This well observed Hollywood and academia based contemporary is one of 15 romances I selected for the Boston Globe’s summer books preview.

Thank you to the author, publisher and NetGallery for this eARC.

Director’s Cut is the perfect Rivals to Lovers. This is the second book in the series. You don’t need to have read Sizzle Reel to read Director’s Cut but it definitely helps. I absolutely loved Val’s character and the growth she developed despite her many struggles. Absolutely couldn’t get enough of her. The author did a great job showing how anxiety can really affect a person and handled the topics of mental health and queer representation beautifully. I loved Val and Maeve together and want more. I can’t recommend Carolyn Greenwald's books enough. Thank you for this opportunity.

I truly enjoyed this book and am so grateful to receive an eARC on NetGalley.

The characters were wonderful and I enjoyed everyone’s interactions with each other.
I love the deep dive into anxiety and the conversations and thoughts that come with it. I wish there had been more discussion around the process of treating anxiety and how Val felt with it. I feel like part of it was how other people reacted to her not being on meds.
Other than that, I enjoyed Maeve and Val’s relationship. They were so adorable.

I think the best character to come out of Sizzle Reel was Val so I was very excited that this story centered around her. You don’t necessarily need to have read Sizzle Reel to read Director’s Cut but it definitely helps. I absolutely loved Val’s character and how she grew and developed despite her many struggles. Unfortunately I wish we could have learned more about Maeve and think the story would have benefited from her point of view. Maeve was such a fabulous character, I loved her intellect, passion, kindness, and especially her loving and understanding when it came to Val and her flaws. I think they complimented each other really well and were truly supportive of one another, despite the epic communication fail towards the end. They had true chemistry which clearly showed in their steamy romance connections.

A common theme I do find with these types of romance novels is how quickly the characters get together. I mean one moment Val and Maeve dislike and aren’t sure of each other and then the next, they are making out. Yes the main focus of the story is how they navigate through the romance, but it could have used a little more build up in my opinion. It just always seemed too easy, when in reality it doesn’t typically go that smoothly. And speaking of conflict, I feel like it was really stupid and could have been solved with a simple conversation. I feel like most plot’s these days rely on a single conflict that solely revolves around miscommunication which gets old and boring.

With no prior knowledge in the entertainment industry, it was fascinating the class that Val and Maeve end up teaching together and the author did a good job of mixing academia with the entertainment/film industry. Both Val and Maeve had relevant information and experience to add to the discussions and topics being addressed. I am glad the author did not shy away from addressing topics such as mental health, anxiety, IBS, unfair treatment in the workplace, and lack of opportunities for openly gay characters. Which was why Val was such a great character because she is not portrayed as a Hollywood bimbo, but has a strong woman with a PHD and is interested in things like academia outside of her role as actress, producer, and director, and fights for openly gay characters to be treated fairly in the industry and be given the same opportunities as straight people, which gave her a greater sense of depth.

As far as side characters go, Charlie is simply one of the best. He is your typical gay best friend but with such a huge heart and funny personality, and he just gets Val. Their banter is hilarious and made me laugh out loud at times. Overall I enjoyed this book much better than Sizzle Reel and would recommend readers give it a go!

Thank you NetGalley for this chance to review an advance reader's copy.

Director's Cut is a companion novel to Sizzle Reel, but can be read separately. Just knowing that does give you a bit more background on why we are told Valeria is an award winning actress, since a lot of detail isn't given about that part of her life in this particular book. This book focuses more on the fact that she has had ENOUGH of the Hollywood life and transitions into academia. While teaching at USC we discover that her co-professor, Maeve, doesn't particularly care for her. How fun does teaching your first class with someone that doesn't like you sound, right?! This sets us up for the enemies to lovers trope, that I personally enjoy. However, it transitions from enemies to lovers soooo quickly, it felt a bit rushed. It took away from the trope for me. I would have liked to see this transition a bit slower. The book is written only from Val's POV, so you don't really see things from Maeve's POV. That didn't bother me, but I know that it has bothered some other readers. So, just know that going in. While not a main character, Charlie, Val's BFF, was probably my favorite character. They really added some realness and comedy to the book that I loved.

