This book was the perfect push and pull of love and hate! It had amazing characters and the pacing was just the perfect build-up of tension!

While this book was very much a pretty standard fake dating shebang, it was the little nuances that set this book apart and really made me love it. There is a bucket load of kickass feminism, and calling-out of micro aggressions around race and gender, plus solid female friendships that make the story feel especially real and satisfying. Laurie was a great main character, I really related to her and found her actions believable. I also literally laughed out loud multiple times so this book definitely gets the seal of approval from me. I enjoyed that the complications in the story didn’t rely so heavily on miscommunication as romance novels often do, there was a little bit but certainly not an egregious or unbelievable amount. My one criticism is that it probably all wrapped up a little quick for me, I would have liked a little bit more of the romance aspect but as far as complaints go, that’s a pretty good one to have!

I've written a full review of this book for Smart Bitches, Trashy Books, but unfortunately, I can't tell you when it will be published, as the publication date of the book itself is unclear (there are multiple dates listed in multiple places).
I loved the characters and the humour in this book, but I do question it being marketed as a romantic comedy, as the first third of the book was very depressing, and there was a lot of heavy stuff going on in the latter part of the book, as well - I think it's a problem if the reader goes in expecting fun and laughter and instead gets 120 pages of a really gruesome relationship breakup.

Mhairi McFarlane is one of my favourite contemporary romance/ women’s fiction writer and she definitely delivered in 𝐈𝐟 𝐈 𝐍𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐌𝐞𝐭 𝐘𝐨𝐮. ⁣⁣⁣
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This book follows Laurie who gets dumped by her long-term partner of 18 years. Her ex works in the same law firm and embarrassingly quickly moves on. This spurs Laurie to agree to a showmance with the office player, Jamie. ⁣⁣⁣
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Although this trope has been done to death, in Mhairi’s hands, it becomes a tightly plotted insightful tale that examines hidden depths, connections, relationships and the roles we don’t even realise we play. This is not to say the romance was lacking - the movement of Jamie and Laurie’s relationship from co-conspirators to a deep genuine friendship and to love, had real emotional depth and I really rooted for them. However, equal attention was paid to Laurie’s other relationships and this made the story richer and more relatable. ⁣⁣⁣
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I also really enjoyed how Laurie’s dual heritage was portrayed in this book as it was sensitively dealt with and only one aspect of her identity. It was never used as a substitute for having a real character or as an unnecessary plot device. This was also true for all the characters in the book as each character was well-developed and had purpose within the story. ⁣⁣⁣
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Although this book dealt with many heavy issues, I came away smiling and uplifted as the angst was always balanced with humour and snark and to put the cherry on top, the author delivered a nearly fairy tale ending. To steal the author’s own words, 𝘪𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘦𝘯𝘴𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘣𝘦𝘢𝘶𝘵𝘪𝘧𝘶𝘭 this story was!

Mhairi McFarlane is a new-to-me author that I discovered earlier this year. What first drew me to her work, quite frankly, was the spelling and pronunciation of her name but what kept me reading was her amazing ability to tell a story. This book had so many amazing qualities - a smart, funny heroine; a charming hero with a heart of gold; interracial dating; fake to real relationship that truly felt genuine; and a loyal friend group that you knew had the heroine/hero's back (and vice versa).

What I loved most about this book was that, despite Laurie having lost herself in her first relationship, she maintained her integrity and gained back her independence in a realistic and hopeful way. McFarlane's writing created such complex and dynamic characters that made me feel each of Laurie's emotions as she went through the painful breakup and entered into this new phase of her life. She held her head up high, kicked ass at work, and began to understand how a real relationship should be through fake dating her colleague. As for Jamie, I'll be adding him to my long list of book boyfriends. Despite his "manwhore" reputation, he was such a gentleman with Laurie. He was charming, funny and full of compassion; a much better fit for Laurie than Dan could ever hope to be.

This is definitely one of my favourite books of 2019 and I am so incredibly grateful to have been able to read and review this story early.

Thank you to HarperCollins Australia and Netgalley for the free copy in exchange for an honest review.

