I am a bit torn on this one. The narration is fantastic but, and I absolutely hate to type this, I was bored. It didn’t grab me and refuse to let me put it down. I will try again later to see if I think differently but ultimately, I felt it predictably grumpy.

3.5 stars
“Brynn and Sebastian Hate Each Other* is a funny romantic comedy that delivers exactly what fans of Bethany Turner have come to expect—sharp wit,
and endearing characters, with a added irresistible small-town charm. The banter between Brynn and Sebastian is full of hilarious tension. While the pacing did feel a little slow at the start and begins to feel somewhat forced toward the midpoint, the heartwarming small-town setting makes it easy to forgive. Turner’s signature humor is alive and well, making for an enjoyable and lighthearted read.

The audiobook narration of of this enemy to lover type genre is truly captivating. The voice actor does an excellent job transitioning between male and female characters, making the listening experience enjoyable. However, the story itself didn’t feel as engaging. The enemies to lovers dynamic seemed rushed, with the characters developing an attraction too quickly after their first private encounter. While some might enjoy the fast paced romance, I personally wished for a bit more tension and buildup

I listened to this as an audiobook on NetGalley and enjoyed it. It’s a small town girl makes it big, but finds herself in a situation that sends her back to her humble and forgotten roots, kind of story. The titular characters were likable, as were most of the supporting characters. I understand two of the supporting characters have their own story, (Laila and Cole are Just Friends), and I’ll pick up a copy of it, too! The narrator’s voice was easy to listen to. The book is dual POV and may have benefited from a male narrator, too, but I’m not strongly convicted about it. I recommend this one!

This book wasn’t for me!

I really wanted to like this and the premise of grumpy x sunshine & rivals to lovers is always a go to!

However the fmc was just grating on my nerves and the mmc was just rude… not grumpy

This is such a cute book. I wasn't sure I would love it at first...then I quickly fell into the story. I like the lightheartedness and banter mixed with some more serious themes. I also appreciated that this was a clean romance but not an unrealistic or preachy one. It struck just the right tone, in my opinion. This is a perfect book for a weekend away.

I don’t believe even a little that a woman supposed to be that intelligent wouldn’t google Seb the moment it was clear that he was someone special. The romance was slow but cute. Although I don’t really know when they went from enemies to lovers. It was really slow, and then snap it happened. But the audio was done well.

I loved this book (once I got passed Brynn's awkward on-air stuff up - I nearly had to put it down, every part of me was cringing because of what the fallout would be), it was a very easy to read (listen to) story that I finished the same day. I really enjoyed the way that it all came together and how it ended. would definitely recommend.

I love an enemies to lovers! I think it's so fun always to go along with two people just figuring it out and trying to find common ground together. And this was no exception, I didn't always love the FMC I unfortunately found her pretty unlikeable. Which I don't love as I'm always trying to be on the FMC's side and this made it a little difficult. But! The character growth throughout really paid off and made me love the story even more. I thought the narrator did a great job bringing this to life as well. I hadn't listened to anything by this narrator before that I could recall and she's definitely a new favorite!

this book follows Brynn, a news presenter, who is sent back to her hometown (that she has a real love/hate relationship with) for work after she was accidentally recorded talking badly about where she is from. in a bid to save face, she is paired up with Sebastian, a man who moved to the town years after she left, so show viewers the beauty of the place.

it is a real enemies to lovers, forced proximity, SMALL (emphasis on small) town romance that perfectly lives up to all of those labels. it is emotional, funny, real and entertaining — particularly to listen to. it is also so so slow burn, which of course i loved. my only tiny tiny thing is that brynn is very unlikeable for probably 60% of the plot, and as someone who loves to root for an FMC, this was tricky at times. she redeemed herself with time, however, and the story was all the sweeter for it.

a solid 4 star read!

I really enjoyed this audiobook! The narration from Talon David was upbeat and engaging. This book read like a Hallmark movie and I could picture all the characters. I enjoyed the enemies to lovers trope. Although the story was predictable, it still made me laugh out loud a few times. I liked how Brynn matured throughout the story but also learned to be herself. I loved how in the end, the town welcomed her back with open arms. There was also more depth to both hers and Sebastian's pasts than I realized. Overall it was an enjoyable one to listen to! And now I want to read more of this series about the side characters.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for the ALC.

I was torn as to whether to give this 2 or 3 stars. I could see some readers liking it a lot, but it was just ok for me.

I enjoyed the narrator; she wasn’t the best but was better than some I’ve heard. However, I don’t understand why there was no male narrator for this book. The narrator narrated in the same voice for both the female and male’s narrative.

The story seemed fun at first, but then I started to really dislike the FMC. Then I felt whiplash when she started changing (or perhaps showing her true colors? I’m not sure tbh. I’m leaning more to changing because she was a snarky and sarcastic brat internally and externally). Then we find out their first moment wasn’t even real!? (The mention of movies being their inspiration in the car.)

The story was a bit slow to start (and the mention of TikTok 500 times in the beginning was over the top). This is a slooooowwwwww burn (without the burn). First kiss was not until ~75% in; I wouldn’t have minded that if this was part of a multiple books for same couple series. Unfortunately I was kinda bored by the time we got to the kiss. Then was bored after they finally started kissing; I didn’t feel any chemistry between them. There is no spice…at all. Close door romance is fine but the kissing lacked chemistry.

