Aug 26, 2023

Getting Reel by Alyssa Roat & Hope Bolinger

About the Book

Book: Getting Reel (Roseville Romances Book 4)

Authors: Alyssa Roat and Hope Bolinger

Genre: Christian Sweet Contemporary Romance

Release Date: August 5, 2023

When explosive personalities collide, can a control-freak director and last-chance actress work together to win a film competition?

Ryan Torino loves the feeling of control, especially when it comes to his photography work and indie movies. And when he gets the opportunity to enter an indie film festival—rumored to have Hollywood bigwigs attending—he can’t afford for anything to be less than perfect, especially the casting of his leading role.

Enter Zinnia Preston, who has been trying to break into the acting scene since college. Now in her late twenties and working the not-job-of-her-dreams, Zinnia knows this indie film project may be her last chance to make it onto the screen. Ryan is intimidated by Zinnia’s strong personality, but he can’t deny she’s the one for the job. Meanwhile, Zinnia wants to throttle Ryan for his perfectionistic tendencies, but she needs this gig.

The tension between the two threatens to derail the project, and to both of their frustration, clashing visions aren’t the only reason sparks seem to fly every time they interact. When an old nemesis arrives back in town, Zinnia and Ryan will need to set aside their differences and work together to have a chance at winning. If not, they can kiss that Hollywood riding-into-the-sunset ending goodbye.

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My Review

Roat & Bolinger deliver a cute, funny, witty romance in this sort-of-enemies to sweethearts story. I loved the way the authors threw Zinnia and Ryan together despite a history of Ryan annoying Zinnia and they forced Ryan to rely on Zinnia for the success of his film.

In the beginning part of the book, both Zinnia and Ryan came across a little emo as they learned to deal with stress and dysfunctional family relationships. Yet the fun banter and zingers kept the book from feeling too heavy.

I found Zinnia’s growth in her relationship with her toxic sister to be realistic. It’s heartbreaking when we internalize the horrible untruths that others say to us. I loved the way the authors used the budding friendship between Zinnia and Ryan to help each other see that what their family members thought about them was completely untrue. They helped each other overcome the baggage of their pasts.

You must read the author’s note at the end. I felt like it was the perfect closure and reminder pointing us back to God if we struggle with similar dysfunctional relationships in life. I found the author’s note very uplifting.

I would recommend this sweet, clean, Christian romance to others. It had me rooting for the characters to overcome their trials and the ending was just perfect.

Genre: Christian Romance, Sweet Romance, Clean Romance, suitable for YA audience

Series: This is book 4 in the series but can be read as a standalone.

Location: Roseville, Michigan

Romance: Very clean. Sweet hand holding and light kissing.

Faith: Both characters attend church and pray. They learn how to apply their faith and grow as people.

Disclaimer: I requested and received an advanced copy of this book courtesy of the publisher through Celebrate Lit Tours. I was not required to give a favorable review. All opinions are my own.

About the Authors

Hope Bolinger is the managing and acquisitions editor at End Game Press and the author of 25+ books. When she isn’t accidentally writing a book in seven days, she likes to model, do theater, and hike around northeast Ohio. Find out more about her at Hopebolinger.com

Alyssa Roat is a multi-published author and has worked in a wide variety of roles within the publishing industry as an agent, editor, writer, and publicist. When not reading and writing, she likes to swordfight, rock climb, throw axes, and generally engage in tomfoolery with her silly cats. Her name is a pun, so you can find more about her at alyssawrote.com.

More from the Authors

Something many people don’t know about me (Hope) is that I’d planned to go into film before college. I did an internship at a great Christian film company my senior year of high school.

And I’m actually dating someone who had worked for Netflix and Disney for a while.

Even Alyssa, my coauthor, did a semester in LA to learn all about film.

So why did all of us leave it?

Well, we felt called to publishing instead. As for my boyfriend, he’s waiting for that next door. Perhaps it’ll be opened by the time this post goes up.

In the book, we tackle not only the film industry, but the idea of control. I think, if we’re honest with ourselves, we like to micromanage whatever we can. Alyssa and I each wrote a character whose circumstances are way beyond their control.

Zinnia feels like she’s too old to jump into the Hollywood scene now. And Ryan feels torn between his love of film and the pressures his family puts on him to join their business.

The entire cast of characters seems to want to control everything.

I don’t want to spoil anything, but let’s just say—like Alyssa and myself—the characters do have to learn how to put their plans in God’s hands. Knowing that whether or not he allows them to continue into the world of film, that he has everything under control.

And maybe we as readers need that reminder too.

That no matter if we’re being controlling, or have someone in our lives who is trying to micromanage everything, ultimately, we have a powerful Creator who knows the number of hairs on our heads.

It was bittersweet to end this series with Alyssa, our last coauthored work together. I don’t know when we will get a chance to coauthor again, but hopefully we can.

This process has taught us about control. Letting go, letting other ideas in. Knowing that book deadlines and publication dates don’t always go to plan.

And honestly? I wouldn’t have it any other way.