I truly really enjoyed this romance! I waited so long to dive into it, and i wish i wouldn’t have!

Our characters are both battling so troubled pasts that cause them to be a level of fake to deal with the pain they’re harboring. The character development for both Brynn & Sebastian was top tier. I didn’t much like Brynn at the beginning but by the end i was her biggest cheerleader.

Sebastian truly was such a big teddy bear. I was LOLing at his banter with Brynn specially when she was stuck in the tree.

The author does an excellent job at holding your attention throughout the entire novel and really makes you fall in love with the setting and characters throughout the story.

It’s giving enemies to lovers and small town romance!

I will definitely read more by this author and really enjoyed this book!

When sunny morning-show host Brynn accidentally slams the small town she is from on live television, her reputation goes down in flames. To make good with the people in her small town that she scrutinized, the TV network sends her back there with a cameraman to apologize and earn forgiveness, all so she can return to her morning show. Sebastian doesn’t expect to be babysitting the star but he’ll do what he has to in order to bring some positive attention to the small town he loves.

The fighting between the characters was great and necessary. Sebastian was good at reading Brynn and calling her out on her bullshit, which she definitely needed. He was really smart and caring, and I’m a bit surprised as to how he fell for Brynn.

For a woman in her late thirties, Brynn was a bit too immature and whiny for my taste. She came off as bratty and spoiled, which was kind of annoying. It really bothered me when she compared Sebastian’s war zone journalism to her being at Macy’s on a Black Friday and saying she knew about war zones too. Overall her character development lacked growth.

It also seemed really strange that Brynn’s POV was in the first person but Sebastian’s POV was in the third person.

If you can look past that, you may enjoy this book. I for one, didn’t. I was really excited about this enemies-to-lovers book, but ultimately it just fell flat.

Tropes:

📺 Enemies to lovers
📺 Banter
📺 Small town

The narrator did a wonderful job differentiating between characters and made the audiobook very pleasant to listen to.

Thank you, Thomas Nelson and NetGalley, for providing an ARC of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to Net Galley for allowing me to listen to the advance audio copy. Author has a great story with good locations and interesting secondary characters. I did find myself struggling until chapter 16 to like Brynn, who presents as extremely flawed. Sebastian is likable the moment he appears, which is in part because there’s a mystery in his past. Interesting characters abound in Brynn’s home town. Overall, good story.

This is a cute book about a tv personality screwing it up and trying to redeem herself by going to her little home town. What seems to be a “redemption trip” finishes being an open eye/open heart trip.

It is also the story of a famous journalist escaping from everything and everyone and living in the same small town.

Different personalities, the hate each other but they will eventually realize that the road from hate to love is not as long as they thought it would be.

Overall, cute story but I wished they wouldn’t rush ins one parts and in others just make them super long with elements that weren’t needed.

Thank you NetGalley and Thomas Nelson for the ALC in exchange of my honest opinion.

I received an audiobook ARC from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Look, it’s just never a good sign when the word “hate” is in a book title, maybe especially when the subtitle is “a love story”. It sets up bad vibes, and it feels like a lie from the start. Brynn and Sebastian Hate Each Other by Bethany Turner is a romantic comedy that follows the traditional script and hits all the beats, but the cloud of “hate” over it saps the book of love and spark.

Brynn and Sebastian follows the titular characters as Brynn ends up back in her small, isolated hometown a

This was a cute rom com. I liked the backstory of the small town and Sebastian's history added depth to the characters. It was a fun easy listen with a satisfying ending. The narration was good as well. Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the ARC!

I really struggled with the FMC. I never really wanted the enemies to become lovers so this was a slog for me. She’s a journalist who makes a massive blunder on-screen about her small town and then must go back to save face. Insert brooding ex-journalist who has to film said apology. It sounded so promising but missed the mark for me.

This book follows a news personality in her late 30s/early 40s who returns to her hometown after making a big mistake on air in hopes of making amends. In reality, the trip ends up being what she needs to process her hard childhood.

There were a couple of things I liked, but overall I wouldn't recommend it.

What I liked:
-Romantic leads who were both in their late 30s/early 40s
-The descriptions of the town and people who live in it.
-I listened on audiobook, and it was a fun, easy listen. The narrator did a great job with Brynn's voice (I didn't like the voices she used for the men).

