This is my first time reading a book by Mhairi McFarlane, and I enjoyed her style. The writing here is a bit more realistic and lacks the cheese that a lot of romcoms seem to have. It is, however, quite cliche and easy to predict where it's going-- though I wouldn't say that's necessarily a bad thing. In a way, it's sort of like getting on a theme park ride in that you know where you're going, but you enjoy the journey along the way. Laurie and Jamie are adorable and worthy of a Hallmark-style romance movie. I liked it and would recommend to fans of the genre.

overall i thought this was a bit boring. it's fake dating! isn't that supposed to be fun? overall i just found this lackluster despite the fun premise.

Oh my. This book gave me so much anxiety, but in the best possible way. I hated Dan, loved Laurie and Emily, and was rooting for Jamie every step of the way. I definitely stayed up past my bedtime to finish this and I do not regret anything. I thought it was charming and emotional and everything you could want in a story.

When Laurie's partner of 18 years ends their relationship, she's thrown. When she finds out that his new girlfriend is pregnant, Laurie starts reeling at the realization that for the first time in 18 years her life is going through a huge change. It makes her take a close, sometimes scrutinizing, look at herself and makes her wonder what went wrong in the relationship she had thought would last forever.

Enter Jamie Carter and new(er) lawyer at her firm. Known for being somewhat of player, but also competent in the courtroom. When Jamie comes to Laurie with a plan that will play to both their benefits, Laurie doesn't pause too long. The plan: Jamie and Laurie are to pose as a new couple. This will 1) send Laurie's ex into a jealous tizzy, and 2) show the higher-ups at the law firm that Jamie is a serious contender to be made partner. They just have to make it through the holidays and then they'll end it. Of course, Laurie doesn't know what to do when Jamie turns out to be so much more than what is seen on the surface. But after being blindsided by her ex, can Laurie really trust her feelings for someone new?

Mhairi McFarlane is quickly becoming a go-to author for contemporary rom-com reading. I haven't read all of her books but of the ones I have, they've been whip-smart and funny with lots of heart. Which is exactly how I would describe If I Never Met You with the added caveat that it's a story about a woman finding herself again. Gaining her confidence back without realizing she ever lost it in the first place.

Yes, there's is romance, but it's more subtle and secondary than the idea of Laurie coming to terms with a major shift in her life, and finding out that what went wrong in the relationship did not fall on her shoulders.

A lot of times the first thing that people do when something goes amiss is to look inward. To look at how we contributed to the issue, how we could have been better, listened more, been more available, etc. In certain cases it's possible it's right to see things from that side, but in other cases - and certainly in Laurie's case - one has to learn to place the blame where it belongs. I wouldn't say that the story does "ex bashing" because it doesn't, but it makes a perfect case for the fact that sometimes when relationships end, it really is one person's doing, one persons fault as the case may be.

I loved that Jamie gives Laurie the chance not only to look at herself in another light, but look at another man in a different light when compared to her ex. Seeing where he was ultimately not the person for her, seeing that while, yes, there are fond memories and the loss of a relationship built over decades is deftly felt, there were obvious areas where they didn't fit.

If I Never Met You is probably one of the more uplifting stories I've read that deals with the dissolution of a long-term couple's relationship. Because it's not about losing a partner, it's ultimately about Laurie finding herself.

I was pleasantly surprised by this book! It's the old "we'll pretend we're together and then we actually fall in love" trope, but the well developed characters and story line set this one apart from others in the same vein. I enjoyed it!

My thanks to the author and publisher who allowed me to read an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest opinion. #NetGalley #IfINeverMetYou

I thought this was a sweet story. Laurie is devastated by the break up of the love of her life and the person she has been with forever! Though most people can go on with their life only running into their ex here and there Laurie actually works in the same office as her ex Dan. Who by the way "needs time to be himself or by himself "and immediately has a girlfriend.

Laurie needs a distraction from the office gossip along with Jaime who needs the office gossip to show the big boss that he is a serious contender for a promotion and a fake relationship has been established.

