‘Curtain Call’ is a lesbian romance novella that unfortunately was mostly a miss for me.

Jen lands her dream job as an assistant to the director at the local theater. Her very first day turns into an adventure when she gets assigned as the personal assistant to the star of the current play, Eleanor Francis. Francis is in a ten-year relationship with her married agent and in a constant argument as she wants a committed relationship but her agent will not leave her husband. Jen ends up in bed with Francis the first night only to have a tragedy send them into a public relations tailspin.

This novella would have benefited from being turned into a novel. There is enough substance to develop here but I feel as if the final product was just the bullet points. The characters are likable and the strength of the book. However, I find myself trying to figure out some actions and plot choices.

I was reading the epilogue and wondering what exactly I had just read and how we had gotten there. It was romance but the romancing part between the mains was missing. The mains are in bed the first day they meet even though Eleanor was still asking her agent to leave the husband and be with her exclusively. I can understand a one night stand, but this turned into the real thing literally overnight. There was no love transition between the agent and Jen. No documented journey to show how they fell in love.

I would like to read a slowed down version of this. The characters all have great potential and layers to develop to move the story along. 2.5 stars