Published 2020 by Harper Collins (UK – Right Cover)
Synopsis
Laurie and Jamie have the perfect office romance
(They set the rules via email)
Everyone can see they’re head over heels
(They staged the photos)
This must be true love
(They’re faking it)
When Laurie is dumped by her partner of eighteen years, she’s blindsided. Not only does she feel humiliated, they still have to work together.
So when she gets stuck in the lift with handsome colleague Jamie, they hatch a plan to stage the perfect romance. Revenge will be sweet…
Review
I received this book from Netgalley in return for an honest review and I loved it. The perfect recipe for Lockdown Distraction, it mixed nicely the fake relationship trope with relatable characters, a pinch of drama and an amazing setting (Manchester FYI). I really enjoyed imagining the characters walking down Deansgate and St Peter’s Square. They even ventured over to Lincoln which is really close to where I grew up.
This is the first book I’ve read by Mhairi McFarlane and I’m so glad I did, I’m going to be visiting all of her previous novels now! If I Never Met You was an easy and enjoyable read without being too simple. Not that it was complex either – it was just right! It had just the right amount of drama to keep me intrigued and emotionally involved and the characters’ situations were well designed and pretty true-to-life in my opinion.
As a 30 something year old living in Manchester myself it was so easy to follow the narrative and feel that connection with Laurie. While her situation made my jaw drop to begin with she had an excellent and dry sense of humour as well as relatable relationships with her friends, colleagues and family. Jamie was adorable, as a bit of a rogue, you know where the story is going but everything unravelled and the ‘relationship’ developed at a natural speed and not at all rushed.
If I Never Met You is a wonderful story and one I think I may revisit again in the future and is currently only 99p on Amazon! for Kindle 🙂
Goodreads Rating: 4 / 5
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