The X Factor: Confession of a Naïve Fashion Model
by Ivan Sivec
Free on Jan. 13 and 14
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
GENRE: Young Adult
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BLURB:
It takes
three mistakes to be swallowed up and spat out by the fashion industry.
You trust the wrong people.
You think you know everything there is to know about life.
You abuse drugs.
The almost 18-year-old Maja is a regular high-school kid, who at the threshold of adulthood thinks she knows everything there is to know about life. As she enters the world of fashion modelling she gets completely enchanted.
However, the more her career thrives she’s less able to see the danger lurking around fashion industry. Maja starts falling in a downward spiral of drug addiction and is torn between the tempting dream of becoming a world famous model and the horrendous thought of destroying her body beyond the point of no salvation.
At a yacht party Maja gets drugged, assaulted and tossed overboard. She’s found the next day. Barely alive. Only a shade of her former self, in a gray space between life and death, she realises the fashion industry sucked everything out of her – except one thing – the will to live. Maja wants to be her old self again.
Ironically, it means losing the only thing that made her special. She has to give up on her hidden X Factor.
The X Factor:
Confession of a Naïve Fashion Model
is a psychological YA novel showing the glamorous fashion world behind its less glamorous scenes.
You trust the wrong people.
You think you know everything there is to know about life.
You abuse drugs.
The almost 18-year-old Maja is a regular high-school kid, who at the threshold of adulthood thinks she knows everything there is to know about life. As she enters the world of fashion modelling she gets completely enchanted.
However, the more her career thrives she’s less able to see the danger lurking around fashion industry. Maja starts falling in a downward spiral of drug addiction and is torn between the tempting dream of becoming a world famous model and the horrendous thought of destroying her body beyond the point of no salvation.
At a yacht party Maja gets drugged, assaulted and tossed overboard. She’s found the next day. Barely alive. Only a shade of her former self, in a gray space between life and death, she realises the fashion industry sucked everything out of her – except one thing – the will to live. Maja wants to be her old self again.
Ironically, it means losing the only thing that made her special. She has to give up on her hidden X Factor.
The X Factor:
Confession of a Naïve Fashion Model
is a psychological YA novel showing the glamorous fashion world behind its less glamorous scenes.
EXCERPT:
On
the evening of the third day the agent Maurizio paid them a visit. They didn’t
have any money or food, so they begged him to lend them a couple of euros to
buy lunch at McDonald’s. He didn’t want to hear anything about that.
“I
came to make sure you’re successfully losing weight. In Milan there’s currently
somewhere between two hundred and three hundred too many models, and the ones
that don’t respect the rules will be fired without compensation of any sort.”
They
curled up and managed to convince themselves they didn’t even need yoghurt.
They stayed determined even after Maurizio had left.
Later
Maja and Svetlana found out that Maurizio had locked them in the apartment, so
they weren’t able to leave, even if they had somehow been able to beg for some
food money.
They
managed it until midnight.
But
at 00.30am Svetlana suddenly jumped up from her sleep.
“Maja,
are you asleep? I can’t sleep. I’m going crazy from hunger.”
“Don’t
even start on food,” Maja grumbled. “My vision is blurred. I’ll probably die
tonight. I’ll die of hunger.”
“I’ll
die, too. We’ll both die of starvation.”
At
1am they started banging on the door: “Open, please! We’re dying of starvation.
Help!”
There
wasn’t a living soul to be found anywhere. It seemed like there was nobody in
the neighbouring apartments and the shops downstairs were already closed. Maja
started looking for the business card. She would call that famous director.
She’d ask him to bring them half a loaf of bread. She’d do whatever he wanted
as long as he saved their lives.
“No,
don’t do it! You know Monica will be mad. For now we belong to Milleuno. We
cannot make contact with anyone outside the agency. We cannot go out. We cannot
meet anyone. We have to take care of everything by ourselves or with the help
of the agency.”
At
2am they were in such crisis they were rolling around with cramps. Maja had
never experienced something like this before. She felt like she was about to
die any moment now.
“I
don’t want to die!” Svetlana made one last effort to get up and swayed to the
window.
“Quickly,
pass me the bed sheet!”
It
was like in a film.
An
entertaining film for the good children.
AUTHOR Bio and Links:
Ivan Sivec is a writer, poet
and publicist from Slovenia, Europe. People say he is ‘a man with a hundred
stories’ and he has been sharing them with his audience, both young and mature,
for over four decades now. He is listed under the top five Slovenian
bestselling authors.
In his rich and thriving
career he has written in many genres. As a poet he has written more than 2,500
lyrics for ethnic and entertaining music for which he received several awards.
His broad prosaic ‘repertoire’ includes biographies, historical, psychological
and adventure novels, travelogues, youth book series, picture books as well as
humorous stories. To this date he published over 130 books and is considered to
be one of the most popular Slovenian authors.
His particular interest goes
to psychological novels on issues teenagers face today, especially topics like
suicide, drug addiction, adoption, AIDS...
He shares true stories to let the young reader know they’re not alone.
Sivec devotes his free time
to his wife of 44 years, their two children and three grandchildren. Since his
retirement a decade ago he enjoys his days hiking the Alpine peaks (he is
especially proud to have conquered the tallest mountain in Europe, the French
Mont Blanc (4,810 m/ 15,771 ft), together with his daughter-in-law Tina). When
he is not gathering inspiration from the mountains he is soaking in the
tranquility of the Mediterranean Sea with his wife. Nature is his source of creativity. It allows
Ivan to gather his thoughts and pour them onto paper.
Official Webpage: http://ivan.sivec.net/en/
Facebook:
facebook.com/ivan.sivec.en
facebook.com/the.X.factor.the.book
Twitter:
https://twitter.com/Ivan_Sivec
Goodreads:
https://www.goodreads.com/ISivec
http://bit.ly/1MOwSp0
Amazon:
http://amzn.to/1RJz7d9
Kobo: http://bit.ly/1ZKSE29
B&N:
http://bit.ly/1VXy1v4
Ivan
will be awarding a free e-copy of the X Factor or a signed greeting card from
Slovenia (international) to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the
tour. Use the link below to enter.
a Rafflecopter giveaway
Thanks for hosting! Readers, the book is FREE today at Amazon.
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for presenting The X Factor and my work! The X Factor is my first ever translated novel and I am very excited that you and your bookish friends are a part of this amazing journey.
ReplyDeleteThe X Factor is still available for FREE on Amazon today http://amzn.to/1RJz7d9.
Cheers,
Ivan
Sounds good! I one clicked from Amazon. Thank you!
ReplyDeleteSounds good! I one clicked from Amazon. Thank you!
ReplyDeleteThank you, Mary, for downloading The X Factor. Please, share your thoughts with me and other readers when you finish reading it.
ReplyDeleteCheers,
Ivan