If I Never Met You

If I Never Met You is a sharp, emotionally layered romantic comedy about heartbreak, reinvention, and the messy courage it takes to want again. Laurie Watkinson believes she knows the shape of her life: long-term partner, shared home, steady legal career, and maybe children. Then Dan, her partner of eighteen years, leaves her—and soon reveals he has already moved on with another woman who is pregnant.

Humiliated at work and furious at being pitied, Laurie makes an outrageous deal with Jamie Carter, the ambitious office playboy: they will pretend to date. He gets respectability for a promotion bid; she gets revenge on Dan. But the performance starts revealing truths neither expected. Beneath Jamie’s charm is grief, guilt, and tenderness; beneath Laurie’s composure is a woman learning to stop begging for old love and start choosing herself.

• Listeners who enjoy witty, emotionally intelligent contemporary romance with fake-dating tension.
• Anyone drawn to stories about rebuilding after betrayal and reclaiming self-worth.
• Fans of workplace drama, sharp banter, complicated friendships, and slow-burn romantic chemistry.

Mhairi McFarlane is a Sunday Times bestselling author from Scotland, known for contemporary romantic fiction that combines humor, emotional depth, and sharply observed social dynamics. Her novels include You Had Me at Hello, Don’t You Forget About Me, and If I Never Met You.