Thank you Penguin Books and NetGalley for the E-ARC of Bad Publicity in exchange for an honest review.

Okay, sooo this one was just kinda meh to me. Nothing stood out from it as a must read summer romance book. It did have some moments but those moments were very small and only happened like two times.

Andie being so selfish about things got quite annoying after a couple of chapters of her and Jack being on the tour. Also as someone who's super close to her mother and best friend, I CAN'T imagine ignoring my mother and best friend in the ways that Andie did. It was just rude! Jack was just the type of MMC that I love reading in a romance novel, really didn't have anything loveable about him other than he had special connections to how Andie was feeling but that only happened twice in the book. From the two flashback chapters it was clear that he fell first and fell so HARD when they were at University but really didn't warrant this being marketed as a second chance romance. They barely had even started something previously. It's more of a workplace-frenemies to lovers-to not now because I'm broken-to I'm ready now that I'm less broken type of romance to me.

The website drama felt very high schoolish and burn bookish to me. And the fallout from it also felt extremely high school to me. I was expecting something other than that from an adult romance. Like slut shamming yes, it's a thing but this is 2025.... I was expecting something other than that as the reason she loathes Jack.

This made me wish I were the type of person who DNFs books.

Andie was soooo annoying and childish. She prides herself on being a professional, and yet the first half of the book is just her being a brat. I understand that there is no timeline for grief and that she went through something traumatic in college, but so much of her behavior is self-destructive, uncalled for, and makes no sense for a grown adult.

Jack had the patience of a saint with Andie, but there’s nothing remarkable about his character. He’s a dull kind of nice. There can be comfort in the safe and average, but we don’t actually know anything about this man! He’s just there.

The story had some thoughtful parts about grief and healing, but it took up way too much focus. This was supposed to be a romance, and yet the romance was non-existent. Why did these two characters fall in love with each other? I have ZERO clue. There was no chemistry between them–I didn’t even care if they ended up together.

The pacing was absolutely terrible. Most of the book is Andie being a jerk to Jack throughout the book tour, and them supposedly reconnecting, I guess. Like I said, there were no sparks between these two, so the storyline fell flat. I was over it by about 20% in, and then it took a month for me to finally decide to power through it, just to write a review. This draaaaaaagged, and I could not wait to be done with it!

As soon as they set the scene for their first meeting, it’s instantly obvious why Andie would be mad at Jack. It was such an agonizing journey getting to their backstory, and once you do, it’s like, okay, so what was the reason?! You did not need to wait so long to tell me all of that, which brings me back to, “why are they still in love with each other five years later?!” They BARELY knew each other. They were just classmates who shared a handful of small-talk conversations. I understand how they might feel connected through their shared experiences from that last day together, but for this whole “romance” story to spawn when they know next to nothing about each other is actually kind of insane.

There was way too much going on in the end, especially with Sara and her relationship, which was honestly random and unnecessary. I didn’t care about the main characters, much less the side ones.

Overall, this book had no rom or com. I did not enjoy reading it, and I would not recommend it.

Thank you very much to NetGalley and Penguin Books for the ARC of this book. This is my honest review. All opinions are my own.

This one was hard to get through. I struggled to want to pick the book up everyday. I can empathize with the FMCs pain, but I don’t understand is why she didn’t seek therapy for her pain from these situations. I guess she thought talking it through with her friend sufficed, but it clearly didn’t in the long run. The FMC comes off extremely selfish when she cuts people off when they are trying to have a conversation about feelings but they have to drop everything for her feelings. That irked me. I also don’t understand why the reason for the MCs falling out was not explained until the 80% mark of the book. This book was not for me, but if you like second chance, coworker, black cat/golden retriever, miscommunication, you might like this better.


Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the eARC

I’d heard mixed things about this book, but I mostly enjoyed it. It’s a pretty straight forward enemies to lovers tale in which Andie a publicist has to go on a book tour with Jack, an author.

We spend most of the book with Andie hating Jack because of something that happened 5 years ago at university but it isn’t until about three quarters of the way through the book that you find out what happened. Delaying that long makes it hard to support Andie’s hatred.

Then the event in question and the aftermath is really dark stuff so it’s both terrible and also feels really out of left field for a sunny yellow covered romance novel.

It was a basic, easy read but a tad boring at times. I got pretty frustrated with the FMC which prompted me to put the book down and take a break before getting back into it again. With the way it was written it could have been a novella as a lot of the unnecessary banter could have been shorten up. Overall it was fine, but wasn't something I'd reach for to re-read.

