Thank you to Netgalley and Penguin Books for the eARC in exchange for my honest review. Bad Publicity follows newly hired book publicist Andie who discovers on her first day that she’ll be representing Jack, an author with whom she has a fraught past. While the premise sounded intriguing, the execution was unfortunately severely lacking.
While the majority of the novel takes place over a month, the pacing was irregular. Andie and Jack’s relationship moved too quickly, which was highlighted by their complete lack of chemistry, but the plot was way too slow and was weighed down by Andie’s grief and indecision.
Any personality Andie may have had was overshadowed by her all encompassing grief for her deceased father, which she hasn’t addressed in therapy or with her mother, and her absolute lack of care for anyone else. Andie’s interactions with her mother and her best friend are overshadowed by her extreme selfishness. Andie doesn’t routinely call or text her very loving mom back and hates her best friend’s boyfriend for “stealing” her best friend from her. She’s also incredibly unprofessional, both in her treatment of Jack and her attention to her job.
Jack, on the other hand, has no personality. Despite reading the entire book twice, I know nothing about him other than: he has daddy issues, he loves Andie despite her mistreatment of him, and he’s generically hot.
We also don’t find out about Andie and Jack’s history until 70% of the way through the book, and though the reveal didn’t make me agree with either of the characters’ actions; I could’ve understood their motivations better if I’d known what occurred during their time in university. I also felt that the events that transpired at their university were a bit far-fetched and the villain might as well have been twirling a mustache on page. Additionally, I can’t in good faith believe that university students would allow themselves to be blackmailed into illegal acts just because they thought they’d lose their scholarships, instead of consulting faculty or the police.
Unfortunately, despite my initial excitement, this really missed the mark. Structurally the writing was fine, but the characters, plot, and execution left a lot to be desired.

I really wanted to like this book but the main character's internal monologue was really annoying. She is supposed to be a professional but feels too immature for her position.

Bad Publicity by Bianca Gillam caught my eye by just the name and it did not disappoint! It's a cute romance, slow burn book with forced proximity, enemies to lovers, and second chance romance. I love the tension and banter between Andie and Jack. The grief that Andie has about her dad was done well and adds some emotion to the book.

I love slow burn (the tension!!!) and enemies to lovers, so BAD PUBLICITY by Bianca Gillam caught my attention from the start and I absolutely loved it. Thanks to NetGalley and Penguin Books for the advanced copy!

Andie is a book publicist. Jack is a best selling author. They are about to go on a multiple city book tour together. Problem is they have a past together that ended badly. Andie is so upset by this but still attempting to be professional in her role. Jack seems along for the ride and wants to clear the air with Andie but she won’t give him a chance. There’s a lot of good in here. Super easy to read and great pace. Love the forced proximity of the book tour and the travel involved. It’s tough to root for Andie when she is constantly upset and always shoving her feelings away and maintaining her very thick walls. She holds on to a lot of grief from losing her father and “the incident” that happened in college with Jack. We don’t find out what the incident was until 70% of the way through in a flashback. It’s a bit frustrating when so much is secret and Andie is perpetually holding back and referring to the incident we know nothing about. All that said it held my interest and I overall enjoyed the book. It was much better than the previous book tour ARC I just read, “The Perfect Rom-Com”. The book was a good debut, and I can’t wait to see what’s next for this author.

Thank you NetGalley, Bianca Gillam, and Penguin Books for an advanced digital copy of this book.

Bad Publicity was a great debut! I enjoyed reading this very much. Which wasn’t a surprise considering my favorite romance trope is second chance! I enjoyed the authors writing style. I enjoyed the characters their banter. I enjoyed reading a book set in the PR world. It was my first but makes me wanna find more. The grief wasn’t advertised and I think that it would’ve been helpful to know before going in. But, I didn’t have a problem with that as much as other readers. I enjoy a book when there are real issues in them. Overall I liked reading this book and can’t wait to see what else the author has in store.

I just love a workplace romance, especially when it’s enemies to lovers and force proximity. It had the perfect amount of humor, angst, and heartwarming moments. I’m not normally a fan of slowburn or second chance, but I was a fan of this. Even the miscommunication didn’t fully piss me off like it normally would when I’m reading a book like this! Kudos to this author. I would definitely read more from her.

