{"id":25225,"date":"2020-03-24T09:24:49","date_gmt":"2020-03-24T13:24:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/smittenbybooks.com\/blog\/?p=25225"},"modified":"2022-10-11T16:58:43","modified_gmt":"2022-10-11T16:58:43","slug":"review-if-i-never-met-you-by-mhairi-mcfarlane","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/smittenbybooks.com\/blog\/2020\/03\/24\/review-if-i-never-met-you-by-mhairi-mcfarlane\/","title":{"rendered":"Review \u2764\ufe0f If I Never Met You by Mhairi McFarlane"},"content":{"rendered":"<!--themify_builder_content-->\n<div id=\"themify_builder_content-25225\" data-postid=\"25225\" class=\"themify_builder_content themify_builder_content-25225 themify_builder tf_clear\">\n    \t\t\t<!-- module_row -->\n\t<div  data-lazy=\"1\" class=\"module_row themify_builder_row tb_bbbcac8 tb_first tf_w tf_clearfix\">\n\t    \t\t\t<div class=\"row_inner gutter-narrow col_align_top tb_col_count_2 tf_box tf_rel\">\n\t\t            <div  data-lazy=\"1\" class=\"module_column tb-column col3-1 tb_49667e8 first\">\n                                                        <div class=\"tb-column-inner tf_box tf_w\">\n                        <!-- module image -->\n<div  class=\"module module-image tb_7036296 rounded drop-shadow customBorderRad_top image-center auto_fullwidth tf_mw\" data-lazy=\"1\">\n        <div class=\"image-wrap tf_rel tf_mw\">\n\t\t    <img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/smittenbybooks.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/if-i-never-met-you-mhairi-mcfarlane-scaled.jpg?w=640\" title=\"Review \u2764\ufe0f If I Never Met You by Mhairi McFarlane\" alt=\"Review \u2764\ufe0f If I Never Met You by Mhairi McFarlane\">\t\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<!-- \/image-wrap -->\n    \n    \t<\/div>\n<!-- \/module image --><!-- module text -->\n<div  class=\"module module-text tb_a1982ef customBorderRad_bottom repeat \" data-lazy=\"1\">\n        <div  class=\"tb_text_wrap\">\n    <p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"color: #ffffff;\"><em>If faking love is this easy&#8230; how do you know when it\u2019s real?<\/em><\/span><\/p><p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"color: #ffffff;\">When her partner of over a decade suddenly ends things, Laurie is left reeling\u2014not only because they work at the same law firm and she has to see him<em>\u00a0every day<\/em>. 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\u2019s pregnant girlfriend hits the office grapevine, taking the humiliation lying down is\u00a0<em>not<\/em>\u00a0an option. Then a chance encounter in a broken-down elevator with the office playboy opens up a new possibility.<\/span><\/p><p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"color: #ffffff;\">Jamie Carter doesn\u2019t 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\u2019s 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\u2014and jealousy\u2014of their friends and colleagues. But there\u2019s a fine line between pretending to be in love and\u00a0actually\u00a0falling\u00a0for your charming, handsome\u00a0<em>fake<\/em>\u00a0boyfriend&#8230;<\/span><\/p>    <\/div>\n<\/div>\n<!-- \/module text -->                    <\/div>\n                            <\/div>\n                        <div  data-lazy=\"1\" class=\"module_column tb-column col3-2 tb_23787e9 last\">\n                                                        <div class=\"tb-column-inner tf_box tf_w\">\n                        <!-- module text -->\n<div  class=\"module module-text tb_2d1ea91  repeat \" data-lazy=\"1\">\n        <div  class=\"tb_text_wrap\">\n    <p><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-16467 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/smittenbybooks.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/3_5-hearts.jpg?resize=146%2C44\" alt=\"\" width=\"146\" height=\"44\" \/><\/p><hr \/><p><strong>Release Date:<\/strong> Mar 24, 2020<br \/><strong>Heat Level:<\/strong> Sensual<br \/><strong>Publisher:<\/strong>\u00a0HarperCollins<br \/><strong>Imprint:<\/strong> William Morrow<br \/><strong>Price:<\/strong> $10.99<\/p><hr \/><p>\u00a0<\/p><p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><em>My first McFarlane book probably won\u2019t be my last.<\/em><\/p><p style=\"text-align: justify;\">I\u2019ll say this book wasn\u2019t what I expected. For some readers the heroine only POV may be a turnoff. Others may feel the subject matter hits too close to home, but in the end, I suckered up to the love story evolving between our heroine and the playboy co-worker she meets along her journey.<\/p><p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>Laurie<\/strong> is a successful lawyer. She\u2019s got the job and the man, a man she\u2019s been with since college. The same man who decides that after eighteen years of being together he doesn\u2019t want children and doesn\u2019t want to be with her. Devastated Laurie does the only sensible thing, hatch a plan with the playboy of the office to make her ex jealous.