I enjoyed the writing of Mhairi McFarlane, although this book was a little predictable. I liked how adorable Laurie"s character was. It was such a light and humorous read. The romance is not as big as I had hoped but it was still cute.I did enjoy the jazzy and quirky set of side of characters. The dialogue was hilarious and it was adorable overall.. I look forward to more of this author!

Highlights & Summary:

If I Never Met You, is a book about a successful, smart, beautiful lawyer in her mid-thirties named Laurie.

Laurie who has spent nearly two decades with the same guy, Dan, since college, lives with him and even works at the same law firm. She and her boyfriend have been in a solid, strong, and committed relationship—or so she thought. After a night out with some work friends, Laurie comes home to her committed long-term boyfriend, but he suddenly hits her with the shock of her life. He wants to break up.

Coining the reasoning behind his sudden change of heart is down to the two of them going in different directions. Laurie, thinking he might just be having cold feet (again) with planning to get pregnant attempts to talk him down like she has done several times in the past. But the longer the conversation goes on Laurie begins to realize that Dan isn't having a midlife crisis, the love of her life (or so she thinks) is really finished with her.

Laurie is obviously devastated; they've been living together for so long and he has been the only person she's ever been with intimately that her world is completely turned upside down.

Not sure how to move forward, Laurie holds onto hope that the pair could reconcile like they've done in the past until she realizes Dan has been dishonest about what sparked their breakup. In my opinion, that's when things really start to get interesting in If I Never Met You.

First off, I will openly admit that the story was an ok read. More like a summer book for light reading because it doesn't have a page-turning-can't-press-pause feel to it. And there was a bit of predictability with the development of Laurie's new relationship that stems from the fake-love to real-love troupe.

However, the elements that really made the story good for me were the dry humor moments in the narrative. And I liked the slow buildup of Jamie and Laurie's relationship—this is an important thing to note here because the beginning was very slow .

The slow buildup of their relationship that expanded out from their little deal is what makes their chemistry and bond feel more authentic.

And because Jamie and Laurie are perceived as these two extremely different people on the outside, their interactions carried that much more of an impact as we see their lives and hearts change as the story progressed. Especially getting to see Jamie's true character which was nothing like how Laurie and the rest of their firm perceived him to be.

Personal Pitfalls & Narrative Flags:

I want to make it clear to have this section as personal pitfalls and narrative flags as the issues I had with this book may not strike a chord with other readers or fans of this book.

From the beginning, I think that it took me a while to kind of warm-up to Laurie's character. As I did like Jamie kind of at the start; he was charming, respectful and confident but always vulnerable around Laurie even when she wasn't aware of it. The dry humor and witty banter structure of their back-and-forth were also things that I liked about this book.

They are elements that are close to my personality and style of interaction.

Likewise, I am not the outlandish, flashy or in your face type of person. I live in a world of sarcasm and being upfront and honest. So, I felt more in sync with her friends Emily and Nadia who by the way this book needed MORE of.

While I liked the self-reflection Laurie's character has in this book, it should not have taken Jamie to come in to tell her how powerful and special she was for Laurie to have that "aha" moment. In my opinion, this cheapens her development and character strength because she is lead there by another man while still picking up the pieces of herself from her breakup with Dan. I would have loved it so much if these two elements were kept separate in the narrative and Jamie's effect on her only highlighted what Laurie came to realize on her own.

Second, the most notable narrative flag for me reading this book was the fact that the lead character is a POC of mixed ethnicity. And unless I am incorrect the author is not a POC, therefore, it lacks the true connection to Laurie's character when it comes to prejudices, racial comment, stigma, and stereotypes that come with being a person of color.

I do not bring it up often, but it is an element that I will never, ever, ever be ok with and not draw some attention to it. It would be a different thing if her ethnicity was not drawn directly into the story or brought up in such a way that warrants discussion, but it does.

Because in my opinion, again. if Laurie wasn't a POC, her character and the story would not have suffered any loss. Therefore, and this is just a theory, the subjective approach to make her of mixed ethnicity might have been used as a tactic to either reach out to other readers, like myself (guilty—I did want to read the book because it had a person of color on the cover) or to add a bit of shallow-depth to her character to again appease a wider range of readers.

