Leading Lady

by Bette Hawkins

Rebellious film director Andie McKenzie is offered career redemption when her father hands off his latest big-budget action movie to her. There’s just one catch—the film has already been cast, and Andie is less than impressed with the film’s leading lady.

Down-to-earth actress Skye Buckley is thrilled to have landed the role of her dreams, even if she’s heard some not-so-great gossip about the new director. Knowing this movie could be her big break, Skye’s trying her hardest to ignore the friction that seems present in all her encounters with the confident, artistic Andie McKenzie.

Secluded from the world while on the location shoot, Andie and Skye soon realize their initial friction has given way to something else. But with personal and professional obstacles thrown up at every turn, they’ll soon discover whether love is more important than their careers.

Genres: Queer, Romance

290 pages, Paperback

Published April 18, 2023

About the author

Bette Hawkins is a social worker who hails from Melbourne Australia. She lives with her long-term girlfriend and their very spoiled dog. In addition to writing, Bette’s favorite pastimes include playing the guitar, watching films, cooking, and reading.

Reviews

[Sam]

I felt cheated by this book’s blurb so I’ve decided to write a new one for it.

It’s 1992, fallen from grace 39-year-old director Andie McKenzie gets handed her dad’s latest movie. He lost interest, or so he claims. His involvement remains. He has cast 28-year-old Skye Buckley as the leading lady. Andie isn’t a fan of hers for the role in this movie. Tensions abound when the ladies meet and talk about the movie.
When the movie powers that be decide they want to take a different direction with the movie the island paradise where they are shooting it becomes a web of deceit. The deception is not all that heightens the temperature on the tropical island…

If this is something that speaks to you, go and read it, if not, don’t. Mind you, even this blurb sounds better than the book, at least to me.

Some story choices I don’t understand, at all. For instance a brief part where we suddenly switch into the movie characters’ pov. It was confusing to say the least.
For all this talk in the book of Skye’s movie character arc development and what not, there is very little development in any of the book characters. Andie is 39 and literally walks away from discussions when she isn’t getting her way. Skye is just coming out and some lusty baby lesbian.
I found both of them to be very annoying. And if they are annoying don’t even get me started on the assistants, Carol and Teri 🙄 Just lots of lusty things and not an actual plot, aside from some very thin storyline about the movie. If the lust would have been good, that might have been something this book has going for it. But even that takes ages and is bland, oh so very bland.
Oh and Andie’s dad and his best friend, the movie powers that be, slap them in the face, please.
I know from first hand experience just how toxic the movie industry used to be, still is actually, but this is fiction. You could do so many cool things with a story like this.
For instance, set it in present times, why have it set in the nineties? I really don’t understand. Make it so that the women are in control, not some stupid chauvinistic shit where we need to sex up the ladies and can’t have them be too powerful or god forbid being able to take care of themselves.

I don’t have a lot of positive thoughts about this book. I enjoy the celeb trope, it usually is fun and easy to read, not this one though, at least not for me. The writing is lacking, both the story and the characters are flat and boring and the ending… biggest eye roll of them all.

Bella Books usually releases books that I enjoy, even if it isn’t to a super high standard they are still good, I’m sorry to say I don’t find this one to be of even that lower standard.

I don’t know what’s going on, but quality should take precedence over quantity and that is something that some publishers certainly lost sight of. It’s a damn shame.

I don’t even know what to rate this so we’re going with no stars.
This is just my take, please read other reviews.

ARC received from the publisher (Bella Books) through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

[Lesbereading · Rating 4 out of 5]

A slow burn, Hollywood romance with lots of angst. I had a bit of a hard time getting into this story but once I did I couldn’t put it down. The chemistry between the MCs was sizzling to when they finally kissed, that passion was very hot. They could’ve avoided some of the conflict had they just talked, but that was not their personalities. Loved the ending and how the epilogue was done. I also enjoyed that the storyline revolves around the movie and how it was almost a secondary story within it.

Thank you to Bella Books and Netgalley for providing an arc in exchange for an honest review.

[Lady Olenna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Andie and Skye. The story was very detailed in its subject of film-making, making it interesting and enjoyable to read. The characters were well developed in their personality and craft. The story was well paced and ended on a high note.

