Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for giving me an arc copy to review!!

Wowwww okay many thoughts!! This is not my first Mhairi rodeo it’s just the first one that I’ve completed… this is definitely different from her other novels but I actually think that’s why I liked

It had an early 2000s romcom vibe where (stay with me here) the romantic scenes throughout the movie are cute yet when the movie finishes and the characters are together YOU KNOW as an audience member that their relationship needs more developing time than what was on screen yet you still loved the movie. That is the best way I can describe it!

RANDOM: They had a Judy Hopps and Nick Wilde dynamic and I think that’s what made it an enjoyable experience BUTTT a slow burn novel (that has a crazy miscommunication) that happens over the course of a month is just not going to convince me that they’re IN LOVE with each other by the end… like please get off of the stage 😐 Apart from the romance needing just a little more oomph I can admit that I’m probably being extremely picky because I am in a reading slump (this took me 18 days to read…)

But I love this book. I love that it was third person but it didn’t feel like it was. I love that it was dual pov. I love that it was incredibly funny. And I love that I have my new white boy of the month (trigger warning: he’s fictional)

Thank you to Avon and Harper Voyager and Netgalley for an ARC of this book which I voluntarily read and reviewed. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

COVER STORY has a lot of moving parts, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. In this case, I felt as if the attention spent on other story lines (a stalker ex, a vindictive ex, a cheating ex, and a sleazy politician) didn’t allow the romance to develop as deeply as I was hoping for. I really liked the main characters—Bel, a successful investigative journalist who made a big splash with her viral podcast and Connor, a 34-year-old intern at Bel’s newspaper starting over after a mentally difficult first career in finance. And the other story lines were interesting, but I was really just left with a feeling of only the surface of that relationship, and even some of those multiple conflicts, being scratched.

The writing, as always with Mhairi McFarlane books, was bingeable and absolutely entertaining enough to keep me invested. Should there be a sequel to COVER STORY, which seems possible given the ending, I would be very interested in reading it.

I enjoyed this book so much.
Meet Bel, an investigative journalist. Bel chases a major story that has the potential to be a make-or-break moment for her and her intern, Connor. There is banter and humor.
The best thing is that the relationship develops realistically. I hate it when the love story is unbelievable, and McFarlane made the love effortless and realistic.
I love that Bel is a strong woman, and Connor has a lovely heart!
The characters are well developed, and I was able to connect with them.
The plot was well structured. The only small criticism I have is that the pace was slow in some instances, but it always recovered.
This book did a great job with mental health representation and did a great job with grief. There is a beautiful sensitivity and perfectly placed humor in dealing with all of these issues. It is worth a read just to see McFarlane cover this.
I highly recommend this for your Fall TBR!
Thank you to NetGalley and Mhairi McFarlane for the opportunity to review this ARC.
Happy Reading!

While I did enjoy the story the writing took me a while to get into. This is my first book by this author and the terms and innuendos that only make sense to people from the UK I'm sure didn't resonate with me but I did enjoy it. Just was hard to follow along with and read through.

This was a cute book , quick read .Thank you met galley for the chance to read this book . Full review on blog

Mhairi McFarlane is such an underrated romance author! I have loved her work since 2019 and was so honored to be accepted for an early copy of Cover Story. Let me say this romance did not disappoint!!! So romantic, swoony, with so much complexity to the MMC and FMC.

DNF @25%

I'm really sorry to say this, but I struggled to get into this book. I gave it a fair shot, but I found myself constantly distracted and unable to connect with the plot. It’s written in third-person with dual POV, so I just couldn’t follow the story. From what I could gather, there’s a serial predator or something, but the writing didn’t pull me in enough to fully understand or engage with it.

I tried using the read aloud option—but unfortunately, I had the same issue. The writing style just didn’t click with me.

⋆ ˚｡⋆୨୧˚𝕻𝖗𝖊-𝖗𝖊𝖆𝖉˚୨୧⋆｡˚ ⋆

This is my first Mhairi McFarlane book! Thank you Netgalley and Avon and Harper Voyager for the free eARC 💕

Mhairi McFarlane will always be my original go-to rom-com author. Ever since "Here's Looking at You," I have always sought out her books. The intelligent banter, often involving fairly in depth current events or political information, is second to none (I mean, this one has a mention of Geronimo the alpaca?!) Fantastic.

Where I feel like her earlier books were more straight up rom-com (though with some heavier topics sprinkled in, her more recent books have allowed the heavier topics to take the starring role and the romance takes a back seat. This is no different - Bel's stalker, and the predatory Mayor both take precedence -- essentially cautionary tales, just reflecting (sigh) the real world, I suppose.

