Blog Tour: Picture Perfect by Alessandra Thomas + Giveaway

Welcome to our stop on Alessandra Thomas' Picture Perfect blog tour. This is Alessandra's first New Adult novel and it wont be her last (crossing fingers). This tour is hosted by Ink Slinger and you can view the full schedule HERE. 

Follow Alessandra Thomas via: Web • Goodreads • Facebook • Twitter

Author Bio: 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.

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Hi girls! (And Joshua.) First of all, CONGRATULATIONS on your three-year anniversary! What an accomplishment, and you certainly have so much to show for all your hard work. Amazing. (A MILLION THANK YOU's From Everyone on the OUaT Team)

Second, thank you so much for inviting me to guest post about my New Adult debut, Picture Perfect, today. It’s such an honor.

Once Upon a Twilight: What was the hardest part about deciding to write and publish a book?

Aless: I’m so glad you asked that, because honestly, it wasn’t that easy NOR was it that difficult. I think that there’s a misconception about self-published authors – that we self-publish because we can “just hit ‘publish’” and we’re officially an author! Ta-da!

But seriously, now, let’s get back to the real world. Everything from drafting to finding professionals to help out (cover, editing, formatting, and proofreading were all done by someone NOT me) to polishing the final product (hours in the CreateSpace book design program, anyone?) to figuring out a marketing plan takes so much time and energy that publishing a book is just not something you do unless, at a bare minimum, you love the story you wrote, are proud of it, and are confident that readers will love it too. That takes a lot of guts and blind faith, to make that decision, that YES, this project will do well out in the world, and to put your energy behind it for months and months.

HOWEVER. With Picture Perfect, it was just kind of a case of “When you know, you know.” As soon as I dreamed up this concept, I knew that it would strike a chord with a lot of New Adult readers, especially women who have struggled with body image (so, like, 90% of us) and that I needed to make it really great and then get it out into the world, post-haste. So in that sense, deciding to do this with Picture Perfect was easy.

Once Upon a Twilight: Any tips for beginning writers?

YES! I firmly believe that the amount of love and passion you have for a story and its characters is obvious to readers. When you really believe in your story, your words sparkle and shine on the page, and your characters come to life.

What that means is, when you’re starting out, don’t force yourself. Let the story take you where it wants to go. Don’t begin to write because you feel like you should, or because you want to get a book written so you can put it on Amazon and make some money (because, seriously? That doesn’t happen for the vast majority of us anyway.) Get into writing, at least at first, because there’s nothing else in the whole world you’d rather be doing. That love and passion will shine through with your story.

In short, your readers can only love your story as much as you do. Write with excitement and passion, and they’ll feel the same way.

Happy writing, gorgeous readers! And thank you so much to Once Upon a Twilight! This has been such an honor and so much fun.

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Picture Perfect on: Amazon • Barnes & Noble

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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To add to all the excitement, you can enter below for your chance to win 1 of 2 signed copies of Picture Perfect or 1 of 2 ebook copies of Picture Perfect!! a Rafflecopter giveaway