Thanks to netgalley for the ARC! I’d probably do 3.5 stars on this one because it took a loooooong time to get the full story of why Andie hates Jack, but it was cute & enjoyable overall, despite what I felt was a bit of an overreaction and avoidance on the part of the main female character (if you see my other reviews, I loathe a weak female who makes bad decisions, and this one was teetering). I like when a romace doesn’t have a lot of graphic sexual situations but shows a good attraction and some fun back and forth. I always enjoy a good female friendship like Andie has with Sara (although them referring to each other as A and S a lot and Andie seeming a little too needy and dependent on Sara got in my nerves a bit). The background hate story seemed believable for the most part. Although I like to think there’d be some possibility of a follow-up to the situation now that they’re grown and capable and one famous adult(s), it works. Overall, it’s a cute read, especially if you’re a sucker for an enemies/hate to lovers romance, but don’t look for a ton of depth to the story. FYI sexual situations, adult romance, profanity

Bad Publicity by Bianca Gillam was an okay read for me. It felt like it was going to be something a little different from what I got but it was still a good read. I liked the story but I felt like it took a little too long to figure out why the characters didn't like each other and it was almost to a point where I found it a little frustrating. I'm glad I pushed through and finished it because it was better.

I'd say 70% of my reaction to this book is a case of misaligned expectations. From the cover (color/art) and blurb's focus and tone, I expected a lighthearted enemies-to-lovers romcom with travel hijinks, fun banter, and an HEA.

It would be more accurate to describe this as [women's] fiction from the POV of a protagonist who is grappling with grief and the aftermath of a defining life event 5 years ago. The male protagonist played a role both in that life event and in the present-day plot, but I wouldn't go so far as to call him a love interest or this story a romcom. As for the hijinks, they only serve to fuel Andie's low self esteem, and the banter skews toward arguments--when she doesn't cut it off. There's too little rom and way too little com for those labels to apply.

I'd probably give this book 3 stars if I didn't share many readers' frustrations with the pacing and the protagonist. Andie's coping mechanism of cutting off any conversation that makes her remotely uncomfortable left me feeling like there's an entire story happening within the plot that we as readers can't access because we're limited to her POV. I hesitate to label her unlikable because she's so clearly hurting, but we don't see another side of her until the flashback at the 70%+ mark. After that point, the growth feels rushed and convenient rather than genuine.

Ultimately, this all feels realistic for a novel depicting someone steeped in grief. The writing drew me in and kept me reading. If I had gone in expecting a tender examination of grief, the way it sends us into survival mode, and limits our ability to engage with those around us, I would have said it mostly succeeded.

Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Bianca Gillam's *Bad Publicity* is a delightful slow burn rom-com that expertly balances tension, grief, and self exploration. The story follows Andie, a passionate book publicist who unexpectedly reunites with her college nemesis, Jack Carlson. Forced to work with him to prove herself worthy of her dream job, their chemistry crackles from the start, setting the stage for an engaging journey of second chances and the complexities of past relationships.

Gillam shines in her portrayal of Andie's internal struggles and professional aspirations. Despite her flaws and missteps, you find yourself rooting for her to work through the things that are holding her back in life. The dynamic between Andie and Jack is both tumultuous and playful, with sharp dialogue that keeps readers invested in their journey.

The plot leans into familiar rom-com tropes while also giving the reader strong character development and clever twists which keeps it fresh and engaging. Overall, Bad Publicity is a charming read that will leave you rooting for Andie and Jack as they navigate the fine line between love and rivalry.

ARC provided by NetGalley

The grief theme was a lot for myself in this book. It wasn't quite as light hearted as I had hoped it would be but I still enjoyed it. I def had to take breaks while reading though as it was a bit tough to get through at times as I am a bog mood reader. Overall I thought it was good just fair warning on the grief aspect.

This was a super cute enemies to lovers story! It was filled with complicated love lives, grief, unsure friendships, family drama and so much more. Andre truly gets to explore herself and figure out who she is throughout this story and it will leave you with tears in your eyes.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the arc of this book. All opinions are my own.

Romance with a heavy focus on grief and loss (in several different ways). Featuring elements of (workplace) enemies to lovers and second-chance romance, this story will resonate with readers adept at burying tough feelings to deal with it later. A character study and eventual growth are the main focus here; the romance feels a bit less significant, leaning mostly on a vague sense of chemistry rather than a relationship on the part of both MCs. Readers should consider the significant on page discussions of grief (loss of a parent, misogyny & violence, lack of safety) that present strongly for the FMC. Overall, a dramatic and poignant story of growing through grief.