What gave me pause:
-There was only one person of color in the novel, and both times his race was brought up, it was made to be a joke. As in, she knew he was scared because his knuckles were so white, and that was surprising because he's Black. And he expresses concern that she didn't tell him he'd be the only person of color in the town, and she and the male lead character just minimized it. Overall the book lacked diversity, including race, faith (the Black character is also Catholic, and no one else in town is). I can't really think of much other diversity being expressed, so to target this one character for being different stood out to me.
-It's full of pop-culture references. They were fun at first, but they got old for me. And they are so specific that someone younger than an elder millennial probably wouldn't get most of them.
-The book alternates between Brynn (the female main character) and Sebastian (the male main character) Brynn's chapters are in 1st person, and Sebastian's are in 3 person. It felt very disjointed, and I don't understand this editing choice.
- I didn't feel like Brynn's character growth was covered enough. It felt very quick without any real processing. I know it's meant to be a fun read; I just wanted more in terms of depth there since it was such an important part of the story. I'm also really not convinced that the main characters actually fell in love- that's what I love most about romance novels, but I just didn't feel it here.

I think this could be a great read for some, but it wasn't for me.

Thank you to NetGalley, Thomas Nelson, and Zondervan Audio for the opportunity to review this audiobook!

This was definitely a fun listen, but I found that I couldn’t connect to the FMC and found her a little grating. I’m unsure if this was the intent, but for me if I can’t connect to the MC it makes the reading experience kind of meh.

The atmosphere and vibes were great, I love small town romances and I felt like this really delivered on that. But, I was close to DNFing several times especially through the first half

As a big fan of enemies to lovers perhaps I judge with higher expectations any book that uses this cliché. And also, because, in general I always like it just for the fact that I love the cliché and it's hard to use it extremely badly. And in this book, I also liked it and enjoyed the story, although I certainly think it's pretty hard to call enemies to lovers a book that lacks the tension of enemies as we call it.

The reality is that the title is really tricky, because not only because of the cliché, but you imagine that much of the story is going to have to do with their enmity. But no, they really hate each other for a few pages, and they don't hate each other anymore. I was kind of disappointed in that sense because I was expecting that enemies to lovers tension and I didn't find it.

The book is beautiful and apart from the fact that it is not an enemies to lovers, it is a lovely story. I would say that the second part of the book is practically a small town romance, the kind that leaves your heart warm and you can't stop smiling while reading it. And it bothers me, because I think I would have enjoyed it much more if it had been sold to me that way rather than the other way around, simply because you have expectations and you expect them to be met.

Also, just for Sebastian is totally worth reading this book for. I really want to protect him from every possible evil. He's a character I've connected with almost from the beginning and I've grown very fond of him.
On the other hand, Brynn is a character I had a hard time connecting with because I think her personality is a bit irritating. Then until we don't get to this second part of the book where everything is more relaxed, we don’t get this nice personality of her than actually makes connect with her.

This book has been my first real approach to audiobooks. I have read and listened to this book at the same time, sometimes I only listened, sometimes I only read and sometimes I did both at the same time, so we can say that it has been the most complete experience possible.

I felt quite comfortable listening only to the audiobook, and it is true that if you are a person who is able to do two things at the same time, the audiobook will give you the opportunity to take advantage of the reading time you have available. I have felt it a bit like if it was podcast, because the person who narrates the book modulates his voice depending on the character who speaks or if it is a description or thought of the character, and I think that also makes it very easy to listen to the story and enjoy it.

Of course, as it was the first time I wanted to listen to a complete audiobook, or what is to make a continuous use of it, I also used the story in ebook because at some point it was easier to follow everything for me. But I expect to keep trying this other form of reading.

This audiobook had a fantastic narrator, 5/5 for her, did all the different voices great!

The story is 3/5 for me though, so 4/5 overall.

This was a GREAT story to listen to! AWESOME narration! Great main characters. The plot was easy to find. The story was engaging and easy to follow. Will be purchasing this book. Shout out to Netgalley and publishing for allowing me to listen and review this story.

4 STARS!

July 29, 2023
Brynn is a morning talk show host, know for her cheery, bubbly personality and small town roots. When one day she is caught saying she hates her hometown on a hot mic, she has to do damage control and travel home to apologize, on camera of course. Her handler Sebastian, a new-comer to her town is responsible for escorting Brynn on her apology tour. They immediately get off on the wrong foot.

