Luna Roth has dreams of being a successful cinematographer but is struggling to break into the business and make a name for herself in hollywood. Not only is she facing challenges in her career, but in her personal life as well. Luna has recently discovered that she is Bisexual and grapples with coming out in her personal and professional life. When push comes to shove and Luna is out of work, she starts a new romantic and professional relationship with Valeria, an actress that may or may not be queer.

Throughout the book we see Luna chaotically stumble through her relationships and behind the scenes of sets. She makes a mess everywhere she goes and never seems to get it right. The baby gay energy is strong with this one. Unfortunately you can’t help but feel a LOT of second hand embarrassment while reading this book. Additionally, the author spends SO much time explaining every concept and situation. It’s as if the reader is being spoon fed every bit of information and expected to have no LGBTQ+ knowledge whatsoever.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Sizzle Reel is the witty and charming story of Luna Roth. When Luna realizes that she is bisexual, the first people she tells are her best friends. Of course, not everyone has best friends who are assistants to celebrities. Luna becomes inexplicably connected to celebrity actress Valeria, whose sexuality is the subject of much speculation. Does Luna want to be with Valeria personally or professionally? Why is one of her best friends acting so weird? And will her boss ever give her a promotion? In Sizzle Reel, Luna learns what it means to be out, bisexual, and what attraction truly feels like.

I flew through this book and couldn’t put it down! Luna is so relatable and funny. Regardless of how you identify, you will be able to find humor in and empathize with her experiences. I loved Luna’s queer found family with her friends. The dialogue was hilarious, with many witty remarks thrown in with a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it style. Luna, Val, and Romy feel like the type of characters that you wish you could hang out with with in real life. I loved seeing Luna's journey of learning about her sexuality, coming out on her terms, and deciding what matters most to her in a relationship.

Sizzle Reel would be great for readers who love the dating-a-celebrity trope, sapphic stories, and steamy romance. I would also recommend this for readers who enjoy Ashley Herring Blake (Delilah Green Doesn’t Care), Alexandria Bellefleur (Written in the Stars), and Alison Cochrun (Kiss Her Once For Me).

Sizzle Reel releases April 18, 2023. Thank you so much to Carlyn Greenwald, Vintage, and Netgalley for a free ARC in exchange for an honest review.

For publisher: My review will be posted on Instagram, Goodreads, Amazon, Storygraph, and Barnes & Noble etc

Let me start by saying that I do see why people could potentially enjoy this. It’s inclusive, a journey of self discovery, and can be a bit cute. Unfortunately, the writing didn’t mesh well with me. There were a few phrases that I’m not sure are entirely inclusive and felt a bit awkward - which I can kind of understand as it can be hard writing into a perspective that you aren’t a part of entirely. So, while I tried to read those with grace, it was still grating at times. The plot was predictable in a way that made it feel insta-lovey, which isn’t a trope I enjoy. I like a longer slow burn kind of. Or time at least to truly get to know one another and yourself. That kind of happened and kind of didn’t. I was also unaware that there would be a sort of love-triangle, which I’m not a fan of either. I can see a lot of people enjoying it due to those tropes though, so this is mostly just personal preference. It does have some merit.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing this eARC.

Sizzle Reel follows 24-year-old Luna Roth, who has recently come out as bi and is still figuring out what that identity means to her.

I think Sizzle Reel had a lot of potential, especially as a queer New Adult book, but it did not ultimately live up to most of that potential. Though everyone's journey is different, Luna's journey with her own sexuality often revolved around the idea of sex itself, with the book often defining sex and various sexual orientations in what felt like narrowminded or uninformed ways. Though some of this can be chalked up to Luna simply learning, I don't think the narrative went quite far enough with settling what was true and what was a biased -- and potentially harmful -- misconception. I was looking forward to this book being sex-positive, and while I appreciated that it did not shy away from talking about sex, I did find myself often uncomfortable with Luna's main character arc centering on both defining queer sex and also pursuing queer sex specifically in order to feel secure in her identity.

