Showing posts with label Romance. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Romance. Show all posts
When it comes to romance novels about fake relationships, we all know how it’s going to end. Well, about 99 percent of the time we do. But, that doesn’t stop you from enjoying the novel and discovering where it will take you.
Mhairi McFarlane’s If I Never Met You features a tale as old as time but she does it justice. It can be hard to retell the same story we’ve all heard many times before. After all, elements of Cinderella still continue to grace our screens and feature in our books. Yet, only a few can do it justice and make it original.
So, what’s it about? (Taken from the blurb)
When Laurie is dumped by her partner of eighteen years, she’s blindsided. Not only does she feel humiliated, they still have to work together. So when she gets stuck in the lift with handsome colleague Jamie, they hatch a plan to stage the perfect romance.
My thoughts…
If I Never Met You could have easily turned into another cliche novel but it didn’t. The characters didn’t immediately “sense a connection” and I liked that it took a while for them to figure it out. I felt like I was constantly going will they, won’t they, no they definitely will, oh maybe not. I liked that Laurie spent time trying to figure out who she was after her break up with Dan (the ex) instead of jumping into being starry eyed with the next guy who showed her some attention.
And speaking of Jamie…I really liked his character. He was known as a bit of a ladies man but had complete and utter respect for the women in his life. Most of the time, the male lead in a fake romance can be made out to be a moody and self-centred arse who’s only after two things- getting money and being the boss. However, while Jamie’s intentions for the fake relationship was to get a promotion, he was also rooting for Laurie to help make Dan jealous.
Final thoughts…
Overall, I loved this book. It was sweet and wonderfully romantic. The characters felt real and had depths to them that weren’t over the top. The relationship between Jamie and Laurie was so effortless and built on respect. I loved that Jamie would stand up for Laurie and have her back.
If you like Beth O’Leary and Lindsey Kelk, I’m pretty sure you’re going to love Mhairi McFarlane too.
What’s your favourite faux romance book?
Love, Aoife x
When it comes to romance novels about fake relationships, we all know how it’s going to end. Well, about 99 percent of the time we do. But, that doesn’t stop you from enjoying the novel and discovering where it will take you.
Mhairi McFarlane’s If I Never Met You features a tale as old as time but she does it justice. It can be hard to retell the same story we’ve all heard many times before. After all, elements of Cinderella still continue to grace our screens and feature in our books. Yet, only a few can do it justice and make it original.
So, what’s it about? (Taken from the blurb)
When Laurie is dumped by her partner of eighteen years, she’s blindsided. Not only does she feel humiliated, they still have to work together. So when she gets stuck in the lift with handsome colleague Jamie, they hatch a plan to stage the perfect romance.
My thoughts…
If I Never Met You could have easily turned into another cliche novel but it didn’t. The characters didn’t immediately “sense a connection” and I liked that it took a while for them to figure it out. I felt like I was constantly going will they, won’t they, no they definitely will, oh maybe not. I liked that Laurie spent time trying to figure out who she was after her break up with Dan (the ex) instead of jumping into being starry eyed with the next guy who showed her some attention.
And speaking of Jamie…I really liked his character. He was known as a bit of a ladies man but had complete and utter respect for the women in his life. Most of the time, the male lead in a fake romance can be made out to be a moody and self-centred arse who’s only after two things- getting money and being the boss. However, while Jamie’s intentions for the fake relationship was to get a promotion, he was also rooting for Laurie to help make Dan jealous.
Final thoughts…
Overall, I loved this book. It was sweet and wonderfully romantic. The characters felt real and had depths to them that weren’t over the top. The relationship between Jamie and Laurie was so effortless and built on respect. I loved that Jamie would stand up for Laurie and have her back.
If you like Beth O’Leary and Lindsey Kelk, I’m pretty sure you’re going to love Mhairi McFarlane too.
What’s your favourite faux romance book?
Love, Aoife x
I love Valentine’s Day probably more than I should as a single lady. I’m a hopeless romantic and Valentine’s day is all about showing your appreciation and love for someone. Any excuse to demonstrate this and to celebrate something, I’m always up for it. I love the story behind Valentine’s day too and how the priest wrote letters to the jailer’s daughter signing it ‘Love, your Valentine’. This year got me thinking about love languages, what they mean and what mine is.