[Emma · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 stars
A better title for this book would be "Director's Cut" because it's centered around making a movie with additional scenes for a different cut. The romance is kind of in the background and it's a shame because everything was set up for a good love story, but the result was just not there. Despite that, this is an ok book with a nice setting, fine for a couple of hours of light reading. It will keep you entertained if you are not too demanding. Will read more books by Bette Hawkins.
eARC via NetGalley

[Fran Sappharc · Rating 4 out of 5]

It is set initially in 1992. I don’t know why, and it doesn’t really impact anything till one character asks to borrow the phone, and has to leave the room to get to the phone, and looks up paper contact information. That was eye opening and a really simple time setting device! It took me a minute to figure out why a phone had to be borrowed, and why it wasn’t just handed over.
Interesting set up. We first see one main, then the second. The dislike or wariness is also well set up. I’m really interested in finding out how it will all play out.
A quarter in and there is a plot turn that I dislike as much as one main. Clever writing, but at the moment it seems hopeless! Fortunately the hopelessness didn’t last too long. Clever pacing.
Pacing suffered a little bit around 40%. We are it the “like each other but I’m the only one that feels it” stage of the courtship ritual, and for me, at this point, the romance isn’t really going anywhere and neither is the secondary plot of the movie being hijacked. The “baddies” haven’t been on the page for a while and I think the lack of someone to dislike, or rather the tension from disliking someone, is impacting the pacing. However a few minutes after I think pacing is suffering, things hot up on the tension front. The tension really is quite taut.
Every time I start to think pacing might be dropping the tension is ramped up, every time I think the plot is going one way it neatly sidesteps the obvious.
Although I was in to the romance I was a bit impatient during their first intimate scene because the subplot was coming to a head and I was impatient to find out what would happen.
I’m giving 4 stars. I have some niggles as outlined above, a couple of bits where pacing nearly slipped, but nearly isnt the same as did, the urgency to find the secondary plot solution was unusual and should be applauded. This was a romance with a bit of body. The compelling plot meant I rounded up from 3.5.

[Aleana · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received an ARC copy of this book from the Publisher via Netgalley and voluntarily leaving my review.

Andie wants to prove to everyone that she still be a great director despite her movie failing and reputation of her scandalous ways. She gets a opportunity to prove it when her father Ben and business partner Doug hands her the director of adaptation of Creature Island one of her favorite books. Andie isn’t to keen on their choice for the lead because she thinks too young and wasn’t who she was picturing playing Dr. Jen. Skye is thrill that she landed the lead role of one of her favorite books and she gets to play something more serious what she wasn’t counting on the director not wanting her for the role but as they work together Andie realizes she was wrong. Andie and Skye feels a attraction towards each other as Andie tries to prove she not the same person from her past and Skye who doesn’t trust that Andie won’t hurt her doesn’t want to be serious and this causes some conflict because Andie wants more. I enjoy this read love the the bond between Andie and her sister Cary. I did hate that the studio and company thinks that adding a love story would appease people more then letting it just be darker and funnier and not all movies have to have love stories or a man being the hero.

[Kaye · Rating 3 out of 5]

Andie McKenzie is 39 and the daughters of a famous director. She was a promising director herself making three small successful films but the next was a failure. She has been getting by rewriting scripts and I’m not sure doing what else. Her father gives her a golden opportunity to take over directing a movie of a cult favorite book. Only problem is he is staying onboard as a producer (stereotypical controlling behind the scenes) and the cast is set. Skye Buckley is 26 and an actress with a solid resume. She loves the character and is thrilled to have been cast.

Soon they’re off to an island in Fiji to begin filming. Andie mis-steps at first as Skye learns her director tried to get her replaced. But they begin to work together well. There is some extra drama of the leading man being Skye’s ex-boyfriend but that doesn’t lead to much. Skye is new acting on her attraction to women and is hesitant about Andie because of her bad girl past. Andie is looking for a relationship and not just a set fling and wants to stay professional.

This for me is an average romance. I wished for a few more conversations to trust the couple were on the same page for their futures. They did better communicating about the movie than on a personal level. I was perplexed that the story is set in 1992. I couldn’t see anything important that would change if it was present day. And much of the story is filled with filming the movie so I guess I shouldn’t have been surprised that the focus of the epilogue is on the movie and not about the couple. I did like the cover for the book and found it eye catching. Thank you to NetGalley and Bella Books for the ARC in exchange for a ARC in exchange for an honest review.

[Celina · Rating 2 out of 5]

Sometimes, a book is plot driven, sometimes it is character driven... but then there are those awkward moments when you feel like it is driven by thin air assumptions. At 18%, Skye thinking she and Andie are flirting and I am like... "WHERE? HOW? WHEN? HOOOOWWWWW?"