Maybe all this, and some of my general issues with the tired love triangle plot, might have been more palatable if it all felt like there was an overarching theme or purpose. But I think that's the primary issue, is that the book wants to have a depth that's not actually on the page. We can have a nuanced conversation about sexuality, sexual orientations, the concept of virginity, and the act of sex, but in order to have a nuanced conversation, we have to have nuance. These characters, especially Luna, were flawed, but the narrative itself didn't really allow those flaws to elicit a conversation. All the growth is saved for right at the end, with little to no questioning of any of the awful things that are said prior.

I'm sure there is an audience for this book, as there is an audience for most books, and I really do think the ideas behind this one had potential. I would have just liked if these ideas were executed with more care, more thoughtfulness, and more tact.

I freaking LOVE a coming of age story that isn’t a YA book. I connected to this story on a very personal level and I loved it so much. Highly recommend to anyone who is still figuring their sexuality out in adulthood.

so much potential to be a great sapphic romance, but couldn't really live up to it. i was close to dnf-ing it, because i honestly couldn't (still can't) stand the main character, but the second half was much more readable.

most of the attention is focused on the romance with the actress, so much so that the love triangle really just appears out of thin air. however, i loved the diverse queer/sapphic representation, the sex scenes were pretty hot and the reflections on being a late bloomer and discovering your sexuality in your twenties were an interesting discussion that i haven't seen much before! the insights into working in hollywood were also so fun.

however, the whole 'being a late bloomer' was one of the most irritating things about this book as well. throughout the whole story, luna is so obsessed with losing her virginity in order to prove that she was bisexual. it's so aggravating because she's not a virgin; she's had plenty of experiences with men ánd she can't accept that sex doesn't have to be penetration, even after being told multiple times by multiple people. and in the end, it doesn't feel like she's reached a very satisfying conclusion on this either.

thank you to netgalley and the publisher for this early digital copy in exchange for an honest review!

I almost DNF'd, but once I got to around 40-50%, I started enjoying it more. I'm not exactly sure the reason I wasn't interested for the beginning, but I think it was multiple things.

I loved seeing the queer representation of the book, and how everyone shows up differently. Seeing Romy being openly sapphic and nonbinary was something I truly loved, and getting to explore her sexuality and gender journey, along with Luna's bisexuality. It was great to see it over the span of a few months.

I know part of the main character was about really diving into her bisexuality and what that meant to her, but it kept feeling like 1 step forward, 2 steps back. It was also mentioned that Luna had multiple queer friends, though we only ever met Romy.

~spoiler alert~

One of the major things that kept coming up and kept bothering me was how much queer knowledge Luna had, and yet she had so much trouble accepting the idea that virginity is a social construct, and that penetration isn't the end all be all of sex. Knowing how she's informed on queer topics, even pointing out that sapphic relates to non-men loving non-men, but we never really get relief from her thoughts of virginity. It also felt like so much was just about her having sex to prove to others that she's bisexual, rather than her actually wanting sex. She had her first kiss just 5 years prior and now she's rushing into this (even though she never rushed into hetero sex either?). We also are left with so much confusion and lack of an ending with the Valeria situation that it just feels as weird. She said she wasn't ready, and while we aren't owed anyone's story, it just felt like after this whole build up of she wants this, this is all she wants, to not have the conclusion just felt open-ended.

I didn't love the love triangle (that barely felt like a love triangle because the MC was too oblivious to notice) and how it ended either. It just felt like Luna only cared about herself and never really felt like she grew at all.

I wanted to love this book, but honestly, I just couldn't. I definitely enjoyed it more after the 50% mark, but there was just something that felt out of touch for me, and something that I just didn't enjoy. I did love the insight to filmmaking and cinematography aspects!

Thanks to Netgalley and Knopf for the ARC of this!

