Clickbait

by Holly Baxter

With the dark comedy and sharp observations of Monica Heisey and Dolly Alderton, a whip-smart and laugh-out-loud funny debut novel about a disgraced, newly divorced journalist demoted to a “clickbait” job at a Manhattan tabloid. The first thing they tell you when you begin your training is never to become the news.  Natasha has screwed up royally. Her mistake isn’t just embarrassing, it's a breach of journalistic ethics that makes headlines and costs her a plum job reporting from London. Back in New York at thirty-five and single, divorced from a kind man she loved, she finds herself at the bottom of the media food chain—a junior reporter at a clickbait factory, rewriting sensational tabloid stories to make them just different enough to avoid lawsuits.  As if her professional fall from grace weren’t bad enough, she’s taken the money she’d saved for a down payment for a home on a charming Brooklyn block with her husband, and rashly bought a boxy apartment overlooking the gray ocean in Rockaway Beach, Queens.  Though seeing friends and family only serves to remind her of what she’s lost, things begin to pick up when her ex-boyfriend Zach moves back to New York and accepts her offer of a spare bedroom. The arrangement is strictly platonic, of course—for him. But Natasha can't help but wonder whether he might be the solution to all her problems.  As Natasha's obsession with Zach grows and her involvement in increasingly dystopian "churnalism" deepens, her worlds threaten to collide in the most cataclysmic, extremely public way.

Genres: Fiction, Contemporary, Humor, Audiobook, Adult, New York, Literary Fiction

336 pages, Paperback

Published August 13, 2024

Reviews

[Bianca · Rating 4 out of 5]

Despite its somewhat unappealing cover (to me, anyway), its brief description prompted me to download the audiobook.

Clickbait was much better than I expected - a fast read, with natural dialogue and witty writing, very topical, especially when it came to Millennial ennui, relationships, and, most importantly, at least in my view, about the state of the press, which is epitomised by its well picked title.
Our main heroine makes a mistake that unravels her personal and professional life.
Lonely, needy, and desperate she tried to find her footing, but desperation causes people to turn idiotic.

Anyway, I won't say more for fear of spoilers. If you're after a smart, fast, modern read - this should do the trick.

[Amy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was one of those reads where not a lot happens and sometimes that works ok for me but it fell flat here. Natasha is really unlikable, she’s actually pretty awful and not in a fun to read about way. She has some serious issues and I feel like those were glossed over and not taken seriously enough. If a story doesn’t have a strong plot then I really need to see some great character development and again, that aspect was lacking for me. I did like the sarcastic humor and thought seeing how her job as a journalist who writes those clickbait articles was interesting but in the end that wasn’t enough for me.

[Emma (of South Woobeewoo) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Clickbait is like if The Guest and My Year of Rest and Relaxation had a baby, and the protagonist of that book-baby actually had a job.

This is a mashup of Alex’s wandering-between-chaoses and need to micromanage other people’s actions/responses to her behavior, and Unnamed MYOR&R Protagonist's ennui and ignorance to the reality of being a horrible person. I know it won’t be the perfect book for everyone (my number one hobby is being an overzealous fan of divisive low-average-rating litfic about gross women), but I highly recommend this and personally think it’s a great addition to the female malaise subgenre.

The only thing I’d say you should know in advance is that Natasha is predatory in a way that may not be implied by the description. She’s disgraced for a very good reason and she clearly has undiagnosed issues (I'm kind of surprised that there's reviews saying her behavior makes no sense or is so awful as to be totally inexplicable; as a diagnosed cluster B woman, Natasha absolutely SCREAMS undiagnosed cluster B woman, and I refuse to believe that wasn't intentional because it's pretty blatant. Nothing she does makes logical sense, and her actions are indefensible, but her actions and the plot progression do make perfect sense for someone with her unaddressed issues, and whether or not you vibe with that sort of protagonist is irrelevant to both her as a character and the realism factor). This is not a downside to the book or the character, but something to be aware of as I don’t think the blurbs quite capture how messed up and, again, predatory, Natasha’s actions will be.

