By Meghan Mazzaferro
Content warnings: emotional manipulation, depression, sexual harassment of a child, abuse.
After eighteen years with her high school sweetheart, Laurie’s partner suddenly ends things. Forced to work together at the same law firm is tough enough, but when Laurie finds out her ex-partner is expecting a baby with another woman only months after their breakup, she decides enough is enough when an opportunity falls into her lap in the form of the office playboy, Jamie, desperate to improve his reputation. The result: a fake dating scheme on social media that will allow both Laurie and Jamie to get what they want. But with Laurie working to rebuild herself and Jamie contradicting her every expectation, the lines between what’s real and what’s for show begin to blur.
When I heard the premise for this book, I expected a funny and lighthearted rom-com, but that is not what this book is. Mhairi McFarlane’s If I Never Met You is a deep exploration of the grief that comes with lost relationships, the roles other people play in our lives, and how we can rebuild and become stronger when we learn to trust ourselves, rather than shaping ourselves around the needs of others. At first, I struggled to reconcile this story with my expectations; the first section of this book deals heavily with Laurie’s grief and struggle after the break-up, which is handled in a very realistic and tragic way that I was unprepared for. Likewise, the romance and fake-dating subplot were far less dramatic than what I was expecting—in the best way. The book engages with serious topics like sexism, microaggressions, emotional abuse, and more. This book was not a rom-com. It was something much deeper, exploring the ways adults can still grow into ourselves and become the people we are meant to be with the right support and self-respect while providing commentary on all the ways the world works to stop us from achieving that growth. It achieves all of this while still being funny!
I also struggled with the writing style, which is very colloquially British, but once I got used to the language choice, I found the style really immersive and enjoyable. About fifty pages into the story, I became obsessed and couldn’t put it down; Laurie was a strong and sympathetic character who I easily rooted for and Jamie was likeable from the beginning and grew more and more charming with each interaction. Laurie’s ex and the book’s other side characters were well-written, and I either loved or hated them as Laurie did. The story subverted my expectations in a lot of ways, setting up plot points that seemed like they would fit into rom-com tropes and then resolving them in ways I didn’t predict but which fit the story well. The end felt a little rushed to me, but I still felt the relationships in this text were well-developed, and I left the story feeling satisfied and like I had learned something about myself.
This book was a quick and immersive read that made me face a lot of emotions, both positive and negative. It was a cathartic experience, getting to go through Laurie’s journey of grief, denial, acceptance, and finally, peace alongside her. If you’re a fan of romance books, romantic comedies, and even contemporary books with romantic undertones, this is a book you should definitely read.