If I Never Met You by Mhairi McFarlane
Published by William Morrow Paperbacks
on March 24, 2020
Genres: Chick Lit, Contemporary, Romance
Format: Audiobook, eBook
Pages: 432
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If faking love is this easy... how do you know when it’s real?
When her partner of over a decade suddenly ends things, Laurie is left reeling—not only because they work at the same law firm and she has to see him every day. Her once perfect life is in shambles and the thought of dating again in the age of Tinder is nothing short of horrifying. When news of her ex’s pregnant girlfriend hits the office grapevine, taking the humiliation lying down is not an option. Then a chance encounter in a broken-down elevator with the office playboy opens up a new possibility.
Jamie Carter doesn’t believe in love, but he needs a respectable, steady girlfriend to impress their bosses. Laurie wants a hot new man to give the rumor mill something else to talk about. It’s the perfect proposition: a fauxmance played out on social media, with strategically staged photographs and a specific end date in mind. With the plan hatched, Laurie and Jamie begin to flaunt their new couple status, to the astonishment—and jealousy—of their friends and colleagues. But there’s a fine line between pretending to be in love and actually falling for your charming, handsome fake boyfriend...
This is a book I didn’t know I need to read. It had been on my TBR for the longest but forgot why and took it off. Thankfully, I had requested the audiobook from the library and forgot about it. I’m so thankful that i didn’t cancel that request.
Laurie’s life, personality, and some of the things she goes through resonated with me. Laurie is a 36 year old successful lawyer living with her boyfriend of 18 years. Book starts off with a doozie, Dan breaks up with her. The reason? The same-ol’ story of the man growing bored and wanting excitement and blaming the woman for the boringness. Completely disregarding that without her, he wouldn’t have reached the position he’s in, he’s also a lawyer at the same law practice.
For weeks, they’re able to hold off the office gossip but it’s when Dan’s dirty little secret gets out that it all comes out. Dan had an emotional affair with ANOTHER lawyer and not soon after breaking with Laurie, got her pregnant. When one of the reasons for leaving Laurie was that he didn’t want to be a father….jackass!
Jamie Carter is known as the manwhore of the office who is out to take everyone’s jobs. Seriously, the office gossip was like being back in high school but pettier. Jamie is very ambitious and wants to move up the ladder but his reputation is a huge roadblock to doing so.
My heart and soul was aching for Laurie up until the elevator incident! Both being hard workers, Laurie and Jamie tend to stay later than everyone else and it just happened that one day they both were heading out the office when they get stuck in the elevator for hours. With no cell reception!!! As they’re forced to talk to each other, they get to know each other a little bit and Laurie’s perception of Jamie gets a little better.
After their time in the elevator, JAMIE, I love that it was Jamie that came up with it and not Laurie, comes up with an idea of fake dating which would benefit both of them. Jamie looks good with the partners and Laurie sticks it to Dan, Jamie is hotttttt AND younger.
Things get fun and hard once they start their act. It’s hard to believe what people will do out of jealousy. Soon enough, their act isn’t that much of an act. They start to get to really know one another, grow to respect the other, have each other’s back when all the stuff in the office went down.
Again, I felt like I was Laurie at times. She goes through so much and I’m so happy that she found Jamie. It’s satisfying to see her with someone who doesn’t blame her for their unhappiness. Also goes to show that appearances can be misleading, especially about someone’s true self.
I’m not sure if it was because I listened to the audiobook that my emotions were all over the place because I really liked the narrator too! Her accent and her speed talking made things 10x funnier or 10x emotional. I will admit that some of the Britishness of it was lost, couldn’t follow sometimes, but that just gave Laurie that much more personality.
I would sooooooooooooo love to come back and visit Laurie and Jamie…fingers crossed!
About Mhairi McFarlane
Mhairi was born in Falkirk, Scotland in 1976. She went to school in Nottingham, studied English Literature at Manchester University and then returned to Nottingham to delight its citizens with her journalism. After roles as trainee reporter, reporter, feature writer and columnist, she realised she’d climbed to the very top of the mountain at the Nottingham Post and at age 31 decided to write a novel. Some very skint years followed, during which she thought she might’ve made a huge mistake.
Her debut novel, the romantic comedy You Had Me At Hello, was an instant hit upon being published in December 2012. It’s since become HarperCollins’ best selling ebook to date, has been translated into 16 languages and is being developed as a major feature film, with Mhairi writing the screenplay. The follow up, Here’s Looking At You, was published in December 2013 and made the Sunday Times Bestseller list.
Mhairi’s first hardback title for HarperFiction, It’s Not Me, It’s You, is published on November 6th 2014.
She’s currently working on her fourth novel, adapting You Had Me At Hello for screen and developing a comedy-drama script for television.