A big issue was the FMC POV is in first person but the MMC’s POV is in third?? I don’t understand this logic and it threw me. There were things that felt inconsistent/didn’t match the setting. I.e the PTA ladies were wild… in a town with 350 people. It was weird.

I did enjoy references to the 90’s and 2000’s. There were also quite a few 1 liners that made me laugh. I also liked the mental health rep; wish there was more elaboration of it, especially for her. Vague talk about Brynn’s mom being a jerk and having bad boyfriends…was there supposed to be an implication there? I can’t say.

The ending was rushed.

Brynn and Sebastian left me with a smile on my face when I finished the book, but there were some hard earned moments along the way. After Brynn makes an accidentally on-air comment about her home town, her career is on the verge of being dust. After getting back to her hometown, we learn about what caused her to say the comment in the first place. For me, it doesn't completely track, her quickly found happiness to be home compared with the truly mean things she said previously. That aside, her chemistry with Sebastian is great and they bring out the best in each other! 3.25 stars!

This is my first book by Bethany Turner and I absolutely loved her story, "Brynn and Sebastian Hate Each Other".

Brynn is an up and coming in the world of morning tv and when her debut goes horribly wrong - she is on the verge of loosing everything. Her only shot is to return to her childhood town - the town that holds so much pain for her. Thinking the world hates her there, can she find healing and redemption?

Sebastian has his own painful memories that haunt him and when he "sees" Brynn - he thinks the worst too - can he let go?

One thing I really like about this story, he feels so "true to life", I really enjoyed the read!

This book was good, but not great. I’m typically a huge fan of the grumpy sunshine trope, but unfortunately this one was not my favorite. I felt like the sunshine was kindof a mean girl for 80% of the book and the grump was a little too grumpy to the point where I never really LOVED him. So I definitely still enjoyed the read but not one of my personal favs.

El titulo, eso fue lo que inicialmente me atrajo a este libro. Y sí, realmente se odiaban. Tanto que, cuando había avanzado tres cuartas partes del libro, me preguntaba cuándo llegaría el giro. Y entonces apareció, de manera muy repentina y bastante tarde en la historia. Se sintió forzado y un poco incómodo. Para mí, hubo demasiada construcción para un final feliz muy débil. El desenlace se resolvió demasiado rápido y de forma descuidada. Mucho ocurrió en los últimos capítulos, y fue demasiado poco, demasiado tarde.
Brynn es un personaje interesante. A primera vista, es caprichosa y desagradable. Pero, a medida que profundizas en su historia, comprendes las razones detrás de su actitud y descubres su profundidad. Me gusta que no sea la típica protagonista femenina que encontrarías en este tipo de historia, aunque creo que no será bien recibida por la mayoría. De hecho, no comencé a simpatizar con ella hasta casi el final del libro.
En general, me costó engancharme a esta historia debido a su comienzo lento, su final apresurado y sus personajes poco agradables. Había demasiado odio y no suficiente romance para ser un libro romántico.

I DNF'd this book at 44%. The narrator had an irritating voice, and I had nothing but issues with the FMC.
Brynn was amazingly rude and selfish within literal moments, and constantly behaved like a legit child. She literally, the entire time, was disgustingly ignorant, impatient, and self-centered. I can not believe this got picked up by a publisher, given how terribly nasty this girl is. How can someone insult a person within 2 seconds of knowing them, and insult an entire town of people in a single second multiple times, sit there and compare an actual war zone reporter to her reporting during the Macy's parade, and manipulate people at every single turn? Literally I don't know how someone, let alone multiple someones, signed off on this book. The plot idea itself is fine, but the execution is poor. Sebastian was quiet and also a little rude pretty quickly, but at least he has a cute dog.

3.5 ⭐️

Brynn and Sebastian might hate each other, but to be honest, I kinda hated Brynn to in the beginning too. For the first few chapters all I wanted to do was shake Brynn and say “why are you like this?” She begins so prickly and self involved, it was hard to root for her in the beginning. However, with the explanation of her past, her attitude and defense mechanisms become understandable.

Overall, the story was cute and the characters were dynamic, but I was left wanting more from the story.
—
📺Small town romance
🎤Coming home
📺PTSD
—
Thank you Thomas Nelson & NetGalley for this complimentary ALC - all thoughts are my own! 📚
Publishers release date 9/5/2023

I wanted to read more books from this series to try get into it but I still there was nothing wow about it .. the characters are jarring and I get that the whole plot involves around them not liking each other but the rudeness was just too much, i liked the setting in terms of their hometown...
The audiobook was well done & made getting through this read faster

I am not usually a fan of the grumpy sunshine trope. But this book felt more like a grumpy/grumpy duo. The FMC was hostile and the MMC was grumpy and rude. The plot was interesting but the whole “she is just a young girl running away from her small town” feels over down and drawn out in this book. The relationship felt like it came out of nowhere. They despised each other until magically they just didn’t? The audiobook was okay, but I wished it had a male narrator for the MMC chapters.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the audiobook arc in exchange for an honest review.