Firstly, thank you to Alcove Press and NetGalley for the advanced copy of this book. To sum up my thoughts, I was left disappointed.

I recognize that Jory and Cali have their own traumas and ways of dealing with them, but Jory was an insufferable douchebag for the first half of the book to the point where I was not rooting for him. Eventually I warmed up to him, but that was about 52% into the book.

52% is also where I finally started caring about the book - prior to that, I was rather bored and had to force myself to even pick it up. That last 48% was good but it shouldn’t take me that long to get into the story.

There were a lot of typos and continuity errors, in my opinion. So, hoping those get addressed prior to publication.

And finally, just a general comment, can we stop picking on Canada as in media? I’m so over it!

This book had a lot of promise but ultimately I found the pace dragged and I found myself skimming chunks.

For me, it was the romance that I couldn’t buy into. Jory was all over the place as a character. While I got his motivations, wanting to direct, his actions didn’t make me believe Cali should love him. This book was essentially insta-lust while being a jerk and then everything papered over with too many sex scenes. As such the pace dragged on and I honestly wanted Cali to stop wasting her time with him.

While issue of MeToo, sexism and toxic workplaces was touched on, at times the book undermined itself with Jory. He kept ruminating that he wasn’t one of ‘those guys’ and that he said the wrong things, yet he never properly apologised and undermined Cali, then took way too long to set Paolo straight. Also what was that with having the lead actors at the end secretly liking each other given the way Paolo behaved. It felt like this book tried to make excuses for two male characters poor behaviour.

What I did appreciate was the level of detail regarding the filmmaking process and how Cali makes her directorial decisions. I loved being in her head as she strove to create better scenes and how she handled her actors. This is something missing from all the movie romance books I’ve read. It lended to an authenticity to understand her motivations and love for her work.

Thanks to Alcove Press and NetGalley to the ARC.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an arc!

I’m gonna start by saying that I am super conflicted about this one. Let me go first with what I liked; I loved Cali. Determined, passionate, and talented, Cali had everything I love in an fmc! I loved her drive to make each scene perfect, her vulnerability when it came to her family, and her dedication.

I also loved the filming aspect of the book, the details of getting a scene right, the art of working with the actors for a great delivery, and all the people involved to make things work!

What I did not like: Jory, as a whole. Jory’s motives and intent were all over the place. Is he avoiding a relationship with Cali because of his possible diagnosis? Is he avoiding it because they’re coworkers and it could affect them? Is he avoiding it because he is a little bitch? I don’t know; I just could not connect with him. He went on ramblings about how he was against harassment in the workplace but also how any “wrong move” could make him a target because of the #MeToo movement. He then rambled about not wanting to subject anybody to a short-lived love because he wasn’t even sure he was healthy, although he had been avoiding his doctor for months. He was determined to ignore Cali, but the moment she said they were done, he suddenly was determined to seduce her in the same workplace he claimed to be afraid of making a wrong move? Boy.

Another thing; the situation between Thalia and Paolo was handled so weirdly, all to end it with a “aww, they’re in love!” That made me feel icky as hell.

I don’t know, in my honest opinion Jory was the true villain all along, and Howard was the perfect scapegoat.

thank you to netgalley & alcove press for providing me with an arc of this book in exchange for an honest review!

this was an okay book! i did appreciate a lot of the things that the author did with when writing, like talking about the issues of sexism at the workplace / toxic working environments or tackling heavy topics as such diseases (which usually triggers me, so i had to take some breaks between reading, but that’s absolutely no one’s fault), and trying to make their job look realistic by talking in depth about how the set /directing works (this, however, also had its drawback because sometimes the author went into a little too much detail and it became a little redundant), and i appreciate all of these points a lot, but unfortunately, i couldn’t buy entirely into their relationship, for some reason? i just could not sense the chemistry, and i felt like the spicy scenes took too much space. also, i’m not the biggest fan of miscommunication and i felt like everything got resolved too quickly. still, it was a fun read, if a little disappointing!

love this romance between a dp and director and their sparks. I loved that they worked well together and tried to have a romance.

