Director’s Cut
⭐️⭐️⭐️.5
Author: Carlyn Greenwald

I requested a digital advanced readers copy from NetGalley and Knopf and providing my opinion voluntarily and unbiased.

Synopsis: Oscar-winning Valeria Sullivan finds herself trapped in a battle of wits with a sexy professor, but can she keep her cool when things heat up in and out of the classroom?

At twenty-nine, Valeria Sullivan is a celebrated, award-winning actress. But when her attempt to transition to directing is complicated by a bad interview on a late night show, Val decides she's had enough of Hollywood. Intent on pursuing her other passion, she pours herself into a guest professorship at USC, hoping to transition to academia fulltime.

Standing in her way is her co-professor, Maeve Arko, whose brilliance and beauty is matched only by her contempt for Val. As Val rises to the challenges that teaching throws at her, though, Maeve starts to soften, and soon sparks are flying.

Now with a job and a girlfriend she adores, Val should be happy. But Hollywood isn't done with Val quite yet. Her directorial debut, Oakley in Flames, starts getting attention, and soon Val has to choose between her obligations to her class—and Maeve—and a burgeoning directing career.

My Thoughts: This was a cute enemies to lovers twist sapphics romance. There were some slow, even repetitive parts. Overall, I enjoyed the story. Oscar winning, celebrity, Valeria Sullivan wants to transition into full time directing but a bad interview has left in the wings. She decides she will throw herself into her other passion, academia. She lands a guest professor job at USC. Her co-professor, Maeve Arko, is not happy about the celebrity encroaching on her turf. The contempt blends into sparks and when the two connect, the chemistry flies out the door. Is Hollywood done with Val? Will Val have to make a choice to pursue the relationship or pursue Hollywood? This follows the tropes of enemies to lovers, celebrity romance, queer romance, and miscommunication.

This is narrated in a dual narration by Val and Maeve, from their respective perspectives. Val is a brilliant director and actor, who has won awards for her acting career. Her directly career was snubbed out early due to a bad interview, so she has pursued her other passion, academia, and is ready to walk away from Hollywood to be full time in academia, however, Hollywood is not quite done with her. Maeve has great contempt for celebrities who co-teach, and Val is no different. However, when the contempt blends into angst and later sparks, when they fully open up to each other, it is so beautiful and timeless. The characters were well developed with depth, witty banter, chemistry, and were intriguing. The supporting characters were timeless and perfect for this storyline, especially Charlie and Tyler. The author’s writing style was complex, multifaceted, funny, swoony, steamy/spicy, creative, and beautifully executed and written. The little Easter eggs of LA culture really immersed you into the story, like you were a part of and not an outsider.

The author did an amazing job at representing mental health and anxiety and approached it with grace and care. The author explores tougher topics. There is a great balance between hard topics, such as Hollywood behind the scenes and homophobia balanced with sweet tender swoon-perfection moments.

TW: mental health. This was a beautifully written and well executed story of chemistry, celebrity status, and academia. Even with its slightly repetitve parts and slow burn, I believe it was beautifully executed with the perfect flow and pace. The only thing I would change, is the timing of Val’s news to Maeve, I think earlier timing would have elevated the story. This is perfect for fans of TJ Alexander or Anita Kelly. Available now. Highly recommend picking up!

This was such a fun book! I enjoyed the two different industries intersecting. The movie industry and the world of academia. Val the actress now director who just came out to Hollywood and her co professor Maeve who is accomplished as well. They both have so much going on and that they are working towards. Val has her dissertation and Maeve is working towards a grant.

It was so interesting viewing movies and musicals by their technical qualities and break them down with the characters during their classes.

Those classes that these two very strong successful women started to gain admiration and attraction towards each other.

There was also discussion on mental health since celebrity is very mentally taxing and any tiny slip of the tongue will be on the tabloids. My daughter just asked why people need to know everything about celebrities like Taylor Swift can't she just have her own space and privacy. I'm like yes baby that would be nice if we just appreciated their work product and didn't demand to know everything else about their personal life.

And in connection with that there is also some talk on how past relationships spill over into how you react in new relationships even though they aren't the same person. Some people really mess with you and leave a mark.

Definitely recommend and look at this gorgeous cover! I just love the colors! Loved the epilogue too!

There were some open door scenes.

Director’s Cut can be read as a standalone but, it is really apparent there is a whole slew of characters repeatedly mentioned from the previous book. I found the pacing to be really slowwww. I think I may of enjoyed this more if I read the other book in this universe first. Was an ok read, a little repetitive with the “conflict”, so I got somewhat bored 75% in. I received a copy from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I really, REALLY enjoyed this enemies to lovers, forced proximity Sapphic romance between Val, a newly out actress turned director turned academic who gets paired up to teach a college class with Maeve, a Jewish, bisexual Film Professor.

Things get off to a rocky start when the two clash about course content but eventually the women end up falling for one another. When a film festival causes a conflict in schedules that Val choses to keep secret from Maeve, feelings of trust and betrayal get tested forcing Val to choose between her old Hollywood life and the new one she's created in academia.

