Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for granting me free access to the advanced copy of this book.

SO Realistic!
Sara is a singer and an actress. She has been offered the lead in a lesbian detective show. Her co-star Christina, who is also a lesbian should make the show a hit but its not to be. When Abby gets offered Christina’s role the gay community is enraged that a straight actress is playing a lesbian. What no one knows is that Abby and Sara shared a kiss that knocked both their socks off. Because of legal issues, they aren’t allowed to even talk and things are just getting worse and worse. Is there a way to make this right? Do they stand a chance or is everything too much of a mess for anyone to continue?

This book is a bit heavy but ever so good. I totally fell for Abby and my heart bled for her. Fortunately she has so much courage and strength, even though she loses her way a bit. Sara is also a sweetie who is fighting a losing battle. As hard as this book is sometimes, there is light and love and joy that makes it all worth it. This book is one that stayed with me for a long time and I know I will be reading it again. This is an author I will be keeping my eye on!

🏳️‍🌈👩‍❤️‍👩📚⚢🎬🎤📱🕵️‍♀️📹🎞️💻📺👩‍❤️‍💋‍👩📖👭🏳️‍🌈

I received an ARC copy of Maryn Scott’s “Standom’’ from Bella Books (via NetGalley) in exchange for an honest review.
So, here it is !!!
My rating : 3⭐️

It’s my first book by this still new author … It’s quite good but it could have been even better. Honestly, I really see a lot of potential in the writing but it didn’t totally work out the way I hoped. This “failure” is due to the book’s lack of development about some topics which are way more complex than the one you could have thought finding in the novel while reading the blurb …
The book begins with a lot of lesbian characters in Hollywood trying to get a new show up for a new streaming service. I got confused early on who the main characters actually were and then I figures out that, seemingly, the story’s originally told from 3 POVs because 3 MCs appear : MC1 Sara, the singer turned actress who falls in love with her co-star in the TV show aka MC2 Abby, and MC3 Mika, the film director who is NOT involved romantically with anyone …

° sadly, the ‘‘romance’’ felt a little off, well, flat, if you prefer … and this, despite the likeable side of Sara and Abby and their great chemistry that was mentioned more than once. As a matter of fact, both the romantic side and the dramatic one of the story could have had more depth with a ‘‘less easily’’ resolved Christina situation, with a real battle fought against the nasty people &, so, an exposure of who Mike Williams and Luciana Raithman are truly are…IMO, the ‘‘silent’’ & ‘‘peaceful’’ resolution of the scandal provoked by the false accusation of Christina against Abby is NOT credible especially given the level of hatred the initial (and single) tweet gave birth to and the ‘‘buzz’’ oriented politics we have been told about all the novel long …
° There are bold topics in the book but given the importance / gravity of some of them, it’s a definitely too short, bland and too magically solved book to be totally credible. OK, that’s true, this novel did a good job to begin to denounce a bunch of unhealthy and shameful behaviors, fanatism & straight-bashing being just two of them. But sadly, I’m afraid the author only scratched the surface of the much more deeper things. I wish she had been way bolder. As I said, lots of potential in there but it misses the mark for me. … I appreciated this passage though because it summarises well some things: {Sara’s face softened. “Well, first because Abby is an incredible woman who’s very special to me and to everyone at Corsetti’s Will.” Keisha reached back and squeezed Abby’s hand. Sara continued, “I’m also deeply saddened that members of the gay community and our allies are responsible for spreading hate. As a community, we’ve been victims of hate and know the depth of the pain it causes. I always believed we took the higher road. I was wrong.”}

A couple of other things:
°° About the French terms and other things about them …
*as a French, I found it very annoying to see a capital C at the beginning of ‘‘Champagne’’ ‘cause ‘‘Champagne’’ with a capital C is a French region, the one which gave the beverage its name …
* the repetitive use of ‘‘fancy Champagne’’ was tiresome especially since champagne is known wolrdwild to be a fancy drink, so that’s redundant …
* when it come to the use of foreign names needing an accent like, for example, ‘‘Dom Perignon’’ (it’s mentioned in the book), seriously, it’s not rocket science to check on the internet for the proper spelling => Dom Pérignon …

