Thank you to Dreamscape Media and Netgalley for this advance audiobook copy.
Love, Camera, Action is a rivals-to-lovers story about a Director and a Director of Photography. Cali is an informally trained Director trying to establish herself in the industry and keep her family afloat. Jory is a renowned veteran Director of Photography who is trying to break into Directing. Thie was a hard listen for me; maybe I just don't find the appeal in the rivals-to-lovers trope. To me, neither of them could set their family baggage or stubborn attitudes aside to work together on The Demon and it affects the cast and crew until everything nearly implodes. It was really hard to find these two characters as falling for each other and redeemable because they could not get out of their own way. Sniping and undercutting each other at every turn, then suddenly they are hot n heavy and fslling in love. I guess there really is a fine line between love and hate- at least for these two.
However, I really enjoyed the subplot in the book about the difficulties for women in the film industry and the things a female has to go through to be taken seriously to get on top versus a male in the same position.

There’s a certain magic to stories that pull back the curtain on the entertainment industry, and Love, Camera, Action delivers a witty, emotional, and sharply written behind-the-scenes look at television production.

Calliope “Cali” Daniels is finally getting her shot as a director on the hit TV show The Demon—and Jory Blair, the grumpy but talented director of photography, is not thrilled. What starts as creative tension quickly escalates into rivalry, resentment... and something far more electric. Their dynamic is messy, authentic, and complicated by the fact that Jory is asked to spy on Cali in exchange for a future directing gig.

But amid all the workplace chaos—actors with intimacy issues, toxic leadership, and high production stakes—Cali and Jory slowly shed their armor and discover just how much they might need each other, both professionally and personally.

This book balances lighthearted banter with serious undertones, especially as it explores Cali’s complex relationship with her mentally ill mother and younger sister Patsy. The family thread is poignant and relatable, adding emotional depth to a story already packed with chemistry and character growth.

Maxine Mitchell absolutely shines in this audiobook. Her voice work is dynamic and emotionally resonant—she gives each character their own rhythm and tone, from the fiery, focused Cali to the guarded and gruff Jory. Patsy, especially, stands out with a voice full of youthful vulnerability and charm.

Mitchell doesn’t just read the book—she performs it. The pacing is impeccable, rising and falling with the beats of the story, and her delivery heightens every moment of tension, tenderness, and comedy. She also clearly announces chapter transitions, and the table of contents made it easy to follow along with the narrative structure.

This is one of those rare cases where the author and narrator feel in perfect sync, creating a seamless listening experience that completely immerses you in the world of the book.

From the opening lines to the final scenes, the audiobook flows effortlessly. The transitions between chapters and character POVs are smooth, never jarring, and the narrator’s cues help orient the listener throughout. I found myself fully lost in the story, and even with its heavier themes, it never dragged.

Love, Camera, Action is a charming and deeply heartfelt debut that brings both the glitz of showbiz and the rawness of real relationships to life.

It made me laugh, ache, and blush in equal measure a sign of a strong rom-com and an even stronger audiobook.

Huge thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.

I had a good time with this book! It had great enemies to lovers energy. I liked the behind the scenes look at tv production and how a good portion of the book focused on their jobs and how their passion for their work was an integral part of their character. I thought there was a good amount of backstory for the main characters. It made a lot of their actions and reactions make sense. The spice was more than I expected but I thought it was well done.

I really enjoyed the narrator as well. Normally I get put off when there are so many voices the narrator is trying to pull off, but it worked well for this audiobook.

Thank you to @netgalley and @dreamscape_media for providing me the opportunity to listen to this title early in exchange for an honest review.

Unfortunately I had to DNF this one ~20%. I think the story had potential but the audio is actually where I got stuck which is super tough for me. I personally wasn't able to get through it, and maybe that's just me!

Here's where this one lost me: the book is written in third person, dual POV, but has solo narration. The combination of all this does not work well for me.

First off, the writing did have one of my least favorite things (particularly in audio!!) in which the POV changes in the middle of a chapter. In audio, this is always difficult because it can be confusing that it shifts without any warning and I'm taken out of the story instantly. Given that the POV shifts and it's still the same narrator - I could not follow at all. It happened enough times where I was losing the story because I could not track whose POV was being read so I kept having to rewind to try and understand. Enough times of that and the experience is soured for me. I am saddened that I couldn't do this one audio because solo narration by Maxine Mitchell is what attracted me to this title at first.

But to be super clear - Maxine's performance was in fact, stellar! This review is not based off her narration in particular, but rather the narration style combined with a third person/dual POV story.

