I’ve been wanting to read more of Mhairi McFarlane’s books after loving ‘Just Last Night’. When I saw that she’d written this book, a fake-dating romance, (one of my favorite tropes) I picked it up straight away. This book was just the right read to pull me out of my reading slump. Here’s my review for ‘If I Never Met You’ by Mhairi McFarlane.

We follow Laurie, a 36-year old defense lawyer, as her life flips upside down after her boyfriend of 18 years, Dan, breaks up with her on the cusp of marriage. After the breakup, Laurie finds out that Dan was having an affair and even (gasp!) got the woman pregnant. Heartbroken, lost and filled with grief, Laurie is desperate for Dan to feel even a fraction of her pain. 

Jamie Carter, the ambitious, painfully handsome office ‘playboy’ is the main love interest. After some chance encounters turn into deep conversations, the two decide that they have mutual interests. Jamie wants the office promotion and needs to be seen as reliable, while Laurie wants to get her pride back – so, a “pretend relationship” begins. 

Of course, we all know how fake dating tropes go. The relationship stops feeling fake, and the two have to navigate their budding feelings. After all, quoting the book: If faking love is so easy, how do you know when it’s real?

What I Liked

Laurie’s Growth

Having your long-time partner leave you is always a crushing blow. We could equate it with experiencing a death, as we grieve in equal measure for it. Laurie felt the depth of this pain and was left empty-handed, with nothing but guilt and insecurity. 18 years of love and devotion paid, with no marriage or kids left at the end of it. How do you get back into dating after such a betrayal?

This is who Laurie is at the start of the book. Insecure in her own skin and mistrustful of the world around her. By the end of the book, Laurie is a different person entirely – confident and independent.

Laurie’s growth is truly one of my favorite parts of the book. She grows and evolves so much, and takes us along on her journey. This is one of my favorite parts of Mhairi McFarlane’s books – they aren’t just romances, but literary fiction novels. They teach us character by character and story by story, helping us get closer to understanding who we are.

I loved all of Laurie’s platonic soulmates, especially Emily. She was Laurie’s fiercely loyal and daredevil best friend. I loved the recurring theme throughout the book that soulmates can be platonic. Emily was supportive, tender, a bit of a wreck, confident and deeply intelligent. I really enjoyed the role she played in the story.

When you’re cosied up with a romance novel, perhaps holding a steaming cup of tea or with your hand in a bag of Cheetos, all you want is the drama.(The use of ‘you ’here is mostly me.) You want the swoon-worthy moments, the flirtations and most of all, the wreckage of the third-act conflict. 

Usually, you’ll have some classic miscommunication (which is overused and rarely done right). Sometimes, for a bit of spice, the author might throw in jealousy and a breakup at 80 percent. However, when I say I want a conflict, it is far from this kind – these examples are what people mean when they say they dread the third act of a book. 

Mhairi McFarlane did something a little different in her book. However, when I say ‘different’, that doesn’t necessarily mean ‘better’ – I won’t spoil what happened, but it was a rushed, confusing and unsatisfactory mess. The third act in this book didn’t satisfy me at all. 

I know many believe that people of opposite gender hanging out together, especially in the context of a romance book, and especially in a ‘fake relationship’, inherently have romantic tension. However, unless you plant the seeds of romance, there is nothing there for us to root for.

I loved Jamie and Laurie’s friendship (because that is what it was) at the start of the book. They really seemed to have each other’s back and had great banter. However, that wasn’t enough for me – in romance books, we want the /romance/. There were some scenes sprinkled in that gave us hints, but those came closer to the end. We really only got the romance part in the last 10-20% of the book.

However, this won’t necessarily be a ‘minus’ for you if you like slow burn romances that focus on friends-to-lovers. That usually isn’t my style when I read books, as I prefer more chemistry from the start. 

If I Never Met You is a surprisingly emotional and loaded romance novel. The romance part of it is less strong, but the character growth and side characters carry the story. If you like friends-to-lovers slow burn fake dating romances, pick this book up. It will surprise you with its depth and maturity. 

If I Never Met You Goodreads : https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/51213487-if-i-never-met-you