Story of the book-

Coming out as bisexual at the age of twenty-four is proving more challenging for aspiring cinematographer Luna Roth than she had imagined. Romy, her closest friend, and a fellow gay are happy for her, but she doesn’t want to tell her conservative parents, she has no sexual past to draw on, and she has no interest in learning how to flirt. Also, she has to concentrate her efforts on getting away from her emotionally abusive but typical Hollywood talent management boss and start working for a genuine director of photography.

When she encounters twenty-eight-year-old A-list actress Valeria Sullivan around the office, Luna thinks she’s found her solution. To secure a position as Valeria’s PA on the set of her directorial debut, she will leverage Valeria’s interest in her cinematography. If Valeria turns out to be as lesbian as Luna suspects and serves as a conduit for Luna to lose her virginity, well, that’s just a bonus. With Romy’s assistance, Luna begins the most difficult balancing act of her life: become as close to Valeria as she can, impress Valeria’s DP so she can obtain another job after this one, and assist Romy with her professional decisions.

But, the action starts to fall apart as soon as Valeria shows signs of having a love interest in Luna as well, which puts a strain on her friendship with Romy and puts her employment chances in jeopardy. Now Luna must decide if she can achieve her goals of becoming a filmmaker, maintaining her best friend, and getting the girl, or if she will be left off the final product.

My review-

For a first book, I thought it was beautifully written and one that I liked reading. The amount of angst that Luna is experiencing made it feel more like a Teenage novel than I had anticipated. The characters were essentially pretty one-dimensional, and while there were a few entertaining moments, there weren’t enough of them. For me, this was a miss.

The relationship, as a whole, was very charming even if I’m not a fan of love triangles. Unfortunately, the narrative never really decides where it wants to go. Sizzle Reel is more of a young adult coming-of-age story than a romance. It covers issues such as damaging stereotypes, internalized homophobia, coming out in public, abusive bosses, removing permission, and dealing with one’s queerness in relationships and at work.

Despite that, I largely appreciated the potential of this book more than what it was. While Valeria and Luna’s final communication with each other was good, I didn’t understand why they broke up. We spent the entire book with the two of them since they had such a great connection, but Luna ended up with someone I couldn’t stand. I liked Sizzle Reel despite my (little) issues with it, and I would suggest it!

3.5 stars!!

(I received this arc from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.)

First and foremost, I did enjoy this book!! When I saw that this book was a queer story revolving around people who work in the film industry, I knew I had to read it!! There were parts I loved, but also parts I didn’t really enjoy. I honestly felt like Luna’s best friend Romy, was not a good friend. I understand that she was jealous of Luna, and that’s why she didn’t want her pursing a relationship with Val, however she should’ve come out about her true feelings sooner, because then Luna could’ve understood why Romy was acting weird the entire time. After finding out that she liked Luna romantically, I understood why she acted the way she did, however she was still being a bad friend to Luna, when Luna needed someone to help her navigate her feelings. Overall, I was kept invested throughout the story and the author kept me wanting to read more so I could see how the story would end. I actually really liked Luna and Val together, and I honestly thought they’d end up together. I didn’t really see the Romy thing coming at all. There were many times when lines of dialogue seemed “too gen z”, and I’m even gen z. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with being pro-lgbt, but at some points everything felt too much like one of those informative Instagram posts, when I really just wanted to read a queer story.

The only thing that I really didn’t enjoy was that Luna was obsessed with trying to lose her virginity, and what did it even mean to be a virgin and such. It was a bit much for me, but that just be for me personally.


I am a film student, so I was intrigued to read about characters working in the film industry. I loved that aspect of the story a lot!!

Overall, I did enjoy the story, and I was able to see myself in Luna at some times throughout the story, which was really nice!!

This was a bit of a rollercoaster for me. I feel like Luna was a little immature and she made the book feel like it was YA? I know she was on a journey of self discovery, but it seemed like she was relying on others to tell her what to do at every turn. And I feel like you have to be into the movie industry to understand some of this. I don’t really know what cinematography is?? And this book was very much about that.

After reading through early reviews, I am going to save my initial read for the published version in hopes that the harmful language that is used gets fixed.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing this ARC for my honest review!

The story felt a bit one-note and the character development fell flat for me; I found it hard to find any of the characters very likable. The pace was quick enough to keep my interest though. If you like friends-to-lovers and stories with a happy ending, this could be a good beach read. 2.5-3/5 stars.

I really enjoyed this book. I could relate to the main characters on many levels. It was a cute book about figuring out who you are and what that may look like. I love hope important therapy, and Her therapist, was to her.

The bisexual book I didn't know I needed in my life.
This book was everything I hoped for and more. I loved the story, the characters, the setting, the friendships I just mean all of it was perfect in my opinion.
As a bisexual woman who when I came out to myself and wasn't sure how to deal with it, I connected with Luna in a way I was expecting. I loved that the characters were not perfect by any means, there was internal bi phobia with Luna, Valeria's team keeping her sexuality a secret and so on. Though I don't think all the problems with the characters were resolved in this book, I did like the growth that happened though.
Valeria my have been my favorite character and my ultimate girl crush.
I can't wait to see what else this author comes up with in future books.

I have been so excited to read this, and was so grateful to receive this e-ARC! Even better, though, this book really really lived up to the hype. I found the film aspects extremely interesting- even as someone with no background in that industry- but the commentary on the internal queer journey was what really struck me. There were several moments where I had to set the book down and let a passage just sink in for a bit. I will be thinking about this read for a while, and I'm always so happy for more sapphic love stories getting told.

The queer film nerd part of me went completely bonkers for this book. Not only did it show the process of trying to break into the film industry in a very realistic way, it did the same for breaking into your queer life. You know you love being behind the camera, how the hell do you get behind one on a real set? You know you are attracted to women, how do you get one to kiss you right now this minute? In all the best ways, this book is a MESS because that is what your twenties as a baby gay at the bottom of your work food chain. You mess up and you trip and fall and you fight and you figure out how to suck it up and own up to your mistakes and find a way to make everything okay. This book is going to remain very special to me for a very long time.

Sizzle Reel is a contemporary LGBTQ Romance. Luna is an anxiety-ridden twenty-something dealing with coming out as bisexual and all that entails; while also trying to find her path to her dream in the volatile environment that is the Hollywood entertainment industry.

Luna’s experiences and interactions with those around her are ones that many audiences can connect with, especially those who also identify as bisexual. These experiences include, but are not limited to: fear of coming out to parents, not feeling queer enough, and wrestling with/dismantling the hetero-normative concepts of friendship, relationships, sex and virginity.

The end-game romance is a slow burn friends to lovers in the queerest way. The relationships and friendships built along the way are important. It’s not a linear romance, and sometimes our main character thinks or does something can be frustrating to readers. Sympathy can only go so far, sometimes. But that is also relatable when anxiety is so heavily in the mix.

The author’s narrative and the main character’s passion for cinematography creates a very visual story. I can’t help but feel that a more visual medium, such as a graphic novel, would be more engaging to readers.

Thank you to Vintage Books and NetGalley for providing an advanced copy of this title in exchange for an honest review.

"Sizzle Reel" was a miss for me, unfortunately. I was very interested in reading about a bisexual cinematographer and it was cool to see a non-binary side character using she/her pronouns. But unfortunately, I just wasn't really connecting with any of the characters or the romance.

Luna, the MC, seemed way too focused on losing her virginity and trying to figure out if her crush was gay or not. I preferred the moments where she focused on her career and being a good friend. There also seemed to be hints of a growth arc where Luna learns to stand up for herself against her abusive boss, but that didn't really go anywhere satisfying.

The writing was okay, but nothing fancy. And sometimes the dialogue could be a bit disjointed. For example, the characters would be discussing something and then there'd be a few paragraphs of internal monologue before another character would respond to what was said before. But by then I'd forgotten what was said earlier so I'd just be confused and have to go back to try and pick up the lines of the conversation.

I probably would have DNF'd this book if it wasn't an ARC, but I wanted to give a full review. There were some aspects I enjoyed and there may be folks who love this book, but it wasn't for me.