Enemies to lovers books walk a fine line. When our protagonists are fighting, and it's mean and not flirty, it just seems rude it is hard to root for them. Brynn was this way for the first half of this book. Very entitled and bratty. The second half, when Brynn lets her guard down, this book became more enjoyable.

Thank you to Netgalley and publisher Thomas Nelson for the advanced listener copy.

When forced to face her hometown and their people again after a disastrous mistake on air, sunshine report Brynn, knows that she has more things to apologise for. A great story about second chances, facing your fears, friendship and family. The audiobook is great. Talon Davis is a talented narrator

*3.5⭐️
This book was cute. I really liked the relationship as it developed. I could really feel the chemistry between Brynn and Seb as the banter changed from dislike to affection.
I thought her relationship with the town was also interesting. I really liked watching her reconnect with her friends and the pseudo-parents. I wish we could have more backstory on some of the people, because I was actually invested in Layla’s gossip!
I really didn’t like how ambiguous the ending was. I mean, most things were explained, but I was left a little confused by what happens to the characters. Maybe a sequel book for Layla and Cole?
Brynn was pretty insufferable, but I really liked Sebastian, so that made up for it.

I liked the narrator, but my only complaint is that there were a few moments where it sounded like there was an echo in the recording.

What a fun little romcom! The narrator did a fantastic job and this was very easy to listen to. At the beginning, I thought Brynn was a little over the top but I loved getting to know the characters as the story progressed and learning more about their motivations. I thought the relationship between the two main characters developed very naturally. Overall an easy and enjoyable story!

What an extraordinarily perfect contemporary romance. Brynn and Sebastian are both fascinating people with talent and drive who end up forced to spend time together thanks to an awkward incident. Both journalists, they share almost nothing in common, until, of course, they end up sharing almost everything. Most of the book takes place in the high elevations of Colorado, and I felt like I could almost smell the crisp mountain air from Ms. Turner's fabulous skill at interweaving her set and her story. The secondary characters were all great as well, and I was quite sad to have to say goodbye to Adelaide Springs.

I received an advanced reader copy of this book via NetGalley. I love the enemies to lovers trope, and I was excited to read this. However, I couldn't get into it because the female protagonist was insufferable.

It seems like the author wanted to create a prickly protagonist to make the tension more realistic, but she went a little too far. Brynn isn't just misunderstood. She is legit horrible. By the time she finally started to redeem herself (more than halfway through the book), I had stopped caring about both her and Sebastian (loved the camera guy though!)

It's unfortunate because the last 40% of the book is much better, but you have to suffer so much to get there. I only pushed through this because I received an ARC. Had this been a book I just picked up, it would have ended up in my dnf pile.

*2.5⭐️
As a journalist, I have to preface this review by saying that this book was unrealistic to my field, so most of my review will be about how I felt about the romance.

I liked Sebastian and Brynn together. I thought the nuances of all of the times one of them said they were alone in thinking something only to them discover the other felt the same way was cute. Their journey from a meet disaster to the end was a fun journey to go on. I also liked the small town vibes of the book. It really made me want to visit Colorado.

I liked the narrator, but there was a slight issue with the voiceover.

Also, the correct term is “photographer,” not “cameraman.”

Brynn and Sebastian Hate Each Other is another delightful closed-door romance from Bethany Turner. While I don't naturally gravitate toward closed door romances, Turner's books always leave me with a smile on my face.

Brynn is a sunshiney morning show co-host, but after an on-air faux pas, she's fighting to save her career. In a last ditch effort to save face, she returns home to the small mountain town she vowed she'd never set foot in again, to win back the people she insulted on national television.

Sebastian has left his reporting days behind him, and he's done his best to blend into the small town he now calls home in the mountains of Colorado. As a member of the city council, the responsibility to chauffer and babysit the now infamous Brynn during her apology tour falls to him. He sees through her fake smiles and hollow words right away, and they instantly dislike one another. But as they get to know each other better, their feelings begin to change.

The audiobook was such a fun way to experience this book. Talon David gives a great performance, which is always a challenge when one narrator has to do all the voices. She definitely rose to the challenge! I loved how Turner handled the grief that comes from a prior divorce, and also the trauma caused by parental neglect. While Brynn is sunshine on the outside, her interior isn't quite so shiny. Turner masterfully balances those heavier topics with plenty of humor.

Thank you to NetGalley and Thomas Nelson for my advance copy for review.