That being said, I still think the story could be something - the synopsis hooked me and I was excited to try a new-to-me author. The amount I did read started off the bat with action so you are diving right into a scene and it did excite me to see where the story goes. So I think I'd be open to giving this another shot via kindle/physical copy.

So if you aren't as ~sensitive(?) as I am to specific narration styles and how they line up with the writing style, you should still give this one a shot!

Audiobook + E-book: Love, Camera, Action

Author: Noël Stark-debut author

Page Count: 336

Publication date: 4-22-25 | Read: 4-15-25

Run Time: 9:24

Setting: Atlanta

POV: 3rd person dual

Genre: Adult/Women's Fic, Rom-Com

Tropes: grumpy H/sunshine h, workplace romance, rivals/enemies to lovers, family drama

TW: misogyny, death of parent-cancer, mental illness-h's mother and sister, health scare-H, harassment

Narrator: Maxine Mitchell voices all the characters with standouts from Cali, Jory, and Patsy. The reading style brought the text to life, and the author and narrator worked together perfectly. The pacing and flow allowed me to get lost in the story. The narrator paused and announced new chapters and there was a table of contents which helped me follow along.


Summary: Cali is an up-and-coming director with her first chance to shoot an episode of the popular TV series "The Demon." Jory has been a director of photography for years and has dreams of directing too. Their rivalry causes a hostile work environment for them, the actors, and the showrunner. Jory is asked to spy on Cali to report any mistakes, and in return he will get a directing job.

Heroine: Calliope "Cali" Daniels

Hero: Jory Blair

Side Characters:
*Patsy-Cali's younger sister
*Paolo Ramirez + Thalia Bautista- 2 main actors on "The Demon" TV series
*Howard Fox-the showrunner
*Melanie Reiter-co-executive producer
*Dan-1st asst. director, the voice of reason on set

My Thoughts: This gave a behind-the-scenes look at what happens on a TV show set. Cali and Jory bumped heads both trying to direct. The main actors Paolo and Thalia had intimacy issues that Cali handled well because they didn't have money for an intimacy coordinator. Patsy's visit allowed Cali to finally give up responsibility for her sister and mother. Howard got what he deserved, and it was a HEA for Jory and Cali.

Range of Emotions
*Spice: 4/5
*Emotion: 4/5
*Couple: 4/5
*Rating: 4/5

Thanks to NetGalley, Alcove Press, Dreamscape Audio, and Noël Stark for this ARC & ALC! I voluntarily give my honest review, and all opinions are my own.

Thank you NetGalley for the audio ARC. This is a great spicy behind the camera romance. Jory and Cali help each other create magic on camera and at home.

I enjoyed this debut opposites attract, forced proximity, dual POV, workplace romance between a Director of photography and his female director. This had emotional depth and fantastic chemistry between the leads, there was also disability rep (he has Lynch syndrome which is a precursor to colon cancer and she has an absentee/neglectful mother). There was also a lot of fun on set dynamics between the actors and the crew that I enjoyed getting insight into. Good on audio and recommended for fans of authors Christina Lauren. Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early digital and audio copy in exchange for my honest review!

I was able to listen to this as an audiobook. It is a single narrator with duel POV.
This book had me giggling and smiling, and laughing at the humor and the banter between the characters. This book also had me wanting to like bang the characters heads together and just tell them to get over themselves.
This is about a older Sister, who is the caretaker for her mother and her younger sister, while also trying to take care of herself (the younger sister is an adult) the male main is someone who had lost his mother at a young age and is still grieving that loss in small ways.
This is a work romance/forbidden romance

Love, Camera, Action is a romcom that’s an enemies to lovers that’s full of tension and desire in the setting of a television show production set. Told in dual POV, this story offers in depth characters that feel real, with complex and relatable back stories driving their decisions.

I listened to the audiobook version of this story which was well done by a single narrator. I listened to most of this story at 2x speed (my normal audiobook listening speed is 1.75x speed).

Thank you NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for this advanced listening copy.

Thank you to the author, narrator, publisher and Net Galley for providing a free e-audio version of this title in exchange for my review.

I listened to the audiobook of this title, and I did enjoy the narrator, it added a lot to the overall experience.

I didn't really connect with any of the characters, and I did have higher hopes for the story overall. It was a case of instant lust that turned into love - maybe too quickly. There were a few cringy moments, and far too much miscommunication. Maybe that's the rom-com way, but I find it a bit too much.

3 stars.

Cali and Jory are working together on a film... with "working together" being very generous. While butting heads over ideas, how to implement them and what should be prioritized, they notice how when they work through their chemistry how successful they are.

This story perfectly reflects the sexy side of the film industry in a post "Me Too" setting where the characters have to overcome all of their personal issues to decide if their romance is just to spark their creativity for the film they are working on or if it has the staying power to outlast this project.