This book is fun, but the setup is not a “lightly cancelled for iffy reasons” thing (read Perfume & Pain if you want that!), and Natasha is not someone we feel happy for or supportive of by the end (in my opinion/interpretation). The situation with Zach, the ex-boyfriend, moving in is deeply uncomfortable, not rom-com-ish. I found Natasha unbelievably frustrating, to the point where my blood pressure would go up, and yet I still wanted to know what happened to her and ‘liked’ spending time with her (the same way I ‘like’ rubbernecking at a car accident), which is an achievement on the author’s part.

And as much as I hate comparing every book in this subgenre to MYOR&R, I think this one is a really good companion to the points of that novel. Baxter hits a lot of the things Moshfegh does, just with more everyday, non-grody prose, and an interesting spin with the clickbait thing. Natasha’s character arc and where we leave her at the end is quite similar on the literary level to that of Unnamed Protagonist. eg., the character believes themselves to have changed and moved on from their behavior, and we even get a moment of thinking that for ourselves, but then a brief 1-2 page, hard-hitting chapter at the very end shows how these characters haven’t changed a bit. Unnamed Protagonist’s 9/11 recording reminds me a lot of the email at the very end of this book; they’re essentially the same literary device, and I think they’re both phenomenal scenes.

Clickbait is a character study: Natasha has been disgraced and heavily demoted for a good reason, and finds herself writing clickbait (and re-writing stolen clickbait) articles in an office where nobody is willing to take her seriously after her professional demise, and they’re constantly laying off fact-checkers and reviewers. Natasha spends a lot of time pointing out how messed up the articles and the practices are—but she just keeps plugging on, because it’s a living. And, really, that’s the part that’s so interesting to explore: Natasha is a bad, manipulative, mildly terrifying person who also just so happens to do a great job reflecting the entire problem with this type of “news”: Nobody cares about the damage unless it’s impacting them and/or their reputation.

Natasha is kicked down by shitty bosses, and she objects to writing some truly horrible articles that she thinks might further hurt her name, but that’s just it; it’s never too far if the story doesn’t make her personally look sketchy. (Nor does she ever seem to realize the gravity of her actual mistakes despite receiving her ‘fresh start’ and partially reconciling with her ex-husband. Yes, she’s doing a good thing with a positive impact now, but she hasn’t fully changed as a person—only partial redemption here, folks, and that’s just how I like my books!)

I will say there were a few things that felt slightly weak / like they could have been fleshed out, and a few that felt strange / like plot holes; some of which were resolved as intentional and some of which weren’t, but it was honestly all overshadowed by how much fun I was having and how badly I wanted to yell at Natasha. I do wish a little more had been done with the direction Miriam’s story takes at the end, but I also ordered the paperback as soon as I put this down, so. There’s that. 4, maybe 4.5 stars. I had a blast.

A sincere thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC and the opportunity to rave about this book!

[Annette · Rating 4 out of 5]

This novel is about work, publishing stories, passion, love, breakups and divorce. It starts out Natasha did a big screwup with publishing a piece and her coworkers signed off on it without reading it. It caused her to be demoted and move from London back to NYC. Her husband Joe separated from her and asked for a divorce and stays in London.
Working and living in NYC Natasha takes in an ex-boyfriend Zack and wants to get back together.
Many things happen in this read and you just go Hunh!

[Ali · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’ve always wondered what kind of people could possibly write all of the morally grey tabloid headlines and the answer is Tasha. The story mostly dragged and not much happened but it felt like an honest portrayal of a woman working her way through life and mistakes. Thanks to Goodreads for the chance to review.

[Mackenzie - PhDiva Books · Rating 4 out of 5]

This one is going to be tough... I liked it a lot. It looks like it should be a rom com or a bit lighter than it is, but it had some serious themes. The main character is highly flawed but I still wanted her to find her way out of the mess she created. An enjoyable story about a woman who made a terrible mistake, and is trying to grow past it.