4.5 ★

I’ll keep the plot description very brief: So, Laurie’s looooong term partner just ups and leaves, the PRICK. In comes her gorgeous colleague Jamie Carter. Jamie has the great idea that he and Laurie should ‘fake-date' to make her ex jealous, and to clean up his promiscuous reputation. Let the good times roll, right?

'Might as well fit Carter with a GoPro, from what I’ve heard... The secret life of the neighbourhood tom.'

I never in a million years thought that this book could do all that it did, in such a short time. I related to this book, it drew me miles in. I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry with every turn of the page. How Mhairi delivered the Dan blow, and still restored my faith in the men of the (cough, fictional) world, I’ll never know. Actually I do know, it was our Jamie and his million layers.

‘Jamie Carter, what an unlikely hero. In that second she wondered if she loved him.'

Laurie was literally one of the wittiest heroines I’ve ever encountered and Jamie was unexpectedly but certainly her perfect match. These two first developed a deep friendship, and the more from there was done beautifully, very natural.

‘I scoffed at the idea anyone could make you see your life through new eyes and I’m so, so glad to be wrong.’


Mhairi McFarlane is everything I never knew I needed, cliche I know... but I am so excited by her writing, how freaking funny is she?! All I want to do is read all of her books, STAT. If I never met you was very close to perfect. There was one or two little things, but very, very small complaints!

(ARC kindly provided by Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Quotes are subject to change before publication.)

4 Stars!

This has so many of my fave tropes - fake dating, famous/regular person and I was so excited to get stuck into Mhairi’s new book for just her talent alone so I was so happy when the blurb was released for this one!

This was a four star read for me, just falling short of the 5 star mark but I feel like a reread will get me there. I loved the character growth throughout this book for both Laurie and Jamie. I think there’s something really powerful about a well written break up journey and Mhairi has carefully crafted another one for me - the first being It’s Not Me, It’s You. I love her characterisation and her use of language, it’s always so easy to fall into her books and I have ALWAYS read them in a single sitting.

I don’t want to give too much away before the book is released but I love how Mhairi continues to write stories about strong, vulnerable and amazing women. Jamie was one of my favourite of her men, and I loved how he was never intimidated by Laurie - these kind of heroes make my heart happy. These kinds of love stories continue to draw me to Mhairi’s books.

This book was provided by Netgalley in exchange for my honest review.

Romantic comedy is usually a genre I would avoid, so it was with trepidation that I began to read If I Never Met You.
Yes, it was definitely romantic comedy.
Yes, it was predictable and easy reading.
It was also laugh-out-loud funny and one of those books that has you checking how many pages you have left with these engaging characters.
I won’t give away any spoilers - suffice to say this clever office romance is your perfect holiday read.

First of all, I want to thank Netgalley and Harper Collins for sharing a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

I've read almost all of Mhairi McFarlane's books and I've enjoyed all of them. But I think this is my favorite so far, being such a satisfying read all around. After being her her first and only relationship for eighteen years, Laurie is dumped by her boyfriend Dan. The worst part is they both work in the same law firm and she's going to have to see him during her working life. Along comes Jamie Carter, another lawyer in her firm who has a reputation for high turnover in the relationships department although Laurie doesn't really know him at all when they are suddenly thrown together one day. A scheme arises from this to fake date which served to benefit them both in different ways and the story carries on from there.

I found this to be one of the better fake dating stories I've read in a while. Most of the time I find one or both of the characters turn into temporary idiots and the story gets a bit tedious for awhile. That doesn't happen. Yes, there are some hiccups to this relationship but there's none of this long-term mooning that seems to happen in so many stories in this trope. I like that Laurie is a strong female character (one of the hallmarks of McFarlane's books) and she is just an amazing person all around. I like her character development. I think at the beginning of the story Laurie has kind of lost parts of her real self, partly due to her relationship. But in the course of dealing with her break up and then moving on in the way she does, she finds some of herself again and even learns to deal with other aspects of her life that haven't been the best. I liked Jamie's character as well. He's got a bit of a rep with the ladies in the office but as Laurie comes to know him, she realises that office gossip isn't a reliable way of knowing someone.

My only real quibble with the story lies with the supposed interest in making partner at the firm by Jamie. It just doesn't quite ring true for me once I get to "know" him.

A really wonderful read which I rate at 4.5 stars overall.

