Love, Hate & Clickbait

Written by Liz Bowery

Narrated by Michael Crouch

A MOST ANTICIPATED BOOK SELECTED BY BUZZFEED & THE NERD DAILY

"Quick-paced, sharp, and thoroughly entertaining. I couldn’t put it down!”—Helen Hoang

Shake some hands. Kiss some coworkers.

Cutthroat political consultant Thom Morgan is thriving, working on the governor of California’s presidential campaign. If only he didn’t have to deal with Clay Parker, the infuriatingly smug data analyst who gets under Thom’s skin like it’s his job. In the midst of one of their heated and very public arguments, a journalist snaps a photo, but the image makes it look like they’re kissing. As if that weren’t already worst-nightmare territory, the photo goes viral—and in a bid to secure the liberal vote, the governor asks them to lean into it. Hard.

Thom knows all about damage control—he practically invented it. Ever the professional, he’ll grin and bear this challenge as he does all others. But as the loyal staffers push the boundaries of “giving the people what they want,” the animosity between them blooms into something deeper and far more dangerous: desire. Soon their fake relationship is hurtling toward something very real, which could derail the campaign and cost them both their jobs…and their hearts.
 

• Language: English
• Publisher: Harlequin Audio
• Release date: Apr 26, 2022
• ISBN: 9781488213410

Liz Bowery

Liz Bowery writes love stories about terrible people. Her interests include politics, cheese, TV shows you can't stop watching even when it's 3 AM, and playing Among Us with friends. Like most romance writers, she is a lawyer, and lives in Alexandria, Virginia with her family. Love, Hate & Clickbait is her debut novel.

Reviews for Love, Hate & Clickbait

[Kaylee Claire · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I LOVED this! The characters seem like they might be huge assholes at first, but they really grew on me so quickly. It usually takes me 4-6 days to listen to a book this long, but I listened to this over 2 days, that's how invested I was!

[Jenna Vaughn · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Meh, this was just okay. Not horrible, but also not great. Thom is a snobby dude always looking out for number one. Enter the nerdy, annoying coworker, Clay. When their politician makes a public gaff, the staff decide the two of them should become an item to show how supportive the candidate is of LGBTQ individuals... There are so many tropes in this book. Both guys are not very likeable. Gradually they do grow on you but only slightly. Still by the end you want them to work it out but it still never really got there for me.

[Bailey Zander · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

The two characters were so incredibly unlikable and the premise so out there and problematic I just couldn’t get further than 20%. Tie in how one MC is absolutely cruel to the LI (like seriously am I supposed to root for them to get together?? How??) it made me sick. 0 stars.

[Thea Karan · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Truly fantastic, my favorite m/m romance i have read in while ???? the domesticity! ?

[Madison Busi · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I genuinely loved this book. It was sweet, sexy, well written, funny. A+

[Susan Grunner · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

DNF at 27%
I do not like these characters, particularly the psychopath. Either the author has to completely change who he is to make me care (which is a no-go for me, don't change someone's character) or the author keeps his character in which case I have no interest in reading about him.

No thanks. Psychopaths aren't cute. I don't appreciate people who see people as pawns and obstacles.

[alla · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

DNF at three hours into a 9hr book. Gor tired of how one MC kept describing and relating to the other. (Dumb, not good looking, etc) I get it that it's supposed to be slow burn, but after three hours, I'm too sick of Thom to keep going.

[Eliza Lita · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This was sweet. It would have been nice if their relationship wasn't used as a publicity prop, it wasn't very comfortable and I don't think it's a healthy narrative, but the couple was nice to read about and I liked the ending.

[Spork Brown · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

literally sobbing, heart wrenching morally grey characters and a maddening romance

[Merry · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Like the story I did not like that I still had questions when the story was over. I also hated that the sound would go out so I was missing whole paragraphs.

[The Book Report · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

The book breaks a lot of romance must haves in the effort to explore a fake dating trope.
Thom is cold distant and emotionally irresponsible. It's painful to read the callous ways he treats Clay, the faux-friend.
But sadly too many men of his generation actually do treat their partners in this demeaning way.
And we always tell them to leave.
Needed an intensely redemptive ending, which didn't quite unfold.

[Karin Marr · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Narration was well done. I didn't like Thom for at least 9 hours of the book. He mostly took Clay for granted and treated him like crap and because of all that, I felt the ending should have been a lot better. I finished it, so there's that and there were parts that were very well written.

[Kaylee Tuttle-Topping · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I honestly didn’t expect much from this book, and at the beginning I didn’t really care for either protagonist. But all of a sudden, and not even very far in, I was riveted and couldn’t put it down. I don’t really know what to say other than READ. THIS. BOOK. Liz Bowery- I need more Clay and Tom! ?