The mental health (anxiety), therapy and medication rep in this book was extremely well done and relatable and was one of my favorite parts! It was also good on audio and perfect for fans of authors like Helena Greer and Alexandria Bellefleur. Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early digital and ALC copy in exchange for my honest review!

Ok. This was definitively my favorite read of Pride 2024. I was initially impressed cover art and the mishmash of tropes. The tale of a academic workplace romance with a celebrity twist was intriguing to me. Greenwald successfully pulled it off with only a few bumps. The miscommunication elements and pacing was a little off, but the coupling of Val And Maeve pushed all the right buttons in the end.

Thank you to Knopf, Pantheon, Vintage, and Anchor | Vintage and NetGalley for providing an eARC for a honest review,

I honestly had a very hard time finishing this book. I was SO stoked to see a sapphic romance between an actor and a professor, my interest was so piqued by the description (and admittedly the adorable cover) and I was unfortunately very let down. This book had me boredddddd almost the entire way through. Valeria was honestly the epitome of a toxic Hollywood actress, and hearing this entire story solely from her perspective was probably the biggest downfall for me. Had we seen some of Maeve's perspective, this might have redeemed itself a bit, but Valeria ruined it for me.

I try my best to not harshly review books and always find the good, but this just fully missed SO many marks for me. Boring plot, boring relationship, and a mind-numbingly frustrating narrator that could benefit from being knocked down a few pegs.

A fun idea that intrigued me, but moved way too fast to be believable. I know LA is hectic and fast paced in general, but this felt too forced to me. And I hate to say it, but I didn't feel the sparks between them at all, and I wondered what it was that I was missing. I'm aware there is a general trend that lesbian relationships do move at a faster pace, but this didn't give any time for any real buildup, and I feel the story suffered for the lack of it.
 
My thanks to Knopf, Pantheon, Vintage, and Anchor, the author, and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this ARC in exchange for an honest opinion.

✔️ Opposites Attract
✔️ Workplace
✔️ Dating a Celebrity

I loved the LA/Entertainment industry/academia setting. Also, can I tell you how badly I want to take the class that Maeve and Val are teaching?!

I adored both FMCs right off the bat (c'mon look at how gorgeous both of them are on the cover?! hubba hubba). I loved seeing Maeve slowly thaw towards Val, who she'd considered an interloper in her field. And going from thawing to sizzling chemistry? Perfection.

This book was swoony and hopeful with terrific mental health rep and, yes, conversations on communicating better and asking for what you need.

I loved the family and found family here too. Charlie was a standout character in particular.

Steam 🔥🔥
Banter 🗣️🗣️🗣️
Swoon 💕💕💕💕

Nothing is more relatable to me than a lead with crippling anxiety! I loved this sexy, sapphic romance. It perfectly blended together so many of my interests - niche academia, movie musicals, celebrity. It was just perfect and a delight to read!

I enjoyed this book. Valeria and Maeve were great characters. At the start, I was unsure of how I felt about Valeria, since we didn't have the best introduction to her (at least for me), however as the story went on, I grew to like her. In the beginning, the reader gets introduced to Valeria's internal conflicts about her career and wanting to be seen as more than her sexual orientation.

Valeria then takes a job assisting with teaching a class alongside Maeve, our other main character. When they first met, things were a little rocky between the two, and I do wish that we got more of that. I do feel like things transitioned away from the character/relationship building that we could have had before they started flirting.

I think that Charlie was a great side character, as Valeria's best friend. He was such a fun character and was always there for Valeria, and the banter that they had was just so entertaining.

Thank you publisher, Carlyn Greenwald, and Netgalley for the copy of this ebook.

3.75!

The perfect sapphic romance for fans of movie directing, movie musicals, hot women that are able to develop healthy communication skills, and strive for more gay media in the film industry!

Val is an actor and director that has recently publicly come out as a lesbian to her audience, and ever since she came out, she has found herself pigeonholed into strictly lesbian roles, and is facing inappropriate comments and questions about her sexuality in every interview she participates in. In an attempt to escape the toxic environment that is manifesting around her acting and directing career due to her sexuality being picked and prodded upon constantly, Val decides to try being a professor again, and signs up to co-teach a film class on movie musicals. That will be easy, right? It will quell all of her rampant anxiety about work and herself, right?

Wrong. Despite their charged first impressions, the co-teacher Maeve is hot. and smart. and funny. And maybe saw her naked in a movie once.

As they grow to get to know each other, we learn their flaws and hyper-fixations, their insecurities and hobbies, and we learn to basically be obsessed with the both of them together and want the world for them. But first they have to figure out what in the world THEY want, outside of each other.

I loved the realistic touches of the relationships shown in this book, despite the love story of a famous actor and a USC professor maybe being unrealistic in itself. Maeve and Val are at times frustrating, especially Val with her having such a busy career, but we discover all of the valid reasons for their apprehension and the love we see between them and others throughout the novel is so much more believable in the face of all of the complexity they harbor from the time in their lives before they’ve met. The magical symphony of this book is both diegetic and non-diegetic, because even at the times they don’t hear the significance of it all, we do.