This is just an out-there theory that the book made ponder as I was reading it. And I hope it is just that, speculation. Because I would have read and enjoyed the book anyway. Jamie and Laurie are so much fun together. And their story was a pleasure to read.

Closing:

As this has turned into a much longer post than I originally intended. I just a quick note here, I do not go into books by authors I am unfamiliar with to be so critical of the story elements. That is just my personality mixed with the elements of my work as a Script Reader and how I feel I should try to be honest and clear when it comes to my opinion of stories. Especially when they include POC characters.

I picked this book for the synopsis and for the POC lead on the cover—then realized the author wasn't a POC person herself.

While some would take this or leave it if the story was "good enough,” I feel it important to mention that when it comes to the prejudices I bring up in this review that Laurie faces in this book impact her character's authenticity.

And the story itself, in my opinion, is put into question as I would know and do know how Laurie feels when it comes to questions/comments about her appearance and ethnicity. More importantly, how it affects her when it comes up throughout her life—but the crafter of her backstory would not.

The full post will go live 2/5/2020 on G. Jacks Writes (About Everything)

Mhairi McFarlene is a new author for me, and she's definitely going on my one-click list! This was a great rom-com with a few moments of angst (not too many), and it was a heartwarming, humorous read.

I'm a sarcastic person, so Mhairi McFarlene's humor is right up my alley. She takes the time to let you know the characters' feelings, fleshes out the plot and setting both with physical and emotional descriptions, and she really puts you into the characters places.

In the fauxmance trope, generally speaking the plot is pretty predictable - you know they're going to fake it until they make it and the love becomes real. But the journey is so funny and so fun and so fresh that this book feels anything but formulaic. Jamie is a great book boyfriend. He's respectful, caring, ambitious, and trustworthy from the get-go. Laurie is smart, funny, sexy and confident., usually, but right now her confidence is shaken thanks to her cheating ex. Jamie, thankfully, helps her get her confidence back, and their showmance/fauxmance turns out to be as good as it looks on social media in the end.

This book was just delightful. An easy, adorable read with some great undertones of self-love and finding yourself in the midst of finding love.

I was so curious as to how the story would progress as Laurie was dealing with a terrible break up for a large percentage of the beginning of this book. I instinctively knew Jaime would be the hero, but the slow build up was actually entirely satisfying. Laurie’s strength of character shines through in SO many ways and Jaime is just lovable and wonderful. McFarlane deals with women’s roles in the workplace and in relationships in a graceful and honest way. The fact that Laurie is a POC makes it even more refreshing. As a married woman in the work force, she honestly had me considering things as I read Laurie dissecting her relationship with Dan. It was a refreshing theme to see in a romance that was altogether lovely.

My only “criticism”, though I wouldn’t even qualify it as that, is the fact that I’m an ignorant American who didn’t catch many of the British slang used in the book. But, again, this is really just a cultural aspect that didn’t affect my enjoyment of the book in any way.

I really enjoyed this one and will definitely look for others from McFarlane. Thanks to HarperCollins for the ARC. All views expressed are my own.

I mostly read suspense/thriller but I really love “romantic comedy” every once in awhile to lighten things up.

For these books to work for me, however, I have to want to root for the heroine, or at the very least be able to relate to her, and her friends.

These were not characters that I could connect with, therefore, despite it working for many others, it wasn’t working for me...DNF at 25%.

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.

I love this book but I'm not sure if I would call it a romance. There is romance but it doesn't feel like it's central. Personally, I don't mind and it makes sense in the book. Laurie's boyfriend of eighteen years dumps her and immediately gets another woman pregnant. She's too hurt to pursue a romance. However, she's in the perfect mood to fake a romance with Jaime, office playboy who needs to look he has a girlfriend to make partner.

The romance was slow building because had to see how bad Laurie's ex was as a boyfriend. A combination of letting go of that relationship while being ready for a new one. Laurie and Jamie are cute. They are always authentic together. The only thing they fake is taking pictures.

