The Accidental Pinup

The Accidental Pinup

by Danielle Jackson
Setting: United States
Published on July 19, 2022
Format: eBook Source: Library

Rival photographers are forced to collaborate on a body-positive lingerie campaign, but they might have to readjust their focus when sparks fly.
Photographer Cassie Harris loves her job—her company Buxom Boudoir makes people look beautiful and feel empowered with her modern twist on classic pinup photography. Cassie’s best friend, Dana, is about to launch her own dangerously dreamy lingerie line and wants Cassie to shoot and direct the career-changing national campaign. But company politics and Dana’s complicated pregnancy interfere, and Cassie finds herself—a proud plus size Black woman—not behind the camera but in front of it.
Though she’s never modeled herself, Cassie’s pretty sure she can handle the sheer underwear and caution tape bralettes. She’s not sure she can work so intimately with the chosen photographer, her long-time competitor in the Chicago photography scene, Reid Montgomery. Their chemistry is undeniable on set, however, and feelings can develop faster than film…

Dana is a fashion influencer who is about to launch her own line of lingerie. Cassie is her best friend and muse. Cassie also is a photographer who has been working hard to break into the boudoir photography business. She wants to start doing more commercial work but there is another photographer who works in a similar style to her in the city. She has lost a lot of jobs to him. He’s more established. He’s the kind of guy that advertising execs relate to and feel comfortable hiring. Read that as he’s a successful white man.

Part of the deal with Dana’s brand launch is that Cassie will be the art director of the photoshoots. That’s nonnegotiable. Dana will be the model. The company isn’t thrilled to be working with someone without a lot of professional credentials. Then Dana gets pregnant after dealing with infertility and is put on immediate bedrest. A compromise is made. Cassie will model and make the decisions on the shoots but Reid will take the photos. The company also wants him to babysit Cassie. Let her think that she is in charge but we know who really will be. *Wink, wink.*

This book is about standing up for yourself and growing your confidence. Cassie has a lot of people doubting her. Her wealthy parents think it is cute that she has her little business but when is she going to be serious? Now it is even worse that she’s modeling in her underwear. No one at the company takes her seriously. Her ideas are always thought to have originated from other people. She has to fight to be seen even when her work is right in front of everyone.

Reid tries to be supportive but Cassie feels unsure about him. Is he actively trying to take credit for her work or are other people just making assumptions about a white man and a Black woman working together? She needs to unlearn her own insecurities and learn to stand on her own two feet.