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micaelamariem's review
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
I finished my first full read of 2024! Last year, I won this ARC in a Goodreads giveaway, and have been excited to read it since as I love queer romances. Unfortunately, it did not live up to my expectations.
Sizzle Reel follows 24 year old Luna Roth, an aspiring cinematographer who recently discovered that she's bi, and is struggling to come to terms with that identity while pursuing a romance with an actress.
I thought it was a great concept. Like I said before, I love queer romances and I love the attempts at representation, like having a bi main character, a nonbinary supporting character, etc. The beginning of the book was strong, and I also would have loved to have the author explore the friendship dynamics more between Luna, Romy, and Wyatt. I also would have liked to see more about the struggles in the film industry that someone who is queer might face.
I really loved Luna's interest in cinematography and photography and how she was able to capture scenes in her mind, thinking about how she would adjust the colors and saturation of certain moments. That really added to her character and provided a unique point of view at times.
However, somewhere, this narrative fell flat for a few reasons.
More often than not, the dialogue was cringey and unrealistic. And...I can't believe I'm saying this as a hardcore liberal person but...both internal and external dialogue got "too woke." By that, I mean it seemed like the author was trying to hard to push these liberal ideas out (and liberal ideas are great, don't get me wrong!) and using trendy new terms to appeal to the audience. I think it would have worked better if it was more subtle, like a gentle nudge that goes "hey check this out" instead of the blaring neon signs that was just too much in this book.
I also didn't think the writing as a whole was that engaging. A lot of the supporting characters were static with forced relationships with the main character. Like the stilted conversations between Luna and her brother. Or well-meaning Wyatt who made some mistakes--I would have loved to see more depth to their friendship and how forgiveness might be achieved after a big event that happens.
There was supposedly a love triangle, but I think it should have been more obvious and not as passive on the part of the second love interest.
Finally, the book was too much about sex. That might be weird to say for a romance, but I don't mean that it was spicy (though there a bit of spice!) What I mean is that there was a whole quest for the main character to figure out what defines virginity and for her to lose hers; there was too much pressure on the concept, and even though many of the supporting characters said that virginity was a silly construct, the main character never seemed to believe it and put way too much emphasis on it, which just left a bad taste in my mouth. And in the last sex scene, it's like the main character was magically ready to do something she previously had an aversion to just because she was in love--and I'm pretty sure that's not how it works in real life.
All in all, I'm afraid I have to give this book two stars. I wouldn't recommend it unfortunately--it's cringey and, at times, problematic.
TWs: Alcohol, Biphobia, Cursing, Outing, Sexual Content
Content Warnings
Graphic: Biphobia, Cursing, Outing, and Sexual content
Moderate: Alcohol
Minor: Acephobia/Arophobia
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