In If I Never Met You Mhairi McFarlane introduces us to Laurie and Jamie, two lawyers at the same firm. Laurie has just broken up with her long-term boyfriend, who also happens to work at the firm. Jamie wants a promotion. In order to make Laurie's ex jealous and make it look like Jamie is more stable in his personal life, they decide to have a fake relationship. Romance ensues.
Interesting characters: You know what? Yes. McFarlane does create memorable characters. At first I was ready to write Jamie off as an overambitious white man and who needs more of that in their life, but she sent Jamie and Laurie off to an overnight trip at his parents' house and suddenly he was a real person. Laurie is the stereotype of a black woman doing more than her fair share of work to stay on equal footing with white men in a professional environment, but she's also witty and funny and has good taste in friends.
Believable conflict: What I thought was so smart about this book was Laurie was telling her friend Emily about the fauxmance plan and Emily told her that there would be repercussions to lying and Laurie needed to prepare for those. Of course there were consequences for an extended lie. Of course things all fall apart. It's perfect because we knew it was coming, but it was unstoppable.
Emotional tension: Oh, honestly, there were like ten pages left and Laurie and Jamie hadn't even really talked about their feelings and I was starting to get worried.
Happily ever after: They're together in the final scene. There were a lot of unanswered questions, but I'm pretty hopeful that their tumultuous courtship will have taught them some lessons and they'll make it out okay.
All in all, I thought this was a good book, but the two main leads don't have a real scene together until more than one hundred pages in! This is billed as a romance novel and there's a romantic plotline, but the main plot is really about Laurie getting over a breakup. She does this by hanging out with friends, wearing a lot of sweatpants, working more than I ever would, and eventually this guy Jamie comes along. It's a good book, a fun read, and I would recommend it, but calling it a romance novel is a bit misleading. That said, if you don't mind a s...l...o...w... burn, this might work for you.
The whole time I was reading it, I kept thinking about the structure of the novel. I would have started the book at page 105 when Laurie ran into Jamie in the elevator ("lift"). Most of the first one hundred pages could have been condensed into a few flashback scenes of Laurie's ex breaking up with her and then there would have been more time for the romance to develop more thoroughly.
Solid book, but not the home run I wanted it to be. I'll definitely read more from this author, though.
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