ARC Review: If I Never Met You – Mhairi McFarlane

Rating 5 Stars

Read the synopsis here

Review
Mhairi McFarlane is a new-to-me author that I discovered earlier this year. What first drew me to her work, quite frankly, was the spelling and pronunciation of her name but what kept me reading was her amazing ability to tell a story. This book had so many amazing qualities – a smart, funny heroine; a charming hero with a heart of gold; interracial dating; fake to real relationship that truly felt genuine; and a loyal friend group that you knew had the heroine/hero’s back (and vice versa).

What I loved most about this book was that, despite Laurie having lost herself in her first relationship, she maintained her integrity and gained back her independence in a realistic and hopeful way. McFarlane’s writing created such complex and dynamic characters that made me feel each of Laurie’s emotions as she went through the painful breakup and entered into this new phase of her life. She held her head up high, kicked ass at work, and began to understand how a real relationship should be through fake dating her colleague. As for Jamie, I’ll be adding him to my long list of book boyfriends. Despite his “manwhore” reputation, he was such a gentleman with Laurie. He was charming, funny and full of compassion; a much better fit for Laurie than Dan could ever hope to be.

This is definitely one of my favourite books of 2019 and I am so incredibly grateful to have been able to read and review this story early.

Thank you to HarperCollins Australia and Netgalley for the free copy in exchange for an honest review.

Release date: 16 December 2019!
Pre-order it now: HarperCollins Australia