Super cute, steamy, queer awakening book. The main character was a little too obsessed with her virgin status (did this act count? That one? Where’s the line?) in a way that felt…super uncomfortable to me. Otherwise, I had a lot of fun with it. I adored her best friend and she went through some rougher and easier parts around her coming out and firsts that made for a nice balance.

This book felt both predictable and all over the place. The main character was so frustrating and I just never connected with or liked her. The conflicts were resolved extremely quickly and don't even get me started on the treatment of friends. Overall, just didn't click for me personally.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for a chance to read this book.

Unfortunately, this is my first NetGalley DNF. I made it about 26% in, but I really can't get myself to finish this one.

There is a good effort with inclusion and LGBT stories! I just was really struggling with this authors writing style - it wasn't for me. That doesn't mean it won't vibe with someone else!

The characters felt really challenging for me to get used to, too. I just ultimately wasn't a fan.

I am happy though to see more LGBT books coming out❤️

thank you to netGalley, knopf, pantheon, vintage, and anchor for providing me with an e-arc in exchange for an honest review :)

this book was a nice surprise for me!! i had stumbled upon some bad reviews and was nervous about the content, but oh god i loved this!! was it a perfect book? no. but it was genuine + v good!!

sizzle reel opens up to little miss luna coming coming out as bisexual in her mid twenties. i really enjoyed the coming out aspects of this books and that most of the characters didn’t pressure her into coming out to her family.

luna wrestles with her identity because she hasn’t had any sort of relationship with women yet. thus operation hook up with movie star valeria sullivan ensues. everything is going great, except is it really? luna’s trying to break into the film scene and she’s gonna do that on the set of valeria’s movie.

luna turns to her best friend and roommate romy for all the queer dating advice, and it works until it doesn’t. sizzle reel was messy in the best feelings slowburn, love triangle, coming of age way. i’m definitely going to keep reading from carlyn greenwald!!

I'm definitely not the target audience for this book. I am bi, so I'm always happy to pick up a new book with a bi MC, however, in this case I couldn't identify with Luna, the main character, at all. She figures out that she's bi in her mid-twenties, which actually happens to a lot of people and makes for a very interesting premise, however, she is then obsessed with losing her virginity to someone who's not a cis man to prove a point. In my opinion, the MC's internalized biphobia is not sufficiently addressed in the book. You do not have to do *anything* to be bi – you simply are – and I wish the MC had come to this conclusion in a satisfying way. I also wasn't a fan of the emphasis on labels (but that's just me – some people like labels, that's okay). Like I said: I'm clearly not the target audience.

I also have some issues with the blurb: I feel like I did not end up reading the book that was advertized. This somehow keeps happening to me and I think maybe it's publishers trying to appeal to TikTok folks or something like that. In any case, I had expectations and I ended up being confused.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

There was a lot I liked about this book, but overall it just didn’t really work for me. It definitely read more like a YA novel than adult, which is fine but made the main character seem a bit immature. I thought it was pretty obvious that the main romance wasn’t going to work out, so then it just felt entirely too drawn out. By the time we get to the real love story, there are only a few chapters left and it just felt like the readers are missing out on something. I also had some issues with the repetitive nature of certain aspects of the book. Her quest to find out what real sex is got old fast, and the fact that she was so hung up on being a virgin despite her past sexual encounters was frustrating. I enjoyed the bits of romance throughout, but overall I just wanted a bit more from this book.

This book was a little all over the place for me. I didn't think that the ending made sense after the whole story building up a different relationship. It was a choice that just did not feel right to me. This was not a sin for me.

Thank you to NetGalley and Knopf, Pantheon, Vintage, and Anchor, Vintage for this eARC.

This was marketed as an adult sapphic romance and in terms of content I think that was correct, however, a lot of the plot and characters felt very YA. Also one of the characters was nonbinary and as someone who also identifies as nonbinary I didn't love the representation. Overall, I wish I had like this one more.

2.5 stars

We follow a 24 year old living and working her way up in Hollywood, and her journey with recently coming out as bisexual and navigating her feelings towards that. I think that Hollywood is an interesting setting because I know next to nothing about it. I just didn't enjoy these characters and I didn't love the predictability of the story. The characters weren't even supposed to be unlikeable, I just didn't vibe with them. The story was super predictable and in the end, the romance was cute. But this just wasn't for me. The cover is bomb though so I have to give some credit there!

Thank you to NetGalley for the e-arc

Sizzle Reel by Carlyn Greenwald is a non-traditional romance that explores the struggles of coming out as bisexual and navigating the film industry. I have mixed feelings about it.
One of the book's main themes is Luna's struggles with coming out as bisexual. This is an important and relatable issue. Many of us have navigated being baby gays in our twenties. But her obsession with losing her virginity (and her notions of virginity) gets tiresome.
The filmography career aspect of the book was interesting, and I enjoyed Luna's journey to escape her gross boss and pursue her dream. That being said, I did find Luna to be a bit immature for her age, and her reactions to conflicts and problems read more like a young adult novel than an adult one.
I liked the characterization of both Romy and Valeria. And enjoyed the ending, even though it did feel a bit abrupt. While imperfect, it's still an enjoyable read that uniquely explores important themes - a three-star read for me.

I feel conflicted reviewing this book. On the one hand I’m happy and excited to see LGBTQ fiction hitting the mainstream and so I certainly don’t want to knock a book that is helping to tell the non-traditional stories. There were also components of the book I genuinely did enjoy. If I didn’t, I wouldn’t have kept on reading until the end. On the other hand, I feel like some of this book’s potential was left untapped. There are some characters that are complete and some that could be more fleshed out. When reading books, we want to believe in the characters we’re investing our time in and I just didn’t believe in some of the characters (particularly Val and the not often seen brother). And maybe it’s because I’m getting older but I had to “google” some of the terms used as descriptors in the book. I would say to myself “am I supposed to know what that means?”

I do think if you’re looking for LGBTQ fiction it’s worth a read. That being said I would proceed with caution as you’ll most likely find yourself frustrated at times with the characters and storyline.

Thank you to Net Galley for providing an advanced copy!

This book was so bad and it angers me so much. I fully understand being a baby bi but she knew literally nothing. I don't understand how you best friend exclusively dates non men and yet she still thought that penetration was the only form of sex. She did so much with Valeria and still wouldn't call it sex. She also had weird ideas about virginity that were never really explained nor did the author let the reader know that it's okay to be a virgin. It was just really weird.

Also why was Valeria even needed. Most of the book was spent on her when the love interest was her best friend. I needed more with the best friend throughout the book for it to feel worthwhile.

I received an arc through netgalley.

I’m so glad I decided to give this debut novel by Carlyn Greenwald a chance when I first saw it up on the NetGalley page in the romance section. I’m going to be honest with you and say that the first thing that brought me to that decision was the cover, but then reading the synopsis really sold out the whole deal for me. It’s rare to find coming of age books for new adults centered around a twenty-something trying to figure out her coming-out journey. And this was just that, and the author made me feel so seen in between some of her words.

There have been instances in which I related to characters from other books that I’ve read, but it never came as close as my experience with the main character of this book. All the insecurities and intrusive thoughts coupled up with the inexperience mentioned made me relate to Luna so much that sometimes I felt what she was feeling because I’ve been in her shoes.

Apart from that, the book was great when it comes to its original plot. I really liked how the author took a turn regarding the romance, but I think if you are there from the beginning you can see it happening even if it’s not implied yet. The characters made the experience so much better too. There’s Luna, who has become very dear to me, there’s Val who was so iconic in everything that she did, and Romy was so supportive and thoughtful that made me root for her at any given chance.

All in all, this is a comfort book for me now, making me feel seen in my bisexuality.

*ARC kindly provided by Knopf, Pantheon, Vintage, and Anchor, via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.