If you loved The Hating Game, read this immediately. It’s got all the tension and chemistry and grrrr, but in a beautiful mountain setting. What’s not to like?!

To be honest, I don’t know HOW I loved this book so much when Brynn is hands down the most obnoxious character I’ve read. *Actually listened to the audiobook, which definitely helped fuel my hate for her since I could hear every emotion in her tone of voice*. But here we are. One of my favorite contemporary romances of the year.

Brynn is America’s sweetheart morning talk show anchor, who just showed her true colors on live tv and now must go to her hometown in an attempt to smooth over her faux-pas. Sebastian is a former journalist who is chosen to babysit Brynn while she’s in town, trying to make people love her fakery again. She’s really awful. We get a great deal of back story, but a lot of her actions, and how to goes from 0-100 in 2 seconds really irked me. Still, I had a lot of Sweet Home Alabama (the movie) vibes, and became smitten with quirky little Adelaide Springs, Colorado and also with Sebastian. His internal commentary and dialogue are hilarious. The snark! *Chefs kiss* Brynn did have some redemption, and their romance was gooooood! This is not to be missed. 4 ⭐️

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for this audio arc, in exchange for my unbiased review!

This book was really great! It gave me The Hating Game vibes with a small-town Colorado twist. Brynn is very independent and career driven and often comes off as selfish and rude as the book begins. Sebastian is a total sweetheart with his own secrets. From their first interaction they hate each other. They both are mature enough - after some reflections - to try and see the best in the other person. Their dynamic starts to shift and it felt incredibly appropriate for their ages. The author achieved really incredible depth with her characters and I felt like I knew every person in that small Colorado town. I didn’t pay very detailed attention to the specific historical/political references since that isn’t my area of expertise but they seemed okay. The first half took a little bit to get over Brynn’s unlikable moments but the second half really improved. The conclusion couldn’t have been more perfect based on the rest of the book. 4.0⭐️, 0.5🌶,⚠️ (PTSD and war trauma mentioned but not graphically)

Since I listened to this as an audiobook - the narrator was fantastic! The inflection and voices were so well done! I highly recommend listening to this book!

When Brynn and Sebastian Hate Each Other first began, I was a little suspicious, It seemed like this story was one I've read a million times. However, this was such a delicious, sweet romance that had me rooting for each character, even as I felt frustrated by them or their choices. Bethany Turner did such an amazing job of developing both Brynn and Sebastian that you couldn't help but want the best for them, and it was such a delight to watch these characters grow together. Super fun romance that I unabashedly recommend!

Brynn and Sebastian Hate Each Other
by Bethany Turner
Rating: 4.5/5

I don't know how she does it but Bethany Turner has written another witty, delightful, charming rom-com that is endearing and so funny! I absolutely love a good enemies-to-lovers trope that brings authentic characters together. I also loved that it was set in a beautiful small town. How I love a good small town romance with quirky characters who make you laugh and smile. I could not stop reading/listening this book. I had the opportunity to read the ARC and listen to the audiobook and they did not disappoint at all. I was hooked from the beginning and the pacing is well done. I never got bored but it wasn't too fast-paced that you could not enjoy getting to know each of the characters. I would love to return to this small town to get to know more of townspeople.

Highly recommend if you enjoy clean, inspirational, rom-coms that make you chuckle!

My thanks to the author and publisher for providing me with an ARC of the book. All opinions expressed here are entirely my own. No positive review was expected and no compensation received.

I received a copy of this audiobook in exchange for a honest review. This book was cute, and what is expected from a romance. The character development was a little forced but still a cute story.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher of this for allowing me to read this book. I did like the book. However it was a true slow burn. I enjoyed the banter between Sebastian and Brynn. I do think the next reader will appreciate all the popular references.

This is my favorite book I’ve read in a while! It’s cute, funny, and a wonderful feel good story. I finished it in a day and can’t recommend it highly enough. The characters are both likable and relatable, and the author uses the dual POV perfectly to accomplish this.

The narration is also fantastic, I’m immediately going in search of other books by this author.

Oh, golly. Bethany has written on of the worst female main characters I’ve ever read! Truly, I disliked Brynn SO MUCH that I almost didn’t want to keep reading! BUT, of course, there was redemption for Brynn! While I understood a lot of her personality was developed as trauma response, it didn’t make her less unlikable. Thankfully, around chapter 15, she decided to face her past, instead of hiding from it. In doing so, she became so much less confrontational, and more likable! (Just ask Sebastian! He totally agrees.) Being in her hometown, Brynn was reminded of the amazing place it could be, and the people who loved her for WHO SHE WAS, not who she pretended to be. Sebastian had his own traumatic past, and brought that into their relationship. And although he DID seem to like to bait Brynn, he actually appeared to be a good human.
I’m glad I didn’t quit on this book! I really did ultimately like it a lot! This was my first audiobook, so it was a bit of an adjustment for me; I usually like to “read” read, not listen-read, but the narrator did a great job of differentiating the voices of the characters!

