though i generally enjoyed reading and think it's a good debut, i had mixed feelings about it overall. I think this could potentially be a great read for younger or newly out queer folks to philosophize on and help explore their identity and sexuality.

Okay so the second half of the book was the best part of the whole story. The first half was just OK. I wasn't the biggest fan of the writing style and the pacing seemed a little weird.

The romance, as a whole was pretty cute even though I'm not a fan of love triangles . I do think that Luna and Romy should've had more tension. I think that would've made the ending a lot more sweeter and heartwarming! But The discussions about virginity, and what it means to you, and the pressure you get from society was really cool to read about!!

This was a cute, steamy, sapphic read filled with lots of self discovery. ☺️

To be fair, the tagline isn't wrong -- it was unputdownable. That, however, does not mean it was good.

Listen, I understand that the entire point of the book is about tackling internalised queerphobia. I am aware. That does not mean that it makes Luna's quest to lose her virginity any less ridiculous. You are telling me that a girl who supposedly lives in this day and age has to ask her friend how gay sex works? It just doesn't make sense.

Luna was okay, her journey throughout the book was interesting to see when she wasn't being irritating. Luna's lack of motivation to perhaps, I don't know, do more research was annoying to me. It did feel like she was being purposefully dense to what people around her where trying to say as for the sake of plot progression, but she was fine.

The side characters were great, actually. I liked them. They were more interesting as a whole and I often found myself looking forward to scenes where they'd appear. Greenwald builds them up through small remarks about their habits that I greatly enjoyed. I particularly loved Romy.

The romances here were well written too. I found myself invested in how things would turn out between the various people involved. The portrayal of Luna's feelings for them was also touching.

My favourite elements of this book were all of the aspects of the film industry. It was fascinating to read about and I highly enjoyed Luna's in depth knowledge of movies.

Overall, a pretty good book. Luna's ridiculousness is quite tolerable and the plot is well written.

This debut was STUNNING!!! The queer representation, struggles of self acceptance as a bisexual person, the gamut of queer wlw identities, non binary character, and more was so well done! I loved the romance, the love triangle, the career struggles, and Luna’s desire to gain experience for validity in her identity. This was such an authentically written book!! Love and can’t wait for more from the author.

Four friends have stolen aboard the Titanic. They're after the Rubaiyat - a book inlaid with priceless jewels. Josefa is a charismatic thief, Hinnah a daring acrobat, Violet an outstanding actress and Emilie a talented artist.

It is Josefa's plan, but she needs all of their skills. Despite their very different backgrounds, in a world of first-class passengers and suspicious crew members, the girls must work together to pull off the heist of their lives.

Thank you Netgalley for the arc in exchange of an honest review

This book is binge worthy. It’s a great debut novel. I am excited to read more from this author. I did not expect it to focus more on romance but it was done well. I liked the part where the main character was figuring herself out and her sexuality. I liked the situationship or casual relationship she had with Valerie. I did not expect her to end up with Romy but I liked the plot twist. I liked how Valarie and Luna ended their relationship on good terms and still remained friends. It’s fresh to see healthy breakups and people remaining friends with the ex. The writing style was great and I enjoyed highlighting some of my favorite quotes. I just wish the coming out part was realistic, especially with a religious family. Overall,I enjoyed the book.

Positives:
- I've made it to p 95 & I finally have a thought about this book
- The build of Valeria & Luna is actually pretty interesting, there's a good push & pull
- Satan's jizz el oh el
- I appreciate the showing of Romy's struggle as a non-binary person & figuring out how she identifies
- Valeria Sullivan is very cool
- Noam is a delightful side character

Negatives:
- Oops I lied, I had a thought before: Romy is annoying & I do not like her
- The Romy/Luna dynamic is unnecessarily weird
- Why are we using the word cheesing
- Am I too Millenial for this book?!
- I'm pretty sure this is a love triangle but it's not as good as Legendborn therefore I'm not a huge fan
- I do not understand the virginity obsession? Seems like an odd major plot point in 2023
- Romy storyline seemed to come out of nowhere?
- Pacing was off
- This story did not flow well

3.5*

This was a book that partially worked for me, but overall didn't hit as well as I'd hoped. Largely it was a 'me, not you' situation so I'm sure it'll work better for other readers.

