To the Moon and Back - Melissa Brayden

Title: To the Moon and Back
Author: Melissa Brayden
Genre: Chicklit, lgbtq
Rating: 4/5
# pages: 270
Date read: February 2020

Lauren Prescott had dreamed of being an actress since she was cast as Wendy in her middle school production of Peter Pan. Yes, her nightgown snagged and brought the set tumbling down, but she was hooked. After years of unsuccessful auditions, performing just wasn’t in the cards. Instead, Lauren established herself as a successful stage manager at the esteemed McAllister Theater. Unfortunately, the resident director has cast celebrity Carly Daniel: headstrong, entitled, and always late. So why is their chemistry turning her the hell on?

After partying her way through her twenties and ruining a successful film career, Carly Daniel has to take whatever she can get. If schlepping it onstage will raise her star again, she’ll listen to her pesky agent. Added bonus: the uptight stage manager is a sexy distraction.

When Carly’s costar is sidelined, Lauren must decide whether renewing a long-forgotten dream will jeopardize what she has percolating with Carly. Is the limelight big enough for two?


A sweet romance that charmed me even further by having most of it take place at a theater. At a lapsed thespian myself, I loved reading about all the ins and outs of theater life - even if it did make me feel just a tad homesick ;)

But the strength of the writing lay with the characters. I grew to truly love both Lauren and Carly and was happy to see them (mostly) communicate about their hopes, fears and dreams. It was a refreshing change, and even if things did progress rather quickly, it rang true in the context of the heightened emotions that always comes as part of the parcel with a theater performance.

I'm pretty sure there was more than a little wish-fulfillment in the depiction of life in LA, and Evelyn did disappear from the scene a tad too easily, but as it never claimed to be anything other than escapist literature I never minded either and was just pleased to spend time with Lauren, Carly, Trip and Rocky :-D