This queer romance novel navigates familiar territory with a heartfelt portrayal of love within the LGBTQ+ spectrum. While the characters are authentic and the emotional journey resonates, the plot may lean on conventional tropes. The author skillfully explores the challenges of queer relationships, offering insights that add depth to the narrative. The prose is engaging, fostering a connection with the characters, yet it occasionally lacks the spark to elevate the story. Despite its reliance on established romance norms, the novel earns three stars for its sincere representation of queer love, making it a satisfactory addition to the genre.

I'm probably not the intended audience for this novel but if I was in my teens or early 20s I would eat it up.

I know that I am not the intended audience for this book - it read very juvenile and poorly written to me. I know that is because it is a young adult novel, but it was hard for me to read so it was a DNF pretty early on.

I was excited to get the chance to read this book as someone who went to film school and who had not gotten the chance to come out at a younger age. I think I had a lot of personal investment in this, that just did not match up to my hope.

Sizzle Reel is about a 24 year old Luna who is trying to make a name for herself and maneuver her way through understanding what bisexuality is. There are many diverse characters, but unfortunately, they just did not seem to hit. There was nothing I found authentic or true. Though I know this is a fiction book, all the characters seemed made up. There was nothing solid/grounding to them. What I did like about the book and found to be really great writing, was how the author was able to incorporate film making, cinematography and more into the writing! It really made me nerd out!

I had really high hopes for this book, but in the end I was not impressed. I felt like there was so much of a focus on having gay sex that it took over the story, the characters, and ultimately ruined any chance of true character development. I think that bi representation is very important, but it is not always done well and this is an unfortunate representation of what happens when bi representation is done incorrectly.

I really wanted to like this, and there are aspects I did, but Luna felt kind of predatory when it came to her crush on Valeria. It felt unrealistic and I could tell who was going to endgame from the get go. Valeria is amazing and I want her to have her own book, but wasn't loving Luna's story.

For aspiring cinematographer Luna Roth, coming out as bisexual at twenty-four is proving more difficult than she anticipated. When she meets twenty-eight-year-old A-list actress Valeria Sullivan around the office, Luna thinks she's found her solution. But when Valeria begins to reciprocate romantic interest in Luna, the act begins to crumble--straining her relationship with her best friend Romy and leaving her job prospects precarious. Now Luna has to figure out if she can she fulfill her dreams as a filmmaker, keep her best friend, and get the girl. . . or if she's destined to end up on the cutting room floor.

I love that this coming-of-age love story is set in the entertainment, a world that is so familiar to me. I appreciated the rep in this story and the journey that the main character goes through to find her HEA.

Thanks to NetGalley for the arc in exchange for my honest opinion.

I was drawn to Sizzle Reel for its gorgeous cover and while it didn't completely blow me away, I was really impressed by how relatable Luna's coming out journey was. Yes, she was a bit chaotic, but that is a huge milestone in any Queer persons life and I feel like Carlyn Greenwald did a phenomenal job with that aspect. I love a coming of age story and this one gave me exactly what I needed.

This may be a wrong-timing thing, but I am not feeling this lead character. She's anxiety personified and it's making me nervous just reading her! I'm stopping for my sanity, but if a nervous mess of a person doesn't stress you out to read, this is probably a great book in every other way!

**Thank you NetGallley and Vintage for the eARC**

This was a DNF for me and I am so sad. First of all the cover is beautiful. That was what initially had me wanting to pick this one up. Also, the synopsis of Luna coming out as bisexual at 24. I couldn’t wait to read it. I just can’t get over the fixation of the virginity of the main character. Even though she wasn’t a virgin really. Also who cares?! Why is this such a big deal. I overlooked that bit. However, the character goes on a journey to try and have “gay sex.” And also so much biphobia and just overall not good. Nope.

I had very high expectations from all the hype, but I will be honest it missed the mark for me. While the story is like every other rom-com, I felt like the banter and spark just was not there for me. Such a bummer..

A great coming of age set in Hollywood. This book explores who you truly are, sexuality and relationships with others. If offers a unique perspective with Hollywood as the backdrop.
Thank you #vintage and #NetGalley for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review

I really enjoyed my time reading this book! Thanks to the author for the copy. I really liked and related to the FMC and of course liked he queer rep

You wouldn't think you could read a "coming-of-age" rom-com about a twenty-four-year-old, but Luna is embarking on an entirely new journey for her while coming out as bisexual. Luna is determined to have her first intimate encounter with a woman, and she just so happens to work with Hollywood actors. As her Hollywood crush walks through the doors, she daydreams about a scenario where she could hook up with her. But what happens if this dream keeps inching closer and closer to reality?