I felt like it was a good sapphic love story, with some spice and humor. I really did feel like I could relate to the anxiety and communication struggles the characters went through. The inclusion of addressing mental health in multiple ways was great to see. Normalizing therapy, medication, and working through past trauma is something that I wish could be normalized more in books. To some the conflict portion may not have seemed like a big deal, but when you really have experienced trauma, sometimes the build up of an issue seems like a larger mountain. (Also, addressing homophobia and biphobia was well done. Thank you!)

I want to thank NetGalley, Vintage Books/Random House, and Carlyn Greenwald for the opportunity to read the eARC in exchange for an honest review. This book comes out on June 11, 2024!

I made it about 60% through this book before I called it quits. It is not written poorly, just predictably, and I felt that the main romance was very rushed. I couldn't get a good sense of Maeve and her thoughts/feelings, and it felt like the enemies to lovers path was more of a shortcut. Ultimately it felt like the book had a conclusion that was apparent VERY early on, and any of the conflict was manufactured and not real problems. I'm never a big fan of creating conflict when it's something adults would have a very simple conversation about, and I just couldn't buy Val making decisions that serious after a few weeks of finally being friendly with Maeve, let alone before a first date.

Unfortunately I did not enjoy this one as much as I wanted to. This is a rom-com about Val, a gay A-list Hollywood actress who takes a break to do a teaching gig at USC and Maeve, her co-professor, who hates her at first. It sounds fun and entertaining and lighthearted and gay. Who wouldn’t love that?

There were definitely many things I did enjoy! So here’s the PROS list:

-fun Hollywood life details
-everything was set in real life LA places which was cool to see. The setting itself was very well done imo
-touches on biphobia and homophobia in general
-the way it deals with mental health and medication for it
-the spicy scenes were not half bad
-Maeve calling out Val on her bullshit, especially about not taking responsibility for her actions and blaming her anxiety instead
-Charlie and Gwyn and the whole scene with Gwyn’s kids’ birthday.


However there were definitely some things that impeded my enjoyment of the book considerably. So here’s the CONS list:

-pacing. THE PACING! Oh my god!! So frustrating because the first third of the book is just Val and Maeve doing the lectures and IT’S ALL WRITTEN OUT!! Random trivia/history/analysis of musicals that they’re teaching about has NOTHING to do with the story!! Literal paragraphs and pages could’ve simply been replaced with a sentence or two just saying that they were doing their lectures. Their word for word transcriptions did not need to make it into the book. In the rest of the book this doesn’t happen and everything is much better for it so why is it happening for at least 30% of the book? Who edited this? It just felt like the author was filling up a word count when she could’ve used that part in the book to explore the transition between Maeve hating Val and becoming her friend because dear god was that not handled in a way that realistically made sense. Enemies to insta-lovers?

-this is also related to pacing but why the hell do we spend the other two thirds of the book basically spiraling with Val? I understand she has anxiety but it did not need to go into such repetitive nitty-gritty of it. Like at some point I felt tempted to skim because it was the same thing over and over.

-the conflict felt forced. Everything could’ve been fixed immediately with some very simple communication. I understand the point was that Val WASN’T good at communication but that could’ve been showcased with something a lot more subtle and complex that didn’t have such an easy obvious solution.

-Val is a young famous attractive white woman and obviously sexism and homophobia in the industry exist but she’s hardly the most marginalized person out there. Despite that she took on the gay persecution cross hard. Like girl, it’s HOLLYWOOD. NO ONE takes actors seriously, especially when they represent any kind of minority. Yeah it sucks but you CHOSE this career. Stop acting like JoJo Siwa who’s “the first in the generation to invent gay pop.”


Anyway, as I said, I wish I had liked this much more than I actually do. The potential was there but proper editing wasn’t and Val, despite all her charm, got pretty damn annoying. I also think a Maeve POV would’ve fixed a lot of the problems and made it a much more fun rom-com read.


Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the advanced copy.