Thank you NetGalley and the publishers for the ARC!

Rating: 3.5 stars

Bad Publicity follows Andie, a publicist, as she starts her new job. What she doesn't realize is that she has to work with Jack, a man from her past and an accomplished author. To make things worse, they have to spend the entire month together on a book tour.

Andie is a relatable FMC. I related to her the most when she was so damn stubborn when it came to getting along with Jack. I feel like sometimes we don't want to face things head on, so we come up with work arounds that don't end up working. Jack is adorable and very likeable. I found myself wanting to know what he was thinking. I would have loved more of his POV.

I liked the enemies to lovers aspect, however it took too long for the reader to figure out why Andie hated Jack. It was a bit frustrating trying to piece together what he did. For the record Jack is not a serial killer. Perhaps some sort of flashback towards the beginning of the books or something that alludes to what he did would be helpful.

Overall, a good read. I'm excited to see what else Bianca Gillam comes out with.

While I loved the plot and concept for this book, it just felt SO long. Most of the book leads up to finding out what happened between the two main characters while they were in university and while it was a major betrayal, I just think the writing hyped it up too much. I think that if the author decided to explain the main conflict earlier on in the book, the pacing would have been so much better because I truly had no idea why the FMC would hate the MMC so much until about 80% of the way into the book. Overall, besides this I enjoyed the plot (I always like a story about book people) and I really liked the way we saw character development from both main characters in multiple aspects of their lives. I think maybe this could have benefited from a dual POV so that we could get insight into the MMC's feelings toward working with the FMC again. In the end, I enjoyed this novel and I would be willing to read something else from this author.

This is Bianca Gillam's first novel, and I am so impressed. It was an easy one day read that had me sucked in from the beginning. It follows the enemies to lovers trope that I enjoy so much! Initially, I was wishing the author had given the reason they became enemies much earlier in the book as I had it on my mind constantly, but once it did happen, the timing of it made perfect sense, and I completely understood the why there!

I will definitely be keeping my eyes peeled for future works! Brianna, thanks so much for giving me such a fun read to start my week with!

This had a twist that really changed the tone of the book into something more soap-y than it originally felt- and honestly at the end, I wasn't even sure that HEA was realistic for our heroes. Plot threads were introduced and dropped, and the heroes were so antagonistic, it dampened any chemistry with the leads. There were were parts of the book that were lovely, especially the reflections on grief.And I did read it quickly, but the twist is a REALLY tough one to wrap one's head around. Since it happens at the end of the book, the resolution also felt rushed, and the reunion felt forced. I wanted to like this more.

I’m really torn on my rating for this book so I think I’ll go with 3.5 rounded to 4. The first 75% of this book, I really disliked the FMC. She’s was childish, petty, self-absorbed and unprofessional. The last 25% of the book, she had a lot of growth. Actually so much growth and clarity that it felt unrealistic but at least I liked the character. If the whole of this book had been like the last part, it would’ve easily been 5/5.
As other reviewers mentioned, the handling of grief was very well done and I appreciated that.
The big, terrible thing that happened 5 years ago was a little bit of a letdown but maybe that was because of the build-up to the reveal. Was it a terrible thing? Yes. Was it so terrible that you are horrible to this other person 5 years later? I’m not so sure. There are definitely people to be mad at about the situation but I’m not sure it’s the MMC (at least not to that level).
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

Bad Publicity is about a couple of book industry workers with a tense past that end up working together again. Since I am a sucker for enemies to lovers, I thought I would love it.

But strangely it was a little difficult for me to get through it at first, mostly because our main girl Andie just came off so angry and I just couldn’t understand why. I mean obviously the conflict can’t be revealed so early in the game, but it was hard to like someone who spend so much time hating another person without having reasons for it, and considering the other person was the potential love interest it made it even harder for me not to stop reading.

Though at the end I am glad I soldiered on, since the last quarter of the book was actually very cute, I just could have done with much less animosity.

As a book lover I loved how bookish this was. The characters were so cute and felt so real and the storyline was hilarious.

