a Youtube star, who starts dating the A-lister celebrity, Dalton James. Harper lives in a very glamorous world which is celebrity centered. Though Harper is famous I would sometimes feel very connected to her based on personality and attitude.
Harper, an established Youtuber fights haters and develops into a grown up. I feel Sierra’s theme throughout the book is self confidence. Throughout the book Sierra uses accessible language to connect to readers and articulate important concepts. In the book Harper, in multiple situations stands up for herself. She fights “twitter trolls” and keeps living her life as a star and as high school student.
This book fulfilled my all expectations and kept me reading whenever I could. This book is a coming of age and cheesy love story. I would advise this uplifting story to all high school girls. This book is truly a fun and quick read, and I totally recommend it.

[Abby · Rating 4 out of 5]

Life Uploaded by Sierra Furtado is about a girl named Harper Ambrose who puts her self out there in a different way than others... she is a YouTuber. Harper is a shy girl in person, but she really wants to start getting herself out there more. A couple years ago she got into a fight with her best friend at the time Gwen over a boy who liked her but was currently dating Gwen. Gwen is now someone that Harper doesn't associate herself with. When Harper was recently at a party she meet a boy named Dalton who was a move/television star and she completely feel head over heals for. Harper and Dalton go on many dates throughout the story with one thing in the way... an annoying hater, who seems to know all about Harper personal life. So throughout the story Harper tries to figure out who this hater is and her assumptions can have negative consequences. Her biggest struggle in this book is figuring out who is hating on her and who she wants to love. I recommend this book for anyone who wants a realistic love story that will leave you thinking.

[Brianna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Such a cute, and fun book written by YouTube vlogger Sierra Furtado shows the ups and downs of having a popular channel and dealing with fame and the other kids back home in school.
Harper Ambrose has a popular channel on the internet and feels like she is passing along her love of glam and do it yourself tips to the world. When someone starts to say mean things about her on Twitter, she struggles with how to react and how to make it all stop. Add to the mix a hot British star catches her eye and they start dating, making the trolls think she’s just a nobody trying to catch fame where she doesn’t deserve it.
Harpers character is likeable and someone you can see as a friend. I am not familiar with Sierra’s channel, but many YouTube stars have written books or self help manuals so this falls in line with the others.
She learns some big lessons and she seems to make the haters go away, but it’s all pretty neatly tied up in the end. Ending is okay, but confusing I guess to me.

[Ellie · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book was overall just frustrating to read. It was predictable, boring, and the amount of spelling mistakes and plot mistakes were pretty much unbearable. It seemed to talk about scenes that never even happened, making it extremely confusing. It almost seemed like the author and the co-author (who barely gets any credit by the way) seemed to be on completely different wave lengths while writing and didn’t coordinate with each other. So when their separate parts got put together, this is what we ended up with. This was basically just a cheap, knockoff version of Girl Online by Zoe Sugg ( which isn’t that great of a book itself to begin with). Also ( and this has nothing to do with the actual book) who really needs to put a picture of themselves on the front and back cover of their own book. It doesn’t look that great.

[NOR NADIA · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.25 STAR
I finished this book in one night. It was a light and short book revolving around redefining life in your own words but make it into a cute and up-to-date life of a youtube star. The life of a youtube star from the outside seems fun, easy, and some people even think of it as pretentious. But tell you what, this book presents you that even being a YouTuber wasn't easy. It took hard work, determination, and passion to create your channel. Not only taking photos and recording video, but you also need a creative mind to generate the ideas, you need a strong heart to face the challenge, and be stable with hateful comments. Life Uploaded impressed me with its main character's principle. How she strongly believed her potential. I mean, it was inspiring to see how a young girl could have such a big passion for her career.

[Maddie Wierda · Rating 5 out of 5]

A book like "Life Uploaded" wouldn't usually be my cup of tea, but I oddly found myself enjoying it very much. Life Uploaded was about a girl who was a social media influencer, which caused her some troubles in her high school career. I usually am not the one for realistic fiction, or common high school stories, but this one was fast-paced and intriguing. The way the main character & the author of the book correlate is really interesting. The author of the book used some of her real experiences as an influencer, but put her own spin on it, gave real life characters different personalities and backstories, and made up some people and situations that never happened or existed. "Life Uploaded" is perfect for people who would like an easy, yet interesting book to read.

[Sophia Rivera · Rating 5 out of 5]

i read this book in middle school and I think about it so much oh my for this book alterned my brain chemistry i don’t even remember anything that happened except like i think her room was in a garage and the vision i had of her room i can still remember and the guy like i think at one point wore a tuxedo LMAO IDK I just have these visions from this book and it being so SO SO GOOD and I will reread it omg i donated it to goodwill like right before I started getting into reading like why why why omg i meant garage

[Paulina · Rating 5 out of 5]

Life Uploaded is a really amazing book. It has to do with Sierra Furtado a famous Youtuber and what it took for her to get to where she is right now. She talked about her struggles and things she had to overcome. She talked about the long process it took to be a celebrity from night to day and how she handled the haters.

[Marisol Diaz · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a wonderful book for teenagers. It has some plot twists which encourages the reader to keep reading and not want to put the book down. It is about a simple young girl who becomes internet famous by giving tips and tricks on her youtube account. As time goes by she falls in love with her best friends boyfriend, but them realizes in order to have him she has to make some sacrifices.

[Marissa Monteleone · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read Life Uploaded by Sierra Furtado, and I really liked it. This book is really cool because this is about Sierra's life, but it is a little bit twisted so it is fiction. The book is about a young girl with big dreams, and she is chasing them. This book was really good and inspiring to follow your dreams. I recommend this book to anyone.

[Anne Barker · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reading the summary of this book I wasn't sure that I was going to like it very much but I wanted to give this book a try because I love Sierra. Little did I know that this book would be a great read and I read it all in one day. It had me guessing who was behind the Twitter account and I had guessed wrong. Some people would say that this book is very predictable but either way, I still enjoyed it very much.

[Leahs · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book when be a good read for a teen who loves cliche high school story. But it comes with a social media twist where it's about the high school experience of a youtuber. The theme of this book is finding who you are as a person and being true to you.

[Ariana · Rating 4 out of 5]

Super interesting and thoughtful novel! It was a nice take on a classic teen romance novel and twist it to fit the modern day feel. Would definitely recommend this book to other who enjoy this genre of books.

[Madi · Rating 3 out of 5]

For her first novel, it wasn't all that bad. I would say though, that there were a few grammatical and storyline errors throughout the novel. But this isn't actually her fault, her editor should have picked up on this.

[Asma · Rating 1 out of 5]

I like sierras videos but god this book was so boring since it was also so similar to girl online LIKE SOOOOOOOO SIMILAR. I’m not even the biggest fan of girl online so I’m not like defending it or something but this book was so predictable.