°° I’m not into fan fiction, gossip magazines, etc … I get it when you appreciate someone, you want to know how they are doing but I can’t figure out how some people can become totally brain-washed (nope, they can’t think straight – pun intended – neither can they think by themselves, like the adepts of a sect.) about all the crap which can be said in magazines. And, even if, yes, I think LGBTQ+ actors and actresses are underrepresented in the cinema & TV shows industry, TBH I don’t really care if an actor or actress portraying a gay character is gay (or bi or anywhere else on the rainbow spectrum) in real life. Like I don’t wonder if an actor or actress portraying a straight character is heterosexual or somewhere on the same rainbow spectrum. Why? Because what matters to me it’s the person’s talent, not their personal (and sometimes sexual) orientation. So I think it’s totally crazy to have such reactions as the ones described in the book. Sadly I know things like that happen in the real world and it’s insane as well as unsafe because by acting like the villains (even temporary ones like the ‘‘group of fans’’ harassing and threatening Abby), the people doing so are no better than the bigots LGBTQ+ people could come across during their lives. Why ??? Well, because, even if they’d probably deny it, such people are, let’s say it, extremists and haters… And don’t get me started on the stalkerish aspect of the ‘‘fans’’ (in this case it’s really fanatics … and fanatics are dangerous in my opinion!), their voyerism !!! Always wanting to know what their ‘‘idoles’’ are doing and when they can’t, just inventing something, assuming that this or that is THE ‘‘truth’’ that could make a good hashtag … Duh, that’s so insane !!

°° I confess that I’ve been very surprised to find a presentation page of another book from the publisher by another author (“Low KeyLove” by Cheri Ritz) at the beginning of the book instead of Standom’s. Hopefully it’ll have been fixed before the official release of the novel…

To shortly summarise my view, I’d say something like this :
- Did I enjoy this book? => Not as much as I wanted to.
- Did I find the characters believable? => Not totally due to the lack of character development
- Is this book now included in my "must be re-read"-list? => No
- Will I purchase the paperback? => No
- Would I read another book by this author? => She’s still a newbie so, maybe I’ll give her another try, someday…
- Would I recommend this book => I’ll let people use their free will to read the novel, or not …

🏳️‍🌈👩‍❤️‍👩📚⚢🎬🎤📱🕵️‍♀️📹🎞️💻📺👩‍❤️‍💋‍👩📖👭🏳️‍🌈

I received a copy from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Hollywood brought Sara and Abby together but it's their chemistry that keeps them close to each other. While navigating troubles in the set and unexpected feelings, will these two characters find their way to each other?

A nice, light romance with two likable main characters and a story that will make you keep reading and rooting for a happy ending. In my opinion, it could have a bigger emphasis on the main characters relationship, but still a good bbok

*Thank you NetGalley and publishers for the ARC. All thoughts and opinions are my own.*

I had a really difficult time getting in to this book. From the description, it had all the story features that I typically enjoy. It features celebrities, Hollywood romances, etc. The story centers on Sara Silver (singer/actress), Mika Williams (producer), and Abby Farina (actress) as they navigate a new tv series about a lesbian detective.

The start of the book made me feel the romance was going to go in a certain direction and when it didn’t, I was a little confused. I don’t want to give too much away, but the majority of the book centered on two characters and then the third comes in without much backstory. I think that’s when I really started having a difficult time finishing the book. What I did like though, was the Hollywood aspect. I think the writing was fun and the story was almost there, but just not my favorite!

Standom is an interesting book, and I like the idea of examining the power of fans, and social media, as well as how PR specialists seek to harness and manipulate this power. To a certain extent, Standom made a very good point about the snow balling power of hashtags etc, but it got a little bit caught up in too many plot twists.
Overall this is worth a read, but it has issues.

Standom is an enjoyable read and is the first book that I’ve read from Maryn Scott. The characters are well written and though there is romance and the happily ever after ending but the book is so much more than a simple love story. Can’t wait to see where Scott takes these characters next. Looking forward to more from this author.

Overall, I thought the plot and setup were really cool. The execution was decent and I had a pretty good time reading this. I will say that I was a bit lost sometimes since I don't know a lot about cop shows. There was also some really good pieces about fame, being a queer person with a platform and fandom which I enjoyed reading.

THINGS I LIKED:
I love how lesbian is stated clearly and explicitly.
The premise is fascinating!!!
The relationships between Sarah and her best friend and brother were so wholesome. I like how she has a strong support system.
The portrayal of fame and Hollywood was very good, especially from Sarah's perspective.
I enjoyed reading about Mika's POV of her relationship with her dad- it was very real and raw.
I love Abby and Sara's banter!!! Their friendship and romance were so adorable.
I like how Sara and Abby never actually broke up- they just had some conflict in the way but they always made it clear they loved each other.


