I quite enjoyed this book but did find it a bit slow in places. I took to Laurie’s character and was pleased that in the end she stood up for herself in any situation. The rest of the main characters in the law firm were interesting and if you have ever worked in that sort of environment easy to relate to. Jamie was someone who evolved in time in the book and I did like the quick wit between Jamie and Laurie at times

I couldn't wait to get started with this the latest book from Mhairi McFarlane. I love her writing and I think this is maybe her best novel yet.

To begin with I had forgotten how fast paced the dialogue in her books can be. I think she is the only writer who can actually record what it's like to have whole conversations with your friends, whilst also recording your own thought process. It's so close to real life that I ached to be away from the book.

Yes it's a romcom. But if you've never read a book by Mhairi before, don't leave your brain behind as you pick up this book, because you are going to need it. Great use of language as always and a few words I had to look up!

Laurie is the main character in the book and she gets dumped in a "it's not you, it's me" scenario which was so very realistic. She and her former partner are both lawyers at the same law firm and so as you can imagine this gets more than a little awkward going forward. Except that another lawyer in the firm called Jamie has a great idea to make her ex jealous. They have a fauxmance, and to make it appear legit they do what anyone would do, they put it all on Facebook and IG.

The male characters had me so incensed through most of this book. From her ex, to her Father and most of her male colleagues. I wish I could say it only happens in books, but sadly, I feel Mhairi has got it pegged down to a T. While at the same time it had some great strong female characters who I could really relate to.

I am really going to miss this book as I got to know the characters so well and looked forward to finding out what was going to happen next.

I'm giving this book 5 out of 5 stars.

If I Never Met You is out on 1 January 2020 My thanks to Netgalley and Harper Collins for allowing me exclusive early access to this brilliant book.

Ahhhh I loved this book. Mhairi McFarlane is a wonderful writer who sweeps you up in a story from the first page. I was so invested in Laurie and her love life that I carried on reading into the early hours of the morning just to see what would happen. I even forgot my bath was running and flooded the bathroom. It was that engaging!
If I Never Met You gave me all the feels; love, excitement, happiness, sadness, anger... I could go on.
Superb story that I wished would never end.
Thank you for the opportunity to read and review.

wonderful, a feel good romance for a cold winters day. Laurie is heartbroken when her Dan leaves her after 18 years. Jamie approaches her with a faux romance plan to suit them both. Does the obvious happen?

This is perfection! It is well written and had me hooked from the very first page! So this is fake relationship story. I mean what else are you supposed to do when your partner of 18 years dumps you? You fake a relationship with your hot colleague of course!

I mean what could happen lol!

This book is hilarious and a definite must read I am not giving anymore details because i'm terrified of spoiling it!

You know when you've loved a book when you never want it to end and this was true for this book.
Laurie is left devastated when her partner of 18 years leaves her. We follow as she slowly learns to live and love her life again, helped by the unlikely friendship in the form of handsome Jamie the office lothario. Full of tears, love and laughter. A must read.

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.

This was the second of Mhairi McFarlane and it's concreted my love for her work. Her chick lit has a real feel to it and it's both funny and modern. I loved both the leads in this books despised Dan and to be honest a fair few from the law firm they worked. I adored the Liverpool/ Manchester references and Bar Ca Va was genius! I spend most of my uni days in there and it made the book feel more realistic to me. The book is a brilliant little read and I'm excited to read more of McFarlane's work

I’m sure the last time I read a Mhairi McFarlane book I regretted reading it so quickly because then it was over, and I wanted it to last forever because it was so delicious. Completely forgot, and devoured this in one sitting pretty much, and now feel similarly bereft and tempted to start it again. Laurie and Jamie and are gorgeous, and getting to know them feels like a privilege. Their back stories, families and friends create a lovely depth to their adventures in faking a relationship, and the subsequent story is real, relatable, and at the same time complete and utter escapism. Can’t recommend this enough.

I love love love love everything that Mhairi does. She just knows how to please me! There wasn’t anything particularly ground breaking about this book, and the plot was very predictable..... and I just flipping loved it! I fell in love with the characters, I mean, who wouldn’t. Mhairi can do no wrong! I’d give this a 4.5 rather than a 4, and it only lost half the mark for the lack of mystery / intrigue. But still thoroughly enjoyed it - thank you for my copy!