I really had high hopes.

[Silvia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Action takes place in 1992, or at least that’s what the first chapter is called. The rest of the chapters have no name so that’s confusing. Anyway, Andie gets gifted a director role by her dad and his producer best friend. And she immediately wants to replace the leading actor because but her reasoning is quite weak. They then proceed on going to this remote island to film this movie that gets a scenario alteration and somehow the 2 MCs will be filming the original script in parallel with almost no one noticing. It’s all a little far fetched and gapped in places. Good premise, an average read.

Free ARC via NetGalley

[Alex (novelswithalex)]

A very bubblegum sweet lesbian romance. Not a whole lot of substance.

[Betty · Rating 3 out of 5]

Leading Lady by Bette Hawkins is an age gap/celebrity romance that I could see someone packing in their suitcase to take on a summer vacation. It’s definitely the type of story I would put in my beach bag alongside the suntan lotion and my floppy hat. The cover practically begs you to include the book on your way to the beach!

The premise of the story is an interesting one. The idea of the director (Andie McKenzie) and the leading actress (Skye Buckley) working together to secretly make a shadow film of the movie they were hired to make is unique. They felt they had no choice but to do this because of unwanted changes made to the script by the producers. This part of the book actually intrigued me as much or more than the romance between Skye and Andie. The tropical island setting of the novel fits the narrative and adds an interesting backdrop to the tale.

While I know I said the romance between Andie and Skye was intriguing, it was also problematic. Too much inconsistency in their relationship as well as a lack of trust for a good portion of the book, made their relationship hard to believe in.

Overall, I did find this an interesting book with a few redeeming qualities. Not all bad, it does make for an interesting escapist read. And sometimes, that’s exactly what we want.

I received an ARC from Bella Books for an honest review.

[Ashlee · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was excited about this one after reading the blurb but unfortunately it didn't quite work for me. I generally love celebrity romances but this one had a few issues that kept me from really enjoying it. Even though both MC's are celebs they spend the entire book on set at a remote location so it loses a bit of that magic.

It's also set in the 90's and had that been in the blurb I may not have selected it because that's just not a time period I like reading about. Being set in the 90's it included a few men that were less than pleasant, but also a lot of the women were seemingly open about being lesbians with no issue which felt inauthentic for the time.

The characters overall were hard for me to connect with and I felt indifferent about both MCs. The main plot issue sounded interesting in the beginning but leads to the book being about the minutiae of movie making and again pulled me out of the story.

Overall for me this missed the mark and I could have easily stopped reading mid sentence at almost any point. Please read some of the other reviews because it looks like it did work for others.

[Patty Bryant · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really good book. Loved the main characters of Indie and Skye. Their relationship was really well written and the pacing of them becoming more than director and actor, to lovers was so refreshing. This book was set in the early 90's when not all actors and actresses were willing to come out as gay, because it could be a career killer, this was especially true for Skye, because she was seen as a leading actress and girl next door/ sex symbol. the whole plot of this story was fascinating to me. I love how the author took you behind the scenes of how movies got made back then, and also it was kind of strange that no one had cell phones back then either, if you needed to get in touch or have a meeting it was done by email, fax machine, or regular old landline. I can't say enough great things about this book with out giving spoilers here. I would definitely recommend this book to my friends and family and I look forward to what's next from this author.

[Alicia Reviews · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bette Hawkins
Leading Lady


Overall, this book was a wonderful read. The characters were well-developed and their chemistry was palpable. I appreciated the exploration of the challenges faced by women in the film industry, particularly in the early 90s. The setting was vividly described, allowing me to immerse myself in the world of the story. The plot was engaging and kept me hooked from beginning to end. I would highly recommend this book to anyone looking for a well-written romance with complex characters and a unique setting.

[Alice M. · Rating 3 out of 5]

A director, Andie and an actress, Skye meet during the filming of a movie. A bit of disharmony to start with but eventually they come to work together well. This is mainly the story of the making of the film with a bit of romance thrown in. A good story that I liked.

[isa Simonet · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book, like Training Horses and Hearts by Nicole Gustafson, for lack of a competent editor, this one, for the same reasons, half of the story, is repetitive. Too bad for these two authors, who deserved much more. But what is Bella Books doing at the moment, sacrificing good authors?

[Patti · Rating 3 out of 5]

I kinda rushed right through this. I didn’t care enough about the main characters to spend a lot of time with them.