THINGS I DIDN'T LIKE:
I feel like Abby was introduced way too late- I wish we'd gotten a hint at her being a character sooner.
I wish there had been less homophobia from Mika's dad and more other bad behavior instead because it felt like the author was relying on homophobia to explain how he sucks. There could be other ways to show it in different instances as well.
I didn't understand the whole Christina subplot- I wish it had been portrayed better.
Sometimes I was kind of confused about who's POV it was. I didn't realize Abby was a POV character until like 150 pages in

I recently read Talented Amateur, Maryn Scott's debut, and absolutely loved it. Standom is so different to her first, but in small ways I can see comparisons. Both novels had a plot that slowly unravels and pulls lots of different elements in. This is something I particularly like about Scott's writing and she does it well in Standom.

There's a lot happening in Standom - there's a romance between Sara and Abby, a sabotage plot for Mika's vision, and commentary on social media. I really liked these elements and how they worked together, but found the romance between Sara and Abby to be slightly disappointing. There's not a lot of air time between them as a couple and although I could see their chemistry, I would've loved getting to know them more as a fully-fledged couple to cement their pairing.

I would love to read a second book that features more about Mika and/or Dani. I really liked them both as characters and would love to read more about them.

Many thanks to Netgalley and Bella Books for a copy of this novel. ARC provided in exchange for an honest review.

The premise of this book is up my alley: wlw actresses fall for each other while on a show together. There is fandom, fanfiction, and they even go to Clexacon. However, it was a DNF for me at about 87%.

There were so many extraneous dramatic storylines that bogged the story down for me. Also, the author seems to be really into fandom, which I’m all about, but at the same time they seem to think of fandom as toxic. Which, I get, but gave me a weird aftertaste.

I had high hopes for this one, but it isn’t one I’d renew for a season two.

A new series is getting ready to launch with the two leading ladies that are lesbian on & off screen and the writer is a lesbian. The two leads are Christina and Sara. What could be better? The only thing that could be better is that that one of the leading ladies, Christina, is still hooked on her ex and feels she is cheating on her when she has to kiss her co-star. What happens next sends shock waves throughout the entire set and threatens the series itself.
A great read and I would highly recommend!
I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

*Thank you netgalley for proving me with this arc!*
I liked this story more than I had anticipated. it was very well written and fast paced, I finished it in one sitting! It was a super quick yet very engaging book as well! Overall, I loved the drama, loved the plot and I loved the main characters so much. 3.5 stars!

The main characters, Sara and Abby, helped to create a light and witty dialogue which made for a quick, easy read. I felt that the book overall had an interesting take as the reader not only enjoys the romance and drama of the main story but also the narrative of the tv show that the characters are staring in. While the author is very detailed with the storyline of the tv show, I would have loved to see that displayed in the development of the characters in the book. I felt that the ending, while it was a happy one, was a bit rushed and did not feel that the reader witnessed enough of Sara and Abby’s relationship. I would love to see Cosetti’s Will be a next book or a focus around Mika as I felt that she was really more than just a side-character in this book. 3.5 stars rounded up on NetGalley.

This was an easy read; it was engaging, and I liked the story. I thought the main characters were very sweet. I would recommend.3.5 stars





Thank you, Bella Books, and NetGalley

Despite the title (I'll admit it - I'm old and had to look up the meaning), I enjoyed the book from the start. I really, REALLY didn't like the title. Strangely enough, my interest waned once the romance heated up. The pairing of Abby and Sara felt like it happened too quickly. And I just couldn't relate to the characters at all - they all seemed like superficial cliches. The Christina storyline and her reason for wanting out of the series were ridiculous and unbelievable. Overall, just a disappointing read that I had a hard time sticking with.

<i>Thanks to Bella Books & NetGalley for providing this eARC.</i>

This book grabbed me, so I'll definitely give it that. I was trying to get through another ARC that just felt like a slog, and so the ease that I had in getting into this one was refreshing.

This is advertised as a romance on NetGalley, and certainly the cover they've gone with gives the impression of a light and breezy romance, which I think is incorrect marketing. Yes, there IS romance, and a HEA ending, but honestly, it's not the focus of the book. For one thing, there's too many POV characters. Hell, even Dani, the social media guru, gets a POV chapter. We probably spend equal or more time with Mika, the show's creator and showrunner, as we do Abby, Sara's ostensible love interest (off-screen, and eventually on as well). If you go in looking for a fluffy romance, I think you'll be disappointed. The couple times Maryn does throw in sex scenes they honestly feel cold and detached.

Really, I think this is more appropriate to look at this title as being more along the lines of [book:Honey Girl|49362138]. It's not as well written, mind you, but with the way that it focuses on Mika, and looks at what it means to be a queer woman trying to get a show off the ground that represents a lesbian character in a loving relationship, as well as both the wonderful and toxic side of fandom culture, it's honestly better representative to think of this as literary fiction. If you go at the book from that standpoint, I think it's much more enjoyable.

