Mhairi McFarlane (Don't You Forget About Me; Mad About You) is known for her yearning, slow-burn love stories. Her enemies-to-lovers workplace romance, Cover Story, however, jumps straight into an antagonism sure to please fans of Sally Thorne's The Hating Game or Rachel Lynn Solomon's The Ex Talk.
Isabel "Bel" Macauley, host of an award-winning podcast, is thrilled to have landed a job at the Manchester, England, office of a major newspaper. She is less thrilled to learn that they are about to get a new intern, after her poor experience with the last one. Astonishingly, the intern is not a college student but a 30-something former finance bro named Connor Adams, who is looking to completely change career paths.
Chapters alternating between Bel and Connor convey their hilarious antipathy as they consistently interpret each other's actions in the worst possible light. When Connor accidentally bumps into Bel outside of work, he doesn't realize she's undercover on a story. After he greets her, Bel abruptly claims him as her boyfriend to maintain her cover. The enemies must keep pretending to date or risk losing the chance to break one of the biggest scandals in Manchester's history.
Cover Story is pitch perfect, striking just the right balance between snarky humor and sincere compassion toward the victims of the story that Bel and Connor are investigating. The 21st-century urban setting is a fantastic backdrop for a gritty investigation, some light flirting, and the realization that a hated co-worker isn't so bad after all. --Jessica Howard, former bookseller, freelance book reviewer