This is a romance that focuses on the protagonist Luna, and her coming of age as she addresses her bisexual identity and her career hopes. As such, the other characters are more vaguely defined, seen only through Luna's eyes. I often like romances like this, with the emphasis on the unreliable narrator, but it does depend a lot on the individual portrayal. In many ways Luna is a sympathetic and relatable character, especially with her repeated fears of 'not being queer enough.' Her fixation on virginity and in particular her heteronormative 'virginity=PiV' obsession, was kind of understandable for her age and maturity, and added to the NA feel, but was continually addressed and questioned by the other characters.

However, over the course of the book, the repeated cycle of Luna's obsessions and self doubt became increasingly repetitive and dragging. In contrast I was more and more intrigued by the other characters, especially the two love interests of Romy and Valeria. I really wanted to learn much more about them, to hear more from their perspectives, and I started to resent the restricted narrative.

I also found the limited number of characters a source of frustration. It put too much emphasis on Romy to be not just a friend, a love interest, but also the sole source of queer education. A bigger circle, a community would be both better plot wise, and more fitting with what we have seen of Romy's character. I also found Wyatt confusing- I never understood what the friendship bonds were that tied him and Luna, as their relationship never clicked for me. There us a moment when Luna complained that her brother thought she only had two friends, but that complaint felt rather disingenuous when we don't ever see Luna with anyone else.

One thing that I did greatly enjoy was the descriptions of LA. I had previously not been particularly interested in the environment of LA, but the descriptions here were really compelling and gave me a great urge and desire to visit and see the places captured so well. I also appreciated seeing therapy on the page!

Overall, this was just too focused on Luna for me, and I found it hard to connect fully with her as the story developed. If there was a story focusing on Valeria however...

*Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the free ARC*

A light rom-com about coming out as an adult with some fun film industry touches. I did struggle somewhat with what felt a bit like insta-love between the two romantic leads, and wasn’t always taken with the writing style, which could use a bit too many contemporary buzzwords for my taste. Luna’s focus on what constitutes sex as a newly out bisexual was an interesting component, although I could see it being controversial with some queer readers.

I couldn’t get through most of this one. Had to DNF. But I think I might not be the target demographic for this.

First I do just have to mention that INCREDIBLE cover, wow -- it's SO pretty, I'm going to be grabbing a physical copy once it's out just so I can stare at it in person, haha.

This is such a great romcom, PERFECT for summertime - I can't recommend it highly enough. If you're looking for a new sapphic cast to obsess over, this will be it for you, I'm sure. Luna is SO relatable & if there's another book featuring these characters, I'm going to absolutely be checking it out.

I wish I had liked this as much as I had expected. It sounded right down my alley - a Hollywood-set sapphic awakening! What more could I ask for? Unfortunately, this book fell flat in almost every respect.

The basic pitch is - at 24, working for a truly terrible manager, Luna Roth comes out as bisexual. First to her therapist, and then to her two closest friends - Romy, her roommate, and Wyatt, her ex-boyfriend. Romy is non-binary, although uses she/her pronouns, and jumps at the chance to help Luna as she begins dating non-cis-men in earnest. Along the way, Luna realizes she can jumpstart both her career and her love life by attaching herself to A-list (publicly closeted) actress Valeria Sullivan. An aspiring DP, Luna scores a gig on Valeria's directorial debut working as a PA in the camera department, and once the shoot wraps, Luna and Valeria explore their attraction to each other.

I'm not even sure where to start with my issues with this book. First, I'm used to most books set in or around the Hollywood/film production arena getting things wrong, either big or small. But this was written in such a confidently incorrect way that I was thrown from the start. Everything about the industry was basically a photo negative of the truth - it all felt real-ish, but completely absurd.

Second, the grandstanding about the queer community and queer acceptance was mashed up directly next to Luna being obtuse to the point of brain dead about what "sex" is. She literally REFUSES to accept Romy's definition (achieving an orgasm with another person) and is entirely fixated on her (wrong) idea that sex ONLY involves penetration. My sister in Christ, why are you pushing this heteronormative nonsense? I understand the idea of a learning curve, but at times it felt like Romy was talking to a brick wall. Listen to your friend!! She knows of what she speaks!

Third, this is a friends-to-lovers romance that spends 80% of the book peppering in very obvious foreshadowing while simultaneously trying to convince the reader that it is a coming-of-age, unlikely couple type story. The story never really picks a lane, which is unfortunate. I think it would have been a lot better and more enjoyable if it had been more firmly in the friends-t0-lovers realm, and Valeria was a side character for a brief obstacle.

