I was really looking forward to this one given the blurb.

To me, this is a really slow burn as the author leaves little hints of the past, wrapped around the book's present.

We know SOMETHING happened the pair years ago but we just don't know what straight away. With a flashback from both parties, we are brought up to speed about 75% of the way through.

The concept was good though.

(I rounded up to 4 from 3.5!)

"Bad Publicity" by Bianca Gillam is a sharp, witty take on the chaotic world of PR, media, and scandal. Gillam’s prose crackles with humor and insight, and the protagonist's journey through professional and personal upheavals is both relatable and entertaining. The novel’s satirical edge adds a refreshing layer to the storytelling.

However, the plot occasionally feels predictable, and some of the secondary characters lack depth, making parts of the narrative less impactful. While enjoyable, it doesn’t quite reach the heights it aspires to.

A fun, light read for fans of workplace dramas and media satire.

A slow burn with a bookish plot. Bad Publicity included all the best tropes: enemies-to-lovers, forced proximity and second chances, along with the intricacies of grief and personal growth.

“Five years ago, Jack broke my trust and set off a chain of events that completely unbalanced the world I’d built for myself”

Andie lands her dream job as a publicist in New York. But as fate would have it, her first big author is a man she had planned to never meet again. Jack is promoting the release of his first novel, requiring a book tour around Europe accompanied by, you guessed it, his new publicist.

After a short fling with Jack whilst together in university in Edinburgh, which ended in disaster, Andie has been harboring a lot of unresolved feelings and has refused to come to terms with the death of her father. In Andie’s case, avoidance is the best tactic and floating through life by repressing all of her issues is the key. What better way to do that than to move to the other side of the world? That is, until she is forced to confront her issues after being partnered with the one person she despises.

The reason for my rating not being 5 stars, is because I spent most of the book angry at Andie. Professionalism aside, she is nothing but horrible to Jack, whilst he works had to remain civil and continue on the tour. But the author redeems herself by bringing to light the reasoning behind Andie’s hatred, and in a way, it becomes more justified.

NY, London, Berlin and Paris. Each city brings a host of new issues for the main characters, from the difficulties of continuing with a difficult partnership, to the unraveling of what is soon to become a rekindled romance.

Andie begins to realise that her repressed grief is causing the rest of her life to fall apart, and until she can deal with the loss of her father as well as the dramatic events of her time at university, she can’t begin to mend the parts that are broken.

“The thing no one ever tells you about losing someone you love is how guilty you’ll feel about every single moment you spent with them where you could’ve been more attentive, more loving.”

Jack is nothing short of a gentleman, and as the reason for Andie’s hatred is unclear through the majority of the plot, he is hard not to love as one of the main characters. Hence, the loss of a star in rating due to Andie’s awful attitude.

But as the story comes to light, both Andie and Jack’s professional relationship begins to take a turn in that perfect slow-burn, enemies-to-lovers twist.

Thank you NetGalley and Bloomsbury for the arc in exchange for an honest review!

Light easy read, no big twists, but very enjoyable.
Thanks to Netgalley for this ARC in return for my honest review

I started this one with high hopes and was very excited but for me it fell flat. This book was more about grief than about romance.

We follow the story of Andie and Jack who met and hit it off right away but nothing came of their relationship due to a horrible event in both their lives. They meet 5 years later and the hatred is still very fresh on Andie's mind along with immense grief. We follow them across the world when their paths cross as Andie becomes Jack's Book Publicist who accompanies him on his book tours and interviews.

This book is more about grief and handling past trauma than a romcom to be honest! I could not get on with the FMC at all and I found myself eye rolling quite a lot, well to be honest I was the same with most of the characters. But Andie I felt was self-centred and quite petty. We didn't find out about the big event until about 75% through and honestly wanting to know what happened kept me reading on.

Thank you so much for the opportunity to read and review ⭐

I thoroughly enjoyed this book from start to finish!
The characters are likeable and it’s nice to see them evolve throughout - especially the FMC.
As someone who has lost a parent I really connected with the FMC and understood her emotions. Bianca has written about loss and grief very well
Thank you for the opportunity to read this!

Bad Publicity really hit the sweet spots for me!
I love an enemies to lovers, a will they, won't they tale. I also adore books within books or set in the publishing world, so this was perfect. There was also the 'road trip' element which always appeals.
Trauma from the past keeps it from being fluffy and Andie's grief was poignant too.
Deliciously romantic, sparky and fun with some real depth.

Thank you to NetGalley, Bianca Gillam and to Bloomsbury for the opportunity to read this advanced copy.

I think this author wanted, or maybe needed to write a book about grief, but was told that romance sells better, so she wrote, or tried to write a romance instead.

However, there was very little romance in this book. The main story was about Andie’s struggles with her grief, and with the mysterious horrible something that Jack had done when they were students. (We only found out what it was at about 75% of the book😩). The big reveal made me roll my eyes because of how contrived the whole thing was and how little “history” Andie and Jack had. (Also, why was there absolutely zero comeuppance for the villain??)

Since the book was about Andie, Jack’s character was not fully developed, and as a result the romance felt flat. There was barely any chemistry and the focus was on their “history” instead of the present or a possible future.

Overall too depressing to be enjoyable.

I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

Tasked with publicising her hated ex boyfriend's book, can Andie act professionally? With believable, well written characters a thoroughly enjoyable read.

