Sizzle Reel

A Novel

By: Carlyn Greenwald

Narrated by: Mia Hutchinson-Shaw

An unpausable queer coming-of-age rom-com about life and love in Hollywood. • "Both an irresistible love story and a riveting exploration of Hollywood dynamics.” —Rachel Lynn Solomon, New York Times bestselling author of The Ex Talk

For aspiring cinematographer Luna Roth, coming out as bisexual at twenty-four is proving more difficult than she anticipated. Sure, her best friend and fellow queer Romy is thrilled for her—but she has no interest in coming out to her backwards parents, she wouldn't know how to flirt with a girl if one fell at her feet, and she has no sexual history to build off. Not to mention she really needs to focus her energy on escaping her emotionally-abusive-but-that’s-Hollywood talent manager boss and actually get working under a real director of photography anyway.

When she meets twenty-eight-year-old A-list actress Valeria Sullivan around the office, Luna thinks she’s found her solution. She'll use Valeria's interest in her cinematography to get a PA job on the set of Valeria's directorial debut—and if Valeria is as gay as Luna suspects, and she happens to be Luna's route to losing her virginity, too . . . well, that's just an added bonus. Enlisting Romy’s help, Luna starts the juggling act of her life—impress Valeria’s DP to get another job after this one, get as close to Valeria as possible, and help Romy with her own career moves.

But when Valeria begins to reciprocate romantic interest in Luna, the act begins to crumble—straining her relationship with Romy and leaving her job prospects precarious. Now Luna has to figure out if she can she fulfill her dreams as a filmmaker, keep her best friend, and get the girl. . . or if she’s destined to end up on the cutting room floor.

©2023 Carlyn Greenwald (P)2023 Random House Audio

Critic reviews

“Sizzle Reel by Carlyn Greenwald is a hilarious and tender romance featuring the most relatable journey through figuring out what love, sex, and friendship can mean. After I finished reading all I wanted to do was explore LA with a camera, curate a playlist of my favorite angsty crush songs, and put this book in the hands of every friend I can think of who really, really needs this story.” —Alicia Thompson, bestselling author of Love in the Time of Serial Killers

“A charming, sharply observed, and wholly immersive debut. Sometimes you read a book and know from the very beginning that it’s going to leave a mark on you, and I felt that so deeply with Sizzle Reel. This vibrant, sun-drenched romantic comedy is both an irresistible love story and a riveting exploration of Hollywood dynamics, with a voice that shimmers on every page. Carlyn Greenwald has a permanent place on my favorites shelf.” —Rachel Lynn Solomon, New York Times bestselling author of The Ex Talk

“Fresh, sexy, and addicting, Sizzle Reel is the sapphic story of my dreams. Greenwald writes with such remarkable authenticity and care, this book is easy to fall in love with. Readers are sure to see themselves and feel seen.” —Annette Christie, author of The Rehearsals

started out promising but took a turn and didn’t look back

there is so much i could say about this book but also at the same time i just feel a little exhausted by the characters and the story and the writing. i understand the author was trying to tell a story of a character coming out later in life but wow the heavy internalized biphobia was just a lot to deal with repetitively over and over again and after having endured that whole story i still feel left with a stronger projection of internalized biphobia coloring the book than any sort of satisfying resolve and education and remorse and growth and relearning. the obsessive insistence that only penetrative intercourse counts towards losing virginity and also the obsession with it to begin with it just made the story read so much younger than i was expecting given the ages of the characters and the setting. the trope the book ultimately ends up being is one of my favorite romance tropes to read but in this iteration i really hated the pivot from where the story was going even with all the issues i was having. i’m happy for the characters being happy but this journey was just not it for me. i will round my overall score up to 3 stars from 2.5 because audible doesn’t allow half stars and carlyn greenwald is mother for giving us that hot ones training scene. never have i ever felt so seen in a romance novel and i love her so much for giving the culture that scene. iconic.