Reviews with content warning for Outing - Sizzle Reel

Reviews tagging 'Outing'

Sizzle Reel by Carlyn Greenwald

28 reviews

felishacb's review against another edition

emotional lighthearted reflective fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

Set in Hollywood, this bisexual coming out story has queer friendship and a celebrity crush that becomes a real situationship.

I read this after reading Val's story (Director's Cut), and I think I liked the characters in this one a bit more. It may have been my ability to relate to the bi identity. The late bloomer context will resonate with folks, but I do always find it interesting when an early 20-something considers themselves a late bloomer. As Haley Jakobson and many others remind us, 'There is no behind.' And it's always the right time to come out when you feel it is (if/when you do).

It also ends with one of my fave tropes, so there were bonus points for that.

It was difficult to get through all the passages where the MC calls many sex acts "not sex." She is unlearning cisheteronormativity, and I tried to remember that. There is a great full circle moment where she lets go of these faulty definitions.

Quotes:

"But then it's like the bisexual part of my brain just decides to turn on. Information floods in."

"The teacher for them is a person, is me. And I don't want to be a lesson for them. I just want them to have already had the epiphany because that's what you have to do to be a compassionate person in this world. But those aren't the parents I was blessed with, so they're not being blessed with being among the first five people I come out to. Maybe not even the first 10. Maybe not the first 50."

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ergaich's review against another edition

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emotional lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.0

All the characters were so one dimensional. The main character was very immature with no arc. It makes sense that she was immature to start with but she didn’t grow until one magical moment when she transformed into an enlightened gay at the very end. Some of the writing felt unnatural, especially during romantic or spicy scenes. Just felt like the author was trying too hard

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briastery's review

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medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

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micaelamariem's review

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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

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mari1532's review

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emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

I checked this book out of my local library because I had heard about it from various sources and it did not disappoint. I found Greenwald's writing to be excellent.

The way that Greenwald writes engrossed me so much that I did not want to put it down once I started reading this book. Luna felt like a fully actualized person. I also really appreciated the way that Greenwald used the story to discuss how larger societal norms dictate how people view their sexual encounters. The way that Luna navigated that journey throughout the story and learned to be guided by her own beliefs was a wonderful part of the book.

In addition to Luna's journey, I found her and her best friend, Romy, to be both excellent characters. I liked how well they complimented each other with Romy being more self-assured while Luna was trying to find parts of herself. They were both smart and hilarious and I was rooting for both of their success from the very first page. I also liked Valerie, although she was my third favourite character. I felt that she was written with a nice level of maturity compared to Luna and Romy given that she was older, but Greenwald didn't make her too mature. Again, this makes everyone feel like real characters at various stages of their life.

I also really appreciated Greenwald's depiction of early career life and what it took for Luna, Romy, and Valerie to follow their dreams. The struggle is real and the fact that no one seemed to have had their dream job at the start of the book was refreshing to see.

Overall a great read. If you love romcoms I would highly recommend this one.

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code_kobold's review

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medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.5

I think this was a solid romance book, just not to my taste. There were some instances of homophobia and biphobia I didn't really like. The book had a good chunk of messy drama, which I don't really like that much. I like fluffier romance books personally. I felt the characters were a tad flat to me personally. I feel like we could have learned a bit more about them. There were some characters I didn't like that kept coming up. However the smut scenes were very well written lol that's what bumped it from a 2 to a 2.5. Discussed some specifics I didn't like in the spoilers.

Really didn't like the outing part by Wyatt, quite frankly hate him. Hate that he was still considered a friend after that. Didn't like whenever showed up. And oh he lost his job and it's supposed to be even, like no. Also thought some stuff was really cringey, like the wrap party incident. Also how in denial Luna was when she was trying to figure out if Val was gay, though I think that's an "I'm in this picture and I don't like it" situation. The ending felt a bit rushed and I feel like the romance between Luna and Romy could've been grown more it felt a little out of left field when it all wrapped up.

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krystalanddogs's review

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challenging emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I might revisit this rating later after I've stewed but I really liked it. There were times when I felt like too much might be going on, but I did feel pulled along the main character's journey. It's been a minute since I've read something that wasn't dual POV, but I think the amount of stuff going on sticking to one perspective was a good call. I devoured this book.

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maakbooks's review against another edition

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4.0

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jackiepreston's review

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emotional lighthearted slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.25

The foreshadowing in this book is written on the biggest neon sign you've ever seen.

By making it so obvious that Romy was in love with Luna the whole time and that Luna was just ignoring her own feelings, the entire "romance" with Valeria seemed almost pointless.

The characters themselves read much younger than they were, and there was a very odd emphasis on the 5 year age gap between Luna and Valeria when 24 and 29 is a perfectly normal difference in ages.

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hullosweetpea's review

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emotional hopeful medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

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