Love, Camera, Action

Stark sets her clumsy workplace romance debut behind the scenes of a TV show. Paranormal soap opera The Demon has a PR problem after one of its directors says that the #MeToo movement has gone too far. In crisis management mode, and with no female directors already on their roster, producers bring in up-and-comer Cali Daniels to direct the next steamy episode. For Cali, getting people to take her seriously is hard enough as a woman and a newcomer to the industry—she doesn’t need sexy DP Jory Blair questioning her every move. A recent health scare has left Jory more determined than ever to work his way up the Hollywood ladder, and he views Cali as an obstacle in his path. Despite their creative differences, Jory is immediately drawn to Cali’s beauty and gumption, but he has a strict rule never to get romantically involved with his coworkers. The romantic tension between the two is palpable, but Stark’s attempts to wrangle with the workplace romance trope in a post-#MeToo world fall flat, as when she has Jory worry that “he could be painted with the same brush as those reprehensible creeps” when he acts on his feelings for Cali. Readers seeking a peak behind Hollywood’s curtain will be better served elsewhere. (Apr.)