Bestselling author Mhairi McFarlane returns with another heartfelt romantic comedy perfect for fans of Josie Silver, Sophie Kinsella, or Sally Thorne.
One of Shondaland’s 5 Must-Read Books for March and a Best Romance of 2020 by Amazon, OprahMag, Insider, Buzzfeed, Bustle, Cosmo, PopSugar, and BookPage.If faking love is this easy… how do you know when it’s real?
When her partner of over a … BookPage.
If faking love is this easy… how do you know when it’s real?
When her partner of over a decade suddenly ends things, Laurie is left reeling—not only because they work at the same law firm and she has to see him every day. Her once perfect life is in shambles and the thought of dating again in the age of Tinder is nothing short of horrifying. When news of her ex’s pregnant girlfriend hits the office grapevine, taking the humiliation lying down is not an option. Then a chance encounter in a broken-down elevator with the office playboy opens up a new possibility.
Jamie Carter doesn’t believe in love, but he needs a respectable, steady girlfriend to impress their bosses. Laurie wants a hot new man to give the rumor mill something else to talk about. It’s the perfect proposition: a fauxmance played out on social media, with strategically staged photographs and a specific end date in mind. With the plan hatched, Laurie and Jamie begin to flaunt their new couple status, to the astonishment—and jealousy—of their friends and colleagues. But there’s a fine line between pretending to be in love and actually falling for your charming, handsome fake boyfriend…
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If I Never Met You was a delight to read. Our heroine is Laurie, who has just been dumped by the partner she’s had for half of her life. The partner who tells her he needs to find himself and immediately impregnates his new girlfriend. Painful, and heartbreaking, but not the end of the world, right? Well, unless that ex-partner also works at your law office.
Ouch.
After getting stuck in an elevator with a younger colleague, Jamie, they decide a fake relationship is the best way to get back at her ex-partner and help Jamie attain a promotion. Their faux-mance follows a predictable arc, but it had more depth and honesty than I expected.
Mhairi McFarlane is a new to me author, but I really thought she did a fantastic job on delving into the emotions you feel upon grieving a long term relationship. It was realistic without being too painful or sappy for the reader.
The side characters truly added to the story and kept the story feeling like a light read. My first by Mhairi McFarlane but it won’t be my last.
If I Never Met You by Mhairi McFarlane is an excellent, airy, breezy, and fun romance (some may call it chick-lit). This is the first book by this author that I have read, and I am so excited to read more things that she has written now that I have experienced this awesome book!
I loved the dialogue from the very beginning. It was quick, catchy, and hilarious. I loved the banter and the British colloquialisms. It made it even more endearing to me.
I liked the lead female character, Laurie. She is successful, 30s, spunky, fiery, and holds her own. I love it! I also like Jaime and I think that they both compliment each other well and bring out positive characteristics in one another. I felt the connection and chemistry and enjoyed many lol moments.
I was thoroughly entertained and drawn in to the concept and plot and thought the author paced the novel along nicely. I also enjoyed the ending as well.
It was a great read and has created a new fan of Ms McFarlane out of me for sure!!!!
5/5 stars
Laurie and Dan have been together for 18 years. One day Laurie comes home to a distressed Dan on the couch. Dan then drops a big bombshell that he is no longer happy in the relationship. Laurie figures it’s because they’ve talked and decided they want children. So the thought of children scars Dan. Dan then expresses that it’s “not you it’s me.”
Two months after they split Dan wanting Laurie to hear it from him first, tells Laurie he’s seeing someone else and she’s pregnant.
To get back at Dan she “teams” up with the office playboy Jamie. He needs a girlfriend to impress his new bosses. While Laurie makes Dan jealous. So it’s beneficiary gain for the both of them. All of this started because they were trapped in an elevator.
If you read the blurb you know that Laurie and Jamie are stuck in an elevator lift together. To me that gives me the impression that they are stuck in this elevator for an uncomfortable amount of time where they start to kindle a relationship or their diabolical plan for their own benefits. But the elevator scene barely last a few pages. I figured the book would be centered around what happened in the elevator and how it brought the couple together. ( like half the book was them in this elevator for at least several chapters)
When it comes to authors writing, this is a pet peeve for me, but I hate when they write ha ha or heh he for characters laughing or just a point blank ha before the next sentence. It makes me cringe.
Story line was just plain to me. It seemed to stick to one thing and dwell on it. Didn’t keep me turning pages, left me wanting to hurry up and finish just to get it over with.
The author is becoming one of my favourite with each book that I’m reading.
The story is interesting and I finished it in one sitting. The fact that the heroine is older and my age made me more curious about the book and what’s to come.
After a long time relationship, she finds herself alone with no perspective on the future and honestly, I found this depressing. A younger man, one of her job colleagues makes an appearance and from now on they have to work together for a project. This means a great friendship will develop but there are hidden things or truths that I didn’t know how to read faster to see the outcome of the story.
I’m always looking forward to read more books by the author.
If I Never Met You is easily one of my favorite comic novels in a while.* Author Mhairi McFarlane is endlessly witty and deceptively sophisticated, and her sixth book is full of exactly the kind of quotable, wry social observation that I love. My kindle overflows with the highlights to prove it.