Getting past all that, I liked this story! I really enjoyed the characters, for the most part. I'd probably watch the hell out of <i>Cosetti's Will</i> and think Maryn Scott should do more with that premise...we get so many instances of snippets from the episodes/script, we may as well get a book about it. I liked that Clexacon featured so prominently, though I think given that fact the organizers of the convention should probably at least been given a nod in the acknowledgements.

Structure-wise, there were some issues. A couple instances where a character talks about something they've seen, but we don't get context, or where a chapter ends in a manner that seems kind of jarring.

I've going to give this 3.5 stars rounded down. I liked what the author did with the story, but not necessarily always how she went about it, and also think it's mis-categorized.

I was so excited for this book, the premise sounded like it’d make a great celebrity romance, but I was quite disappointed unfortunately.

First off, I’m not a fan of the title (yea that was intended). Yes, the standom, the fans were a big part of the story line, but they’ve never been explicitly called a “standom” and the word itself feels foreign and might need an explanation for some non-social media users.

Secondly, there was a LOT going on. The storyline of the TV show was incredibly detailed (although very interesting, maybe that could also be a book?) and I feel like it took up space that could’ve been used for more character development. The characters felt very flat. I can’t tell you a single thing about Abby except that she’s an actress. I know a bit more about Sara, but only barely. We only meet Abby, the love interest in chapter 8, if I‘m correct. The director of the show, Mika, has a very central role in the book, there’s a lot written in her view which makes little sense for the plot of the story. She’s more of a side character, although with lots of influence on the plot seeing as she’s got the power and connections. I think what could’ve helped this book is more focus on one story line, it got tangled up in many different ones intertwined,

Despite all my criticism so far, the book itself was easy to read and I did enjoy the idea, just the execution was lacking. It’s like a new shiny book present wrapped in old and dirty newspaper. I was able to finish the book within a day, it did captivate me quite a bit and was entertaining, but I will probably not be rereading.

This story has been a bit surprising for me, in the sense that I have been liking it more throughout it, even knowing that the drama was yet to come but even when it did, it seemed totally timely and well-handled. Relatively speaking , it has seemed similar to And Playing The Role Herself, a book that I loved and I keep revisiting from time to time. If you don't know it, I take this opportunity to recommend it to you.

The story consists of the preparation and filming of a series that wants to be a pioneer in the field of thriller, starring a lesbian woman in a stable and loving relationship, as opposed to the typical characters of lesbians in series, who are always negative characters and are often quickly removed.

It is interesting to discover all the obstacles that the industry is putting in front of the production team, the issues between the protagonists themselves and some problems that no one sees coming.

The women who star in the series are Sara, a successful musician who is also successfully starting out in the world of acting. The other main character is Abby, an actress without relevant successes but with talent. Sara is out and proud and is going to play the lesbian detective. Sara is straight and stars as the daughter of the detective who is Sara's partner. Other protagonists appear, such as Christina, the one who plays Sara's girlfriend in the series, Mika, the lesbian producer of the series who is putting all her assets and prestige so that it comes out as she intends. All influential and participants in the good final result.

And as a climax, throughout the story we are seeing in a crude way the way in which the current media and social networks can influence and affect the results of a project and personal lives with almost impunity. All the content regarding this matter has been very correct and truthful, sadly.

This was an interesting behind-the-scenes look at the making of a streaming series. The writing was engaging, however there were way too many storylines which left very little room for any of them to develop properly. There were characters which didn’t particularly add much to the story, the romantic storyline was very much on the back burner with so much else going on, and I felt like we hardly got to know Sara and Abby who were supposed to be the main characters. The most intriguing character was Mika and the most interesting thing about the book was the aftermath of Christina’s Twitter revelation. Overall, it was a well written book but felt a little confused - cutting the unnecessary storylines and characters and just focusing on Sara and Abby would have benefited this book.

𝗔𝗰𝘁𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗲𝘀.

In hindsight, I realise this story isn't long, but I took a long time to finish it. There's a lot of potential in this celebrity romance but the execution needed some refining. The main problem, I think, is that it lacks focus. This story is meant to be a romance between two actresses, Sara and Abby, who are involved in the filming of a queer film, but a third character, Mika, the film director, seems to have a partial lead role in this story. In addition, there are things that happen along the way that isn't unfamiliar to the celebrity trope, but I think the author added way too much stuff that diluted the charm off a story that should have been a lot simplier.

This isn't Maryn Scott's first book. It's her second, I think. But it's the first one of hers I've read. I think Scott has potential and I look forward to reading her future work.