Not my favorite romance at all. I *know* this is genre fiction, but the entire plot felt so contrived. The characters didn't have much chemistry. The final reveal section as to what happened five years ago (that had been hinted for many many chapters and thus had a huge buildup) wasn't well executed--I wasn't a huge fan of the flashback and the single Jack POV chapter felt jarring and also unnecessary--it's very obvious he is very in love with Andie and I didn't need the chapter to see that. The smut was the epitome of "generic sex scene" and didn't do what sex should do in a book--deepen our understanding of plot and character, as opposed to just...existing by formality. I would have preferred either nothing at all, or something more meaningful. Andie's avoidant tendencies also got pretty annoying / one-note by the end. That said, all the bookstore descriptions were fun--loved the mention of Albertine for example.

What an amazing book! I could not put this one down. The pacing was excellent, there was a mysterious backstory pulling me along, and I found the characters interesting and complex.

I liked Andie, for all that she clearly needed to get out of her own head a little more, and Jack was a great foil for her, a believably charming author who helps Andie realize how she needs to change and grow. Andie is feisty, with a delightfully salty vocabulary where Jack is concerned, but also really competent at her job. The pull between managing her life with professionalism and detachment versus dealing with her feelings and facing the messiness of life felt so real.

Gillam kept the characters tight, adding just Sarah and Andie's mom as secondary characters, with enough background characters to fill in the world of publishing and book tours without overwhelming the reader.

I think my favorite part was the back story; Gillam managed to capture just the right way humans react in tough situations, as well as the equivocating we all do. The backstory was realistic, heart-wrenching, and so true-feeling. It perfectly set the foundation for the rest of the character interactions throughout the book.

I really liked this book and cannot wait for more from Bianca Gillam!

Okay, this was cute. I really enjoyed the writing and the characters. Andie was super likable but at times selfish, Jack was intriguing and Sara was a really good friend. In fact, the Andie/Sara friendship was the best. One of the best parts of the book.

Andie lands her dream job in NYC as a book publicist. She is so excited until she finds out her number one author is Jack Carlson, a guy from her past whom she has some MAJOR beef with! Andie, against her better judgement ends up traveling to Europe with Jack to promote his newest novel.

There is so much buildup that at times it really dragged for me. It was almost a DNF because honestly I felt myself straying too far away. I wanted to know why there was a problem between Andie and Jack. What their history was, what happened...

It was taking WAY too long to get to that climax. I think I was enjoying their sweetness too much to give up on them so I powered through!

Filled between the pages was friendship, heartache, grief and second chances. I am a sucker for second chance romance.

I was really happy with the way Andie came full circle and learning to work through her feelings with her personal life.

I also really loved the flashback scenes of what went down 5 years prior and the turmoil between Andie and Jack. (Andie comes to find out the truth of what actually went down and the reader finds out alongside her)

I think I would have been 4 stars if it didn't take me so late in the book to unravel the hate. The whole thing was a little silly but I could actually see the whole thing happening on a college campus.

This was long at times but overall a really sweet read!

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC!!!

3.5 stars for me - This was very much an enemies to lovers romance, with some added layers of second chances and grief. I think this book was a very easy read, I quickly was engaged and invested in Andie’s story. I was a little frustrated that it took so long to find out WHAT happened in the past between Andie and Jack, but we did ultimately find out. I think the grief in this book was beautifully done, and while I was first annoyed with Andie she definitely grew on me after processing her grief and recognizing her selfish ways. The character development in Andie was great, and I loved Jack throughout. I wish we got to see more of Andie & Jack together, but ultimately very much enjoyed this book and would recommend!

Thank you to Penguin and NetGalley for the eARC. My opinions are my own.

Super thankful to have received this ARC. It was an easy read with nice tempo and very down to earth writing but I did feel like it was too short. I enjoyed majority of this book except that I didn’t get more of Andie and Jack’s love lives. I wanted even deeper into what their future held. (Maybe a second book would help with that ☺️)

This book also brought tears to my eyes especially with how she handled her grief of losing her father. I could genuinely feel all of her emotions after reading through the pages and it was done so eloquently…very very touching!

BUT I NEED MORE!!!!!

My thoughts after reading the ARC is that the book gives off vibes similar to “Book Lovers” and “Just for the Summer,” which I really like. It starts off a bit slow, and there are moments where the characters argue without much background, which can be a bit frustrating. However, the buildup really gets going, and the tasteful smut is a nice touch! The main character can be a little self-absorbed at times, but I found the second half way more engaging. I definitely wish there was an epilogue to tie things up nicely, but overall, it’s an enjoyable read that has its charms.

4/5