This book had great characters (including some side characters I’d like to learn more about), some laugh out loud moments, surprises, clean romance with great chemistry, and a happy and satisfying ending. I had a little trouble engaging with the main character, Brynn, at the beginning of the book but it was worth hanging in there for her full story and to meet charming Sebastian, her love interest. This story served as a reminder to me that many people are dealing with painful things and they are wearing masks in order to protect themselves and allow themselves to function. It also made me aware that I don’t have to be perfect in order to be loved. I enjoyed it and gladly recommend it! Rating: 4.5. I received an ARC from Thomas Nelson Publishing Co. via NetGalley and this voluntary review contains my honest opinions.

Brynn is just finishing her first week in a prime new breakfast TV job when a hot mic moment threatens to derail everything she has worked for. The small town girl persona that she and the network have crafted for her is derailed when she disparages her home town to her cohost – not knowing that the ad break is over. Her only route to redemption is to head back to that small town and try and make amends. Her host in Adelaide Springs is newcomer (well it’s all relative) Sebastian, a former superstar reporter who disappeared from the journalistic world in mysterious circumstances. Not that Brynn knows that. It’s hate at first sight. Or is it?

The fact that the cover says “A Love Story” on it should give you the clue that it’s not, and it’s a full on grumpy-sunshine enemies to lovers sort of thing. I read it in about 36 hours and although the journalist in me had a few issues with it, they mostly didn’t bother me at the time! I also love a small town romance – especially when they feature someone returning after a long period away so if any of that floats your boat usually then this might be a good one to try. I haven’t read any of Bethany Turner’s previous novels but based on this I would happily read more if they came my way.

Thank you, Thomas Nelson and NetGalley, for the advanced copy of Brynn and Sebastian Hate Each Other.

Baby! If that is hate, sign me up!! Heartwarming, charming, a big old hug! Reminded me of Virgin River. Characters had their flaws but recognized it. The plot was *chef’s kiss*. The romance was sweet. Not much more you could want.

Brynn is a morning show host when she accidentally sticks her foot in her mouth about her hometown, Adelaide Springs, during a live broadcast. Sebastian is a former journalist who has moved to Adelaide Springs for the slower life. When Brynn sets off for her apology tour, the last thing she expects to find is love. Will Sebastian be able to help Brynn win back the adoration of Adelaide Springs or is Brynn destined for failure?

The story was extremely slow and the biggest slow burn I've ever read. It felt like it took forever for the main characters to get together and there was hardly any smut to make it a little more interesting. I was hoping for a little more on that end and I didn't get it so this wasn't my favorite.

I would recommend this one to anyone who likes kissing only scenes and mostly plot in their romance!

I enjoyed most of this story. The small-town was well-done, and I loved those characters. I wasn't a huge fan of Brynn, but I did like Sebastian more. I felt that the romance was rushed. The second half of the book was more enjoyable for me.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Thomas Nelson-FICTION/Thomas Nelson for sharing this ARC copy with me in exchange for my honest thoughts.

Brynn is recovering from a newsroom faux pas and she needs to visit her hometown to apologize and regain the title of "America's sunshine". Sebastian, a member of the city council, is in charge of babysitting her while she is in town and the two butt heads from minute one. However, they are more similar than they think. Can they overcome their hatred and their first impressions to see something more? Really loved this story! Fresh idea, lovely characters.

Unfortunately, this book didn't seem to be for me. I didn't think it was bad writing necessarily, but it did not hook me in the way I wanted it to. The premise was cute, but I just overall did not enjoy it and ended up DNFing.
I might have pushed through, but the publisher's logo was on every page due to some formatting, which interrupted paragraphs, and that made it even more frustrating to read.
Thank you to Thomas Nelson and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I found this pretty unreadable. The writing was uncomfortably bad and the characters were abysmal. Everything about this book was annoying.