What a great read! I throughly enjoyed this book and felt every emotion and rollercoaster Laurie felt and experienced. Laurie and Jamie were both likeable and easy to relate to.

This is the grown up version of 'To All The Boys I've Loved Before' but with more laughter, drama and heart. In true McFarlane style it's pacey, heartfelt and all kinds of lovely.

When the love of your life walks out what better way to get revenge than with a gorgeous younger guy! Sometimes breaking up is the very best thing that can happen to you and life’s unexpected twists and turns can bring you more happiness than you could have known.

Fake dating is a god-tier trope, we all know this. So when one of your favourite authors announces that their next book is going to include fake dating? Well who wouldn’t jump at the chance to read it.

If I Never Met You is like your classic fake dating trope, where both parties need something out of the relationship – Laurie to get back at her ex who has just dumped her for another woman and suddenly announced said woman’s pregnancy, and Jamie to prove to the partners at their law firm that he has settled down and is the right person to offer the position of partner to. But the fake dating ends up a little more like real dating and, yeah, it’s obvious where I’m going with this, but that’s the whole fun of the trope. You know exactly what’s going to happen, so the excitement is more how well the author can build up the relationship and make you desperate for the happy ending. And Mhairi McFarlane does it so incredibly well.

One of my favourite things about Mhairi McFarlane’s books is her ability to write realistic and sympathetic characters you will fall in love with within the first few pages. And that is no different here. Both Laurie and Jamie are characters to root for, and ones you’ll want to be reading more of after you’ve turned the final page (no really, Mhairi, what do I have to offer to get an epilogue). And it’s not just Laurie and Jamie – the surrounding cast is equally great (and detestable when they need to be).

What McFarlane does best with these characters though, is make you want them to be together. And then gives you a slowburn to end all slowburns. In too many romances I’ve read, the couple has got together before I’ve even thought that they might like each other. You know the ones, where all the attraction seems to be shallow and full of lust. The best romances give you that tension before all that (though not wholly disregarding the lust either). This is one of those romances.

If I had any minor issues with this, it was these. Firstly, there’s not so much of an emotional kick to this one as there was to Don’t You Forget About Me (i.e. I didn’t end up almost crying in the kitchen). Though, obviously, I’m going to need to reread again soon and then I might get the kick. Secondly, the main character is biracial, and a couple of times I was a little… hmmm about the rep. Couldn’t tell you more than that, just… hmmm.

But probably the marker of a good book is how desperate I am to go right back to the beginning and start again immediately after finishing and, in that case, this was an excellent one.

Laurie has just been dumped by her boyfriend of nearly two decades. Not only is she heartbroken, but now she must deal with the humiliation of still working in the same office as him.

Jamie is desperate to be made partner of the law firm he works for, but with his playboy lifestyle he is not exactly promotion material.

When a chance encounter throws the pair together, they begin to hatch a plan to fake the perfect romance that will benefit them both. Jamie will have a serious relationship and Laurie will get the revenge she desires.

But can you really have a showmance without getting emotionally involved?

McFarlane’s novels are romantic-comedy at it’s best!

I always find her female protagonists to be extremely relatable, even though I had little in common with Laurie I could easily connect with the range of emotions she felt after her break up. The grief, anger, judgment of herself and the somewhat unhealthy need for revenge. Jamie, as usual for this genre, is every woman’s dream man; gorgeous, funny and successful. The personal growth of each character was believable and a pleasure to follow.

There was quite a lot of supporting characters, but I didn’t feel any were there to pad the story. They all had something to add that was important to the unfolding events and the circumstances.

I found this book particularly refreshing due to its setting, not only was it set in England but for a change the backdrop wasn’t London, instead it was based in Manchester.

There is not one book by this author that I haven’t enjoyed, and I highly recommend if you like your romance with a little more em optional depth, but also plenty of laughs!

Mhairi McFarlane is easily my favourite writer of RomComs. Whilst I'll always have a special place in my heart for 'Who's That Girl?' (it was my first of her books), this one is very close to gazumping it! The book opens with Laurie getting dumped by her boyfriend of 18 years, Laurie's heartbreak is presented in a truly believable manner - one that many of us will relate to on some level. When Jamie and his grandiose scheme enter her life, it could easily have been cheesy or cliché. But McFarlane is a master at her work, and what plays out is a truly delightful and heartwarming story. A total must-read for fans of RomComs. Think of this as a grown-up 'To All The Boys I've Loved Before.'