I gave this one 2.5/5 stars, but I'm rounding to 3 stars for NetGalley.

This book was fun, sweet, and captured my attention well. I fell in love with the characters and was extremely invested in their stories. Bisexual coming out stories are so important, as are the inclusion of other queer side characters. The dialogue felt slightly forced at times, but overall I highly enjoyed this book.

This was an unfortunate miss for me. I liked the premise - newly discovered bi woman coming out in Hollywood as a cinematographer - but the execution fell flat. This is a friends-to-lovers story where the majority of the story the MC is with someone else.

Luna was not likeable. She's obsessed with a concept of virginity and refuses to listen to anyone who tries to guide her, including her therapist. She uses *everyone* while saying she doesn't want to use anyone. Her one redemption is that she acknowledges how bad of a friend she's been.

The best part of the story was the commentary on how strange it is to shift your world view after coming out. And how Val was considerate and never pushed Luna past her comfort point.

I think I would have enjoyed Valeria's story more. Or if the POV had been split between Luna and Romy.

Thanks to NetGalley and publisher for the opportunity to read and review.

If I squint an eye, look at it upside down, and don’t think about it too hard, I mildly enjoyed this novel. It was chock full of found family vibes and hot mess express identity crises, two things I hold near and dear. I can appreciate what it was trying to do and the gap it aimed to fill, but ultimately it felt somewhat inauthentic and a bit disjointed and dare I say even borderline insensitive.

Seeping with biphobia and internalized biphobia, Luna is a twenty something (and she won’t let you forget it!) who just now (literally four days ago) came out as bi. And her entire character arc, the entire plot actually, is her fixated on losing her virginity ASAP to validate her queerness (that’s her literal, immediate plan). And there’s something about that that just doesn’t sit right with me, folks. Like it’s fine that she wants to do that, but it’s the way she made it seem completely necessary for both internal & external validation. And Luna’s concept of virginity is…patriarchal at best and archaic at worst - EVEN THOUGH she claims to be super progressive and her super cool nonbinary lesbian bff very gently tries to talk through this with her. Which is another thing I took slight issue with, it very much gave “token queer friend who has the answers to all queer problems even though I claim to be this super progressive person who knows how to Google I’ll just ask them all these triggering questions instead.” I get that my girl is working through her ish but YEESH.

Now listen, I loved the coming of age and coming into yourself story, and the whole conversation around the “late bloomer” bull. But this plot was too all over the place for me. Don’t even get me started on the bogus love triangle and how the first 75% of the book drives you towards one conclusion and rooting for one couple before jerking you to another. Also the dumb hints and foreshadowing were so heavy handed that it wasn’t even remotely believable for Luna to actually be so ignorant and DUMB. My girl Val deserved better. And honestly so did Romy. And even Luna damnit. It was just a MESS. FOR NO REASON. Like either just pick a friends to lovers trope or a celebrity trope? We don’t need the weird vibes that come from both? It was so disjointed and unnecessary and it made me MAD.

Also I couldn’t give a DAMN about the film stuff, it was far too detailed and most of it went right over my head. It was nice at first, talking about framing scenes and such, but it was just TOO. MUCH. But that could just be a me thing, probably not though. (Also note to authors everywhere: please avoid obscure acronyms, just because they’re familiar to you DOESNT MEAN I KNOW WHAT AN AC IS ON A MOVIE SET. A BITCH IS TIRED.)

Clearly I have a lot of thoughts and I feel I’ve barely scratched the surface but I fear I’ve already become a bit ranty, so we’re just gonna leave it at yes I guess I had fun and it was also lowkey relatable but honestly it just missed the mark and that’s on that.

2.5⭐️ rounding up because the rep is important and even though I think the overall exploration of our MC’s sexuality left something to be desired, I can still recognize the effort

**thank you NetGalley and Vintage publishers for this eARC**

I really wanted to enjoy this book, but it's unfortunately only a two star read for me..