Brynn and Sebastian Hate Each Other is Bethany Turner’s latest clean romantic comedy. It is a stand-alone story about two news reporters at different stages of their careers who meet and have many obstacles in their path to love. It’s mainly an opposites-attract, enemies-to-lovers tale that goes behind-the-scenes of a network news show.

36-year-old Brynn Cornell has just been promoted from the third hour of a popular morning show, Sunup, to the first two hours. It only took her 10 years to reach the cohost position, pretending to be America's Ray of Sunshine in the big Sunup happy family. At the end of her first week, there are technical problems with the cameras, and she is recorded on-air confiding to her cohost that she’s not really a country girl like the network claims she is. Instead, she’s from a tiny mountain town, Adelaide Springs, Colorado, which she badmouths.

The network sends her back to Adelaide Springs to bolster her image and convince viewers that she’s not a “mean girl”. She’s supposed to apologize to the town’s citizens and get some feel-good footage. Unfortunately, Adelaide Springs holds painful memories for Brynn that she’s not ready to face.

Sebastian Sudworth was a globetrotting award-winning reporter until he vanished from the public eye. He hid out in tiny Adelaide Springs, working odd jobs and posing as a scruffy mountain man. When Sebastian is hired to drive Brynn around town, Brynn is afraid that he will be able to see through her fake sunny persona. But she plans to beguile him in order to maintain her image and save her career while she faces down her past.

Both Brynn and Sebastian are likeable and engaging characters with good chemistry. It’s nice to read a story about a successful career woman who isn’t intentionally looking for a romantic relationship. Brynn and Sebastian Hate Each Other is a rich character-driven story that contains no profanity or sex scenes. The behind-the-scenes information about Sunup makes the reader feel like part of the Today show or Good Morning America broadcast. This story can be enjoyed by all readers and would make a good Hallmark movie.

I received a complimentary copy of this e-book from NetGalley and Thomas Nelson Publishers. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

My first Bethany Turner though I have all her back catalogue on my TBR - and with how amazing and totally captivating this storyline and writing were, I will be grabbing those right away! I completely loved this book and the characters and just everything about it!

It read like a fantastic movie plot and I was so engrossed in it (I had audio and ebook so I read along, totally immersed), that I had a hard time stopping when I had to do reality things. I could see this being done as a Hallmark or Lifetime movie.

The bickering and banter between Brynn and Sebastian as she tries to repair her public image after badmouthing her hometown on-air (due to a technical problem at the news studio), while not wanting to be in her hometown and not knowing who he is and why he is living in that town… oh, this book is “chef’s kiss”! One of the best small town, enemies to lovers I’ve come across!

I most definitely recommend this book to romance readers around the world, enemies to lovers fans or just plain excellent writer fans alike!

I received an advance review copy from NetGalley and Thomas Nelson, and this is my honest feedback.

Small town enemies to lovers is a trope I’m an absolute sucker for and this book was no exception. Sebastian was great from the first moment we’re introduced to him, no notes-Bethany Turner clearly knows how to write a male lead. The way she wrote Brynn, however, was interesting. I genuinely disliked Brynn for the first half of the novel and I found myself completely baffled that I was not only expected to like her by the end of the story but also want to force her presence on Sebastian. First half of the story Brynn deserved nothing from anybody, she was abrasive, rude, self-centered and had to be told to be a decent person. The second half of the book thankfully corrected a lot of her behaviour and made her more real. Aside from how truly aggravating Brynn was at the beginning, I enjoyed this novel a lot. Thanks Netgalley!

Small town hero, Brynn, says some horrible thing about the town where she grew up. The worst part is that these are the people who loved and raised her. Plus, she said it all on the live news show where she is an anchor. Now she must return to the same small town and show America that these people forgive her and still love her. All to save her news career. Enter Sebastian, newest council member, and former news journalist. They get off to a rocky start when he is given the job to chauffeur her around town. The question is can she win the town back over and more importantly, win Sebastian over?

