Long and Short Reviews YA welcomes author/model Mark Perini whose debut novel Halfway Perfect, co-written with Julie Cross, was recently released. Read our “Best Book” review here. Enter the Rafflecopter below to win a copy of the book plus a one-year subscription to Cosmopolitan.
If you weren’t modeling, what would you choose to do?
Right now I run a Web Design/Social Media Consulting company called Icee Social. What I dislike about modeling is that you can’t take ownership of anything. You can be on the biggest billboards in the world, but I didn’t have a part in the creative. There is this constant feeling of emptiness. That’s why I love writing and developing. I take a blank page and turn it into something amazing.
Tell us about your career journey.
When I was 17, I worked at an Abercrombie Kids store at the Smithhaven Mall. One day the manager said there was going to be a casting for the campaign held in NYC, and they wanted me to represent the store. I ended up booking the Hollister Campaign and did a job for Abercrombie and Fitch soon after that.
After that a scout named Arri Taylor (who originally scouted me for Hollister) contacted me and said I should go into NYC and grab an agency. The rest is history, been modeling ever since.
Share with us your most embarrassing moment while modeling.
I once did a test (which is a free job for your portfolio and for the photographer’s portfolio) when I first started modeling where I had on a swimming cap, a trench coat, a Speedo, and Doc Martins, I believe. Needless to say any pose in such an outfit was humiliating, not to mention we were on top of a roof in NYC. Never saw those pictures and I don’t think I ever want to.
Bestselling author Julie Cross teams up with Ford model Mark Perini to pen a poignant and gritty YA novel about love and the dark side of modeling and the fashion industry.
Eve’s time as a fashion model nearly destroyed her-now she’s determined to build a career behind the camera lens. But landing a coveted photography internship brings her face to face with her dark past-and her ex.
While Eve is snapping pictures, up-and-coming male model Alex is launching his career-which, for him, involves maintaining a fake relationship with his co-star, Elana.
But Alex is falling for Eve, and Eve won’t let herself get hurt again. If Alex can pull off a fake love with Elana, can he convince Eve to risk a secret affair with him?
About the Authors: 
Mark Perini is a New York City-based author debuting his first YA novel, Halfway Perfect. Additionally, Mark is a featured author in the NA anthology, Fifty First Times.
Mark began his career as an international fashion model ten years ago, while simultaneously obtaining a business degree from Seton Hall University. He has a passion for traveling the world, and he’s made a blood pact with friends to see all seven wonders of the ancient world before he’s thirty. Four down, three to go.
Julie Cross is the international bestselling author of the Tempest series, a young adult science fiction trilogy. Julie lives in Central Illinois with her husband and three children. Her knowledge of the modeling and fashion world comes from viewings of the movies The Devil Wears Prada, and Zoolander, and her unwavering devotion to the first three seasons of Ugly Betty. On a recent trip to NYC, she also took the time to walk past both the Gucci and Prada stores, spending at least 15 seconds viewing items through the windows.
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