DNF at 4%. Too slow and boring. Predictable story line that’s been done multiple times. Overly dramatic main character is difficult to relate to or like.

A book publicist lands her dream job only to discover her biggest author is the man who broke her heart years ago. Now, she must navigate a month-long European book tour with him, battling old wounds and new challenges.

This book is not a romance—it’s a women’s fiction about grief. The romance is a subplot: most of the interaction between the Andie and Jack is superficial, colored by her misperceptions of him. By the end of the novel, we know almost nothing about Jack, or why they should be a couple.

Thanks, NetGalley, for the ARC. This is my honest and voluntary review.

This book was just bad from start to finish. What looks like a romance, but is not. The 2 main characters had zero chemistry IMO, the reveals were obvious (never good). I do not think the author knew what she wanted this book to be... rom-com, overcoming grief, complicated relationships. Pick a lane and stay in it for writing, it makes it more interesting for the reader.

My other huge issue in this book were both main characters. The MMC had zero balls and let the FMC act like a complete bitch towards him, yet he was still into her? WTF?! The FMC really was a bitch and was completely deplorable and unlikeable. When you are writing a fiction book, aren't you supposed to get the readers to like the main characters? The answer is: neither was likeable or interesting.

For all this and more, I cannot recommend this book. I did not like it.

Thanks to Netgalley, Bianca Gillam and Penguin Group Penguin Books for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Available: 5/20/2025

I was really excited for this one, and it had so much promise but ultimately was pretty disappointing. It's also NOT a rom com. Very important to point that out since it's marketed as one.

One of my pet peeves in books is when something happens to the main couple to cause conflict between them and it keeps being referred to, but we don’t find out what actually happened until the very end of the book. This doesn’t happen at the very end, but we don’t find out exactly why Andie hates Jack so much until we’re 75% of the way through the book. When we do finally find out what it is, even despite his explanation, I couldn’t find myself rooting for them to end up together.

Andie is really really REALLY frustrating as a main character. You want to root for her, but she’s so self destructive at times it makes it really hard, especially not knowing the context of why she hated Jack until much later. She’s also so dependent on her best friend Sara to the point that she calls and texts her all the time and expects her to drop everything to deal with her problems, yet Sara is clearly going through something herself. But Andie continues to make any and all situations about herself and her feelings, not really giving a thought to anyone else’s. Jack was treated as strictly the love interest. He didn’t have a ton of backstory or wasn’t developed as much as he should have been.

One thing I really did love though, was the different bookstores they stopped in throughout the book tour. I love bookstores, and I love how each one was explained, I could feel like I was actually there. I also loved the cover of this one! I just wish the story lived up to it.

Bad Publicity by Bianca Gillam

Rating: 4/5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Thank you to Penguin Books, Netgalley, and the author for access to this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Bad Publicity is a great read! A forced proximity, enemies-to-lovers, second chance romance that will leave you feeling all the feelings. This novel does an excellent job at balancing humorous moments with more emotional, angsty, and heartwarming ones.

Andie and Jack, the MCs, are exes who have a rather complicated past. They have to figure out a way to work together since their job calls for it, which leads to them experiencing a multitude of emotions, from significant dislike to attraction. The slow-burn aspect of their romance works really well to build the plot throughout. And, while there is some miscommunication, it’s handled authentically. Following along on the journey between Andie and Jack and seeing how they navigate the complexities of their relationship makes the ending even more compelling.

Also, the way in which Andie's grief is portrayed was navigated very well and further increases the depth/emotion to the story overall. Recognizing Andie's grief and struggles showcases her determination and strength.

Overall, Bad Publicity is a really good read! The plot is interesting, the characters are well written, and there is a good amount of depth to the story.

3.5 stars.

This was cute but lacked depth. This novel follows Andie, a publicist for a publisher and is shoved into a position of being a publicist for her ex Jack, who has just written his first romance novel. The story focuses on Andie's grief and feelings from the past with a scenario we do not learn about until 70% in the book. It's gives miscommunication and to me, that trope is the worst.

Although it wasn't the worst and it was cute, it could have been so much more.

Do I recommend you read it? Maybe.

Bad Publicity was an interesting second chance romantic comedy that explores grief very well. Andie and Jack had a relatively short history in college but the after effects of how they ended have stayed with both of them in the five years since they've last seen each other. There were definitely some funny moments throughout but the book definitely explores a lot of Andie's unresolved issues not only from her relationship with Jack, but the loss of her father right after college and trying to have a better relationship with her mother as they both adapt and move on. Andie was not the most likeable - but Jack's charm made up for a lot. Overall an enjoyable debut novel. Thank you to Penguin Books and NetGalley for the chance to read this novel.

