I wanted to give up on this one so badly, but today decided I would push through and finish it. I love Mhairi McFarlane, but this book missed the mark for me. On a positive note, Bel and Connor were fun main characters. There was also a consistently sweet female friendship theme, and I enjoyed the journalism aspect of the story. On another note, this is the slowest slow burn, and while I love some tension-building, this took way too long, in my opinion. The pacing felt poorly planned. I skimmed a decent amount of the middle chapters because it felt like they were dragging. Overall, not my favorite Mhairi McFarlane read, but would recommend if you’re looking for a women’s fiction vibe that is less romance-focused.

I'm grateful to NetGalley, HarperCollins Publishing, and author Mhairi McFarlane for providing me an ARC of this book. I'm not typically one for the fake dating trope, however the description of this book hooked me and I was excited to read. For me, the pacing was a little off and I found myself having a hard time with some of the dialogue. I went into the book expecting more of a rom-com vibe, and was caught a bit off guard by some of the heavier topics (though, shout out for having a MMC talking about his struggles with mental health almost from the get go!). Overall it's not a bad read at all, I just think readers should go in with a more realistic expectation of what the book will ultimately deliver.

I love anything with fake dating but the workplace rivals to lovers aspect was such a good addition. Bel and Conner had such good banter and were both so witty I loved anytime they interacted. The investigative journalism story was top notch and I loved the twists anytime we learned about why Bel moved to Manchester. Mhairi is always gonna deliver!

I enjoyed this book, but it was a hard one for me to get into. I struggled with the dialect at first because there was a phrase or word on almost every page that I had to look up or use context clues to understand. It also seemed like the book dragged on at some points. Overall I enjoyed the story line. The romance didn’t quite do it for me, but it was very believable.

While I've enjoyed some of Mhairi McFarlane's other books more than others, this one was a miss for me. The beginning of the book felt really slow to pickup, and that made it a bit of a slog to want to pick up over other things on my shelf. Third person narration isn't my favorite, and that narration combined with various issues that trigger me personally (infidelity, divorce, mental health issues) made it tough to continue when the story was feeling slow.

I found the beginning to be paced kinda slow and then towards the end as the story was reaching the climax I couldn’t read it fast enough, but was definitely more invested in the plot than the characters so rushed through to find out the conclusion. Felt like a lot of tropes were put in there: forced proximity, fake dating, enemies to lovers and none of them were outstanding. Overall a pleasant read, but not jumping to the top of the list for me by any means.

I went into Cover Story completely blind, and unfortunately, that didn’t work in my favor. The story starts off in a disjointed way, and I found the third-person narrative difficult to connect with. It took a while to figure out what was happening, and by then, I felt detached from the characters and the plot.

The writing style just never clicked for me, which made it hard to stay engaged. I appreciate unique formats and slow-burn suspense, but this one didn’t quite land. While the concept had potential, the execution left me more confused than intrigued.

That said, I know this book works well for some readers—it just wasn’t a good match for me.

This book has so much emotional depth, I was not prepared! There are some darker aspects but I also laughed though at least 30% of this book, it was such a surprise. I loved the characters and their development throughout. The overal idea of how public perception can be powerful and influential was a strong plot too!

This is my first book by this author, and I was excited to receive this ARC given that I’ve heard praise from friends about her previous books. Not to mention, the first line in the description for this book on Goodreads describes the author as “the Queen of Romcoms,” so I fully anticipated this book to have that feel. Sadly, it did not, and I think that’s one of my biggest issues—feeling as though this story is not accurately advertised. Because of this, my expectations going into reading did not match the reality of the story.

Cover Story attempts to tackle many things at once (a stalker ex, a cheating ex, a MC who cheated, a MC battling depression, a divorced friend, jilted exes, breaking a big news story about a shitty mayor by going undercover), and in doing so, made the story feel scattered. Also, in trying to develop and sort through so much, the romance gets placed on the back burner. It’s not even really addressed until the last 8% of the story and, even then, the conclusion left me unsatisfied. I especially loathe a miscommunication/misunderstanding trope. The romance ultimately felt like it got thrown in at the end after realizing it had been forgotten.

While I wholeheartedly enjoy, and often seek out, romantic stories that explore sensitive themes and shed light on tough topics, as this one does, that seemed to be the primary focus here. I did appreciate the way in which the topic at the forefront of the undercover investigation was addressed, the outcome of which was ultimately satisfying, but I got neither “rom” nor “com” vibes as a result.

There were parts of this story I enjoyed while others felt rushed and/or underdeveloped, and I think implying it is a “romcom” does it a disservice, especially since the central focus is not comedic in the slightest.

** Thank you to NetGalley and Avon and Harper Voyager for an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own. **

4 stars! ⭐️ I became so invested in Connor and Bel!! This is a slow burn romance but the tension and banter keeps you turning page after page!