Anyway - Bel's character was almost painted as a little too femme fatale sometimes (?) but still liked her alright, Connor was fab, and I even enjoyed Aaron their office-mate for his gray-area kind of character - do we like him despite his really awful / offensive humor? is he a good guy, do we let it go, or is he a creep? Bit of both...

And I also really enjoyed what I felt were a couple distinct nods to Pride & Prejudice (Possibly I am just too much of a P&P head, that I see it everywhere) but stalker-Anthony's ability to only hear 'Yes' when "no' is being said, was like a more malevolent version of Mr. Collins, and Connor & Bel's first impressions & then gradually coming round to the opposite view, is 100% Elizabeth & Darcy.... And, I suppose the Erin storyline is the Wickham/Georgiana/Lydia one.

Anyway - I enjoyed it as I do all of her books, little bit on the heavier side, the romance ending was a bit I dunno - didn't love the miscommunication near the end -- but I did like the letter from Connor's brother.

I really couldn't put it down. Cover Story is my second Mhairi McFarlane book, and I now know I'm going to have to read the rest of them. "Queen of Romcom" was high praise in the descriptions, but they weren't wrong. I found Bel and Connor to both be lovable, funny, flawed, and full of chemistry. A fake dating and workplace enemies-to-lovers filled ride, Cover Story is exactly what I look for in a romcom. It didn't feel cheesy and overdone like a lot of romantic comedies, but instead, it had depth, wit, and discussed difficult subject without weighing the story down.

Cover Story covers the slow burn of Bel, a wild-child, driven podcaster turned investigative journalist, and Connor, a successful finance bro starting over as a newspaper intern, as they go undercover to try to break the story of the year. Both characters are lovable flawed, and I was kicking my feet watching their relationship evolve from enemies to allies to something more.

Thank you Netgalley and Avon or Harper Voyager for the ARC in exchange for an honest review. I absolutely loved it.

🕵️‍♀️ THE GIST:
Bel, a 34-year-old investigative reporter in Manchester, is stuck sharing an office with a surprise intern: Connor, a former finance high-flyer who's making a dramatic career change.

🤝 ODD COUPLE:
They don't get along. At all. But a big story forces them to work closely—and pretend to be something they're not.

🔥 SLOW BURN:
Tension turns into chemistry as their undercover roles blur the lines between fake and real. But miscommunication and pride get in the way.

🌀 EMOTIONAL PAYOFF:
It’s heartfelt, frustrating in all the right ways, and keeps you hooked until the very end.

📚 BOTTOM LINE:
Sharp premise, great dynamic, and real emotional pull.
Stayed up late to finish it. Solid read—just wish the ending gave us a little more.

The premise of this book was wonderfully interesting - two reporters of varying levels, thrown together by a haphazard plot to bring down a corrupt public figure. Relevant, topical, a plot I could absolutely get behind because I've seen it played out in the real world so many times.

However, the execution of the plot left much to be desired, thanks in part to the characters. The characters had little to no personality, and the way they interacted each-other left even less of an impression. The rushed romance at the end of the book was the only spark of joy I felt, and even then, it felt undeserved, as the two main characters had absolutely no reason to be romantically involved other than because the author said so.

I absolutely adore Mhairi’s writing and find her very underrated. Cover Story was my third novel of hers so I knew I would highly enjoy it. I love Mhairi’s writing style and story telling, and how her books don’t only focus on the romance.

This was office rivals, fake dating to lovers. In true MF’s fashion this was a slow burn romance. The high stakes and the drama was totally bingable and kept me on my toes. The banter between all of the characters was perfect, even if at times I didn’t always grasp the full British humor 😅

My biggest complaint is I wanted more! I feel like ending cut off at the best part and we didn’t get to experience the full love story.

Thank you NetGalley and Avon and Harper Voyager for an early ARC!

Thank you, NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me to read this book early. The opinion in this review is my own.

This is my second book by Mhairi McFarlane. I enjoyed this one about as much as the other I read, which was quite a bit. I wish they’d market this as literary fiction instead of a rom-com. The romance is more of a subplot and I think having the right expectations helps the reader enjoy the book for what it’s intended to be. If the reader is expecting romance early on, they’ll probably be disappointed. The banter is great and the crumbs of romance we get are well worth the read for the slow-burn. The pacing did drag a bit in the middle and it could’ve used some scenes to be cut. There is so much more to the story than romance in McFarlane’s books.