Thanks to Netgalley and HarperCollins for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I am an absolute sucker for slow burn romances, and this book was full of so much slow burn goodness. Add in a fake relationship trope and I was one happy girl!
I loved everything about this book, the characters were all interesting and authentic, Laurie and Jamie were perfect together and I really enjoyed their fake dates and staged instagram moments together.
This book grappled with heavier aspects of love, loss and heartbreak however it was a really warm hearted sweet romance.
I really loved how this book wasn't solely focused on the romance. Laurie, Jamie, Emily and other characters all had moments of finding inner strength and defining what happiness looked like for them. The characters had to reevaluate their lives after significant changes and figure out what they really wanted for the future, and discovered it wasn't always what they thought their futures were going to look like.

What can I say about this book? I honestly read it in one sitting and absolutely adored it! A great storyline that did the trope of fake-dating so much justice. Definitely recommend this book for anyone who’s a fan of To All The Boys I’ve Loved before (basically a grown up version which is great), as well as authors such as Christina Lauren and Sally Thorne.

I LOVE LOVE LOVED this book!!!! A love story with a twist!!!! Not the usual boy meets girl story.
Heart break, tears of happiness, shock and moments of disgust!!!
Definitely a read for all the lovers of love!!!!!https://www.instagram.com/p/B3RK5EQgraU/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

I don’t read a lot of contemporary, so when I do it has to be great! This book left me wanting more, I loved all the characters, they were all so authentic and amazing, I loved the dynamic between emily and Laurie - bff relationships are so important! The only down was how it cut off omg I needed more closure (but also thoroughly enjoyed the ride to get there!)

Laurie (our main character) has been a relationship with Dan for almost 20 years. She’s happy, she has good friends, a good job and a home that her and Dan own and live in together.

One night, all that changes and suddenly Laurie is alone. Soon Laurie and a work colleague hatch a plan for Laurie to get some normality and confidence back in her life.

The book is set in Manchester. The use of Social media kept in style with current times. The characters are all likable and it was a great way to relax and forget about real life for a minute.

I enjoyed this book. There were a few twists and turns which kept me interested.

I received this book from netgalley and am giving this review voluntarily.

Laurie has just been dumped by her long term boyfriend and now is stuck working in the same law firm as her ex. When she gets stuck in an elevator with office bad boy Jamie, they come up with a plan. Jamie needs the support of somebody well-liked to get ahead at work, and Laurie is quite sold on the idea of making her ex jealous. Their fake relationship certainly gets everyone at work talking, but as they develop a genuine friendship the risk of catching real feelings is high.

I have read sooo many books with this sort of premise but this is one of the good ones! I'm always partial to a British romcom and the story really worked for me. I need romance books to have believable conflicts to keep my interest and this one did. Its not completely predictable and has some great emotional scenes.

Laurie and Jamie have real book chemistry, I'd love to see this one as a movie. Jamie goes straight to my list of book boyfriends and Laurie is a great female character. The supporting characters added a lot of value to the story and I really liked that while this was technically a romance novel, there were a lot of side plots that didnt revolve around the central romance.

I would recommend this for sure to romance fans - add it to your TBR! I haven't read any of this authors other books but will be looking for more from her.
Thanks to HarperCollins and NetGalley for a free copy of this book in exchange for a fair review.
Will publish this review on my Instagram account @my.book.locker closer to release date,

I can't gush about this book enough. A brilliant, feminist - nay, EQUALIST - piece of work that is equal parts hilarious, tear-jerking, romantic, raw, real and above all, hopeful. Mhairi is the cleverest, wittiest and most inspirational romcom author in the history of romcoms and I will shout her praises until the end of time! Do yourself a good deed and read her. And if you don't love her, we cannot be friends.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an ARC of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for letting me read this book. I have read McFarlane's previous works and was definitely excited to read her latest.
This book has a different feel to the others. A lot of the story was spent in Laurie's head, in silent retrospective, about the 18 year relationship that had ended. It would be a shock, and it's completely understandable how the main character tries to deal with it all, albeit more calmly than most.
Then, Laurie spends time with Jamie and things develop slowly and surely. However, without giving too much away, her behaviour at the Christmas party seemed a bit out of character.
Luckily the ending tied up most issues quite neatly.