Entertaining for sure...

Thank you to Net Galley and Dreamscape Media for the ARC

DNF 20% in.
I couldn’t alright, i couldn’t care less about the MCs.
And frankly, I wasn’t really minding what I was hearing because it was so… I don’t know what was it with this one but I guess I didn’t like the whole plot and the writing, I was bored and unfocused with it. I tried, I really tried to want to continue it but just couldn’t.
Thank you NetGalley, the publisher for the ALC in exchange of an honest review.

Unfortunately Dnf @ 35%

This just wasn’t for me. The story gave Insta love. The characters were showing interest in each other, albeit at 20%, but this was happening on second day of them meeting each other.

Additionally, the circumstances were wrong. You have two driven main characters who want to excel at their jobs and move up within the film industry, however, on day 2 both are already thinking about how hot their co worker is, which to me contradicts with their driven attitude.

Personal per peeve - pov switches between the two main characters in the middle of the chapter. With only one narrator it was confusing at some points. Also, the mmc name is Jory but sounds like jewelry - it’s written in 3rd person pov so it says his names a lot.

However, I think the narrator did a wonderful job.

Tropes
Work place rivals to lovers
Adult main characters

Author Noel Stark
Narrated by Maxine Mitchell
Publishing April 22,2025

This is a fun quick spicy romance with lots of emotional aspects. This rivals to lovers romance that featured a up and coming direction named Cali and an established director of photography named Jory. These two clash with each other while working together like children sometimes. Cali also focused alot on intimacy coordinating while on set to make sure that all the actors feel comfortable and more at ease while filming intimate scenes. Cali and Jory had great chemistry, while they had a professional relationship at first that turned personal you could really feel the emotions and interactions between them.
When I started this I did not think it would become as emotional as it did in parts, especially with their rivalry. They were both gunning for the same lead director position. While Cali had been excelling Jory started doubting his talent an even went as far as quitting for her so she could get the job was so incredibly sweet and such a heartfelt moment.


Thank you NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for the ALC audiobook. All opinions are my own.

It was okay. There were no stand out moments that make the book really memorable for me. It was kind of just a basic love story. I liked the plot, I liked the characters, I like the whole idea behind the story but I just needed more. I needed more action, more twists, more something. The spice was spicey though.

3.5 stars - I really enjoyed this romance between a TV episode director and Director of Photography. There are professional enemies to lovers vibes, and they both were dealing with their own issues that made the characters feel more real to me. It was clear that the author knew a lot about the industry she was writing about and it was enjoyable that a lot of the interactions between the main characters took place on unused sets,

I also really loved the way that the MMC seemed to really appreciate how competent the FMC was at her job and even seemed to be really attracted to her power.

One caveat--there is a subplot where a male side character who is an actor who interacts with his female scene partner in a way that makes her uncomfortable. I felt that the author initially treated this seriously but then kind of swept it under the rug because he's a well-intentioned guy... This made me uncomfortable and left me with a bit of a bad taste at the end of the book.

I listened to this on audio and felt that the narrator did a good job and kept me engaged.

Thank you to Dreamscape Media for an advance copy of this book for an unbiased review.

I absolutely loved this book. I can't wait until I can read the next book by Noel Stark. Five out of five stars from me and would be more if I could.

This book was an absolute delight to read! It had everything I look for — engaging writing, memorable characters, and a story that stayed with me long after I turned the last page. The author’s voice is distinct and compelling, making it easy to get lost in the world they created, no matter the genre.

I'm incredibly grateful to the publisher for the early copy. It was such a joy to read this in advance, and I can’t wait for more readers to experience it. Highly recommend!

Audiobook Review of Love Camera Action by Noēl Stark
Story:
I found the story itself to be quiet charming. The characters are flawed but lovable. Cali and Jory both have excellent character development throughout the book.
Narration:
The narrator, Maxine Mitchell, did an excellent job as she gave each character their own voice and personality. She had appropriate inflictions to match the stories mood.
Sound Quality:
Sound was crisp with no audible background noise.
Length and format:
Both were ideal for romance genre.
Conclusion:
I would definitely recommend this book to readers of the romance genre. It was a fun book yet it still gave the characters some hardships to overcome giving it depth.

I listened to this book, and I was really impressed with the narration. They really brought the novel to life. They did a fantastic voice acting job and brought each scene to life. You were able to feel a spark that was describe through the book so that was good. This story really had some moments when I laughed out loud and I really enjoyed the romance this one brought. I'm a sucker or a good workplace romance so this one hit the spot.

Thank you NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for this ALC in Exchange for my Honest Review.