Review: "Second Night Stand" by Karelia Stetz-Waters and Fay Stetz-Waters

Second Night Stand by Karelia Stetz-Waters and Fay Stetz-Waters
Published May 2024 via Forever
★★★★

Izzy has something to prove and a lot to lose: the theatre she bought as a space for her burlesque group is a money pit, and she needs the prize money from a reality TV show to keep from going under. Meanwhile, Lillian has just been told that her ballet company is at risk of being defunded...unless they bring in the exposure, and the prize money, from the same show. Neither woman is looking for romance, not with so much on the line...but things don't always go to plan.

This was a no-brainer of a book for me—lesbian romance with dancing and reality television? Yes please. Both the ballet and the burlesque performances are disappointingly vague, but the reality TV portion is a lot of fun: we don't see a ton from the other competitors, but what we do see is pretty tongue-in-cheek, with producers manufacturing drama left and right...but drama that everyone knows is for the cameras, and that doesn't spill over into real life. I enjoy reading about (fictional) reality TV far more than I enjoy watching the real thing, and books where the characters are self-aware about what they've signed up for are right in my sweet spot. Sometimes the tongue-in-cheek goes a little too far to be believed (like the friend who makes herself an "influencer" badge that lets her get away with...just about everything?), and sometimes the fast-forward moments are odd (telling me that the characters "tossed a few over-the-top taunts back and forth" (loc. 994) without sharing the taunts just makes me think that there was nothing witty enough to put in), but I can forgive a lot for characters who have honest conversations and are genuinely trying to do the right thing...and for books where the conflict is not about some evil villain or other but more complicated things.

This book is collaboration between two married writers, one of whom is an established romance writer and for one of whom this is—I think—a first book, and I'll be interested to see if they keep cowriting. I love how much more available, and how much more varied, queer romance has become in the past couple of years.

Thanks to the author and publisher for providing a review copy through NetGalley.