<\/p><p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Of course, our hero, <strong>Jamie<\/strong>, gets something out of the deal. He\u2019s trying to make office partner at the law firm where both he and Laurie work. Jamie is a nice guy, though he\u2019s glued to social media and ensuring he doesn\u2019t have a night without a date. Our hero\u2019s hang ups are not too deep. No, this book involves a climb for the heroine who has been emotionally hurt in the worst of ways \u2013 note: I am not deep diving here because this book relies so heavily on what the heroine has gone through.<\/p><p style=\"text-align: justify;\">What I enjoyed about the book is the budding romance between the characters, the slow burn, and build to the finale. I enjoyed Laurie\u2019s true reactions and rollercoaster of emotions she experienced after her break up and the confidence it takes to rebuild.<\/p><p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Things I didn\u2019t enjoy included Laurie\u2019s predilection for letting people walk all over, even towards the end of the book. I wasn\u2019t a fan of only living in Laurie\u2019s head and would have enjoyed a little time in Jamie\u2019s. For pacing the book took too long to ratchet up, with almost 15-20% of the story dedicated to Laurie\u2019s breakup, which while the story started there, the love story started later. I think this book couldn\u2019t decide if it was women\u2019s fiction or a romance.<\/p><p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Mid-way through this book is where I got emotionally involved in a big way. I wanted the happy ending, and all things to be resolved. Of course, the best romance books don\u2019t turn out the way you expect, apart from the HEA.<\/p><p style=\"text-align: justify;\">For readers who enjoy <strong>Kristin Higgins<\/strong> and <strong>Talia Hibbert<\/strong>.<\/p><p><em>~ Landra<\/em><\/p>    <\/div>\n<\/div>\n<!-- \/module text --><!-- module text -->\n<div  class=\"module module-text tb_eb0616c customBorderRad repeat \" data-lazy=\"1\">\n        <div  class=\"tb_text_wrap\">\n    <p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong><span class=\"s1\"><a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/2UxPX7F\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Amazon<\/a><\/span><span class=\"s2\">\u00a0|\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/books.apple.com\/us\/book\/if-i-never-met-you\/id1469872751?mt=11&amp;app=itunes&amp;at=11l88k\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span class=\"s3\">iBooks<\/span><\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.barnesandnoble.com\/w\/if-i-never-met-you-mhairi-mcfarlane\/1132188583?ean=9780062958563\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span class=\"s3\">B&amp;N<\/span><\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.kobo.com\/us\/en\/ebook\/if-i-never-met-you\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span class=\"s3\">Kobo<\/span><\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/play.google.com\/store\/books\/details\/Mhairi_McFarlane_If_I_Never_Met_You?id=1raeDwAAQBAJ\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span class=\"s3\">Google Play<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>    <\/div>\n<\/div>\n<!-- \/module text -->                    <\/div>\n                            <\/div>\n            \t    <\/div>\n\t    <!-- \/row_inner -->\n\t<\/div>\n\t<!-- \/module_row -->\n\t<\/div>\n<!--\/themify_builder_content-->","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>If faking love is this easy&#8230; how do you know when it\u2019s real? When her partner of over a decade suddenly ends things, Laurie is [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":25226,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[106,112,48,72],"tags":[148,216,217,323],"class_list":["post-25225","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-harpercollins","category-landra","category-reviews","category-william-morrow","tag-3-5-stars","tag-contemporary","tag-contemporary-romance","tag-interracial"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Review \u2764\ufe0f If I Never Met You by Mhairi McFarlane - Smitten by Books<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/smittenbybooks.com\/blog\/2020\/03\/24\/review-if-i-never-met-you-by-mhairi-mcfarlane\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Review \u2764\ufe0f If I Never Met You by Mhairi McFarlane - Smitten by Books\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"If faking love is this easy&#8230; how do you know when it\u2019s real? 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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\u2019s pregnant girlfriend hits the office grapevine, taking the humiliation lying down is\u00a0<em>not<\/em>\u00a0an option. Then a chance encounter in a broken-down elevator with the office playboy opens up a new possibility.<\/p><p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Jamie Carter doesn\u2019t 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\u2019s 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\u2014and jealousy\u2014of their friends and colleagues. But there\u2019s a fine line between pretending to be in love and\u00a0actually\u00a0falling\u00a0for your charming, handsome\u00a0<em>fake<\/em>\u00a0boyfriend...<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/smittenbybooks.