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.

I really enjoyed this novel. A lovely, enemies to lovers romance story, admittedly full of cliches but enjoyable regardless. A perfect beach read. Lovely characters.

I absolutely loved this book !!! Enemies-to-lovers and slow tension is my favourite trope.

I loved Jack (the MMC) and Andie (the FMC). Sarah…. not so much - but what are best friends for, hehe !! Andie’s story follows her through her grief journey and at some points it was so hard to read as it is SO relatable. I loved how Bianca portrayed this in such an amazing way.

Bianca’s writing is so good, it is so easy to follow and so vivid. It’s so easy to imagine the story play out.

The only thing I wished for was a better ending and I didn’t like the miscommunication trope (but that is just my personal preference) !!! </3

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Bianca’s team for sending me this arc !!!

Gillam’s Bad Publicity vividly depicts a book tour in such a fun way that it truly makes you want to travel. The slow burn between Jack and Andie feels natural and nice. This workplace romance feels like it definitely should be adapted into a film. It is easy to picture Leo Woodall as Jack (not exactly sure why). Overall, it was a very pleasant read. Great job, Bianca. Thank you NetGalley UK and Bianca’s team for the arc.

The story is well written and has elements that deal with grief and how this impacts relationships that demonstrates how deep rooted traumatic events can be. I didn’t really connect with Andie as the main female lead, she came across as very selfish and hated on Jack an unnecessary amount. I understand they had a disagreement but that was five years ago and the hatred is very one sided. I liked that Jack’s side of the story is finally revealed to the reader, but this took a while to get there. I liked Jack’s character and I would have liked to see more of his character pov and how his feelings for Andie developed as a mature adult rather than a university student. The forced proximity of the book tour was promising but nothing really happens, it’s mainly Andie moaning and being horrible to Jack for no real reason aside from something that happened years ago. I did find the inclusion of swear words to be unnecessary and didn’t add anything to characters or the narrative, but that’s a personal preference. I think swearing should be used for impact.

Overall, this is well written and crafted but lacked high stakes or building chemistry that I would have expected from a slow burn / enemies to lovers romance.