If I Never Met You — Books, Beauty, & Buys

By: Mhari McFarlane
Published Year: 2020
Publisher: William Morrow Publishing
Pages: 209

Summary (Provided by Goodreads): 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...

First Impressions

I first heard about McFarlane years ago from an old blog I used to follow. I think I added this specific book to my to-read list, but it was difficult to find her books in the US. This book specifically I loved the cover and am a fan of fake dating tropes, so it was the one I picked.

What I thought

When one of my friends mentioned she had recently listened to and loved a McFarlane book, this one jumped to the top of my list. I hadn’t thought of looking to see if I could find them on audiobook and I was excited to finally read one.

Laurie is a lawyer. She has been with her lawyer boyfriend for 18 years. They live together but aren’t married and are in the process of starting a family. When she gets home one night from a work party, her boyfriend breaks up with her. Then two months later, he comes over to tell her he got another woman pregnant, pretty much the night he broke up with her. Completely devastated, Laurie ends up stuck in an elevator with the office playboy, Jamie. Jamie is looking to become partner, but the current partners think he’s not serious enough because he doesn’t have a girlfriend. After they hit it off chatting, Jamie suggests they fake date to get back at Dan and to get Jamie the promotion.

Like I said, I listened to this on audiobook, which ended up being a lot of fun. The narrator is British and the accents, while they took me a little while to get used to, were great. Laurie is 36 years old and has to join the dating world for the first time in 18 years. It was relatable to see her struggle with that and I understood a lot of her anxiety.

Jamie is 31 and is known to sleep around, but he wants to be taken seriously. I did appreciate that he was a deeper than what you think kind of character. And Laurie and Jamie’s chemistry was great. Laurie did occasionally get on my nerves with some of her immaturity, but not so much that it ruined anything for me. I reminded myself that it had literally been a lifetime since she had dated someone, and that helped.