TW: they do talk about the musical Cats

solid 3 stars! enjoyable, steamy but i'm not sure if i'd pick this up again to read. thanks netgalley & the publisher for the arc, in exchange for an honest review

Actual rating: 3.75

Another story that took me too long to get into it but then it really picked up about halfway through and I did enjoy it. It follows an Oscar-winning actor, Val, who lands a guest professorship at USC working with another professor, Maeve. She seems a little prickly towards Val at first and then sparks fly as Val realizes Maeve may be attracted to her.

I liked the characters for the most part and really enjoyed the entertainment bits as someone who works adjacent to entertainment. I did not care for miscommunication or the conflict but it isn't the worst of that trope that I've ever read. I do wish we had been in Maeve's head some because I really liked her character.

Valeria Sullivan is at the top of her career as an actress. From the moment she came out, nothing has been the same. She has become a recluse. Now she has found a script that she loved and decided to be the director. The only problem is she has to go out and sell it. The panic sets in on an interview and she leaves. Her option is to honor a commitment to return to academia and teach a class. Maeve Arko is the professor she will be co-teaching the class with. From the very beginning, sparks are flying. Maeve is grounding for Val and the panic lessens. Both when both worlds collide, can she have acting/directing and Maeve? Can she leave the past behind and grab for the future? Or will she sabotage everything? With a little help from a friend, she finds the strength to go for what makes her happy.

𝚁𝚊𝚝𝚒𝚗𝚐: 4.5⭐️
𝙶𝚎𝚗𝚛𝚎: contemporary romance 📚

𝙼𝚢 𝚃𝚑𝚘𝚞𝚐𝚑𝚝𝚜:
An enjoyable sapphic romance

𝚁𝚎𝚊𝚍 𝚒𝚏 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚕𝚒𝚔𝚎:
Romantic comedies
“Enemies” to friends to lovers
Celebrity x professor
Great chemistry
Hollywood/ academia setting

𝚃𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚐𝚜 𝙸 𝚕𝚒𝚔𝚎𝚍:
Jewish rep
Relatable anxiety rep
Charlie!
I found the lecture sections super intriguing

𝚃𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚐𝚜 𝙸 𝚍𝚒𝚍𝚗’𝚝 𝚌𝚊𝚛𝚎 𝚏𝚘𝚛:
Miscommunication- it went on for so long it started to stress me out lol
I wish it had been dual POV!

I really enjoyed the dynamic between Val and Maeve. I was a little nervous about the workplace dating dynamic but it was done well. I liked their journeys and their growth together. I thought they had good chemistry. There were aspects of their classroom work that I felt dragged on a bit. While I did enjoy the topic of the course they were teaching I found myself skimming some sections because it didn't feel necessary to the plot. I wanted more of Val and Maeve. I also felt like the third act breakup and the reunion happened quiet quickly and the ending felt a little rushed. Overall though I did like this book.

DNF @23% - I definitely rage quite this book. The main character is just so incredibly insufferable. She is so insecure it is actually painful to read. She needs everyone to kiss her ass the entire fucking time or she will get upset. Boohoo. I truly don’t give a shit. On top of that she’s just so uppity. I hate it. She looks down on so much, I wonder why she’s even acting as she clearly thinks everything about it is so incredibly below her🙄🙄🙄. I just can’t with this book anymore. The way she also villainizes (what going to be) the love interest for being perfectly polite to her but just not fawning over how incredible she is is absolutely abysmal. I have not gotten to the point yet where they get romantically interested in each other but I can already tell that the love interest deserves MUCH better.

I liked meeting Val in Sizzle Reel and it was really fun to get her POV in this story. Director's Cut was really interesting for me to read because like Val I struggle with anxiety and have a PhD. However, unlike Val I feel very comfortable in academia whereas everything else she was doing would have caused me a lot of anxiety. There were some inaccuracies in the depiction of academia but I did think that Carlyn Greenwald captured something very poignant about doing something you love while struggling with your mental health. It can be easy to not know what you like when something you love has contributed to worsening mental health.

I really enjoyed Val and Maeve's relationship. They had shared interests and a similar history with relationships but Val's fame made their experiences with life pretty different. I liked seeing how that small thing shaped their perspectives to be very different at times.

If you like reading anxiety representation, books set in academia, or a sapphic romance this one is for you! It had a similar vibe to Sizzle Reel but this one was more of a traditional romance. If you are going to read Sizzle Reel I'd read them in order but this could also be read as a standalone.

Thank you to Net Galley and Knopf, Pantheon, Vintage, and Anchor for the arc in exchange for an honest review.

Director's Cut hit the mark for all my expectations in a romance novel. An actress trying to breakthrough into directing while also pursuing her dreams of teaching when she co-teaches with another professor, and how they navigate work life and a budding romance. I had so much fun reading this. The story was cute, and the side characters were interesting while not so much they took from the main story.

I do think the book could have been edited in some places where more details weren't really necessary, and expanded on in other areas, but overall this was a great read and one I would recommend friends to pick up.

I honestly feel like this book had a lot of potential but it took too long for me to get into it. The start was too slow like i didn't feel the immediate chemistry between the leads.