[ari · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book had potential, but it fell flat. The plot was slow and disjointed. Nothing much happens over the course of the book, mostly due to the main character. Tash is a bad friend, sister, stupid, and honestly extremely unlikeable. I typically enjoy a well-done unlikeable character, but Tash was not one of them. She is extremely harsh to everyone for no reason, and she is delusionally obtuse about Zach. The other characters felt very flat to me. Her mother seemed half-baked in the sense that her full character wasn’t fleshed out - I had a hard time getting a good feel for who she was. Normally, a plot point where an ex moves in would make a book better and messier, but it did neither in this case. I found this book tough to get through, as I was tired of being in Tash’s head as the book went on.

Thank you to Harper Perennial and NetGalley for the ARC.

[Erin · Rating 3 out of 5]

ARC for review. To be published August 13, 2024.

Natasha Bailey is a journalist who has made a big, humongous lapse in ethics. Huge. She loses her marriage and gets demoted from her job as London reporter at large (a plum position) to bottom of the barrel junior reporter in New Yorker, essentially a clickbait writer. And she’s blown all her money on an apartment that is two blocks from the beach in Queens. Plus she’s lost most of her friends, so she’s really living the dream.

But things start looking a little better when former flame Zach takes her second bedroom. But she still hates her job. What’s to become of her?

I’m torn with this one. Natasha is pretty much a miserable person. She would have lost her job in real life and would have deserved it. What she has done is so stupid and so obviously wrong I can’t feel badly for her. She was terrible to her London friend. She’s not great to her New York friend. She is clueless as to Zach. And so her family isn’t perfect? Get in line, sister! Plus, it sounds like her rich mother paid for her college, so she doesn’t have student debt to worry about on top of everything else. My God, she is a whiny bitch.

At the same time, who doesn’t like to look at the train wreck? I was just a bit bummed SPOILER. I kept turning the pages though. Maybe I’m a masochist.

[Sami Danielsen · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book reminded me a lot of Yellowface by RF Kuang. The plots are so different but the narrator's are both awful people who don't even realize that they're doing anything wrong. Natasha is so annoying and constantly picking fights, but has extreme delusions about her relationships. Pathological liar too. It had me hooked because there were things that I couldn't even believe she would have the audacity to do.

[emma · Rating 1 out of 5]

natasha bailey i hate you so bad. like you don’t understand how bad it is for you

i know unlikeable protagonists are a trend or whatever but surely you’re supposed to at least like reading about them. if natasha bailey was on fire and i had a glass of water i would pour it into the atlantic ocean before ever even looking at her.

and that’s not to even mention how bad the actual book is. why do half the things happen? couldn’t tell you! what’s the point? baby there isn’t one

[Cari · Rating 5 out of 5]

Booklist review! Not everyone is going to jive with this unlikable protagonist, but this book is so funny and poor Natasha keeps sabotaging herself--you can't help but feel sorry for her while also rooting for her. She does so many cringeworthy things either without realizing it or falsely justifying them. It's a case study of a thirtysomething woman who can't grow up.

[Chloe · Rating 2 out of 5]

it’s not that i didn’t like this book, it was okay, but i never found myself really wanting to keep reading. i think it just wasn’t for me and i don’t really feel satisfied having finished it.

[Danielle S · Rating 3 out of 5]

As a journalism and communications academic, I enjoyed the commentary on the state of the industry. However, I found myself yelling at the character “no, don’t do that.” I’d love a follow up story on her neighbour or her sister.

[Margaret Retsema · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Clickbait" by Holly Baxter was a totally engaging read and had me laughing out loud to myself in the first chapter and totally emotionally drained at the end. The protagonist Natasha is introduced as a self-aware, flawed, imperfect everywoman.

The plot itself is good, even if it starts out rather basic (newly divorced, did something embarrassing at work, kicked to new crappy apartment). She is demoted from "Real Journalism" to writing clickbait articles – and is struggling to cope. She is the kind of cynical and sarcastic modern millennial whose inner monologue can be hilarious, albeit judgy and occasionally it slips out of her mouth. At first, I liked her- she had similar stream of thought and sense of humor as myself, a woman the same age (35), who has made some pretty significant errors in life. She’s not pretending to be a good person at first, and the author isn’t downplaying her choices as bad luck that happened to a great person. Natasha is a basic woman who has screwed up and is trying to recover whatever dignity she can. She spirals into theoreticals. She fantasizes both winning scenarios (“Maybe he’d ask me if we wanted to get back together over a hard seltzer in the sand...”) and tongue-in-cheek losing ones (“Maybe the guy in the cap would stab me.”) She is self-confident in some ways yet honestly lamenting the fact that she’s drifting away from the flirtatiousness and attention of being a young woman and seeking that validation again.