This book is a typical enemies to lovers trope. It was a slow read at the beginning and even slower for me to care about these characters. Brynn is horrible, and Sebastian is a little too "wonderful". Once the other childhood friends are introduced into the story, I enjoyed it more. Overall, the storyline of Brynn's reunion with the town evoked more emotion than the Brynn and Sebastian storyline. So as a rom com it was a fail for me. The ending was cute but a little over the top and kind of out of left field. This would have been a better story if more emphasis was placed on the relationships of Brynn with the town.

What a fun story with just enough emotional depth and romance to give you all the feels! I absolutely loved the banter between Brynn and Sebastian, and who wouldn't fall for their community members and the scenic beauty! Brynn stuck her foot in it more often than not, but the Author did a brilliant job of crafting her as an endearing character, even when she was being a bit of an idiot! Sebastian was intriguing and I appreciated that there was a lot of mystery surrounding his past which was slowly uncovered.

Thank you to Author Bethany Turner, Thomas Nelson publishing and Netgalley for providing me with this ARC. I was entertained the whole way through and would happily read about this town and their traditions again!

Brynn and Sebastian Hate Each Other by Bethany Turner is an absolute delight! I have really enjoyed this author’s books in the past, but this book is truly her best work yet. I adored the characters and would love a sequel to hear more about what happens next for them. The depth of the character development was truly amazing. I loved the witty dialogue and the ending— well, I don’t want to give any spoilers but this could not have loved it more! I’m thinking of re-reading this book as an audiobook. It would be perfect! I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher with no obligations. These opinions are entirely my own.

Thank you to Bethany Turner, Thomas Nelson and NetGalley for an eARC in exchange for my honest opinion. Brynn and Sebastian Hate Each Other comes out September 5, 2023.

I’m going to be honest, getting into this book was very hard. The way Brynn talks about her hometown and also acts to the people she left behind was unenjoyable. I also think that the enemies portion of this book was intense like to the point that I didn’t know if the lovers portion would happen. That being said in the second half of the book while Brynn was on her redemption arc/character growth period the book becomes more enjoyable and pretty good. You get the sense that you needed the first uncomfy half to get to the ending. Also the epilogue was very sweet.

Such a cute enemies to a lovers' story. I'll admit that at the beginning, Brynn drove me a little batty with her personality. The progression she makes and then the connection with Sebastian helped turn all that around. She showed so much growth.

The backstory, banter, and love connection was so good. Set in a small town, it all made for a great rom com.

The audio was also so great. Love the narrator and the way she portrayed the characters.

Thank you @netgalley @seebethanywrite & @thomasnelson for allowing me to read and listen and give my honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley and Thomas Nelson Books for the complimentary copy of this book for review. All opinions expressed are my own.

I absolutely loved the beginning of the book, as I have a history in TV news and morning shows. While I was fortunate enough to not have too many divas to work with at the local level, Brynn did remind me of one or two who only saw our city as a steppingstone to bigger jobs in bigger TV markets. She’s not very likable, and for the sake of the book, she has to be that way for this to work.

While Brynn’s story is told from the first person, Sebastian’s was told from the third person POV, which made it harder to get to know him. The other problem I had with the Sebastian chapters was that there was so much superfluous stuff in there I found myself skimming through those chapters, wanting to find out more about his mysterious past and getting through the fluff.

The enemies-to-lovers trope makes sense, as Brynn bashes her old hometown on national TV and returns to the village to make amends. Sebastian found this little town to get away from the limelight and doesn’t want Brynn to make a spectacle of the tiny town or its people. They clash from the start.

Overall, I thought this was a cute romance if you can stand Brynn long enough to get to her redemption. Both she and Sebastian have trauma in their past lives that they need to reconcile with and get past in order to have a relationship, and there’s a healthy growth between the characters and within themselves. While I don’t think this is a 5-star book, it’s a solid 4. Recommend!