What to expect:
- slow burn
- enemies to lovers
- fake dating

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

Thank you so much netgalley for the opportunity to read this book as an arc
I don’t know if it’s because I was reading the great big beautiful life before this, but this gave me a similar vibe to emi,y Henry especially that book
I’ve been wanting to read something from this author for a while now and I’m so excited my journey with her books has finally begun. I really enjoyed the writting and the storytelling and I can’t wait to pick up some other books from her next

I’m a Mhairi fan from way back and was itching to get my hands on this book! It took me awhile to get into it, I’ll be honest. Bel is an award-winning podcaster and journalist who has relocated to Manchester following a breakup. She has an excellent story opportunity fall in her lap, but the new intern at the paper she’s working for drops himself in the middle of the action. Instead of grumpy – sunshine, it is grumpy – grumpy. There are many many miscommunications. I feel as though the beginning of the story took too long and the end of the story was rushed. We get so many details about some parts of the story yet there are plot holes that are never filled. I still love this author, and I will still be back the next time she puts out a book, this was not my favorite.

I have been a huge fan of Mhairi and she never disappoints! Bel works in a newspaper alongside Aaron, a fellow journalist, and Connor, the new intern. Connor and Bel immediately dislike each other but are forced to fake date in order to investigate a story.
I really enjoyed the accurate representation of grief, depression, suicidal ideation and stalking.
Connor was the perfect MMC - he is grumpy, but caring and clearly grows and changes throughout the story. There is amazing slow build and the banter is 10/10.

loved!! mhairi is my favorite author and she never fails to disappoint. the external plot felt well-developed and the chemistry simmered.

Not my favorite book in the world, but it was fine! The plot was interesting, but there was a lot going on. The chemistry was good, but I don't know if I'd return to it again and again.

I'm still trying to process this. I wanted to enjoy it, I just had a hard time getting into it and maybe I'll reread it to get a definite opinion, but right now I think was just meh.

Thank you to NetGallery and Avon Voyager (the publishers) for allowing me the privilege of reading this book!

I so badly want to give this a 5 ⭐️ but it’s sitting at a 4.5 ⭐️

I will start off with saying truly loved this book, but there are some points in it that I don’t exactly love, hence 4.5⭐️s. Partly think some of this is because this kept me highly entertained and I did find myself laughing over Mhairi’s writing. Considering I’ve never read one of her books, I now need to read more; thank you. I really absolutely loved the slow burn of Bel and Connor, agh, this is absolutely what I needed when I say I love a good slow burn yearning. My only complaint with their relationship would be that I wanted more of them by the end </3 but this was overall very good. Like I felt myself needing to read this to see them to get together. My points of reason that knocked half a point count as spoilers and those will be put at the end of the review. I did love Bel and Connor’s relationship but the plot could have had some more work to it. As in the process of them working together on this case was good for showing this connection, but for the actual plot of the details for their cover story left me needing a bit more. As in plot development and such.

——————————SPOILERS AHEAD——————————

So for the portion on spoilers, Bel’s ex stalking, was a bit clean for me. I understood why Anthony would have counteracted Bel if she had made a statement, as in that was believable, but I wanted to see him get his ass handed to him. Which Connor kinda did but it wasn’t satisfying; if he ended up losing his job and wife and getting arrested that’d be wonderful. Another qualm I have is the fact that Bel cheated on Tim. That really took away from the story for me, I don’t like cheating in books from a main character, and though she hadn’t cheated on Connor, it just felt icky. Considering Jen was also cheating on Connor, I don’t see how he’d just be okay dating Bel who also cheated, like to me that does seem unrealistic. Then lastly, Connor claiming to be suicidal over Maurice and then he never says anything about that or the fact that he is on medication for depression to Bel, granted it’d be a heavy conversation but for me that would have really added to their connection. Amber also being super angry at Bel and Connor when they all seemed close didn’t feel in character of her, I wish we could have seen her come back around to becoming friends with Bel instead of Bella. That would’ve been lovely. Anyways that sums it up pretty good I think.

Thank you NetGallery and the Publishers for the opportunity to read this!

I've been a fan of Mhairi's writing for a while now. Her books always have great banter and heat. This one was a cute little read. Her usual humor definitely comes through. I enjoyed the mystery aspect but it was really lacking in the romance aspect of the plot.

Bel and Connor were perfection! I love how they had to learn so much to make it work. There were so many cute moments plus the banter! This book reminds me why I live this author! It was sweet and thoughtful plus romantically whitty!

This book had an interesting plot, but the execution was lacking a little. I felt that there were too many side plots, and some things were left by the wayside. I also wish that the timing of the book was a little faster. I liked it but didn't love it.