As the book progresses, we learn more about how she ticks- and it becomes less funny/relatable and more concerning. Her personality seems to regress. I retreated on most of my early approvals of her. I won’t spoil it with too many details, but her character certainly has an arc.

The character of her mother moved me. She is a very specific woman- the modern-day boomer mom who is there when you need her but also maybe can’t help over criticizing? Who needs to knock you down a peg in front of guests and then call you sensitive when you’re offended? Reminds you how hard she worked only for you to be so ungrateful. Also a functioning wine-aholic? Copy my mom, Paste in book. Natasha met her mom where she was at, often responding in a moody and rude teenage way. It all felt so real and relatable.

The maneuvers of the plot itself and side characters are anything but predictable. At 96% I still had no idea how it would end. I’m not sure it ended in what I would call a satisfying way, but I suppose it ended the way it needed to, considering. I started this book in the evening and if it wasn’t for the necessity of sleep, I would have read it in one sitting. I don’t regret a minute of this book and will recommend it to anyone who enjoys a messy narrator.

Thank you to Holly Baxter for sharing this with the world and with me. Thank you for the ARC. I am so on board.

[Heather✨ · Rating 3 out of 5]

The main character Natasha appears manic throughout the novel with some form of a personality disorder; grandiose (everything is about her and how important she is- literally all the time!!), sex drive/fantasies, constant incessant thought distortions - always negative, mood going up and down, constant fear of abandonment from her sister/mom/best friend/world, impulsive with the swimmer (which ruined her career and sense of self), and frequent suicidal ideation. Self awareness would do her wonders. Did I forget to mention how terrible she is at having healthy relationships? I’m shocked she actually has a support system.

A fun dark read nonetheless. I wonder if the author wrote this with a mental health diagnosis in mind….. sprinkle in the alcoholic mom who uses guilt and projection & no father figure, and you have a great case study for a personality disorder to manifest. Hopeful with the ending… maybe Natasha will get out of her own way and pursue what makes her happy? Least she finally left NYC. Anyway a quick fun read!

[abby · Rating 3 out of 5]

CLICKBAIT is about a disgraced journalist who gets demoted to writing the eponymous clickbait after a sexual encounter with a source destroys her reputation and her marriage. To me, CLICKBAIT is about boundaries — between the online sphere and IRL, between people in relationships, between work and personal life — and if, or how, they are maintained.

The protagonist, Natasha Bailey, is a narcissist with delusions of grandeur, something she doesn’t quite grow out of by the end of the book. She’s certainly complex and definitely unlikeable, but I don’t think that’s a detractor. it’s interesting to spend so much time in the psyche of an incredibly selfish person and see how she rationalizes her terrible behavior.

In many ways, I found this novel to pretty accurately portray the present moment in journalism and New York, although I think the criticism of the industry is a little heavy handed and ultimately doesn’t seem to go anywhere beyond “clickbait bad, journalism dead.” Natasha also doesn’t seem to learn anything, and the last paragraph feels unearned to me.

Baxter’s writing is witty and she is great with imagery, but it’s obvious to me that the author is extremely online — not necessarily a bad thing, but it makes me wonder how well this will age with time or if readers who aren’t addicted to Twitter will “get” some of the references.

Overall, I enjoyed this and thought it was a strong debut novel! thank you netgalley &harper perennial for the advance review copy.

[Katie C. · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF at 40%. I hated the main character so much I couldn't finish.

[Melissa Levis · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars rounded up.

At first I was on the fence about reading this one. The main character, Natasha (Tasha) seemed unlikeable (and she mostly was) and the cover kind of turned me off. But I thought what the heck, I’ll give it a go. I don’t regret it as it was a pretty entertaining read, despite being pretty cringe at times. But I mean, Michael Scott on The Office is pretty cringe and we all watched him for years, right?!