We never get Jaime's perspective because it's easy to see how anyone can fall in love with Laurie. Laurie is a straight forward communicator with a big heart and open mind. She's hard worker because she knows that being a mixed race woman forces her to be the best. Losing two cases in the row makes people talk about her losing her edge.

I love her friendship with Emily. Emily was a better friend than Laurie's ex ever was. I want another book about Emily and more of Jamie and Laurie. It ends in a way where I want to see more that happen in their lives. The baby question is never resolved.

I am extremely conflicted as to how to rate this book. It is well written and well crafted. There is, however, the matter that I wouldn't befriend Laurie if my life depended on it. She is manipulative, shallow, and too into vengeance for my taste. The first third of the book is taken up with the fallout of Laurie's (admittedly horrific) break up. I can see why we are not seeing Laurie at her best. I think devoting so much of the book to the fallout of the break up and Laurie wallowing in all of her worst characteristics turned me against her and I was just not able to get on her side for the rest of the book.

I was given access to an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

After nearly 2 decades together, Dan tells his partner Laurie that he no longer wants to be in a relationship. Making this even more complicated, the couple works for the same law firm. Enter Jaime Carter, the law firm's bad boy bachelor. Jaime suggests a fake relationship hoax to get himself a promotion & Laurie some revenge, what could go wrong?? A fast moving, fun romance novel with lovely characters. Definitely worth a read!

A truly delightful rom-com! At times laugh out loud funny and at times a woeful tale, this book struck a beautiful chord between heavy and light. I loved this journey of self discovery and coming back after heartbreak. A light hearted, modern day romance with witty banter and a slew of likable characters. The ending was everything I wanted it to be and more! 4⭐️ Thank you to the publisher for the advance reader in exchange for my honest review.

Heat Factor: Super slow burn fades to black
Character Chemistry: Slow burn he’s-into-her-and-she-doesn’t-see-it AMAZINGOSITY
Plot: Laurie is more than just half of Laurie-and-Dan
Overall: Be still my heart

The Eric Clapton "Wonderful Tonight" reference was a masterful touch. If I hadn’t already been in complete and utter swoon territory, I’m pretty sure I would have sailed right over at that point. Because even if Laurie doesn’t know the lyrics to that song, I sure as hell do. And this, after Laurie realizes her ex was emotionally cheating on her by creating running playlists with his new girlfriend? *chef kiss*

I am in an agony of delight. If I Never Met You pushed so many of my buttons, I cried at one point. Because I readily admit I’m in dangerous gushing territory, I will try to force myself to be pointed about what I liked about this book by making a list:

- Laurie is five years older than Jamie, who is so hot it hurts. 36-year-old women (plus, plus, plus!) are still desirable. Of course, Laurie is super hot, too. But still!
- Found family. Sticking around toxic relationships just because of a blood relationship is not required, and people who love you support that. See also: parents are people, too, and they have their own baggage.
- True love can be found with your best friend, because it’s important to have supportive relationships other than with a lover.
- Expectations for women vs. expectations for men both professionally and socially. I might have to jump off the list now.

I tried.

Let’s expand a bit. Laurie has been with Dan for 18 years, since they were both 18. They are not married, and they do not have children. This is less about a mutual desire to be in this state and more about a willingness to kick the can down the road. Until one night Laurie comes home and Dan ends things. This sends Laurie, understandably, into a tailspin. Especially when Dan doesn’t initially admit that there’s another woman (with whom he cheated only emotionally, so it’s not really cheating...yeah, Laurie calls him on that, and it’s great). Rationally, intellectually, at the end of the day, we can understand that a relationship can stop working for one or all parties involved, and that it behooves no one to try to make something work that doesn’t. But 18 years of emotional investment and understanding of one’s reality being shattered in a moment isn’t necessarily conducive to “Well then I guess it just wasn’t meant to be, then! I’ll be off!” And McFarlane’s handling of Laurie’s grieving is beautifully well rounded and really extends through the whole story.

