Title: If I Never Met You
Author: Mhairi McFarlane
Genre: Romance
Edition/Pages: Audiobook, 11 Hours 17 Minutes
Goodreads page

I received an ARC copy of this from William Morrow via Edelweiss+ in exchange for an honest review

Summary

Laurie and Dan have been together for 18 years. She believes that have a perfect, stable relationship. Until Dan drops that bomb that he feels trapped by their life and is leaving. Now Laurie has to face him and humiliation every day at their office.

A chance encounter leaves her trapped in a broken elevator with Jamie – the office playboy. But there might be more to Jamie than meets the eye. They strike up a deal to fake date to help Jamie win a promotion and make Laurie’s ex jealous. But the line between fake and real begins to blur for them both.

Overview

➸ POV: 3rd Person

➸ Laurie: 36, In a relationship with Dan for 18 years, Lawyer, Wants to settle down and have kids

➸ Jamie: 31, Reputation as playboy, Lawyer, Wants to be partner, Doesn’t believe in marriage

➸ Content Warnings: Cheating (physical and emotional), Toxic relationships, Sexual assault, Cancer

My Thoughts

I have such mediocre thoughts about this book.. I don’t even know how to review this because I just don’t feel that strongly about it in any way.

This had moments where is really shined. I liked some of the banter and wittiness, the main characters had decent chemistry, and I loved the strong female friendships. In fact my favorite part of this entire book is when Laurie told her best friend that she was her destiny. Precious.

But this book felt so long and I never had the urge to pick this up. I had to constantly remind myself that I was reading this and should get back to it. I didn’t really connect to anyone or feel invested. And this is absolutely a me problem, not a book problem, but I couldn’t get into this writing. There was so much British slang that I couldn’t follow the dialogue an easy 50% of the time.

The only thing I feel strongly about is my dislike of this ending… The final conflict, reveal felt completely out of left field. And the resolution was so cheesy I was visibly cringing. Plus it seemed completely out of character for both of them.

Overall this was just kinda mediocre. It had cute moments but I never really connected to this story in any meaningful way. I will say the audiobook was really well narrated if you decide to go down that path!

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