In 1992, Gary Chapman wrote a book called The Five Love Languages: How To Express Heartfelt Commitment to Your Mate. It outlines five ways in how people express and experience love between romantic partners. I, personally, think this works a little in how we express love and gratitude to family members and friends as well. It's how we interact with one another.
The five languages are (according to 5lovelanguages.com):
- Receiving Gifts: “A gift says, ‘he was thinking about me’"
- Quality Time: “Giving your spouse your undivided attention.”
- Words of Affirmation: “Using words to build up the other person.”
- Acts of Service: “Doing something for your spouse that you know they would like. Such as cooking a meal, washing dishes, vacuuming floors etc.”
- Physical Touch: “Holding hands, hugging, sexual intercourse, are all expressions of love.”
According to Chapman, we have a primary love language that speaks more deeply to us and a secondary love language. If you’re not sure what your love language is, there are plenty of quizzes and tests online you can take for free. But it's ultimately about which one you can relate to the most.
My primary love language is Acts of Service with my second language as Physical Touch. I think it’s important to demonstrate your love and gratitude through doing nice things for others such as helping them out and doing something that needs to be done. I also relate to Physical Touch as I love giving hugs and I crave them too. I also like holding hands and even sitting close by to someone and feeling their presence too.
Knowing your love language and your partner’s love language, according to the experts, can help make your relationship stronger because you know each other on a deeper level. Whenever I ask people about what they’re doing for Valentine’s, they also go ‘I’ll get a card and some chocolates or flowers’. Gifts can be very thoughtful and I don’t know anyone who’s ever said no to chocolates. But, why don’t you learn about your partners love language and celebrate Valentine’s doing something they’d appreciate more such as spending quality time with them, doing acts of service or building them up etc?
What is your love language and do you believe in them?
Love, your Valentine xo
I love Valentine’s Day probably more than I should as a single lady. I’m a hopeless romantic and Valentine’s day is all about showing your appreciation and love for someone. Any excuse to demonstrate this and to celebrate something, I’m always up for it. I love the story behind Valentine’s day too and how the priest wrote letters to the jailer’s daughter signing it ‘Love, your Valentine’. This year got me thinking about love languages, what they mean and what mine is.
In 1992, Gary Chapman wrote a book called The Five Love Languages: How To Express Heartfelt Commitment to Your Mate. It outlines five ways in how people express and experience love between romantic partners. I, personally, think this works a little in how we express love and gratitude to family members and friends as well. It's how we interact with one another.
The five languages are (according to 5lovelanguages.com):
- Receiving Gifts: “A gift says, ‘he was thinking about me’"
- Quality Time: “Giving your spouse your undivided attention.”
- Words of Affirmation: “Using words to build up the other person.”
- Acts of Service: “Doing something for your spouse that you know they would like. Such as cooking a meal, washing dishes, vacuuming floors etc.”
- Physical Touch: “Holding hands, hugging, sexual intercourse, are all expressions of love.”
According to Chapman, we have a primary love language that speaks more deeply to us and a secondary love language. If you’re not sure what your love language is, there are plenty of quizzes and tests online you can take for free. But it's ultimately about which one you can relate to the most.
My primary love language is Acts of Service with my second language as Physical Touch. I think it’s important to demonstrate your love and gratitude through doing nice things for others such as helping them out and doing something that needs to be done. I also relate to Physical Touch as I love giving hugs and I crave them too. I also like holding hands and even sitting close by to someone and feeling their presence too.
Knowing your love language and your partner’s love language, according to the experts, can help make your relationship stronger because you know each other on a deeper level. Whenever I ask people about what they’re doing for Valentine’s, they also go ‘I’ll get a card and some chocolates or flowers’. Gifts can be very thoughtful and I don’t know anyone who’s ever said no to chocolates. But, why don’t you learn about your partners love language and celebrate Valentine’s doing something they’d appreciate more such as spending quality time with them, doing acts of service or building them up etc?
What is your love language and do you believe in them?
Love, your Valentine xo
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