The icing on the cake is that Laurie and Dan are both lawyers at the same firm, although they work in different departments. Now, we have both the setting/reason for Laurie and Jamie to instigate their fake relationship - she’s going to make Dan jealous and Jamie is going to look like he’s settled enough to make partner - AND we have a beautiful, meaty setting for examining humanity.

In this setting we’re able to examine some chauvinistic behavior on the part of Laurie’s male colleagues:

There was a giant insult in this. Not only were two men she worked with--one her ex, no less--appointing themselves her guardians, but they had jointly concluded that Laurie and Jamie were so unlikely a couple, she had to be target of a scam. … The way they wouldn’t accord her the same powers of perception they claimed for themselves was infantilizing, it made her feel ludicrous. It was like their sexism was coming in through the air-con units, invisible but utterly pervasive.

Even though he’s supposed to be the unreliable, selfish player, Jamie is up front about where he stands and what’s important to him, and he always, always treats Laurie with respect and care. Meanwhile, the guys who think Laurie’s being taken advantage of by the player take away her agency by staging an intervention with Jamie from which Laurie is excluded until she barges in on it.

Also in this setting, we get to play with that notion of worthiness. Laurie supported Dan getting a promotion at work because she was fulfilled in her personal life. She sidelined her professional goals because Dan moving up was worth it to her. Jamie is an upstart who hasn’t put in his time and doesn’t deserve to make partner. He’s also not a team player because he kills it at his job and doesn’t cover for colleagues who’ve made mistakes. He’s not worthy of making partner, according to his peers. Laurie is totally fine where she is, even though she’s unequivocally exceptional at her job, as long as she stays in her lane and doesn’t one-up the men. Her worth is based on her keeping her nose down and getting her job done. Laurie wanted to do an exceptional job and be recognized for that and not play politics and other games, which has always been exactly how I’ve felt as a professional woman. Hooray! Office politics are a thing. If you’ve never existed in the law firm world, I can assure you that this is sadly an accurate portrait of that world, broadly speaking. As I’m sure it is in other corporate worlds.

With Jamie and with Laurie’s best friend, Emily, we get to play with some notions of fairness/expectations in gender roles. Laurie goes into her agreement with Jamie with her eyes wide open. Jamie was pretty clear with her about how undesirable he found monogamy and love (because of course he’s the player, not her). As with any fake relationship, it eventually becomes at least some kind of real. One cannot spend time with another person without some kind of relationship developing. But with Laurie navigating her grief plus whatever weird not-friendship-maybe-friendship she’s got with Jamie, she gets a bit awkward, and she doesn’t let Jamie’s player persona go, needling him with it quite a bit, until he snaps at her.

Jamie turned, frowning. “Why do you have to constantly characterize me like that? How would you feel if I was all ‘lol Laurie with her one boyfriend’?”
Laurie opened her mouth, no justification came out. She felt slightly ashamed.
“Sorry,” Jamie said, “Sorry. That was morning me and you didn’t deserve that.”
He went for a shower and Laurie sat, hugging her knees. Jamie returned from the shower, dry clothes, wet hair, and said: “Laurie. I’m an unspeakable shit for snapping at you, after everything you’ve done for me. I hate myself right now. Please accept my groveling apology?”
Laurie smiled up at him. “No, you were right.”

It’s really about being a nice person and acknowledging when you’ve hurt them, right? But women aren’t the only people with feelings...

With respect to Emily, we get to think about why it is that a woman measures herself against some bonkers expectations of what she ought to be, even if she’s amazingly successful and happy with her life, while men don’t necessarily put themselves through those same second-guessings and unattainable high standards. This especially pulls together a line of thought in Laurie’s growth because for a long time after Dan leaves Laurie can’t let go of the notion that she wasn’t enough. But when she has to step up for Emily, she gets to thinking about a lot of the choices she’s made in her life and why.

This book is not fluffy. It is robust and thoughtful and emotional and romantic. The characters aren’t caricatures. There are tons of delightful pop culture references (see: Clapton). There are laugh out loud moments and tearful moments. I loved it.

