Welcome to Litsy!

The book is oozing black Biritish humour and sarcasm. I loved how the FMC has confronted her prejudices over Cal and has finally found the courage to stand up for herself. Also the female solidarity and true friendships in this book were lovely. That's why the book reminded me a bit of the movie "The other woman" though I have to say this book has much more depth and offers much better humour shown in the dialogues and not only slapstick.

After loving McFarlane‘s latest book, I couldn‘t resist diving into last year‘s release! Harriet, a wedding photographer who doesn‘t yearn to be married, finds herself trapped by her boyfriend, Jon, leading her to moving in with a virtual stranger. A chance encounter with an even more vile ex puts her into an even more reflective mood. Great friendships and a central romance that builds naturally, I couldn‘t put this one down, either!

I was right when I suspected, a handful of chapters in, that I‘d found a new romance author to love. Mhairi McFarlane‘s writing is *funny* and emotionally profound — so much so that I almost didn‘t realize she hadn‘t given us a sex scene! 😅 I‘m a little mad about it now, of course. 😉

Teasing aside, I‘m glad to have read this. 👇🏻

I think this is the second or third romance novel I‘ve read with an MC who‘s a wedding photographer. It‘s not an unfamiliar storyline to me — I‘m married to one!

If you‘re so inclined (or if you‘re in New England and looking for a photographer), you can find his Instagram at @ adamwazphoto 📸

Note: I made the collage by taking screenshots of social media pics. I‘m sure he‘d be appalled by the misrepresentation of quality. Shhh. Don‘t tell. 🤫😅

Spending a cat-like morning, lazing in the sunshine, listening to the birds. I‘m reminded of a much-beloved Edith Wharton quote, “Set wide the window. Let me drink the day.”

I‘ve never read Mhairi McFarlane before, & I see that the book‘s Litsy score is precipitously low — but I‘m hopeful! I‘m pleasantly surprised by the author‘s refreshing sense of humor. If she keeps it up, I think I‘ve got a new fave to join my romance writer ranks!

Wedding photographer, Harriett, didn‘t want to get married so when her rich boyfriend popped the question in front of his family, a whole heap of issues came to the surface.
Then, when Harriett runs into her emotionally abusive ex & his new fiancé at a wedding, she decides to help the girl, only to have it blow up online when her ex paints her as the abuser.
I wasn‘t sure if I liked Harriett, but she grew on me as she grew as a person.

This was a great book, it was funny but had serious issues about emotional abuse. I really liked the MC Harriet she is super savvy.

🤨 I keep stumbling upon wordy novels with very British English and jokes/references that fly over my head. The side comments make this hard to read; everything was given an extra explanation or backstory, which made me lose interest. It also took almost 100 pages to get to the next plot point, which is wild.

After reading several of the author's books I expected this to be a lighter rom-com, and while this one was about romance, it was darker than I expected. That being said it was a good look at the perils of romance with the wrong man and I still enjoyed it, although I did find it to be a tad wordy in spots. I also thoroughly loved the characters. Think of it as women's fiction and the bits of humour and romance can be a bonus. I gave it 3.75/5.

Got this because I enjoyed previous books by the author.

This was a good contemporary #romcom with a side order of tough topics.

CW: orphan, gaslighting, weddings

#20in4 #readathon @Andrew65