Brynn Connell is at the top of her game! She's a sunny morning show host and has the world at her feet! Until... she trash talks her hometown LIVE on air unbeknownst to her!

Back home she goes to make nice with the people she grew up with and to show the world that she's not a horrible person behind scenes.
Here she meets Sebastian, the only new resident to the small town in 20 years. A loved local but NOT well liked by Brynn.

Sebastian is given the role of chauffeuring Brynn and her camera man around town trying to rectify Brynns good girl image.

There's lots of banter in this enemies-to-lovers relationship. We quickly go from insulting one another to 'liking' one another. It's definitely a he-falls-first but she's not far behind.

Together Brynn and Sebastian discover parts of themselves that have been hidden away and it's enjoyable watching it all unfold.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC of this book.

Brynn Cornell is a morning talk show host who radiates sunshine, at least her viewers thought. She is caught on a hot mic complaining about how her hometown is full of a bunch of half-witted nincompoops and it turns out to have some potentially dire consequences for her career. The station at which she works asks her to spend a week in her hometown in order to redeem her image.

She and her co-worker meet Sebastian Sudworth, who has been assigned to their point of contact while they are there and has a past in journalism that ended abruptly. Sebastian has been living in her hometown for the last six years, working odd jobs. Things start out shaky between Brynn and Sebastian and remain that way for a little bit, but walls begin to crumble between them, showing each other a side that they never thought they would have seen or predicted.

The book had a good start and I really liked how Brynn was portrayed as this relatable, smart, and sarcastic career woman (she was at least relatable to me). However, I got this sense that she was a selfish princess, and it was a little off-putting. Frankly, I was getting Alexis vibes from Schitt's Creek. In fact, some of the book reminded me of Schitt's Creek and the dynamic between rich and high-maintenance and blue-collar, hard-working, and family-oriented in a small town.

I didn't like how the book kept switching between first person and third person. While I really appreciated the perspectives between Brynn and Sebastian, I would like to have had Sebastian's perspective in the first person. I didn't necessarily get a sense of how he was feeling with the narrator telling the story. I also wish the pacing of the story was quicker. The tension was broken between Brynn and Sebastian after 50% of the story was completed, and it just seemed abrupt. The tension didn't build; it was as if they all of a sudden started having feelings for each other.

I did appreciate how the author concluded the book. I like how Sebastian got his redemption arc, albeit for something that didn't seem that catastrophic to begin with and that Brynn and Sebastian lived happily ever after at the end.

I was slightly underwhelmed, but it wasn't one of the worst books I've read. I think if a reader is looking for a redemption story with a little bit of romance, this would be the book to choose.

Reading this book felt I was on a roller-coaster. Fantastic strong opening when Brynn, a morning show co-host (America’s sunshine) is caught in a hot-mic flub where she trashes her small home-town in Colorado. The producers quickly send her and one cameraman back home for a week to apologize and re-earn her spot back as America’ sweetheart.
Sebastian is a former international Pulitzer Prize winning journalist recluse (retired after a traumatic story) who relocated to this newly insulted small town that he has grown to love. He doesn’t respect Brynn as a ‘real’ journalist and is furious when he must be her guide for the week. The enemies vibe was so natural and fierce that I honestly wasn’t sure I could even envision these two falling for each other. Brynn came across as cold, lacking genuine remorse, and as a complete snob. But somehow, the author really drew me in for a ‘Brynn redemption’! I love the trope of ‘returning home’ to face your demons, and this one was poignant. Readers will learn about Brynn’s traumatic childhood and more about Sebastian’s early retirement and their hearts with thaw. I really adored the climatic conclusion and the endearing epilogue!
Readers can expect: news anchor/journalist careers, grumpy/sunshine, enemies to lovers, small town charm, PTSD & family trauma, and no third act breakup. Thank you to NetGalley and Thomas Mercer publishing for my arc in exchange for my honest review.