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.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC! I was intrigued by the enemies-to-lovers, second chance premise of this book and mostly enjoyed the story with a few hang-ups. The beginning started off slow for me until the two main characters left on their book tour and their chemistry started to kick off. I think too much time was spent setting up their backstory without doing anything to advance the plot.

Starting with the good, I liked how the book explored grief and family relationships in addition to the romance between the two main characters. I thought it added an extra layer that made it stand out from other books of this genre. My main issue was that you don't figure out the reason for the bad blood between the main characters until 70% or so into the book and it's a classic misunderstanding that gets wrapped up a little too quickly. The other major plot I disliked was Andie's relationship with her best friend Sara. They were constantly treating each other poorly and both seemed like selfish friends and I felt like the author was trying to force the friendship for the sake of adding secondary characters. I think a lot could've been shaved off of that part of the plot.

Overall this was an enjoyable read and I'm excited to see what the other comes out with next. 3.5 stars!

Books about the book industry always attract my attention and a librarian and as someone who used to work in the publishing industry. That said, this book gets a middle grade 3 stars from me. There were parts that were very fun, but the FMC was holding such an amazingly strong grudge against the MMC that it made me just sad for her. We all have to learn how to let go and move on and Andie just seems to want to keep a hold on her anger and pain. I loved the parts with Jack, but Andie annoyed me.

Very cute book! I liked the growth of Andie's character at the end of the book. It was a fun, easy read. I look forward to reading more books by Bianca Gillam!

Andie has finally landed the perfect job as a publicist for a publishing agency in New York City that she is sure will change the trajectory of her life. One little problem, her first author is Jack. Jack and Andie have history and it is isn’t a sweet history, it is a loathe-fueled history that Andie has tried desperately to escape.

Now the pair are stuck together on a European tour for Jack’s new fiction title. What could possibly go wrong?

Andie struggles with grief and letting go of past trauma throughout this story and I felt that Gillam did a great job sharing the many ways grief can control someone’s life.

Looking forward to my reads by Gilliam in my future!

Bad Publicity focuses on Andie and Jack, an author and publicist with a past while they are on tour promoting Jack's new book. Andie is reluctantly going along with everything, making Jack look as good as possible, despite the years long grudge she's held. Jack wants nothing more than to change Andie's mind, but is incredibly respectful of her boundaries while they grow closer. Wedont know if we get a happy ending or not right until the very end of the book. Do they or don't they? Read it and find out!

There are a few slow moments here and there, but ultimately it was still a nice story that touches on sexual assautl/harassment later on in the book, so be wary if that's a trigger. It's not super explicit, but it's there.

This is a slow burn but not in the way that builds tension. I felt kinda adrift with a love interest the FMC doesn’t like but we’re not sure why until the very end of the story.

That sort of bland feeling doesn’t help the story progress. And I struggled to stay interested.

I also wasn’t a huge fan of the ending (or the spice).

I very much enjoyed reading this book. A first for me by this author and I will be adding her to my must read all her books list!

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a copy of the eARC in exchange for review. I enjoyed the premise of this book being within the literary industry, but didn't personally connect with the characters much. A quick, easy read - 3 stars.

“I always feel less lonely around books… does that sound insane?”

Thank you Penguin Books and NetGalley for the opportunity to read an early copy of this book. All opinions are my own.

This story includes a mix of tropes -- second chance, enemies to lovers and a ton of forced proximity. Although the premise is fairly straightforward, Bad Publicity is also a story that explores the delicate fragments of grief that are gently woven into every aspect of our lives when we lose someone that we love. Processing that grief is hard and the emotions that become tied to those events are often difficult to untangle.

There are parts of this story that I really enjoyed but my one criticism is that there is a huge build up to the thing that Jack did to hurt Andie all of those years ago. But when that story is revealed, what happened doesn’t seem to warrant the anger and resentment that Andie has held onto all these years. I wish there was more time spent unpacking what happened as opposed to describing the hatred that Andie felt because in the end she forgives Jack without ever really dealing with her anger.

Overall, there were lots of wonderful parts to this story and I would still recommend reading it especially if you can overlook some miscommunication and enjoy books that include travel as the characters visit so many fun places on their publicity tour!