I liked this a lot even though it was really really really hard to understand Val during most of the book -- her motivations weren't clear (and probably not even to herself) but I found myself wanting her to just get out of her own way in so many respects. But there was growth and some swooning and a great ending.

Director's Cut comes out next week on June 11, 2024 and you can purchase HERE.

Trish and I slowly ease back into normal conversation as we get closer to my home in Hollywood Hills. Yes, I'm that asshole who lives in Hollywood Hills. I've wanted the BoJack Horseman view ever since I binged the show and like fifty pounds of Wendy's in the months post-failed PhD and failed engagement with Emily. At least I think that's where I got the idea to move here from. Truthfully, all I remember about that time period was sobbing into my older sister Gwyn's shirt and asking if I was Mr. Peanutbutter or Diane. Gwyn told me I was the worst parts of both.

I love a sapphic romance, but unfortunately I could not get invested in these characters. The representation of academia and Hollywood was good, I liked the best friend, but did not enjoy the single POV. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this advanced copy.

A Oscar-winning actress takes up a guest teaching gig and begins falling for her co-professor, all the while juggling her directorial debut and what it means to have an obligation to something other than Hollywood. Valeria Sullivan is an actress who has always wanted the chance to teach, so when she is offered a teaching gig at USC she says yes. What she doesn't realize is that her co-professor, Maeve Arko, dislikes her on the spot and thinks that Val isn't taking the gig seriously. Maeve is stunning and Val is stuck between how gorgeous Maeve is and how much Maeve is challenging her. All the while she is also starting to work on her directorial debut and trying to juggle her teaching commitment and her career in Hollywood she isn't ready to leave behind. This one really fell flat for me, I was hoping for a fun sapphic romance with a touch of Hollywood. The romance between Valeria and Maeve kind of just came out of nowhere. They went from disliking each other to instantly being"oh I love her so much" and it just lacked chemistry. Their romance really gave me nothing and I found myself not caring all that much about the story. The book itself felt like it dragged on at parts and i was really hoping I would love it, but it just was not for me. Valeria felt like an insufferable character, she was so privileged and could have easily solved a lot of her problems if she just communicated, she got angry at things that were her fault and honestly, I was just baffled she even got the gig as a teacher with the way everything was going. This one did not work for me but if you enjoy sapphic romances set in a teaching place with slow progression, then give this a go, maybe you'll have a better time with it than I did.

Release Date: June 11,2024

Publication/Blog: Ash and Books (ash-and-books.tumblr.com)

*Thanks Netgalley and Knopf, Pantheon, Vintage, and Anchor | Vintage for sending me an arc in exchange for an honest review*

I really wanted to like this one, but it just didn’t hit home for me. The characters were ok. I understood Val’s issues and why she did some of the things she did. Charlie was my favorite character. He was fun and interesting, I wanted more of him.

My issue was that things seemed to move way too fast. I couldn’t grasp what the timeframes were. One paragraph, we are weeks away from the Oscars; the next paragraph, we were at the Oscar’s. Then, I didn’t feel like we got to know Maeve very well. I didn’t really care about her or her relationship with Val. The chemistry nor the tension I look forward to in romance books just wasn’t there. It was just “she doesn’t like me” to immediately being “she’s amazing, and I love her”. I needed more angst and I wanted to root for them, but just found I didn’t care that much.

It had cute tendencies, but it wasn’t enough for me.

I was so excited for this book, and I end up being so disappointed. I read Sizzle Reel last year and it was one of my most anticipated reads. I gave that book 4 stars and I really enjoyed it. When I saw that a second book in the same universe was going to come out I was so excited! However, while reading it, I got in such a reading slump. It took me over 3 weeks to read this and I really wanted to dnf. I was really hoping it would get better as I read more and it didn’t. I liked Valerie as a character in Sizzle Reel, however she was extremely unlikeable in this. The only parts that were manageable was when the characters from Sizzle Reel were included.

Thank you, NetGallery for the opportunity to review this ARC.

I really adored this book. I have been feeling a little burnt out by celebrity/non-celebrity romances so I was a little nervous heading into this book but I shouldn't have been!! I think this book really struck a nice balance between the celebrity aspects and the more normal aspects of their relationship.

