Blog Tour Stop: Danielle Jackson’s THE ACCIDENTAL PINUP.

Summary.

In THE ACCIDENTAL PINUP, Cassie Harris has a great life—she’s a proudly Black, plus-size photographer and entrepreneur in the windy city of Chicago making a difference in how people see themselves. Her company Buxom Boudoir’s mission is to make people look and feel their very best with their modern twist on classic pinup photography. Her best friend Dana, a plus-size model and fashion designer, is about to launch her own line of lingerie and she wants Cassie to direct and shoot the national campaign. But when company politics interfere, Cassie finds herself not behind the camera but in front of it.
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Though she’s never modeled herself, Cassie is very comfortable with her own body and has no problem dressing it up in skimpy bras and underwear. The only thing she wasn’t expecting is having to work with the new photographer in charge, Reid Montgomery, her long-time competitor in the Chicago photography scene. The beginning of their partnership is rocky at best, but soon enough, their prickly relationship gives way to undeniable chemistry. But as they fall deeper and deeper into each other, the worlds of personal and professional become more and more difficult to keep apart. And it might just destroy everything they’ve built together.

My Review.

Take one confident, ambitious lead, introduce her to a new challenge—like modeling her BFF’s body-inclusive lingerie line—& watch her be a firework…totally stealing from Katy Perry obvi ;).

Danielle Jackson’s The Accidental Pinup—of the fabulous cover—has a lot going for it, mostly centering for me around lead Cassandra Harris, a plus-size boudoir photographer with big dreams that’ll get a big kick from the national ad campaign featuring her BFF’s upcoming line.

But thanks to some maneuvering by the marketing company, Cassandra isn’t given the photography job for the campaign. She’s made art director & model. & unbeknownst to her, her art actions are being reported back to the marketing company by her professional rival, hottie Reid Montgomery, who was hired to be the photographer.

So this book has rivals to lovers, forced proximity, let’s make art together energy with some deception thrown in.

The latter is where the book is weakest for me. I didn’t quite get the rationale for Reid’s less than honorable actions at the end; I don’t feel like the groundwork is adequately laid for me to feel sympathetic toward what he does.

Though Cassandra is a creative dynamo force of nature & seeing her confidence & cool photography style intrigued, I just didn’t 💯 feel the romance in The Accidental Pinup. Reid can be sweet & he’s certainly talented but forgettable for me…outside of what he does to Cassie, which I didn’t like.

Still, if the thought of a fun Chicago setting, a loyal, sparkly friend group, & a stand-out heroine sound good, consider checking this one out!

3.5 ⭐️ . Out now.


CWs: references to a secondary character’s miscarriage & on page that character is prescribed bed rest for the remainder of her pregnancy.

[ID: a white person wearing pink shoes stands in front of a table holding flowers. On the table is the ebook on top of a white floral dress. On the second pic, everything is the same but the flowers are resting on the table, to the left of the book.]

Q: This or That

Pastel clothes or jewel tones?

If you could spend a day in a city would you pick Chicago or New York?

And if you feel comfortable answering ;) : boudoir/pajama set or whatever you can find?