Love, Camera, Action was a great read.

It was light and fluffy whilst still dealing with real issues - ie the old hollywood types that are still actively making lives difficult.

Jory and Cali were great characters. Their growth together was amazing.

There are a few things that I feel like were left missing from the end but I enjoyed it nonetheless.
I wish we'd had an end to the arc regarding Jory's health - it was such a big thing and I want to know what happens and where it goes. Additionally, I feel like we lost out on really knowing how successful the episodes were etc. I wanted to see Cali being properly celebrated etc.

** spoiler alert ** First, thank you to Netgalley for a preview copy of this debut novel. It took me a long while to get into it, with many stops and starts, but I finally finished it today.
I have to say I was a bit confused about this overall plot of this book and there were a few scenes I didn't understand at all and were never explained. The sex scenes were written as if this was going to be an erotic romance and the dialogue between the characters during those scenes was...corny.
Jory and Cali are both in the film business - he seasoned, she fairly new when she is tagged with directing a television episode of a PNR series. Supposedly she is an expert at setting and directing sex scenes. The two stars she is directing are difficult, at best, for varying reasons.
Jory acts like he is the director in the beginning of the tale and then we find out he does want to direct so that sets him up for what is to come.
Overall, not a bad story but just not something I'd recommend.

Love this book! The characters, the setting, the sparkling dialogue.... I've read it so many times already!

I loved the world of this rom com. The leads are both film makers and their passion for the craft was very believable and engaging. I hope Noel writes many more books!

Thanks to NetGalley and Alcove Press for the ARC.

DNFed at 50%. This started off a promising romcom but two things made me DNF: the purple prose that got progressively worse, and the continuity errors like the FMC's hair being mentioned as "auburn" over 3 times, and then as "blue-black".

3.5

I received this ARC of Love, Camera, Action from NetGalley in exchange for my honest thoughts and review.

I alway enjoy a book that touches on heavy topics and does them well. Especially with this book on tackling cancer. The lead struggles with their own health scare and one that hits home with me, as my own father fought cancer.

The way the story also addressed sexism in the film industry that felt so real and relatable—it added such great depth to the characters and their life.

The tension between both the leads was incredible, and I was hooked from the start of the book till I read that last page. However, I wasn’t a fan of the choppy writing used to break up the sexual tension. It felt a little out of place for me. The sex scenes went on for too long and felt redundant. With that said, it’s still such a cute story overall, and I had a lot of fun reading it. Perfect for a cozy weekend!


Enemies-to-lovers
Workplace Romance

A cute and funny read with two clashing mains who fall for each other. Opposites to lovers, I guess? Their work was unique though and the writing itself was very good

Love, Camera, Action was a cute book. I enjoyed Jory and Cali together, and felt that each character had a great growth arc. I was a bit worried at the beginning of the book because it seemed heavy on the woke, me-too, misogyny thing, but it didn’t dominate the book and ended up playing into a major conflict. I thought the writing was excellent; I like that the author had a robust vocabulary without making the book feel pretentious, as can often happen when an author takes prose too seriously. Overall, I thought this book was well-done!

I received an ARC of Love, Camera, Action from NetGalley. I am leaving my review voluntarily.

I received this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This was a funny light read with a good clashing trope that didn't feel forced.

4.5 ⭐️

Thank you to Netgalley, Alcove Press, and Noel Stark for providing this ARC for an honest review.

Ok, this is my third arc from Netgalley and I am sooo happy it was not a disappointment at all. I look at that 3.6 rating on GoodReads and I'm like...huh? This book really? Reread it and love it properly. 😂

So that review...