3.5⭐️

overall I loved and enjoyed this book, it had a similar vibe to the movie sweet home Alabama which I love.
Also, the narration was so good.

in terms of romance I loved the build up and the bickering between Brynn and Sebastian, but in terms of characters I feel like something was missing especially with brynn I would’ve loved to see a more detailed character development but overall it was a fun read.

𝗕𝗿𝘆𝗻𝗻 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗦𝗲𝗯𝗮𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗮𝗻 𝗛𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗘𝗮𝗰𝗵 𝗢𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿 by Bethany Turner
Publishing: September 1, 2023 by @harpercollins
Reviewed by: Mel
Format: Audiobook ALC [thank you @netgalley]

★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆

𝗥𝗲𝗮𝗱 𝗶𝗳 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗲𝗻𝗷𝗼𝘆
✽ Grumpy x Sunshine
✽ Enemies to Lovers
✽ Small town romance
✽ The Morning Show


𝗧𝗵𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵𝘁𝘀
Let me start out by saying that my rating for this book ebbed and flowed throughout the entire thing. I actually wanted to give it 4 stars once I finished, but after I slept on it and realized some of the missing pieces, I knocked it down to 3 stars. It was an entertaining and enjoyable audiobook listen, but certainly had some gaps.

First off, the “sunshine” FMC is actually a cranky stuck-up b***h off the air. That upset me right off the bat. She changes her name after moving away from Adelaide Springs, CO, and gets caught on-air bad-mouthing the small town which shows the cracks in her facade that she’s not actually a sunshine character in real life. The premise of her winning over the town’s residents again works, but the transition to just winning over Sebastian (and it actually working) happens so freakin’ quickly, I got whiplash.

The romance between Brynn and Sebastian happens in a blink of an eye - I mean literally, I had to rewind and re-listen to make sure I didn’t miss something because one minute they’re still “enemies” and the next they’re swooning over each other. I definitely think it would have been more believable if one of them developed feelings for the other first, and the second person was much slower to come around. The zero-to-sixty love story would have been much more believable if it was one person falling that quickly instead of both.

I did really enjoy the last 20% or so when the story happens with the avalanche and they jump into action as field journalists. Maybe it’s the journalist in me (I went to graduate school for journalism) or maybe I just needed something more than the back-and-forth between Brynn and the townies.

Overall, I was entertained by this audiobook, but it didn’t wow me.

Overall this was short, sweet, and simple.
I am a sucker for the grumpy sunshine trope. But honestly it was more fake sunshine who is actually super self obsessed and poor traumatized grumpy. I loved the MMC and the whole premise. I just could not find Brynn to be at all likeable and then everyone just forgave her and she suddenly became likeable as if the “true” her had been likeable all along.
I was also a bit sad that at the end he ends up leaving Colorado.

As for the writing itself. The author overused the phrase “truth be told” so much that everytime it was used it completely pulled me out of the story.

Brynn Cornell messes up big time by accidentally disparaging her hometown live on the morning show she hosts. Suddenly, the nation’s ray of sunshine isn’t as sunny as she appears. To save face, she travels back to her isolated hometown in Colorado to save face and beg for forgiveness. Without her career, who is she?

This was just OK for me. It was a sweet love story but didn’t really offer anything fresh or new. Brynn was not a likeable character at all, and I have no idea how she ever convinced anyone she was a ray of sunshine. I almost wish this was just a story about Seb – I enjoyed learning about his backstory and life in Adelaide Springs. In fact, a story about him and Orly would be better.

The second half of the book was a lot better but there was something quite sluggish about the first half. Also with the promise of “hate each other” it seemed that the two characters fell for each other pretty fast and there wasn’t enough fuel for an “enemies to loves” scenario. I found myself not really caring until the end.

Brynn and Sebastian Hate Each Other was a cute read that I enjoyed more than I was expecting to honestly. I'm not a huge fan of enemies to lovers but this one caught my attention. I enjoyed the premise (hot shot reporter messes up and has to return to her small home town she left behind) and thought there were a lot of sweet moments in the book.

That being said, I realized at one point that the book was essentially the plot from the movie Cars--hot shot famous & arrogant character messes up and ends up in a small town where they have to make amends with the locals. Big city once successful transplant has found a home in the quaint town and loves it more than reason, even though its past its prime and could definitely use a fix up. They despise the famous character for all their big city-ness and that they couldnt possibly love the town they love now. ---annnd after that all I could think of was Brynn and Sebastian kachoogaing around Radiator Springs haha.

Despite that, it really was an enjoyable read. 4.5*

I received a copy of the audiobook from Netgalley in exchange for an honest and fair review.