Tasha screwed up royally and became THE NEWS. Her marriage is ruined, her career is shambles and she’s demoted - all in her mid-30s. She walks this fine line between beating herself up and kind of feeling like a victim. To me it seems to only semi take responsibility for her actions.

Tasha’s demotion puts her in a content-creation position in basically the troll farm of her publication. But don’t call it clickbait!

On top of all this, her family life is complicated between her mom’s drinking and her complex relationship with her half sister. Not that any of this is rare, but Baxter does a good job of painting how difficult these relationships can be.

The height of cringe is that Tasha moves an ex-boyfriend into her apartment as he “needs a place to stay in the city,”. He is NOT relationship material but Natasha being Natasha, she obsessed over him and tries to gaslight herself into thinking they would make a good match.

I read this one pretty quick & it wasn’t complicated. It’s a good beach/vacation read for anyone who wants to read about a human that’s probably worse than them. Bonus that it had the dystopian elements of how much of the mainstream media works (unfortunately.)

Thank you to Holly Baxter, Netgalley and Harper Perennial for the opportunity to read an early e-copy of this book in exchange for my honest feedback.

[Peter F · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am the type of person who gets physically uncomfortable when I know something horribly awkward is about to happen and there is no stopping it. When this happens on a TV show or in a movie, I usually tend to that "very important" thing I have to do (e.g., put my dish in the sink; turn off a light; you get the idea) in order to make it through that moment.

The majority of this book was that moment. And I loved every minute of it.

I don't know that I particularly like the main character: Natasha Bailey. I'm not entirely sure if you're supposed to like her. My working thesis is that you are supposed to like Natasha, but that you just happen to be watching a part of her life where she may not be showing you her best, thusly giving you permission to say you don't like her. And in that, I think the author was masterful in their craft of character development. The level of cringe in this book is impressive; I would love to see this acted out.

My one pause in the whole story arc comes early in the novel. When you are given the play-by-play of what her she did that went viral and put her on a downward spiral, it feels a little as though it came out of nowhere in the severity of it. To be clear: you saw it coming a mile a way; and yet it still feels as though the action itself didn't feel like it would occur the way that it did. That said, you do not know this character, so who is to really say that what she did was out of character?

What do I want more of? I want Holly Baxter to write Olinka's story.

[Vans · Rating 4 out of 5]

Natasha is a successful journalist who makes an incredibly stupid decision that results, ultimately, in the loss of her career, her friends, her marriage, and what seems like her sanity. Because throughout the entire book, she keeps making stupid decisions.

This is one of those books that makes me incredibly anxious because while it's easy to watch Natasha snowball into more and more trouble, her thought processes are so relatable that I can't help but question what I'm doing with my own life. And one of my only little quibbles with Natasha, and this book, is that she doesn't seem to learn a damn thing or be capable of any sort of meaningful change.

Plot and ending spoilers ahead:
Her relationship that totally isn't at all, with Zach was infuriating. He's a piece of shit. He's not interested. He's gross, she's obsessed, and the secondhand embarrassment I felt reading this develop made me put down the book at one point. But that's always easier to recognize when it's not you involved, right?

The sheer poor-me-energy channeled by Natasha made me want to pull my hair out. And change my entire life.

Despite the anger I felt at various points reading this, it was a very compelling read that I enjoyed. And also wanted to scream at. Big thanks to the author/publisher/NetGalley for the eARC.

edited to add that I kept picturing the swimmer she interviewed as Lando Norris and that ended up being an ENORMOUS MISTAKE!!!!!

[Ojal Maps · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book lives up to its clickbait title—it’s a narrative about a woman who makes an impulsive decision that catches the media’s attention and costs her everything: her job, her relationship, and her city. Initially, she’s consumed by guilt, letting the consequences of her mistake seep into her relationships with family and friends, and negatively affect her work.
The story explores themes we often overlook or downplay in real life—strained family dynamics, complicated romantic situationships, and even death—and how deeply these experiences can affect us. Restarting life from scratch isn’t easy, but with the right intentions and goals, it can become meaningful. The protagonist, frustrated with her career in newswriting, leaves her job and starts working at a nonprofit as a publicist. Through this journey, she realizes that we do have power over our choices, and that taking control of our lives—sometimes through a radical change—can be the first step toward breaking out of the cycle and finding fulfillment.