Big thank you to NetGalley for selecting me as an ARC reviewer!

As far as debut novels go, this really wasn’t bad at all. As cheesy as it sounds, I understood the authors vision completely - but it could definitely have used a little more… something.

I’m not sure if I’d really consider this to be a romance novel. More so grief, if I had to assign a theme. There’s a tidbits of romance sprinkled throughout, but in all honestly we don’t get to know Jack (the love interest) very well at all. Surface level at best. So that aspect fell a little flat for me.

I do think the topic of grief was done well and portrayed accurately. I really felt for Andie throughout the entire novel and her mixed emotions in dealing with losing not only her father, but feeling like she was also losing her best friend and mother in different ways.

It was a cute story & a quick read. It definitely felt rushed in the way that I had to keep reminding myself that this story wasn’t taking place in a matter of days, but weeks. I wish there was more to Andie & Jack’s romance story because I like both characters a lot and felt they could’ve been dived into a little deeper beyond the surface level we were given. Overall, I’d definitely read more of the authors work in the future!

Andie was so unlikable and she felt so selfish. The constant reference to what Jack had done without finding out until almost the end was frustrating. Jack was such a nice guy, what on earth could he have done.

I was unable to finish this book and thus will not be posting a full review. Unfortunately, I found the book to be poorly written and the story uninteresting. Thank you for the opportunity and your consideration.

I am not sure how to review this book without sounding cruel. It was not for me.
I found the writing style hard to connect with. I found the narrator, Andie, to have predictable, repetitive interiority. The love interest Jack was giving Adam Driver stand-in and had 0 personality aside from being obsessed with Andie, for some bizarre reason, given how TERRIBLE she was to him. The hijinks kind of forced proximity did not work for me. The POV switch at 80% was so jarring. The whole conflict seemed to have nothing to do with the rest of the story and Andie’s growth. I’m not sure what her arc even was—the dad grief stuff and the past storyline/Jack hatred felt so divorced from one another, it felt like reading two different books.
Count the number of sentences that start with “I” and the number of “breaths” Andie took (spoiler: thrice per page). I was so over her by the end, I didn’t care about the resolution with mom (also, the garden party? Come on), and I skimmed the last ten percent. I did not love this but if you are new to the genre you might enjoy it.

I enjoyed this book, especially the ending. The pacing of this book was a bit off in my opinion, with the first half being spectacularly focused on how mad the FMC was at the MMC. The reasoning why isn't explained until much closer to the end. I actually thought the "why" was one of the most interesting parts of the book, but it was frustrating to not know that. I thought the parts of the book discussing the FMC's grief over her parent's death were good and realistic. However, the other parts of the story worked for me. Overall, a bit of a sad romance novel with a great HEA!

The premise of this book sounded so good. But it took so long to get to the main issue from years ago, only for it to be a miscommunication trope. Not even miscommunication, no communication. That really annoyed me.

Ever want to throw a book across the room? Yeah, that was this one for me. Bad Publicity had potential, but the payoff just didn’t deliver. And to call this a “rom-com” is laughable. You spend nearly the entire book waiting to understand what happened five years ago between the FMC and MMC, only to be met with the classic “if you’d just let them finish their sentence, it wouldn’t have been that bad” trope.

I get what the author was going for—a slow unraveling of past hurt—but it ended up creating more confusion than intrigue, and made it hard to connect with the characters. The FMC, in particular, was difficult to warm up to. Her strained dynamic with her mother and refusal to communicate made her feel closed off and at times even unlikable.

This felt less like a romance and more like a slow, frustrating exploration of grief and unresolved emotion. If you like vague tension and ambiguous flashbacks, this might work for you—but I needed more emotional clarity and character depth than I got here.

I had to DNF this book, and honestly, it was a bit of a disappointment. The main female character, who also serves as the narrator, was tough to connect with. Right from the start, her treatment of her mom made her come off as unlikable, and some of her decisions just felt unnecessarily frustrating.

As I read on, I kept waiting for her to fully address the issues she had with Jack, but instead, there were only vague hints this allowed for me as a reader to come up with my own conclusions that suggested something really traumatic had happened between them. To me, this story didn’t read like a romance at all; it felt more like a journey through grief and the significance of friendship. It’s a shame it didn’t resonate with me the way I’d hoped.

