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A review by saeruh
If I Never Met You by Mhairi McFarlane
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
4.0
I really loved the slow burn romance in this novel! It maybe should not have that high of a score but I continually kept swooning and giggling and kicking my feet whenever Jamie something romantic so I had a lot of fun reading this.
However, I felt like the first 100ish pages should have been edited down a bit because the plot kinda dragged there and didn’t really fully begin until like past page 120. I just didn’t need that much focus on Dan when the story was supposed to be about Laurie and Jamie falling in love. It made the first quarter of the book feel like a contemporary on divorce and marriage instead of love and romance. Also, I’m not a huge fan of the way that McFarlane used SO much British slang and also text speech out loud when characters were talking, like the “lol” that they would constantly somehow say irl. Maybe this style would have worked better for an audiobook but I felt it did not translate well to written prose.
However, I felt like the first 100ish pages should have been edited down a bit because the plot kinda dragged there and didn’t really fully begin until like past page 120. I just didn’t need that much focus on Dan when the story was supposed to be about Laurie and Jamie falling in love. It made the first quarter of the book feel like a contemporary on divorce and marriage instead of love and romance. Also, I’m not a huge fan of the way that McFarlane used SO much British slang and also text speech out loud when characters were talking, like the “lol” that they would constantly somehow say irl. Maybe this style would have worked better for an audiobook but I felt it did not translate well to written prose.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexism and Racism
Moderate: Alcohol, Emotional abuse, and Child death
Minor: Pedophilia