[Daniela Giraldo · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is not my typical read as I am not a big fan of unlikable protagonists however, the author did such a wonderful job at making this person‘s train wreck of a life so interesting and entertaining that it sucked me right in and I couldn’t get enough!

I frighteningly enough, related to Natasha in so many ways, like how she always let her delusions of what could’ve been run wild.. and being an overthinking neurotic cynic, and how she let her demons get the best of her…. However there is also a lot I DIDNT relate to like how unbelievably predatory and downright cruel she could be.

She is a VERY complicated and flawed character and a messy ass human but god damn, is she witty!!!! I was eating up all her complex thoughts, hilarious quips and disastrous self-sabotaging life choices.

I also loved learning about the clickbait industry.

I definitely loved this book and would recommend to anyone who is in the mood for some fun, dark and disturbing humor which apparently I was, tis the season!

[Audrey · Rating 5 out of 5]

AHHHH
my two perfect 10/10 books this year have both followed a main character with a suspiciously similar job to mine fighting with her sister and falling apart in new york
we don't have time to dissect this
In her debut novel "Clickbait," Holly Baxter has written the most infuriating and delusional main character I've ever read. I'm completely obsessed. this was SO FUN. Natasha's lack of self-awareness is so funny without being overly exaggerated, and she's frustrating in a way that makes you not want to look away (as opposed to wanting to slam the book shut). the Michael Scott of the tabloid world.
also, as someone who worked at a celebrity gossip content mill in a desperate attempt to put my journalism degree to work . . . this is EERILY accurate.
obsessed. not clickbait.

[Kris B · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked this one! The main character is horrible (on purpose), but the story had me laughing out loud multiple times. I feel like the story had a great arc, and never bored me with mundane details. It was also great to have very different side characters (Ellie, Miriam, Footsie and Zach all had very different personalities and they really shone through the page (even if I didn't like some of them!) I am really surprised this doesn't have more ratings. I will absolutely pick up more books by Holly Baxter!

[Brianna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Clickbait comes in strong with a sharp tongue. Our main character, Natasha, is down on her luck. She's going through a divorce. She's finding her footing after being demoted at work, forced to churn out clickbait. I felt for her - until I didn't. Natasha is not likeable. She is so incredibly self involved and deluded that at times I just wanted to SLAP her. But? I couldn't look away. Such a weird read that will stick with me.

Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

[Cankerz]

(I listened to this audiobook which was phenomenally performed by Brittany Pressley)

I’m so curious if the main character was supposed to be likable. I appreciated the story and there were a few likable figures sprinkled throughout. Unfortunately we were stuck with the main protagonist (and I hesitate to use that word), who doubles as our narrator for every self-serving, irritable second.

[Liz Greene · Rating 4 out of 5]

American Psycho for millennial NYC women

We support women’s rights and women’s wrongs in this house. Even if this woman is a psychopathic sex pest who treats everyone around her like shit. Loved to hate her.

[Anitra Ralph · Rating 3 out of 5]

I received this awhile back as book mail from the publisher and the synopsis sounded interesting but then it sat on my shelves for awhile. I picked it as one of my 25 for 2025 books from my shelf challenge - and now I can say....yep, I read that one. Unfortunately, this was a big no for me.

What Worked For Me:
I Laughed Out Loud a Few Times - Some Witty Dark Humor
Behind the Scenes Look at Online News Journalism and "Clickbait"

What Didn't Work For Me:
Such an Unlikeable Main Character
Really Not Any Likeable Characters - except maybe the sister
Not A Lot Happens
Everything Else...

This one just didn't do anything for me. I am all about unlikeable characters but there has to be something about them that makes me interested or root for them or atleast some change that happens - but this one - oof. I just REALY didn't like the main character. Like at all. So this was not a winner for me - but just my opinion.

[Cara · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5

[Fallon Shay · Rating 4 out of 5]

Unlikable Eldest Daughter is my fave genre