Bad Publicity, the debut novel by Bianca Gillam, offers a romantic comedy layered with themes of grief, unresolved relationships, and professional identify. The novel centers on Andie, a New York book publicist who must engage a high-profile European book tour, with none other than her college ex, Jack Carlson as the featured author. The setup is ripe for tension: Andie, new hired at her dream job, finds herself thrown into a professional whirlwind when she's forced to work closely with Jack, the man who left a signficiant emotional mark during her university years. What should be a career-defining moment becomes an emotional minefield, as the two embark on a tour across Europe grappling with old wounds and new challenges.

From my standpoint, the book was slow to develop. The early chapters did little to pull me in. I found myself immedately frustrated with Andie, who despite landing her dream job, comes across as unprofessional and emotionally immature when faced with Jack on her first day. Rather than showing the resilience and competence expected in such a moment, her aloof behavior was off-putting. Frankly, it made me question her credibility and set a sour tone that lingered throughout much of the story.

The pacing doesn't do much to compensate. The narrative unfolds slowly, with emotional revelations and romantic developments delayed to the point of diminishing their impact. While the story does attempt to tackle grief and personal growth, those themes feel overshadowed by a lack of urgency and chemistry between the leads.

While Bad Publicity may appeal to readers who enjoy introspective, character driven romances with a slow-burn structure, it may test the patience of those looking of sharper dialouge, stronger pacing, or more dynamic protagonists.

What a phenomenal debut about the power of heartache & healing. Then add a good slow burn + enemies-to-lovers into the mix and it’s just about perfect.

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The story follows Andie as she lands her dream job as a publicist, but soon comes to find out that the first author she’s paired to work with is none other than the man who broke her heart 5 years ago while at University. For the next month she has to figure out how to function on tour with the one person she swore she’d never see again.

It starts out slow, but the tension slowly begins to build as you read more and more. I was so on edge and anxious to find out what happened between Andie and Jack to understand why it was fueling her hatred toward him. Then when it was revealed… it’s so heartbreaking to see how easily things can go downhill from just one decision and miscommunication.

This story was such an accurate representation of the journey and battle of grief, and how difficult it can be to break from that cycle. And also how easily it can affect not only the person dealing with it, but others around them as well. Friends, family, lovers, etc.

Follow Andie as she navigates through her heartache and loneliness, and how she learns to listen to and appreciate the people close to her. But most of all how opening up and confronting grief, instead of running and hiding from it, can be the first step to the path of healing.

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4.5 ⭐️ for me. The beginning was difficult for me to get into. I wasn’t liking the characters as much as I was wanting to, but it progressively got better as the book continued.

A huge thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Books for allowing me to read this arc. These are all my honest opinions in this review.

This book has been waiting ever so patiently in my arc tbr queue and I’m mentally kicking myself for not reading it sooner! It was a beautiful tale of love and loss and second chances and moving forward.. my only issue with it is that it ended 😅 I need more!

4 Stars – Fun, Sharp, and Full of Heart!

Bad Publicity by Bianca Gillam is such a refreshing, fun read — packed with witty banter, sizzling chemistry, and a great look behind the curtain of fame and media. From the start, I was hooked by the sharp writing and the relatable, messy characters. Bianca’s style is fast-paced and filled with so much heart, making the story feel alive. While there were a few moments where I wanted just a little more depth or development in parts, overall the journey was incredibly satisfying. Bad Publicity is a smart, addictive romance that I definitely recommend — it’s the perfect book to escape into when you want something sharp, fun, and full of feeling!

Bad Publicity is a heartfelt story that feels much more like a journey through grief and healing than a traditional romance, and if you go into it knowing that, there’s a lot to appreciate.

Andie’s struggle with loss is raw, real, and written with a lot of care. Bianca Gillam clearly poured a lot of heart into showing how messy grief can be, and those moments are where the book truly shines. Jack, the love interest, is a patient, quietly supportive presence, and their shared history adds some nice emotional depth.

That said, if you’re like me and you prefer your romances on the spicier side, just know going in that this one leans much more toward emotional slow-burn and personal growth than swoony chemistry or steamy moments. The romance takes a backseat to Andie’s healing, and while that makes sense for her character, it does mean the relationship feels a little understated.

Overall, this is a lovely, bittersweet story about second chances and finding yourself again after loss. If you're looking for something tender and introspective (rather than high-heat romance), Bad Publicity might be a great fit for you.