Blog Tour, Guest Post, Book Review and Giveaway: Picture Perfect by Alessandra Thomas

Title: Picture Perfect

Author: Alessandra Thomas

Published: March 26, 2013

Genre: NA Contemporary

Book Description:

Fashion design major Cat Mitchell has a closet full of gorgeous clothes - and not a single thing fits. After two years of runway modeling for easy cash, an accident shattered her lower leg bone and her self-esteem in just one swift fall. Ten months of no exercise, prescription steroids, comfort eating and yoga pants meant returning to campus as a size twelve instead of her former size two. 


When her gorgeous long-time friend with benefits sees her for the first time after her accident and snubs her in front of all her friends, Cat’s self-image hits rock bottom. Her sorority sisters all insist that she looks gorgeous, but all Cat sees is the roll of her stomach when she sits down, or the dimpling at the back of her thighs that wasn't there last year. Cat’s therapist prescribes something radical to stop the downward spiral - nude modeling for a nearby college's human form drawing classes. 


When Cat faces her fears and bares it all for the class, she realizes that she's posing naked in front the most gorgeous, buffest guy she's ever seen in her life. He asks her out after the class, and after one steamy night together, Cat's absolutely smitten.


Nate’s pretty close to perfect – he takes Cat rock climbing when he discovers that it makes her feel strong and becomes a great chef after he learns that the perfect pesto sauce makes her swoon. Cat starts to feel like her old self again - confident and beautiful - as long as Nate's around. Even when he discourages her from entering the Real Woman Project, a design competition for plus-sized apparel, she reasons that he's just trying to prevent old body image wounds from splitting wide open again.


But when Cat goes home with Nate for Thanksgiving, she discovers something shocking from his recent past that proves that he hasn’t always been so encouraging of women of all shapes and sizes. Cat has no idea what to think, but she does know one thing - this might destroy their relationship before it's even had a chance to get off the ground. 


Before Cat can figure out whether the real Nate is the sensitive, adoring guy she fell in love with, or an undercover asshole, she'll have to finally feel comfortable in her own skin - even if it means leaving him forever.

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About the Author:

Alessandra Thomas is a New Adult writer who swears she was in her twenties yesterday. Since she's not, she spends her time looking back on her college years fondly, and writing sexy stories about guys and

girls falling in love and really living life for the first time. When she's not writing, you can find her with a spoonful of ice cream in one hand and the newest New Adult release in the other.

Twitter: https://twitter.com/AuthorAless
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/alessandra.thomas.98?ref=ts&fref=ts

Guest Post:

Hi Ali! Thank you so much for having me over for a guest post today!

You asked me to tell you about what I wish I had known before publishing a book, and I’m so glad you did, because there are SO many things – both positive AND less-than-positive.

I wish I had known how much it cost to do it right. Yeah, that’s right. I’m gonna be real right up front. It’s true that you CAN design a cover yourself, do your own editing and formatting…I guess. But unless you are somehow insanely experienced at all these things, honestly, you’re going to be much better off finding pros to do all this stuff. That adds up. All in all, I spent half a year’s gas budget publishing Picture Perfect, but I’m proud of how it turned out and I think that the investment will be obvious to the reader.

I wish I’d known just how much (non-writing) work it took….

I’d written books before – five of them, to be exact. I knew that drafting a novel took lots of blood, sweat, and tears, and then even more once the editor sent it back with the changes she wanted me to make. I was ready for that.

But.

I didn’t really know that formatting my book for print would take HOURS of trial and error in Createspace, or that contacting reviewers would also take hours and hours and hours. Going through copyedits from Copyeditor Jim (who I love and adore) took at least five or six hours, and that was just clicking “Accept” or “reject” on each change! Insane.

And I also wish I’d known how much I would love the work!

Honestly,you guys, I thought I would have to slog through all this formatting and setup and promotion stuff. But I’m not even lying when I say that every second of it has been fun, not to mention an awesome way to learn about publishing. I wouldn’t trade it for anything.

I wish I had known how amazingly supportive book bloggers can be.

I’ll be honest – I really dreaded contacting people for review, and then seeing the actual reviews when they started popping up. I’d heard nightmare stories. But every single book blogger I’ve communicated with has been enthusiastic, kind, and accommodating. Not only have so many people agreed to review – and actually done so well before Picture Perfect came out – but their reviews were kind and fair, even when they weren’t five stars.

Not to mention all the bloggers like you, Ali, who actually invited me to come take up some of their blog space! I’ve been invited to do so many guest posts, and the hospitality is overwhelming in the best way.

Because, seriously? You guys don’t owe me anything. You’re helping me out SO MUCH by promoting this book, and I can’t thank you enough. I would hug and kiss all of you if I could.

Thanks again, Ali! You are simply amazing. <3

MGO: Thank you so much for being here today and sharing your thoughts with us!! 

My Thoughts and Review:

Oh my goodness my heart broke after reading the first chapter of this book. I wanted to reach into the pages, grab Cat and squeeze her tight. No girl should ever feel so bad about their self image as she did and no guy should ever treat her the way Jake did. I wanted to reach through the pages and do something else to him, like smack him upside the head or give him a good knee to the goods.

I absolutely loved Cat's character. I think any girl that has ever felt self conscious about herself, whether because of her weight, height, appearance, whatever can relate to her. Could feel her anguish and her pain. But Cat, Cat was much stronger than she knew. I really admired her, for the girl that she became and the huge amount of growing that she did. It wasn't easy and it wasn't pain free but she did what she had to do to be a better person and her journey was a beautiful one.

Joey was the type of friend that any girl should have. I really loved her and my only regret is that she didn't have a bigger role in the book. I would have loved to see her in more scenes.

Nate I adored. He was everything a man should be. Kind, caring, accepting, loving, and completely real. He saw Cat for who she truly was and never judged her for what she once was. He helped her feel strong and beautiful and I loved him for that. He helped her not only feel beautiful and strong but be beautiful and strong on the inside. He was exactly what she needed, when she needed it.

I loved this story. It made me sad, it made me happy. I smiled, I laughed, I cried. What more could you ask for?

I give this one 4 Solid Stars!!

Giveaway:

a Rafflecopter giveaway