The beginning chapters, however, knocked me around a bit. The heroine got knocked down in life, and I felt it. I was embroiled and invested in the story emotionally and in terms of wanting to know what comes next. That’s a testament to the author. But it was a little sadder than I expected or wanted when I started reading, so it took me a while to commit.
That said, I thoroughly enjoyed this novel. I like Mhairi McFarlane’s writing a lot. I’ve ready all but one of her previous books. And even so, this book turned out to be so much more than I expected: smart, funny, poignant, thoughtful and thought provoking, and just a little heartbreaking at first. At the center of it all is Laurie, a biracial woman in her mid-thirties reeling from the dissolution of a long term relationship with a man she’s been with her entire adult life and thought was the love of her life. Making matters worse, her ex is also a colleague at her law firm, and the whole office is abuzz with their news. In the wake of that breakup Laurie strikes up a friendship with Jamie, a slightly younger coworker who’s having his own relationship issues and they enter into a face-saving fake dating arrangement they hope will benefit both their reputations. Laurie’s feeling more than a little bruised. She wants to rid herself of the stink of rejection and maybe get her own back at Deceitful Dan (her ex), and Jamie wants to be taken more seriously and play down his playboy rep. With all three parties being attorneys at the same law firm, things get complicated and contentious very quickly.
What makes the book really special is that it adeptly and authentically engages with the issues around race and gender that Laurie would face as a woman of Afro Caribbean heritage in predominantly white male environments. McFarlane excels at depicting how Laurie navigates the world and the breadth and depth of all different types of love in her life. Platonic love in friendship is particularly important. Mhairi McFarlane tackles the social complexities with insight, sensitivity and humor and still never loses sight of the romance.
As an woman of Afro Caribbean heritage these subjects are all too real and personal for me, and I was not sure what to expect, so it was wonderful to see how well McFarlane handled these aspects of the story while still making me swoon. The hero, Jamie, gets better and better as we get to know him. But I wouldn’t consider this a story about a reformed rake. He’s not an alpha, or a beta. Or a cinnamon roll hero full of gooey goodness. The truth is more complex. He’s human. And that’s what makes it work. Highly, highly recommend.
*Disclosure: I received an advanced review copy of this via Edelweiss and I’m so glad I did. These are my wholly honest unexpurgated thoughts.
Laurie and Dan have been together since their freshman year of college. It’s been nearly 20 years, now they’re both successful lawyers at the same firm and it feels as though their life is pretty great, even making plans to have a baby. Out of the blue Dan drops a bomb that he’s unhappy, he doesn’t want the life they’ve built together or kids. Reeling from this news Laurie’s not sure how to navigate anything from here, especially the office. Unfortunately for her, Dan’s not done making her miserable, when the office gossip mill gets wind of Dan’s new girlfriend’s pregnancy Laurie decided it’s time for payback. Thanks to a broken elevator, she hatches a plan with Jamie the office playboy to help him get the promotion he’s after, and help her make Dan feel a fraction as miserable as he’s made her.
I have so many feelings about this amazing story. It’s such a beautifully well-written book. It was a bit of a slow build, going through the entire messy breakup and fallout with Dan and then rebuilding trust with Jamie. I was so broken for Laurie and what Dan did to her, I think the grief of going through something like that was accurately portrayed. Laurie was such a relatable character for a woman in her mid-30’s, feeling so unsure of herself now that her long term partner doesn’t want her anymore, the fear of stepping out and trying to find someone new, the comfort of a mid-range mascara and tinted lip balm. I adored Jamie, he was so sweet and kind with tons more depth than I initially expected. I loved how he encouraged and supported Laurie, never being intimidated by her drive and personality, helping her and giving her the courage to stand up to her dad. Another aspect that I really loved was Laurie learning who she was after spending a large chunk of her life devoted to helping Dan advance, learning that she’s just as capable and deserving as he is. I could honestly go on about all of the things I loved about this book forever. It was so heartfelt, realistic, poignant, and yet amidst all the drama and difficult subjects talked about, it was hilarious, there were several points were I was absolutely cackling. I absolutely can not recommend this book enough.
This is my first book from this author and after reading the blurb I was more than excited to read it. However, I was completely disappointed. The thing that killed this story the most for me was the flow of it. The flow of the story was too slow making everything seem to happen in slow motion and I was over it. The characters were okay but they were lacking something for me and I can’t pinpoint exactly what it is or was. It’s hard to enjoy the characters when you don’t enjoy the story and I had to force myself to finish it. The whole story dragged. There are so few things that make or break a story for me and for this one it ABSOLUTELY was the pace of it. I had really hope to enjoy this story but it just didn’t work for me.
If I Never Met You by Mhairi McFarlane a five-star read that will help you get unstuck. This is a great story and once again Mhairi McFarlane proves her talent at writing, writing funny, insightful and honest stories that will make you think as well as smile. If any other author had spent so long on the build-up, I feel I would have gotten a little bored, but this author managed to keep it real, keeping the characters so believable that you couldn’t miss a line. Even the secondary characters are well plotted and play a part, they aren’t just window dressing or filler, they all play their own supporting role. This is a very modern love story, in that love isn’t always the goal. Laurie was the rom com lead of our time; she is a real woman and one you will feel for and understand.