As far as what I did like - I thought Valeria was a very cool character. Like - I'd want to be her friend. She was self-assured and fun and I never felt like we were getting any melodrama (save for one scene at the wrap party). Do I think it's absurd that a 28 year old actress would get a chance to direct a whole-ass film, indie or otherwise? Absolutely. But she was still a fun character. Beyond that, I mostly just liked the promise of what this book could have been, rather than what it actually was. Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for an ARC.

3.25 out of 5 Stars

Thank you to NetGally for the arc, in exchange for an honest review 📚.

This story is a cute romcom, and a fun read.

Luna is coming out as bisexual. At twenty-four. After quitting her job to pursue an opportunity in filmaking, Luna starts falling for movie-star-turned-director Valeria... who is now essentially her boss.

As someone who came out later in life, wow, some of these scenes hit hard. The office scene with her boss and workmates 😭.

The Hollywood scene vibes were great! I really liked the setting of this book, and I liked how human and real all the characters in it felt.

There was a weird third person and also first person page about a quarter of the way through the book and I did NOT like it. Took me out of the story for a hot minute there. No one thinks OR talks like that.

I also didn't like how short the transition was of coming out as bisexual four days ago and then having the main character feel the need to sleep with a woman to *prove her bi-ness to herself and her family*. I get that the best friend was there explaining that "no, you don't need to do that". But still. Why is that there. No. And we didn't really see her work through that either.

I would have liked to see a bit more character growth from Luna as she accepted her queerness and herself more as the story went on. ESPECIALLY with what happened at the end.

The book was written well, and there was some (very nice!) spicy scenes in there 🔥. But there was not enough tension with any romantic interests, and both the main character and the ending of the book needed to be fleshed out a little bit more.

For the queer gals out there, I do think you will enjoy this. Love the representation and the story was quite cute ☺️💕.

I will posting a review of this book on both my Instagram, Goodreads and TikTok accounts in mid-march. My handle for all of these medias is "Tahliareadstoomuch".

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).

There are a lot better sapphic, coming out at a later age books if that is what you are searching for.

I was excited to read this book because the synopsis sounded interesting. Even though I adore sapphic fiction that features famous people, I didn't enjoy this one. I find it difficult to connect with the primary characters. They all speak in a teenage-like manner... And to me, it reads more like a YA novel. There is a lot of Luna's internal monologue, which annoys me much. It seems verbose. But perhaps that's just me.
If you want a light and entertaining read, I do suggest it.

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC of this title. I'm very into queer romance, and the first few chapters of this didn't grab me, but I persisted and I'm glad I did. I liked the storyline of a baby gay figuring her shit out, and also of the dual romantic interests. I was rooting for all of them, and this one had a great happy ending.

I was very disappointed with Sizzle Reel because it had everything to be a 5 star book.

I started loving it, the writing is very good and captivating and the main character and her friends (including Val here) are nice, but the tireless search (and I say tireless because it became her mission and basically 90% of the plot) of Luna, the main character, in losing her virginity according to heterosexual and cis standards, completely ignoring and not accepting the various attempts of explanations about how this was not right by other queer characters, made me feel very uncomfortable, as if my experiences were not were valid. I understand that this is part of Luna's whole journey of self-acceptance and discovery, but I believe it's something that should have been worked on better.

Luna Roth, a bisexual aspiring cinematographer, is struggling to come out and move on from her emotionally abusive talent manager. When she meets Valeria Sullivan, a successful actress, Luna sees an opportunity to get a job on her film set and potentially lose her virginity to a woman. However, when Valeria begins to show romantic interest in Luna, it causes problems with Luna's relationship with her best friend and puts her job in jeopardy. Luna must decide if she can have it all - a successful career, a close friendship, and a romantic relationship.

Throughout the novel, the main character Luna is struggling to balance her professional goals, friendship, and romantic desires. The romance between Luna and Valeria was sweet, but the added tension of Luna's strained relationship with her best friend added an interesting layer to the story. The plot was a bit predictable at times, but the twist ending was refreshing and made the novel stand out. Overall, I thought Luna was a relatable and well-developed character and enjoyed reading about her journey.

After much discussion with a friend, this book is definitely not for me. I was reading it, and they pointed out all of the things wrong with it before I had even got to the end of the first chapter.

Which sucks, because this book should have been an amazing book, but it just fell flat. I hate this for me, and for the book.

This is a deeply relatable book and yet still so fun and heartwarming at the same time! It really proves that everyone’s queer journey is different and I think a lot of people will find joy in Luna’s story! She was such a lovely character to follow and at the same time the book was engaging and entertaining. This is definitely something that I will appreciate reading for a long time after, and can see myself rereading many times!