This book felt like pure, queer joy to me. I felt every bit of anxiety Luna felt, and she was relatable and easy to process her whole story with. The other characters are also lovable and funny, and they made the story well-rounded.

This book was written for you if:
1) You're looking for a queer coming-of-age rom-com
2) You want to read about love and life in Hollywood
3) You are on that side of Tiktok where people share all the pictures of them and their girl best friends before they get together and just keep saying "and we were JUST FRIENDS"

I did not like this book at all. Took me ages to decide to dnf but I just can’t deal with this anymore especially after reading some of the other reviews. Don’t want to put myself through that.

Thank you NetGalley, Publishers, and Carlyn Greenwald for gifting me a copy of Sizzle Reel in return for my honest review.

3/5 stars
For aspiring cinematographer Luna Roth, coming out as bisexual at twenty-four is proving more difficult than she anticipated. Sure, her best friend and fellow queer Romy is thrilled for her--but she has no interest in coming out to her backwards parents, she wouldn't know how to flirt with a girl if one fell at her feet, and she has no sexual history to build off. Not to mention she really needs to focus her energy on escaping her emotionally-abusive-but-that's-Hollywood talent manager boss and actually get working under a real director of photography anyway.

When she meets twenty-eight-year-old A-list actress Valeria Sullivan around the office, Luna thinks she's found her solution. She'll use Valeria's interest in her cinematography to get a PA job on the set of Valeria's directorial debut--and if Valeria is as gay as Luna suspects, and she happens to be Luna's route to losing her virginity, too . . . well, that's just an added bonus. Enlisting Romy's help, Luna starts the juggling act of her life--impress Valeria's DP to get another job after this one, get as close to Valeria as possible, and help Romy with her own career moves.

But when Valeria begins to reciprocate romantic interest in Luna, the act begins to crumble--straining her relationship with Romy and leaving her job prospects precarious. Now Luna has to figure out if she can she fulfill her dreams as a filmmaker, keep her best friend, and get the girl. . . or if she's destined to end up on the cutting room floor.

I wanted to like this book so much and if Luna wasn't so whiny and annoying I probably would have liked it more. The characters also didn't have much depth to them, they had one thing that defined them and it was that the whole book. We have Valeria the famous one, Romy the level-headed one and Luna the obnoxious, annoying one.

I will say that other then the characters, this is a well-written book. But it felt like more of a YA novel then I was expecting. While there were a lot of good moments there weren't enough for me to really like this book. For me it was just ok.

Sadly this book didn’t really do it for me. Something about the story just felt off and it made me kinda sad because looking at the cover and blurb the book sounded like it would be a fun read. Maybe I’ll enjoy other books the author writes in the future!

I‘m so sorry but I couldn’t bring myself to finish this. The style of writing is just so exhausting to read. These meter long sentences I had to read several times to understand were just not doing anything for my flow of reading.
Also the characters seemed to terribly stereotypical.
I loved the premise of this and I’m sure it’s for other people, but this is not for me.

This was a great coming of age story with a happy ending. I did not love the power dynamic between Luna and Val, however. This was a quick read that I enjoyed on a plane ride, but is not at the top of my list. I would read more from Carlyn Greenwald given the chance. Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC.

Well wasn't this just a big bag of relatability wrapped up neatly. Look, this wont be everyone's experience- and I think that needs to be strongly noted because I think at times the 'bisexual awakening' or 'I didn't know I liked women" can get made fun of as cliche or overdramatic in ways which just further aids in the stigma surrounding bisexuality or realizing later in life your sexuality isn't what you originally thought. OK, off the soapbox and onto the good stuff.

These characters are charming, hilarious, relatable, and quite frankly romanticizes the journey of early adulthood and exploring relationships in a really beautiful way. Carlyn Greenwald has crafted these fabulous characters that all offer such unique experiences and perspectives which in turn means there's almost certainly a story you can see your own in. This was such a quick and indulging read, I couldn't put it down because it balances the drama and tension with the mundane everday life events so perfectly.

More reads need to explore early adulthood exploration of sexuality. The concepts of virgin, what counts as sex, how to know your 'label', coming out- these are all such important and thought provoking topics that need to be brought to light and ditch the taboo. This is an author that I'm now keeping tabs on and am curious what else is brought to the table.