The thing that I loved the most about this book was how tender the intimate moments between Maeve and Valeria were. They felt so palpable and real like I watching them in real life as they happened. I also really appreciated the third act breakup with them -- it didn't feel as bad or final as it sometimes can.

I loved Sizzle Reel and I loved this one too.

Val & Maeve (love both those names, btw) really captured my heart. To give each other the care and love they both need/deserve after past relationships is wonderful.

I love how they eventually find their way to each other, despite their initial misgivings. Hollywood star/director and a college professor aren't an obvious pair but they worked so well together.

I would definitely recommend this book!!

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

I love this sapphic romance. Carlyn has such a fun writing style and I really liked this book. However, I'm not a huge fan of the miscommunication trope.

I freaking loved this book! Loved it. Loved the grumpy co-worker to lovers vibe. Maeve being an ass to Val and then softening as she realized that Val was not just a celebrity "teaching" a class. I loved the way mental health was a key part of the story as Val learned to deal better with her anxiety. I loved the family scenes... all of it. Fantastic book 12/10

I really enjoyed reading “Director's Cut”. Val was my favorite character in “Sizzle Reel”, so getting to continue her story from her perspective was great. It was so interesting to read a queer story that mixed Hollywood with academia. I really enjoyed Val and Maeve's quips about films and genres and loved how the side characters such as Charlie and Ty fit into the story. The romance between Val and Maeve is sizzling, so real, and the build-up to them finally getting together is top notch. Their first two kisses before they finally hook up are some of the best I’ve read. I do wish this romance would've been a dual POV, I think having both Val and Maeve's POV could have done a lot for this book. It would have added much more dimension to the characters and their relationship and allowed the reader to see why they each fell for the other. I really wanted Maeve’s perspective on events throughout the story. I would have enjoyed seeing her thought process in some of the moments where Val is panicking in front of her. As someone who loves movie musicals, I loved all the tidbits about them during the classroom scenes. I love the banter and the friendship between Val and Charlie they definitely give off siblings vibes, I loved how they could banter one moment and talk about something important the next. The story is a standalone novel set in the same world as “Sizzle Reel”. You don’t have to read it first, but if you do, it will provide fun context to some moments referenced in this book as well as understanding the headspace Val is in at the start of this book. Thank you so much to Carolyn Greenwald, Knopf, Pantheon, Vintage, and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book early in exchange for an honest review. I look forward to reading what Carolyn writes next!

I wanted to enjoy this book so, so much. I really thought it would be so amazing. Unfortunately it didn’t work for me. The pacing was so weird and I didn’t like Valeria as much as I had wanted.
I would recommend this book for those who don’t mind pacing that is a bit quick in the beginning for the relationship.
I do think this book did some things well, its discussion about queer representation in Hollywood, about relationships, and about being ‘queer enough’ are all things I found important/fascinating.

For those sex averse, this book has two semi-graphic sex scenes.

There were some parts of this book I really enjoyed, mostly the discussions of the different musicals. There was a lot of good discussion and ideas there, and if the book had focused only on main character Valeria and romance interest Maeve in the context of academia and their course, I think I would have liked this book a lot more.

The main thing that kept me from enjoying this novel was that I found Valeria insufferable. She’s an Oscar winner, oblivious to her privileges as rich, white woman, and always felt like a want-my-cake-and-eat-it-too. She gets upset about things that are her fault (see: syllabus changed because she didn’t ask her assistant to not handle it, a timing conflict between co-teaching and an awards ceremony that could have easily been resolved). She doesn’t communicate well and then is shocked and hurt when she lets people down – which, again, she wouldn’t if she just addressed what was in front of her. I found Valeria’s “anxiety” particularly frustrating because it felt like she was using it as an excuse to not make decisions. With greater care and insight into her anxiety, perhaps I would have felt differently.

I thought this book was really fun! I think the plot was a bit predictable but otherwise enjoyable. I loved the progression of Maeve and Valeria’s romance even though the pacing could use some edits.