A really quick enticing read. Very little rom com. This book was a lot more of the main characters processing death and how it affects her friendships and relationships but there is a sweet college back story in there.

Maybe things weren't as they seem? After all every story has two sides and we may have to make difficult decisions. Andie can't believe that after all these years she has to manage the man who ruined her life at university. Somehow they must make things work between them professionally despite their past.

In this book we meet Andie and Jack. Andie is doing her best to achieve more and has recently been promoted at her job to be a senior book publicist. And as luck with have it her first tour is Jack Carlson who she happens to have a past with when she was in college just as her whole world went spiraling out of control. While we know that there is tension between these two the main thing we also realize is that Andie needs to process and get through the grieving she has never truly allowed herself to process with what she lost between university and the death of her father. I was touched by the main character and know how I would process much of what she did the same way. If you don’t mind some tears while you read and think about losing a loved one this is a fun quick read. Thank you Netgalley, Penguin Books, & Bianca Gillam for choosing me to be an arc reader for this book.

Obtained copy after publication date. Significant typos and grammatical errors throughout book. Content wise this was a quick, pleasant read. Personally I thought it took a little too long to get to the backstory for the misunderstanding and then felt semi rushed at the very end.

Witty, sweet and tender. There’s just something about British rom writers that I really enjoy and this was no exception. The characters were fleshed out, the story kept me interested and I loooooved the ending.

💌When I started reading Bad Publicity, I expected more of a "sparkling rom-com" as it's described. What I got instead was a much more melancholy story about grief, regret, and the tricky art of moving on. While the second-chance romance between Andie and Jack simmers in the background, the real heart of this book is its look at loss and the lasting effects, both of loved ones and of the person you once thought you'd become.

💌Andie has just landed her dream job as a senior book publicist in NYC. But immediately, without much chance to adjust, she’s assigned a very high-stakes book tour for Jack Carlson, a blast from her past she’s been spending years trying to forget. There's international travel, close quarters, and a slow-burning emotional unraveling happening, and it all feels very raw and emotional in a way that struck me.

💌The dialogue is sharp and witty, and the humor kept me afloat while I experienced the emotional realism of Andie’s grief. . The writing style and pacing are solid, but sometimes a little slow. I think it had more to do with my expectations going in than a lack of interest. I just wasn't prepared for such a weighted narrative. Despite that, I did find myself drawn in by the interior worlds of the characters rather than the romance.

💌Ugh, let’s talk about Andie. I wanted to root for her and I tried to root for her. But her general refusal to be intellectually curious, her constant self-sabotaging with no awareness, and her emotional unavailability made her a difficult character to want to follow through a full story arc. It wasn’t really "unlikable heroine with growth” so much as just plain insufferable, and it wore on me too much by the end. With her (lack of) character with a late reveal that hits hard, and I think way too late, it’s too chaotic to put together the emotions into a cohesive whole.

💌This definitely isn’t a rom-com, even though the cover definitely gives quirky, cute, fun read. The cover is very cute, but I think it sadly doesn't really fit the overall vibe of the book. The marketing here, I think, sets very different expectations than what the characters and story actually deliver. If you go in expecting a grief-forward, literary drama with some tepid romantic resolution, you’ll have a better reading experience than I did. As a mood reader, I don't really appreciate being surprised by the tone unless it ends up being *more* positive than expected.

Major Tropes & Themes:

- forced proximity, travel
- second chance romance
- workplace romance, writer MC
- miscommunication trope
- grief, loss, unresolved trauma
- forgiveness, being forgiven

You may enjoy if you liked:

- Emily Henry, but want some more emotional punch
- Love and Other Words
- Everything We Left Unfinished by Rebecca Yarros

3 out of 5 stars!

Thank you Bianca Gillam and Penguin Books for allowing me to read this ARC via NetGalley.

Genre: Contemporary Romance
Vibes: 📚✈️💔🌍💘
Rating: 3.5 ⭐
Tropes: enemies-to-lovers / workplace romance / grief and healing / travel / one-bed
⚠️ TW: death of a family member (off-page), cyberbullying, slut-shaming

I enjoyed reading this book, seeing Andie grow and develop as a character throughout the tour/story really was enjoyable. And this wasn't just about her (complicated) relationship with Jack. It really put a second focus on Andie's grief of her father's death and how it's just not something you can get over.