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/3_5-hearts.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"146\" height=\"44\" \/><\/p><hr \/><p><strong>Release Date:<\/strong> Mar 24, 2020<br \/><strong>Heat Level:<\/strong> Sensual<br \/><strong>Publisher:<\/strong>\u00a0HarperCollins<br \/><strong>Imprint:<\/strong> William Morrow<br \/><strong>Price:<\/strong> $10.99<\/p><hr \/><p>\u00a0<\/p><p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><em>My first McFarlane book probably won\u2019t be my last.<\/em><\/p><p style=\"text-align: justify;\">I\u2019ll say this book wasn\u2019t what I expected. For some readers the heroine only POV may be a turnoff. Others may feel the subject matter hits too close to home, but in the end, I suckered up to the love story evolving between our heroine and the playboy co-worker she meets along her journey.<\/p><p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>Laurie<\/strong> is a successful lawyer. She\u2019s got the job and the man, a man she\u2019s been with since college. The same man who decides that after eighteen years of being together he doesn\u2019t want children and doesn\u2019t want to be with her. Devastated Laurie does the only sensible thing, hatch a plan with the playboy of the office to make her ex jealous.<\/p><p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Of course, our hero, <strong>Jamie<\/strong>, gets something out of the deal. He\u2019s trying to make office partner at the law firm where both he and Laurie work. Jamie is a nice guy, though he\u2019s glued to social media and ensuring he doesn\u2019t have a night without a date. Our hero\u2019s hang ups are not too deep. No, this book involves a climb for the heroine who has been emotionally hurt in the worst of ways \u2013 note: I am not deep diving here because this book relies so heavily on what the heroine has gone through.<\/p><p style=\"text-align: justify;\">What I enjoyed about the book is the budding romance between the characters, the slow burn, and build to the finale. I enjoyed Laurie\u2019s true reactions and rollercoaster of emotions she experienced after her break up and the confidence it takes to rebuild.<\/p><p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Things I didn\u2019t enjoy included Laurie\u2019s predilection for letting people walk all over, even towards the end of the book. I wasn\u2019t a fan of only living in Laurie\u2019s head and would have enjoyed a little time in Jamie\u2019s. For pacing the book took too long to ratchet up, with almost 15-20% of the story dedicated to Laurie\u2019s breakup, which while the story started there, the love story started later. I think this book couldn\u2019t decide if it was women\u2019s fiction or a romance.<\/p><p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Mid-way through this book is where I got emotionally involved in a big way. I wanted the happy ending, and all things to be resolved. Of course, the best romance books don\u2019t turn out the way you expect, apart from the HEA.<\/p><p style=\"text-align: justify;\">For readers who enjoy <strong>Kristin Higgins<\/strong> and <strong>Talia Hibbert<\/strong>.<\/p><p><em>~ Landra<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/2UxPX7F\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Amazon<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/books.apple.com\/us\/book\/if-i-never-met-you\/id1469872751?mt=11&amp;app=itunes&amp;at=11l88k\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">iBooks<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.barnesandnoble.com\/w\/if-i-never-met-you-mhairi-mcfarlane\/1132188583?ean=9780062958563\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">B&amp;N<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.kobo.com\/us\/en\/ebook\/if-i-never-met-you\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Kobo<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/play.google.com\/store\/books\/details\/Mhairi_McFarlane_If_I_Never_Met_You?id=1raeDwAAQBAJ\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Google Play<\/a><\/strong><\/p>","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/smittenbybooks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25225","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/smittenbybooks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/smittenbybooks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smittenbybooks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smittenbybooks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25225"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/smittenbybooks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25225\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smittenbybooks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/smittenbybooks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25225"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smittenbybooks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25225"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smittenbybooks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25225"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}