I think the author has tried very hard to write a book that has representation in many ways, but sadly it just falls flat most of the time. My main issue is our main character, Luna, and her perspective on virginity and sex. She's described as a 24-year-old, bisexual virgin with no sexual experience at all - which actually turns out to be a complete lie, by the way. She simply hasn't had penetrative sex, which in her eyes apparently means she's a virgin. I'd like to think that the world has progressed enough in the recent years to realise that virginity is a social construct rather than an actual fact, but apparently we're still talking about it in stories intended for young audiences, feeding into a harmful narrative that the only way to have sex is with a man (It all comes down to the patriarchy and misogony, but hey, that's a conversation for another day). And if the idea was to shine light on this very odd idea of virginity, I don't think this was the way to do it. Luna is confronted several times about her views and dismisses it instantly, despite her -occasionally- being written as a progressive character. I am confused, to say the least.

Other than that, it's a very predicatable love triangle with no build up whatsoever for the eventual chosen partner. Why are we conditioned to dislike Romi if Luna ends up realising she's loved her all this time? Because of jealousy? I'm sorry, but if they have so much history as friends as is hinted on (yeah, hinted is the word to use, as we aren't given much info about their past) then Romi would have supported the love story with Valeria. She would have supported Luna's growth and journey when realising this whole new part of herself that she's never experienced before. And the lack of tension is dissappointing, given that they end up together in the end.

I think there's potential in this story, but for me it's a missed opportunity.

Thank you to Netgalley, the publisher and author for granting me an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This book was...interesting. I have very conflicted feelings. A lot of the time, the random pop culture references seemed forced and somewhat cringey. I think cringey is the way I feel about this book. It had a love triangle that wasn't really a love triangle until the last 15% of the book. Then suddenly, the main character, despite spending the entire book longing for a famous actress and hooking up with her multiple times, changes her mind and decides to get with her best friend who has had a very obvious crush on her since the start of the book. There are a lot of things that I could complain about but I really do not have the energy to do so. In short, this book was truly a bi disaster (another phrase used at least 10 times in the book).

I desperately wanted to love this book. The summary immediately had me hooked to the point of crossing my fingers and requesting the ARC. I'm sad to say I didn't altogether enjoy the story. There was so much potential in this book, but it just didn't hit the mark. I loved most of the characters, however, I found Luna quite grating. I know she is supposed to be finding herself and very unsure, but I just found her to be annoying and selfish. I know that is kind of the point, but there were times I wished her selfishness hadn't gone so far. I was wholly ready to only rate this 1-2 stars, but the second half of the book was much more enjoyable and provided some redemption to the story. I feel as though the last 30% of the book deserved more time to wrap up some loose ends. I want more of these characters, but I'm not sure I could handle another book if it started the way this one did.

Ahhh, I really wanted to love this but so many things made me.... cringe a bit. I wasn't able to finish. It makes me truly sad because ever since I saw the cover I was obsessed with it.

This was lovely. It always feels good when a book, with a lot of hype and highly anticipated, is about as great as you could have hoped for. The hype surrounding this romance is definitely real. The dynamic of this friendship group was so wonderful and felt so realistic. This story is about a lot of things but ultimately the driving force behind everything is romance. It's an absolute MUST read.

Thank you to NetGalley and Knopf for the ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Sizzle Reel explores identity and self-searching in the most touching and hilarious way! We follow Luna and her existencial crisis as well as coming to terms with her sexuality- we love a good bi disaster. She is navigating through her new adult life: out of collage, stuck in a job that she does not really like, she is planning to move forward, but also she is so realatable in so many ways. Messy, realistic, sometimes hopeless and disapponting life experiences, the excitement of exploring relationships - all well written! I loved how the story explored the fault of the film industry, token diversity representation at the workplace!

Sizzle Reel is a non-traditional coming of age, love story,with the importance of family, platonic relationships delivered in a funny and heartfelt way.

Read it for:
- friends to lovers
- sapphic love
- film industry
- chaotic friends vibe
- spicey romance!!

Thank you so much for Knopf, Pantheon, Vintage, and Anchor, Vintage and Netgalley for the e-ARC!