The reason I'm not rating this higher than 3.5 stars is because it's marketed as a romance and I really wasn't expecting so much of the book to be dedicated to Andie's grief journey (although it was a refreshing change from other romances I've read recently). It's not exactly depressing but it does touch on some hard things that Andie went through in her past to explain the relationship she has with Jack.

But, all being said, the ending had me tearing up while I was reading because it really was a perfect "happy for now" for Andie.

I truly loved this book. The plot, the characters. I just absolutely fell in love with all of it! This is my first from this author and I look forward to reading more of her books!

I was excited to read this book because it was based on the publishing industry- but it kind of fell flat for me. In reading other reviews, I agree with the sentiment that this isn't your stereotypical "romance" book.

This story is about Andy- a grief stricken publicist who's landed her dream job in NY- far away from the painful memories of her father and his recent death. Excited for her new job to start, she finds out that the first author she's assigned to promote- Jack Carlson, is none other than her former college classmate with whom she was traumatized by in their romantic past. The story follows them on his book tour across Europe where they are forced together day in and day out to promote his latest novel. Jack tries to talk to her about what happen and Andy continues to thwart all his attempts to explain himself at every turn.

Where the confusion comes in- the story doesn't really focus on the 'enemies to lovers' main idea I think she was going for. It meanders down several other paths- introducing threads of grief, both friend and parental abandonment issues and college hazing/bullying. It often felt like the author had so many ideas she was trying to introduce and then address, that she lost focus on the main story she was trying to tell. And 'conveniently,' everything got sorted out in the end.

What didn't work for me? I am not a fan of when the author alludes to some big, horrible event that happened in the past and keeps reminding you of it throughout the story, only to make you read through 3/4 of the book to find out what happened. In this case, it was your typical misunderstanding that had she let him explain it rather than cut him out of her life completely, would of not been that big of a deal.

Special thanks to both NetGalley and Penguin for this ARC in exchange for my honest review!

Bad Publicity follows Andie and Jack, Jack is an Author and Ex- boyfriend. Andie the publicist for his new novel and Ex-girlfriend and month long trip together. This book has forced proximity, "enemies" to lovers- I would say love to hate to love. If you liked Emily Henry's books I would give this one a try. The Author did an amazing job explaining and capturing grief and hatred while also capturing love in this novel. However it was not my cup of tea because I am not big into second chance romance but if you are i would check this out! I feel as this book should not be labeled as a Rom-Com as it focuses mainly on the grief.

The book was okay. It didn’t seem to have a lot of romance and the main story focused a lot more on grief. To me, this book shouldn’t have been labeled a romcom.

#NETGALLEYARC

2.75 🌟

This was alot. Heavy on the grief but life is like that sometimes right? And then the university drama and the assault that came out of nowhere. The ending was very open ended.

📖😔🏫

Fun, fast-paced, and full of snark. The PR-world backdrop was fresh and the protagonist’s voice popped off the page. A few plot twists were predictable, but the entertainment factor stayed high. A smart, stylish read with bite.

Thank you NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this book.
All in all, it was an interesting read. I have to say that the synopsis led me to expect a lighthearted rom-com with unresolved feelings. Yet, that was not the case.
I really enjoyed the writing style, especially the short chapters and the insight into the publishing industry. Still, I felt that something was missing. The story kept a lot of important information hidden until very late in the book (when we finally learn what really happened between Andy and Jack).
It was also disappointing to read an ending that was not a happy one, which I did not expect. It definitely was not bad, but also not what I was expecting.

For about 6 weeks recently, I REALLY struggled with contemporary books. I'm not sure why but my fantasy mood has been mooding for months and it finally just took over everything. I, however, had Bad Publicity on deck and in an effort to stay on my I-committed-therefore-I-must-try game, I pushed play. And. Guess. What? Five stars! I loved everything about it. I'm a second chance girlie anyway but this one is an immediate favorite. Combine that with an author MC, forced proximity, traveling, and workplace, I just couldn't stop.
Andie's first day of work isn't great. She might be on day one but immediately having to work with her ex across a multi-country book tour is maybe the worst case scenario. Not one to ignore professionalism, Andie girds her loins and packs her bags to make the best of it. Jack may be the worst but giving up her dream job is not going to happen.
I really loved everything about it!
Thanks Penguin Books for the advanced copy. All thoughts are my own.