This does have enemies-to-lovers and fake-dating tropes. The characters have so much depth and backstory. They’re flawed characters that make them feel like real people. I highly recommend this book! Her writing style is great and really helps the reader picture the scenes. It feels like watching a movie at times. I intend to check out more books by McFarlane.

This is my second Mhairi McFarlane book and, unfortunately, my second 2 star review. The romance, in this book that is marketed as a rom-com, was disappointing and lackluster. There was explicitly, on page, no spark or tension between these two characters for the majority of the book. Some may view this as a slow burn but in good slow burn novels the tension builds and we get to see the mutual pining between the characters. That does not happen here, partially because of the somewhat strange choice of 3rd person semi-dual narration. The entire plot revolves around misunderstandings between the two main characters, which felt very silly and annoying for two people in their mid 30s.

I am giving this 2 stars instead of 1 as the undercover investigation story line is fun and somewhat funny and the declaration of love was really great even though it doesn't even happen until the 97% mark!!! The choppy cut-scene chapters also made this super readable and the banter and quips were well written. I could confidently recommend this to someone looking for an extremely low stakes investigative journalist thriller who prefers 0 spice.

Thank you to NetGalley and Avon and Harper Voyager for the e-ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This book was a delight! My first time reading Mhairi’s writing and it won’t be my last. Enemies to lovers and fake dating are two of my favorite tropes so this was a riot to read. I was laughing and smiling throughout this book. I was transported to Manchester throughout this charming story. Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for my ARC.

I want to start by saying that I absolutely adored Mhairi McFarlene's book 'Mad About You'. This however did not hit for me in the same way and I am sad because I really wanted to love it. I know that most of Mhairi's books include English (Brit) dialogue and I believe that in this one it was just not hitting my brain correctly as an American. I had to go back and reread some of the first couple of chapters because I did not digest anything. This made the book actually drag for me and I ended up not liking it as much as I thought I would.

Thank you Netgalley, the publisher, and Mhairi McFarlane for allowing me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

Mhairi McFarlane's writing never ceases to amaze me. From multi-dimensional characters to heart-wrenching moments that left me as the reader with pangs in my chest, McFarlane has captured me as a reader once again.

Not only is her writing witty, but it flows organically. McFarlane verbalizes real life moments, feelings, and expressions that you could never put into words, but once you've read it, you think, 'that's exactly it.'

While there is definitely a romance subplot, this book implores readers to point out the bad they see in the word, even if it makes them uncomfortable.

When reading any of McFarlane's books, I get this distinct ache in my chest because I don't want it to end. The themes are heavy and McFarlane is never afraid to call out society, its shortcomings, and the stigmas surrounding mental health, body image, the patriarchy, stalking, etc. You grow attached to her characters and dread coming to the last page.

Another absolute delight from McFarlane.

I’ve never read a romantic comedy quite like this - it was really a romantic-comedy-drama-thriller and it was SO GOOD. The women in this story are so strong and incredible and there are a couple good men. After I got to the 50% mark I just couldn’t put it down.

I enjoyed the banter between the two romantic interests once they were getting to know each other. Their instant dislike of each other seemed a bit much for no reason. There was a lot of harsh judgement and assumptions on both sides that didn't really seem justified to me and that made it a little hard to get into the story at first. The chemistry once they were fake dating was enjoyable and overall the side characters made this book a fine read.

McFarlane’s stories always just make me FEEL. And this was no different.

Watching Connor and Bel fall for each other was beautiful and easy and natural and I loved every single moment of it. I loved how easily almost EVERYONE around them knew what was going on but still stepped back and let them figure out.

Shaun was in the book for about 30 seconds and was absolutely one of my favorite characters.

This is also how miscommunication tropes are SUPPOSED to go. Bel and Connor were almost a comedy of errors how they misinterpreted each other. (And also… didn’t sometimes.) And none of it ever resolved itself until they talked, until they told each other the truth. (Which, let me tell you how masterful it was for them to only be able to step forward in their relationship when they were honest in the midst of all their deceptions.)

And the juxtaposition of Bel’s life with the story she was working on was also perfect.

I only wish we could have seen some more resolutions than we did. Aaron had a huge crush on Bel, so what’s going to happen now that she IS dating Connor? (Not to mention he doesn’t live there.) I feel like the Amber and Rick thing is a big black hole of unresolved issues. I just feel like there were some loose ends.

The book was beautifully written and a perfectly crafted story, like hers always are.