diff --git a/src/components/UI/LikeButton.tsx b/src/components/UI/LikeButton.tsx
index d53744b..701368a 100644
--- a/src/components/UI/LikeButton.tsx
+++ b/src/components/UI/LikeButton.tsx
@@ -6,12 +6,13 @@ import React, {
 } from 'react';
 
 import { SlLike } from 'react-icons/sl';
+import { VscLoading } from 'react-icons/vsc';
 
 import '../../styles/UI/LikeButton.scss';
+import '../../styles/animations/loading-icon.scss';
 
 import involvement from '../../services/involvementAPI/involvementAPI.ts';
 
-/* eslint-disable no-undef */
 interface LikeButtonProps {
   itemId: string;
 }
@@ -20,6 +21,8 @@ const LikeButton: React.FC<LikeButtonProps> = ({ itemId }) => {
   const [wasLiked, setWasLiked] = useState(false);
   const [likeCount, setLikeCount] = useState(0);
   const [error, setError] = useState(false);
+  const [loading, setLoading] = useState(true);
+  const maximumLoadingTime = 5000;
 
   const likeBtn = useRef<HTMLButtonElement>(null);
 
@@ -35,6 +38,15 @@ const LikeButton: React.FC<LikeButtonProps> = ({ itemId }) => {
     }
   }, [wasLiked, styleButton]);
 
+  // ! terminate the loading state after a certain time.
+  // ? this is to prevent the loading state from being stuck.
+  // * and show the user the like button again.
+  const setLoadingToFalse = useCallback(() => {
+    setTimeout(() => {
+      setLoading(false);
+    }, maximumLoadingTime);
+  }, []);
+
   interface Like {
     // * disable camelcase since 'item_id' is the name of the property in the API response.
     // eslint-disable-next-line camelcase
@@ -45,12 +57,23 @@ const LikeButton: React.FC<LikeButtonProps> = ({ itemId }) => {
   const updateLikeCount = useCallback(async () => {
     const likes: Like[] = (await involvement.getLikes()) as Like[];
 
+    if (likes.length === 0) {
+      setError(true);
+      // ? at this point the loading spinner is still showing.
+      // * so terminate the loading state, to show the error message.
+      setLoadingToFalse();
+      return;
+    }
+
     const likedProject = likes.find((like) => like.item_id === itemId);
 
     if (likedProject) {
       setLikeCount(likedProject.likes);
+      // ? at this point the loading spinner is still showing because of the initial API request.
+      // * so terminate the loading state, to show the like button with the like count.
+      setLoadingToFalse();
     }
-  }, [itemId]);
+  }, [itemId, setLoadingToFalse]);
 
   useEffect(() => {
     updateLikeCount();
@@ -64,26 +87,54 @@ const LikeButton: React.FC<LikeButtonProps> = ({ itemId }) => {
       setLikeCount((count) => count + 1);
     }
 
+    if (error) {
+      // ? at this point, there was an error already, so user will attempt to like again.
+      // * so trigger the loading state again.
+      setLoading(true);
+      // * after some time, terminate the loading state, to show like button again.
+      setLoadingToFalse();
+      return;
+    }
+
     const likePosted = await involvement.postLike(itemId);
 
     if (likePosted === 'error') {
       setError(true);
+      return;
     }
 
+    setLoading(false);
     // * after posting a like, update the like count.
     updateLikeCount();
   };
 
+  if (loading) {
+    return (
+      <button
+        type="button"
+        className="like-button text-hue-rotate"
+        ref={likeBtn}
+        onClick={handleLikeSubmit}
+        aria-label="loading"
+      >
+        <VscLoading size={20} className="like-icon loading-icon" />
+      </button>
+    );
+  }
+
   return (
     <button
       type="button"
       className="like-button text-hue-rotate"
       ref={likeBtn}
       onClick={handleLikeSubmit}
+      aria-label={error ? 'error' : 'like this project'}
     >
       <SlLike size={20} className="like-icon" />
 
-      {likeCount > 0 && (
+      {/* ? when the API likes ary comes empty, likeCount will be 0 */}
+      {/* * so show the error message that was set at the likes.length conditional */}
+      {(likeCount > 0 || error) && (
         <span className="like-button__text">
           &nbsp;
           {!error ? likeCount : 'Error'}
diff --git a/src/styles/animations/loading-icon.scss b/src/styles/animations/loading-icon.scss
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..c120ca0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/styles/animations/loading-icon.scss
@@ -0,0 +1,16 @@
+.loading-icon {
+  animation: spin 1s linear infinite;
+  -webkit-animation: spin 1s linear infinite; // * Safari and Chrome.
+  -moz-animation: spin 1s linear infinite; // * Firefox.
+  -o-animation: spin 1s linear infinite; // * Opera.
+
+  @keyframes spin {
+    from {
+      transform: rotate(0deg);
+    }
+
+    to {
+      transform: rotate(360deg);
+    }
+  }
+}