If I Never Met You

In this funny, well-developed contemporary romance, Scottish-born Mhairi McFarlane (Don't You Forget About Me) takes the adage "Fake it 'til you make it" into the dating scene. 

When biracial British lawyer Laurie Watkinson's domestic partner of 11 years tells her he doesn't want children and leaves her for another woman, she's blindsided. At 36, she worries she won't ever have a family now, and their breakup becomes hot gossip at the firm where they both work. The last straw comes when his new girlfriend turns up pregnant. Unwilling to play the scorned woman, Laurie strikes up a deal with unlikely ally Jamie Carter, a gorgeous and ambitious coworker five years her junior. Jamie wants to move up at their firm, but the traditionally minded bosses have told the monogamy-averse playboy he lacks stability. If he and Laurie appear to fall in love, he'll gain a veneer of respectability. Capturing the heart of an infamously untamable bachelor will up Laurie's desirability factor. As their fictional relationship begins to reveal Jamie's hidden depths, Laurie realizes the hardest part of this ruse will be pretending not to fall for her fake boyfriend.

McFarlane gives her heroine realistic hurdles, including workplace sexism and finding herself after a decade in a stifling relationship, all balanced with the author's trademark dry humor. Watching Jamie and Laurie step up and support each other time and again is soul-quenching, and readers wanting a romance with emotional heft need look no further. --Jaclyn Fulwood, blogger at Infinite Reads

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