Review of The Accidental Pinup

Book: The Accidental Pinup by Danielle Jackson

Source: I received a copy from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Publisher: Berkley

Release Date: July 19th, 2022

Pages: 320

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Have you ever been super excited for a book, only to not love it as much as you hoped? If you have, you know that the feeling truly is a terrible one. And unfortunately, that’s what happened to me with this book. To give some perspective as to how excited I was about this book, after seeing the cover and reading the synopsis, I reached out to the author to find out who the publicist was so that I could ask for an early copy of this book. Then, once I received said early copy, less than a month went by before I picked it up. My excitement was just that great! But like I said, this book didn’t quite live up to my expectations, and so sadly, today I have to explain to you all why this book is not a new favorite.

To start with, let me tell you the synopsis that had me so hooked. Cassie is a boudoir photographer that plans on growing her portfolio by being the photographer for her best friend’s upcoming lingerie line launch photos. But when her best friend can no longer be the model for the launch campaign, Cassie ends up being the one modeling the lingerie, with her professional nemesis, Reid, as the one taking the photos. Then, soon enough, sparks begin to fly between Cassie and Reid.

To me that premise sounded absolutely amazing, and technically, there was absolutely nothing misleading about that synopsis. However, what kept me from loving this book instead of merely liking it, was the fact that everything about this story felt like it was lacking in depth. Throughout the book I kept wishing that I was connecting more – to the story, to the characters, to the romance. I feel like there was a bit too much telling and not enough showing that kept me from being fully engaged with the story. I just never connected with this book, and because of that, I couldn’t love it.

There were lots of things that this book handled very well on a technical level though. I liked how the plot played out. I thought the conflict was set up perfectly and had the ideal resolution. I appreciated the discussions of privilege and bias and such that Cassie and Reid had, and that this book explored in other manners as well. It really was the actual execution of how the story was told that I didn’t mesh with. But that’s okay, because I’m hopeful that this story will work for other people who read it, since it has such a great premise!

3 Stars

Because of my lack of connection with the story, I gave this book 3 stars. It really was a good book in many ways, just not one that worked for me, which happens occasionally. However, if the premise sounds good to you, I urge you to give this book a shot and hope that you enjoy it more than I did!