Your wonderful new job entails you going a publicity tour with an arch enemy. Romantic involvement year's ago at university but ended not only with betrayal but humiliation.
Can the survive a book tour on multiple continents and time zones?
Complicated by the death of dad and unresolved grief.
The way forward, together or seperate
Enjoy I did

Thank you, Bloomsbury Publishing Plc, for this early copy of Bad Publicity!

I was super excited to dive into this book—everything about the premise was right up my alley! Unfortunately, I had a really hard time finishing it.

By 50%, I had completely lost engagement, and I even considered DNFing it several times. 😔

My Main Issue: The Protagonist
While I always appreciate a story that explores grief (a theme that can elevate a book when done well), the execution here fell flat. The protagonist came across as whiny and petty, so self-centered that she couldn’t really connect with or understand the people around her.

Example: The subplot where she assumes her mother and her new partner want to start gardening? Ridiculous.

Even though she did improve by the end, it was too late for me to care. I was already so disconnected from her that her development didn’t resonate.

The Other Characters
Jack, the MMC, was decent—sweet, kind, and likable—but totally overshadowed by Andy, who felt like a walking disaster. Andy just couldn’t catch a break in my opinion (and not in the good "flawed protagonist" way).

The Writing Style
I found the prose extremely dull, bogged down by long-winded descriptions and explanations that added little to the story. Meanwhile, the interesting parts—like Andy’s trauma—were skipped over or delayed far too long.

By 65%, we still hadn’t uncovered the key details of her backstory:

-The argument with Jack.
-Hints of a possible assault or violent past with another boy.
-The sudden death of her father.
-The detachment from her mother and why she cannot open up with her.

When the explanations finally arrived, they felt so flat they bordered on laughable. 😕

Final Thoughts
While the book had potential, the pacing, character development, and prose left me frustrated. I wanted to love this, but it just didn’t work for me.

⭐ Rating: 2/5

Fine, funny but cliched. This is an American story of two exes navigating unexpectedly working together on a trip around Europe. The gradual reveal of how their relationship ended is done quite well.

So I felt this book started off a bit slow and a little weak and it took me a long time to really get engrossed in it. I was really struggling to know how many stars to give this book. However the last quarter of the book I felt was much better it got a lot stronger and actually quite emotional the ending was pretty nice too.

I really hate to give books low ratings, but I struggled to finish this one.

First I have to say that I love bookish books, and the premise sounded too cute to resist, plus the enemies to lovers and forced proximity tropes are right up my street, but I just couldn't get behind Andie as a character (did anyone else think immediately of How to Lose a Guy in Ten Days?). I found her wholly unlikable, and at times so incredibly awful to Jack, and the other people in her life, that it was quite inexcusable. I don't like it when characters/authors (or people generally) use grief as an excuse for bad behaviour. You should still be expected to treat people with kindness and consideration, it's not enjoyable to read about a character who lacks any self awareness and mistreats the other characters throughout the entirety of the book. I found her immature, selfish and childish, which was in contrast to her job and the level of self importance she tried to convey.

I also didn't like that she spent the majority of the book painting Jack as this horrible person, when really she was the one acting horribly (this tension and the 'thing that happened between them years prior' is drawn out far too long, unnecessarily). This is also a pacing issue, and I felt like the book could have been much shorter, and it probably should have been edited down, particularly to get rid of Andie's endless pontificating and wallowing.

Again, I really do hate to give low ratings to books but I can't say I'd recommend this to anyone.

This started out with do much promise but I found it hard to connect and like the main character. In saying that it was an enjoyable read with a nice easy plot so I think it would make for a good holiday read .

Bad Publicity is a lot of fun! As a publicist myself it was fun to read about a publicist character and an (unrealistic) event tour with an author. It’s lighthearted and doesn’t take itself too seriously but it’s not the best romance I’ve ever read.

This was a really great rom com - i was invested in the characters, it had a great plot and strong storytelling, and it was very hard to put down. Andie works for a publishing company and has to accompany successful author Jack on his next book promotion tour. The problem? Andie and Jack have a history from university, and now Andie can’t bear to be around him.
I overall really enjoy this book and would recommend to anyone wanting a joyful romance

I enjoyed this story and found it easy to read. The story line was promising and reading about the book tour was great. If I’m honest, I didn’t love the main character - she did over repeat certain bits and was quite selfish and I almost had lost interest in what happened in Edinburgh by the time we actually found out what happened in Edinburgh. Sometimes you can overegg the pudding! But it was eminently readable and I did like it enough to finish , I think I’d give it 3.5 stars if I could.

Two exes, one month on tour, what could possibly go wrong??

The book follows the journey of publisher Andie and author Jack, who are on a book tour throughout Europe - they have history together and have to try and put their feelings aside and work together

This is an uplifting take on publisher navigating her way through grief while living in NYC, thousands of miles away from family. The grief definitely added some moving scenes through the book, have some tissues just in case!! Really enjoyed getting to know these characters

Tropes:
Slow burn
Book about books
Enemies to lovers
Forced proximity
Workplace romance

An enjoyable will they won’t they romance novel which charts a work trip where ex-lovers are forced to get along while a book is promoted in NY, London, Berlin, Paris and Dublin. The crescendo of the story comes when they finally talk about what split them apart.