I got a copy of the audiobook in exchange for an honest review though my opinions are my own. This book is a hate to love story with a heroine that needs a lot of redemption at the beginning of the book. It is a romcom that covers some heavier topics but due to the format of the book, it doesn’t go in depth. It creates sexual tension between the main characters but there is nothing more than kisses and brief touches described. I want to briefly address the flawed heroine. As female readers, we tend to be harder on our flawed heroines than flawed heroes which is far from fair. I love a good redemption of a flawed heroine because who hasn’t ever been so frustrated by their life circumstances that you lash out to others? It is true to life and these heroines deserve their happily ever after.

Brynn who has been typecast in her role on a popular morning show has said something on air disparaging the town where she grew up. Sebastian is a former news correspondent who has found haven in the town. When Brynn returns home for redemption, the two of them immediately hate each other, until they don’t.

This was a great summer listen. I laughed out loud several times, and really enjoyed meeting all the residents of Adelaide Springs. I am really hoping the author covers the stories of certain other residents. Sebastian was easy to root for. He is such an honest, earnest self aware character who has spent 6 years putting himself back together. Brynn is hard to listen to in the beginning. I was cringing and wanting to fast forward at bits. As her walls fall away and her real personality emerges, you get to watch her discover who she actually is. This book has a romcom feel with chick lit vibes. If you like that and strong secondary characters, give this a go. If a cringey heroine who needs deep redemption in the beginning will ruin the book for you, I would pass.

Super cute enemies to lovers grumpy sunshine trope. The main character played into the rude character a bit more than I thought necessary. But overall, it was a very cute, enjoyable listen. The narrator did a great job!

This book was very hard to get into. Neither Brynn or Sebastian appealed to me. The first half was very slow and there was so much bickering that I almost DNF'd it. The ending was rushed and I didn't believe that they would have feelings for one another.

It took me 9 days to complete this book. It didn’t capture my attention. I will usually finish a book in a couple of days. Brynn and Sebastian was very predictable. The same story I’ve read a dozen times. Dripping sweet and not a whole lot of depth. The narrator did a good job but Lacked emotion.

this one was super cute. I really love the enemies to lovers aspect of it. however this was such a slow burn that I got a little bored with it. zero spice which I don't love but I know a ton of people like books like that so I thought I would mention it.

This book is NOT an enemies-to-lovers or a Grumpy/Sunshine book. It is, however, a book written by an author that I suspect deeply loathes women and people of color.

Brynn, a cartoonishly "unlikeable" woman, is the host of a morning show and is beloved for her "sunny" personality. Except, she's an unmarried, ambitious career woman, so she must be fake and bitter. She gets caught on a hot mic bashing her hometown, Adelaide Springs, a small town in Lauren Boebert's district where the author explicitly states that only white people live. Her public image plummets and to save her career, she has to return to the town where only white people live to make amends.

When Brynn begrudgingly returns to the town where only white people live, she meets her host Sebastian, a cardboard man you can project anything you'd like onto (save for his republican parents and past as a Pulitzer Prize winner until he settled in the town where only white people live). She's supposed to be the sunshine one and he's supposed to be the grumpy one. She's so bitter that I almost thought she was supposed to be the grumpy one, but no, the author reminds us several times that Brynn has a "sunny" personality and he's so bland that it doesn't give grumpy vibes. Brynn is rude to him and is overall entitled and selfish (she's career-focused, so obviously she must be selfish-it's the law). The two instantly hate each other, at which point I thought ahh here we are -- enemies! But then the first half drags and repeats a lot of the same scenes until bam--insta-love! Then we find out more about Sebastian because obviously, he has to have a tragic backstory in that he was so career-focused it cost him his marriage. But it's fine because the author said God forgave him. The important question, though, is will I forgive the author for the Anderson Cooper slander?

Anyway, after Brynn falls in insta-love with Sebastian and learns to appreciate the town where only white people live, she morphs into the traditionally "likable" woman and has a grand realization she's not actually career-driven! She hates her job! She only got it because someone thought she was pretty!

It's been a while since I've hated a book this much. Usually, I can manage to find something I like about it, but this one was irredeemable. Well, except for the dog. I liked the dog.

Also, in Brynn's defense, her hot mic comment about the town where only white people live was pretty spot on. I don't even find it believable that people would hate her for it.

Thank you to NetGalley and Thomas Nelson for giving me an early copy. All thoughts are my own.

I loved the idea of this book. As someone who went to school for journalism, I was excited about the premise of a big shot news anchor (I was picturing Reese Witherspoon in the Morning Show) returning to her small town. But oof, it fell completely flat for me. Brynn (the female main character) was completely unlikeable. Like completely. I thought some of the supporting characters were cute - it gave some sweet Gilmore Girl/Virgin River vibes - but not enough to support the awful FMC and lackluster love story. Also, maybe it was just my lack of connection with the characters and story, but the chapters felt SO LONG.

The audiobook quality was good. I found the narration decent, but not amazing.

Overall a great big “meh” from me.