At first it felt a little dragged out, I honestly couldn't care less about directing a movie of scenes and all of that but as the story progresses there is a deeper meaning to the job of a director. The way Cali stands up and cares for Thalia was really nice to read. Now Cali is written as a strong female lead and it's obvious from the get-go, her need to care for her family, and for Jory - I loved when she was all "eat this!" That is such a bf thing we see done these days, she is definitely in charge and I love that for her then I started to see a lot of myself in her, and ick, when I tell you I felt slapped because are you me? How dare you 😂 So I really liked her character in the sense where she felt very real, even though through Cali there were some things I now need to think of and accept and work on. Le sigh.

Now Jory. At first, I wasn't so sure about Jory, and I am usually sold on a stoic character like him. I LOVE ME A GRUMP, but he fit it nicely in the misogynic environment on set at least that's what it seemed at first, that's why POV matters because I grew to love him and that filthy mouth of his boy oh BOY 🫠😏. Its nice to read that he reflects and acknowledges his wrongdoings and work of them. Also, his POV is a huge relief from Cali skipping to a conclusion- sigh like they always do.

The story itself was short and super enjoyable. Very easy to follow and there was definitely a plot but that scene where Jory suddenly took us to freakum town with those dirty words wheew chile, I'm going to think about that for a minute. The side characters such as Thalia and Paolo as well as Patsy gave the story more depth rather than just being characters there. Honestly, for a debut novel, this was gold in my opinion. I laughed, giggled, saucily flicked the air because again Jory's dirty mouth, and rolled my eyes because of miscommunication duh.

Reviewed on September 21

Read from Sept 16 - 21

Love, Camera, Action manages to be both an easy reading experience and deal with serious topic of fear and paranoia of the characters. Now, don´t misjudge the use of the word paranoia. It's refreshing to see a book who doesn't shy away from people's honest fears.
Read it in a day and i cant say that i definitely got that empty feeling after finishing it. Who never wished to live in their favorite book? Loved the main couple and their whole dynamic, it was obvious they needed to be in each others lives from the very beginning. The book managed to discuss real life issues without taking away from the magic of the worldbuilding and that alone must be praised.
Overall, it is a great book and would definitely recommend it to any friends who are needing to rest and enjoy life a little bit more.

This book id a great balance between the fun, fresh and serious. I've read the rom coms from the actor/actress' perspective, from the agents perspective but never the director and camera man so this was something new and something really clever. The book had depth and was written and paced really well.

This is a great rom-com. The banter between the main characters is unmatched. Cali is a struggling director and when she gets her chance on a popular series she takes it and proves her talent. Even just reading about her I could feel her positive energy and how passionate she is about directing. I feel like she was very realistically written.
Jory's problem with his burnout and lost spark was well-written. Him seeing Cali work and the sparkle in her eyes when she directed was great. Seeing him slowly realize he's been losing his excitement and then trying to once again do the thing he loves and cares about.
I really liked the little crew family they had on set. It made the set a bit more homey.

Thank you to Netgalley and the Publisher for thos ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Five Jory and Cali stars.

I was in the mood for a strangers to Lovers romance that is light on angst but not an insta attraction / love story. This book delivered and didn't disappoint me.

It has the following Tropes that I ❤️ 😍 love.

✔️ Enemies to Lovers- When Jory and Cali first meet as directors on a new series, it's Calis first big break and shes excited to meet hee idol, seasoned director of photographer 📸 Jory. He's not excited to meet her though. He sees hee as wet behind the ears and he thinks she doesn't know what she's doing.

✔️ Workplace Romance- The main story takes place over a few days as they film an intimate scene between two actors who are in a similar position as Cali and Jory as one is an experienced actor and one is new to acting. They but heads but slowly realize that there's a mutual attraction that they can't deny.

When they give into their attraction, both Jory amd Cali run into roadblocks in their personal and professional life which leads to one of them pushing the other away.

Will they have a HEA like the characters they film? I highly recommend you 📚 read to find out.

This was a cute, little read. The romance was well written and it kept me hooked. It did feel slightly rushed at times, and everything resolved in a couple of pages at the end which felt a bit jarring.

But overall a fun read!