I love a good fauxmance story – and they don’t get much better than the new book by Mhairi McFarlane .
If I Never Met You is emotional, romantic and laugh out loud funny in places but at the same time incredibly insightful – not just on matters of the heart but also culture in general.
The story is wonderfully engaging but that’s not the only thing that kept me gripped, the writing is punchy and clever throughout the whole book, which is no mean feat.
Here’s the blurb:
Laurie and Jamie have the perfect office romance
(They set the rules via email)
Everyone can see they’re head over heels
(They staged the photos)
This must be true love
(They’re faking it)
When Laurie is dumped by her partner of eighteen years, she’s blindsided. Not only does she feel humiliated, they still have to work together.
So when she gets stuck in the lift with handsome colleague Jamie, they hatch a plan to stage the perfect romance. Revenge will be sweet…
But this fauxmance is about to get complicated. You can’t break your heart in a fake relationship – can you?
Already a fan of Mhairi’s, I was delighted to learn her new one was coming out – and on New Year’s Day (what a way to start 2020).
This book gets off to an exciting start and never really lets up.
When Dan announces he is leaving, I felt Laurie’s disbelief followed by the devastating realisation that he meant what he was saying, as if it was happening to me. The scenes were perfectly written so that by the time Jamie suggested his plan to help them both I was already rooting for them – and he got better as a character with every chapter.
This was yet another book where I was desperate to see where it ended but at the same time didn’t want to read too quickly because then it would be over. As it happened, it wasn’t really a choice because I couldn’t put it down.
Format: Kindle (the paperback is out in March).
Price: £5.99 (via Amazon).
My rating: Five stars.
With thanks to Harper Collins (via NetGalley) for the ARC in return for an honest review.
After The Rain 
Sounds so fun – esp with “writing is punchy and clever”
😉
LikeLike
Now you see, books like this are often marketed to women but reading your review, I really want to read it! it does sound very funny, albeit I am very concerned about the approach Laurie is taking to her break-up. It doesn’t sound healthy!
LikeLike