Book Review: Don’t You Forget About Me.

If I was putting together a course for people wanting to write chick lit, female-led fiction or whatever you’re comfortable calling it, Mhairi McFarlane’s latest book would be required reading.

Don’t You Forget About Me is an exemplar of the genre; it fizzes with energy, it’s hilariously funny and offers some swoon-worthy romance but at the same time is balanced by a poignancy that genuinely made me tearful.

The heroine, Georgina, is feisty yet vulnerable, relatable and likeable and the hero, Lucas, is everyone’s next book boyfriend.

All in all, even without the Simple Minds earworm of the title, it is an unforgettable book.

Here’s the blurb:

It began with four words.

‘I love your laugh. x’

But that was twelve years ago. It really began the day Georgina was fired from The Worst Restaurant in Sheffield (© Tripadvisor) and found The Worst Boyfriend in the World (© Georgina’s best friends) in bed with someone else.

So when her new boss, Lucas McCarthy, turns out to be the boy who wrote those words to her all that time ago, it feels like the start of something.

The only problem? He doesn’t seem to remember Georgina – at all…

I’m pretty sure I haven’t read any of Mhairi’s books before (I’m sure I would remember writing her name, if nothing else) but this certainly won’t be the last.

I love a good second chance romance, particularly one that harks back to first love. It even made me nostalgic for my school years, which is some feat as they were anything but enjoyable (or romantic).

The pace of the story made it hard to put down – in fact Mark had to come in and urge me to go to bed, which was quite fortunate as Freya woke up just two hours later, apparently ready to get up for the day (it was midnight!)

I still got up early the next day to read some more and then did a bike session at the gym so I could carry on (yes, I was tired but it was worth it). If you’ve been reading this blog for a while you will know how much I like sleep so missing out on it is about as high a recommendation as I can give.

Format: Kindle.

Price: Currently 99p (via Amazon).

My rating: Five stars.

Thank you very much to Harper Collins for the ARC (via NetGalley) in return for my honest review.