I liked the overall theme of the book but felt like the main character was a bit abrasive and I couldn’t find myself rooting for her! Some things didn’t make sense but I also felt like the ending could have been a bit more realistic for the plot!

Bad Publicity by Bianca Gillam
Rating: ★★★☆☆

Cue the chaos, grab the popcorn, and get ready for ALLLL the drama because this book was PURE ENTERTAINMENT.

Bianca Gillam’s Bad Publicity is an absolute ride—like being on a rollercoaster at a media circus and realizing halfway through that the drama isn’t stopping anytime soon. The story follows Libby Bell, an ambitious publicist working to save a sinking celebrity account (a faded pop star with more scandals than hits), all while dodging her very own PR disaster. If you love messy protagonists, spicy headlines, and the occasional laugh-out-loud mishap, this one’s for you.

Libby is a trainwreck you can’t help but root for. She’s smart but flawed, sharp-tongued but also wildly relatable in her quest to prove she’s more than just damage control. And the supporting cast? ICONIC. From the deliciously unhinged client to the love interest who gives major slow-burn vibes (IYKYK), every character added so much spice to the story.

And let’s talk about the media world Gillam creates—it’s messy, chaotic, and SO FUN to get lost in. The plot twists? Chef’s kiss. Just when I thought I knew where things were going, BAM, scandal city.

BUT. (Because there’s always a “but,” right?) There were a couple of things that didn’t quite hit for me. Some of the over-the-top drama bordered on too ridiculous, making it harder to stay fully invested in the stakes. And while I loved Libby as a character, her constant missteps got a teensy bit repetitive—it was like, girl, can we PLEASE learn from the last PR disaster? 😅 Also, the romance (which I wanted to love) felt underdeveloped—almost like it got overshadowed by the whirlwind of media mayhem.

That said, Bad Publicity literally had me GIGGLING, cringing, and gasping at every turn. It’s the perfect binge-read for anyone who lives for juicy stories with flawed-but-lovable characters.

Would I recommend? 1000%. Just maybe don’t read it at work because your coworkers WILL ask why you’re laughing. 😏

#Bookstagram #BadPublicity #BiancaGillam #BookishChaos #PRGoneWild #FlawedProtagonistsAreTheBest #ReadItForTheDrama

More of a 3.5 stars as I did find it very sweet and endearing! But some of the choices the author made I didn't love. Thank you so much for the arc copy I would definitely give it another read when it's released!

I found this book to be very endearing. When I first realized that we were not going to be told right away what Jack did to break Andie's trust, I was frustrated. But frustrated in a "I can't wait any longer" way. But the wait was worth it in my opinion. The catalyst event was well thought out and I really did get the pain on Andie's side but then it was nice to get Jack's point of view as well. I tend to read much darker themes but this was a refreshing "lighter" read for me, but that doesn't mean there wasn't angst and passion. The parallels in Andie's relationship with her mom and best friend and even Jack were well thought out and described and it all made sense when the author tied it back to losing her father. There were some grammatical errors, but very minor and did not deter from the story at all which is why I did. It let that affect my 5 star rating. Over all this was a great book and I would definitely recommend and read more from this author!

This is a fabulous contemporary romance from a rising star. Love books set in the publishing world. Only one note: trigger warnings for sexual and physical harrassment related to a surprisingly dark late-in-the-book reveal. Thanks very much to the publisher!

A cute story. I felt the main female character was a bit stand offish but liked her. I also enjoyed the story taking place in several different locations across the globe.

I love a good enemies-to-lovers trope and this certainly delivered! I wasn't expecting such a heavy storyline surrounding the "enemies" portion of the book, but when we finally got to it, I thought it was written really well. It made me understand why Andie was SO angry and rude to Jack, but I wish that could have happened a little sooner because the "lovers" portion didn't feel like it got the pages it deserved. Overall, I thought the author did a really great job with mixing grief topics with more light-hearted themes. I didn't love Andie in the beginning, but by the end, I was able to empathize - I just wish she would have seen a therapist so that her character development could have happened sooner (for her own sake).

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC.