Sizzle Reel: A Novel

By Carlyn Greenwald

An unputdownable queer coming-of-age rom-com about life and love in Hollywood. • "Both an irresistible love story and a riveting exploration of Hollywood dynamics.” —Rachel Lynn Solomon, New York Times bestselling author of The Ex Talk 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.

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Published Apr 18, 2023

336 pages

Average rating: 5.67

3 RATINGS

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Community Reviews

AlexGJ
6/10 stars
There were parts about this book I really enjoyed - overall it was a fun coming-of-age queer book, funny and well-written (I read it in one sitting the same day I got a copy). But the pacing was off for the romance aspect. I mean, she's spending the entire book pursuing Valeria and then out of nowhere in literally the last like 50 pages of the book suddenly we're supposed to believe she's been in love with Romy the whole time, since college (?) and drops Valeria suddenly. And then her and Romy are just dating. I think the problem with the romance between her and Romy is that they just have so much history we don't get to see. We have a tiny flashback to the day they met, and a reference to the fact that they've been BFFs and roommates for a long time, but once Romy becomes the primary love interest, it's hard to care or be invested because we don't know anything about their history. And there's pretty much no resolution to the rest of her arc - she doesn't come out to her family (which I get, I'm not out to everyone myself) but given how much of the book is about her struggles with her family it just feels narratively unsatisfying, and she still has some pretty weird views about queer sex/uality that get brushed past pretty quickly.

Thanks to Vintage Books for the advance copy.

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