I voluntarily read and reviewed a complimentary copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own. We disclose this in accordance with 16 CFR §255.

This review is also available at The Smut Report.

Mhairi McFarlane is becoming one of my very favorite writers. I’d give this more than five stars if I could. She has original characters and snappy dialogue. I enjoy the sense of place from her settings in Manchester, England. Some of the local or cultural references might go over my head, but I rather enjoy that she doesn’t write down to her audience. Occasionally, I found myself googling celebrities whom she compares her characters to. Not only did I get a better visual picture of what the heroine, Laurie, looked like, but I also learned something about the mother of Mick Jagger’s first child.

The story here begins with two very common romance-novel tropes. Laurie’s long-time boyfriend, Dan, announces suddenly that he’s tired of their 18-year relationship and he’s moving out. She’s heartbroken. Then she agrees to a phony relationship with the office sex god, Jamie. I’m not usually a fan of the fake relationship plotline. Do people really do this in real life? Are there that many bosses in today’s world who tell employees that they need to have a steady girlfriend before they can get a promotion, especially in a law firm that must know the legal ramifications of tying promotions to a person’s romantic situation? But McFarlane does such a great job with the growing relationship between Jamie and Laurie, that I was completely sucked in.

Laurie seemed like a real person as she struggles to figure out why Dan no longer loves her. She has a great friend whom I wouldn’t mind reading a sequel about. And Jamie slowly reveals how he is much more than the sexy love ‘em and leave ‘em sort of guy that he seems like. Laurie is bi-racial and I also liked how her race is handled in the book. It isn’t just dropped in there and then abandoned. We get to see the sort of reactions that a mixed-race woman in England might face as well as the misogynistic attitudes from some of her co-workers.

I couldn’t put this down. And now I’m ready to go download the McFarlane books I haven’t yet read. I’ve enjoyed every single one of them.

I voluntarily reviewed an advanced reader copy of this book that I received from Netgalley; however, the opinions are my own and I did not receive any compensation for my review.

Sigh. This was lovely.

This book was the perfect movie rom-com. It has all the rom-com signifiers -- and attractive, relatable central couple, a bunch of spiky, colorful, snarky yet supportive group of friends, events that spin out of the couple's control when they thought they had everything under control. WE also get a makeover scene, a running in the rain scene, and a running to catch your true love at the train station to make your declaration before they can leave scene.

It was also really frickin' funny. Not a belly, laugh howl way but in a witty, bright way where you smile at a turn of phrase or nod at a sharp observation or appreciate an unconventional way of phrasing something that just makes so much sense or just love a well-placed pop culture reference. This book had all of this.

In this book we meet Laurie, a lawyer at a firm that has a rather toxic atmosphere. She and her boyfriend Dan, of 18 years both work there. They have that comfortable, rather smug kind of relationship where you are together and everyone knows it and everything is well. Until it isn't. While Laurie is trying to tiptoe into the conversation of possibly having children, Dan is trying to tiptoe out of the relationship.

Laurie is gutted. And in a series of scenes that I absolutely loved, she gets angry. None of this stiff upper lip stuff, Laurie is <i>pissed</I>. Because not only has Dan left her for someone else, that someone else works at their law firm and is now pregnant. I loved the scenes of Laurie calling Dan on his shit when he tries to weasel or run some 'lets' talk it out' crap on her. Oh, no, Laurie <i>goes off</i>.

In the aftermath she does a lot of "why didn't I see this coming" coupled with a lot of cyber stalking to learn that the signs were there she was just too, well, smug in the state of their relationship to realize rather than being settled they were stagnant. It also starts the hard process of realizing how the relationship had evolved over 18 years from a partnership to a enable-ship.

Into all of this comes Jamie. He a few years younger than Laurie, also a lawyer at the same firm and an impossibly beautiful man with a rep as a player. Laurie doesn't have a great opinion of Jamie having believed all the office gossip about him. But they get stuck in an elevator together and have their first real conversation where Laurie realizes that maybe there is more to Jamie than what the office gossip allows.

