Ah, yes! The new Mhairi McFarlane! I binge-read all of her books when I had my daughter 6 years ago, needing something non-scary, funny and heartwarming to keep me going! And she’s continued to be on my instant-read list of absolute favourite authors.

Cover Story is classic Mhairi - gorgeous, relatable, complicated and witty characters and a fun, multi-layered story. Yes of course there’s a love story to die for - but as always with Mhairi’s books, there’s a lot more to our main characters and they’re dealing with career changes, manipulative exes and mental health struggles like real human beings.

Our main character is Bel Macaulay - a successful podcaster who has relocated to Manchester to work as an investigative journalist. Along with her coworker Aaron, it’s that time again for them to tolerate a new intern - enter Connor Adams. Despite being a hardworking 34-year-old, Bel is instantly grumpy with him, and he gives her back the same level of instant disdain.

Then when Bel gets started on an investigation that could be the biggest story of her career so far, Connor stumbles into her cover story and she has to pretend he is her boyfriend…. Cue the story getting going!

This was such a great mix of heartwarming, exciting, and emotional as Bel comes to terms with her past, uses her job to stand up for people that can’t do it on their own, and starts to see Connor in a new light.

The perfect joyful spring/summer read that I needed right now!

How does she keep doing this?! Another wonderful read from Mhairi McFarlane, who at this point can surely only be described as “disgustingly talented”. I adored the element of mystery in this book - the tense tracking down of evidence, the fear that the story being chased might not stack up. And as always, the unflinching look at how sh*t some men can be - especially in positions of power - also landed perfectly. I was fully invested in Connor and Bel’s tale, and appreciated the complex backstories that rounded them out as believable characters to root for. Just marvellous. Hurry up and write the next one, please, is all I can say.

This is the first book I've read by Mhairi McFarlane, and I LOVED it! It was so much fun and thoroughly exceeded my expectations.

There's an engaging romance between investigative reporter Bel and career-change trainee Connor, but also an equally engaging undercover investigation plot (I love undercover investigation plots). I liked the Manchester setting and the fact that colleague Aaron is from Bury (yes I'm from Bury). And I loved Bel's best friend Shilpa, what a star.

There're so many tropes here (enemies to lovers, fake relationship, accidental bed sharing) but it didn't feel hackneyed at all. The writing, especially the dialogue, is sharp and funny and makes you want to hang out with these people.

Thanks for the opportunity to read and review an advance copy!

To no-ones surprise, I loved this. Pitch perfect contemporary fiction with a stomach-swooping love story. The characters are delicious and real and the storyline is engrossing, entertaining and multi-faceted.

I love Bel and would like to be her friend please. Connor is a (not so) stoic dream and Shilpa is someone I’d love to bump into in the women’s loos and chat to for an hour, becoming immediate best friends.

Imo reading a Mhairi book is akin to sinking into a warm bath: it’s a safe and comfortable place to be. Don’t mistake that metaphor for a book that never touches on the uncomfortable & real though. Mhairi really knows how to weave a story of hope & love with very real observations of the often scary & misogynistic world we live in.

As always, I couldn’t stop reading but I’m bereft it’s over and am immediately looking for the next instalment of McFarlane cleverness & joy!

Ahhh, again and again I put myself in this position! I'll envy everyone who gets to experience this book for the first time when it's published.

I wish I could quote some of the passages because there were so many brilliant ones. The emotional intelligence is goosebump-inducing.

The plot focuses on the power of a public image, what happens when it's weaponized, and the difficulty in trying to keep those people accountable (read:men). It's a serious topic but it's approached with equal parts sensitivity and McFarlane's brilliant humour, and so the topic never feels heavy. In fact you're sort of tagging along with the MCs on their secret mission, going: WE RIDE AT DAWN!

Now the romance, as is usually the case with MM novels, simmers alongside the main story, but is still as impactful as if it were the sole focus of the book. It explores what happens when we lean too much on our own superficial assumptions of the other person.
There is no instant attraction as is often the case with enemies to lovers, where you have to squint to pretend it wasn't obvious they'd end up together. And don't get me wrong, I'm not carping at those books (in fact I devour them often!).

No, but what I'm saying is this is simply next level. These characters aren't afraid to dislike each other, or make the reader guessing till the very end. It's what every enemies to lovers want to be when they grow up. It's complicated, at times heartbreaking. I teared up at several points, I'll admit!

What I love about this author's writing is that the characters feel like real people. They make mistakes and are truly human, warts and all.

It was, as always, a breath of fresh air! I warmly recommend this book to anyone who likes their rom-coms with a side of great story that makes you think.

Thank you NetGalley and HarperCollins for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Mhairi McFarlane does it again - there's not one of her books that I don't love! Funny, touching and just so damn good - I race through all of her books and this one was no exception, I was reading til gone midnight even though I had an alarm going off at 5am....

with a deliciously real heroine in Bel - and what's this? a hero who admits he's gone cold turkey on his anti-depressants - more of this please! Loved the nods to Mhairi's 'other' job on Slow Horses and as a northerner far from home, am incredibly fond of a novel set in rainy manc.

Mhari McFarlane just keeps on getter better and better with each book. One of my absolute favourite authors. Her stories have so much dept and I feel each word and sentence is just pure magic. I don't want to say too much about the synopsis as I feel you should go into this book blind as I did. Excellent highly recommend.

I really enjoyed Cover Story. It took me a bit to get into as her writing style is a bit different from my usual, but once I got into it I was hooked. Who doesn’t love a good love to hate especially with some office workplace romance thrown in for good measure. Alonso’s characters like Shiloh helped bring life to the book and also a bit of mystery was thrown in as well with the consequences past relationships. Very intriguing

Cover Story was my first Mhairi McFarlane novel, and I'm so glad I finally read one of her books!

I really loved Mhairi McFarlane's writing, it's so witty and unique. She uses a lot of slang, which took some getting used to, but after about 20% of the story I was absolutely hooked. I really liked Bel as a character, her being so career-oriënted but still very head-over-heels at times, made her such a fun character to read about. I had some issues with Connor at first, mainly him bringing a little too much hostility into his new workplace (i know this is rivals to lovers, but my heart is fragile) luckily he managed to win me over in the end.

The only real problem I had with this book was in the advertising. I went in knowing quite a lot about McFarlane's writing-style, so I didn't expect a rom-com, and it wasn't surprising to me when the romance ended up being more of a subplot. Unfortunately I do think the description of this book is a little misleading, as this ended up being more of a chick-lit story about self-discovery, with the romance feeling a little like an afterthought.

I myself really didn't mind the romance taking a backseat, because the general themes of the book were so strong. This book touches on a lot of important issues regarding abuse of power, harassment and just men being assholes in general. It's a lot about what it means to be a woman in the workplace and it portrays problematic relationships in a very realistic way, but still deals with all of these issues in a sensitive manner.

Overall I really enjoyed this book, and will definitely be reading more books from this author. I can definitely recommend this book, just don't go in expecting a romcom, and you'll thoroughly enjoy this!

Thank You to HarperCollins and Netgalley for providing me with an ARC for this book. This review is now also posted on my Goodreads.