"Bad Publicity" is Bianca Gillam's debut novel. The main characters, Andie and Jack, are exes from their time in college that haven't spoken since one fateful night. Andie was recently promoted to senior book publicist and is now Jack's publicist for his first novel. Now they're stuck together on a month-long book tour with so much unresolved between them.
This was such a fun, easy read. I liked Andie and Jack's chemistry together and the tension between them is so thick. I couldn't help but get frustrated at the two of them when they wouldn't talk through the past. That's just a sign of great character writing!
I felt the ending was kind of rushed and I wish the story was a little longer (not something I often say) but in the grand scheme of the story, it's okay.

I really wanted to love this because the premise was perfect for an enemies-to-lovers contemporary romance. Andie is a senior book publicist tasked with going on a month long tour alongside successful author, Jack Carlson with whom she shares a past with.

Unfortunately, I couldn't really connect with Andie. I felt that majority of the time she was immature and unprofessional when it came to her interactions with the MMC. The same could be said with how flippantly she would interact with her mother.

The big reveal that explained why Andie disliked Jack so much wasn't revealed until 3/4 of the way into the story, which was frustrating since there were constant mentions and hints at what had possibly occurred. I will say the way grief was discussed and talked about was very realistic and I really enjoyed the different settings where this story took place.

There were many reasons why I typically would not enjoy a book like this: set in the publishing world (as a publishing professional myself, it often seems unrealistic), second chance (the miscommunication always seems trivial), and filled with grief (there is a fine line between the grief being too large or too small of a plot point). However, I was pleasantly surprised in all aspects. While these weren't my favorite characters ever written, I was engaged in the story until the very end and I liked seeing how Andie grew throughout her journey.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an advance copy!

Typical enemies to friends trope was a cute read, two former friends must work together on a book tour to make it amazing- we find out what happened in the past. The book addresses grief well I will say - i would have liked a more conclusive ending but it's a cute fun romance read especially for the enemies to friends fans

Bad Publicity is a fun, well written romance that doesn’t break the mold of the romcom genre but fits perfectly in as a quick and easy read! Bianca Gilliam crafts fun humorous characters but never really makes their stories impactful.

This was so much fun! I am a sucker for enemies-to-loves, and especially for a romance that deals with the publishing industry (niche, I know, but there's just something about it that I can't resist). That being said, this PR for this book is... off? It's more about grief than romance (and that's ok! Just advertise that!) This review feels too on the nose?

I really enjoyed this author's writing. I haven't read anything by them before, but I really got into the story and the pacing of it. The characters were well developed and lovable.

I really enjoyed Bad Publicity by Bianca Gillam. I love a second chance romance and this one did not disappoint. Lots of humor but tons of heart to suck you in. Great read.

3.75 stars

Slow burn, enemies to lovers , unresolved trauma and grief

Debut novel about a book publicist and her first big client who turns out to be someone she was hoping to never see again. Despite the years long unresolved issue between Andie and Jack , she goes on a European book tour with him in order to keep her job and career. And despite how she feels about him, the tour is a success because she provides good publicity and not bad publicity as the title suggests. I enjoyed reading this book and found the characters engaging and fun to get to know . I just wish this wish the book had a different title !
Thanks NetGalley for the ARC. Reviews are my own

Abby and Jack go way back, and now that she is a senior editor, she must accompany Jack on his book tour. Abby and Jack have always been at odds since they were at university together and this new predicament puts them at odds once again. Will they move beyond their teenage angst, or will they continue to be at each other's throats? A perfect debut with the will they or won't they and enemies to lovers plot.

I enjoyed this book well enough. I felt like the pacing was off a bit there was continuous talk about an "incident" in the past but it wasn't brought up until too late in the book for me to really care about what happened. I liked the characters well enough and I think I would read more by this author later on but I'm not in love with this title.

This is a wonderful slow burn enemy's to lovers romance. The premise of a book tour makes it feel cozy and made me want to travel. The two main characters share a past, and that heavily influences how the connect in the present. There are elements of grief, and trauma, which can make this a bit more serious, but still the author pulls off that cozy novel feel. The main characters, Andie, is a bit of a walking mess, and is the focus of the novel. Her protagonist is Jack, and while he's likable, it would have been nice to have more of his point of view. The novel was a bit slow, in my opinion, to reveal the source of their issue and start the path towards healing and their eventual Happily Ever After.

In my second chance romance era. This book was heartfelt, funny, and just swoon worthy. It ticked all my boxes for a feel food rom-com that just makes me feel like everything will be alright.