I the aftermath of that hour or so of bonding Jamie hatches a plan. This begins operation fake date. Laurie is a golden girl at the firm, the head of the firm loves her. Jamie is a slick newcomer who wants to make partner but is seen as too flighty. If he is seen to be with her it will give him he gravitas the senior partners are looking for. For Laurie's part, if she starts dating the slick, gorgeous Jamie it would stop the pitying looks and whispered conversations and maybe allow Dan to see what he's given up.

So Laurie, literally lets her 3C hair down, and they begin a relationship chronicled by well choreographed social media posts.

Under the guise of the fake dating stuff, Laurie learns that Jamie's rep is just that a rep. Laurie gets to know him and realizes that she is just like everyone else in the office, willing to be swayed by gossip instead of making your own determinations. As they spend more time together they become real, true friends. They laugh and share secrets, they become vulnerable with each other. And in Jamie, Laurie finds the sort of fierce support and belief that she never got from Dan. And the fake turns to real and it is wonderful for about a week or two.

But this is a rom-com so something comes out of left field to bollocks everything up. Cue the running to the train scene.

Outside of the romance stuff, there are nice character moments with their respective parents. I especially loved Jamie's family and Laurie's heart-to-heart with her own mother. And both Laurie and Jamie have ride-of-die best friends who are flat out awesome.

This is an interracial romance. Jamie is white and Laurie is biracial but identifies herself as a black woman. I always like it when books don't pull a 'I don't see color' and simply mentions a skin color once or twice and leaves it at that. But I also don't like it when race becomes some impediment or major plot point that as you read it it feels awkward or worse, preachy. I liked how Laurie's race was handled here. It was matter of fact and it was part of her life. Sometimes she mines it for a little humor -- her trepidation at going to a salon her BFF (a white woman) recommends because as Laurie skeptically observes "white people salons don't often now what they are doing with my kind of hair." other times she is wry about it when a party-goer tells her she looks like a particular actress, Laurie immediately says her name and he is gratified he is right but she deflates him a little <i>"when you are half-black or black-ish everyone has the same five reference points. I am collecting them, so far I am Missandei from Game of Thrones and Marsha Hunt already this year. What's funny is, none of them look remotely like each other."</i>

The book also has a nicely, subtle feminist message in how women tend to blame themselves for men's behaviors. Also how Laurie's work ethic is now perceived by her male peers once she begins dating Jamie. And finally there is a great scene in the end with her boss that poses a really good question that arrests Laurie because it was something she really hadn't given a thought to and makes a lot of sense. I really wanted an epilogue to see how this played out. Actually I would have loved epilogue to see how everything played out after the rollercoaster of the last two chapters!

Overall, though, I just super enjoyed this. We get a lovely love story that is fun and funny, as well as some real vindicating moments for our heroine. I have never read this author before but I really dig her writing style. It is really sharp and witty. I plan to look up some of her other works.

<I>This is a honest review based on an ARC received from the publisher via Netgalley</i>

If I Never Met You starts off on the heavier side. Even going in knowing the synopsis, I wasn’t prepared for the emotional response I had to Laurie’s suffering. I loved Laurie’s wit and humor from the very beginning. She was a perfectly relatable character with just enough flaws to make her authentic. The pacing felt a bit slower in this book, after all there is a lot of background within an 18 year relationship to hash out.

One of the things I love most about McFarlane’s writing is her ability to write complex friendships and side characters that you meet once and fall in love with. Emily, Bharat, and kinda Di were so much fun to read.

Jamie wasn’t my favorite hero though. I think I had trouble coming to terms with the two very different sides of his personality/persona. I didn’t hate him, but I can’t say I found him swoony. Maybe I would have felt different if I could see inside his head, but the way it stands my heart isn’t going to skip a beat.

McFarlane managed to drag laughter, tears, and outrage out of this reader. While I would be hard-pressed to say this is my favorite, I did thoroughly enjoy the story and was invested in Laurie’s journey to rediscover herself as an independent woman. I’m looking forward to what she comes up with next!