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Like most of MM's masterful authoring, there is a love story in the mix, but it is subtle and unfolds with just the right timing and as a supporting plot point, not the focus. If you have never read her work - please, put this one close to the top of your TBR pile. There is a lot of British humor, which translates easily. Burningly funny, achingly romantic, and a plot so tightly crafted it's like a song' LAURA JANE WILLIAMS On the other hand, Cal’s character is this cute charming man who comes to rescue Harriet in a very subtle but not-so-overpowering way. If I leave another woman to suffer Scott Dyer because I’m frightened of intervening, then nothing has really changed. If I don’t do it, Lorna, then I’m still scared of him. That’s just a fact.’
Mad about You – HarperCollins Publishers UK
Though the cover might convey something different, Mad About You is more of a women’s fiction than a romance. Although her plots are sometimes a bit slow getting started, you always feel she’s given you just enough, never too much and never too little. You always come away feeling you Have regained a sense of what is important in life. Harriet Hatley is the most in-demand wedding photographer in town, but she doesn't believe in romance, loathes the idea of marriage, and thinks chocolate fountains are an abomination. Which is why, when her long-time partner proposes, she panics. Suddenly Harriet is single... and living down the hall from her ex. She needs a new apartment, like, yesterday . Harriet, a wedding photographer, has been dating the “perfect man” for about two years, but when he proposes, a lot of doubts she’s been having come together and she breaks off the relationship. Suddenly single, she moves into the first good house-share she can find. Her new landlord, Cal, is also escaping a past relationship, but that’s about the only thing the two have in common. When Harriet’s past rears up its ugly head, she needs to ask herself some hard questions and decide whether to run away again or confront the past to clear her future. But this time Harriet has a surprise coming to her: at her darkest hours, one of her friends betrayed her, but a new one proved to be touchingly loyal when she needed him most.She has been in a steady 2-year-old relationship with her boyfriend but when he proposes marriage, she panics, eventually leading to a breakup. Now, not only Harriet is single but she also needs a place to live. Harriet Hatley is a wedding photographer who has a bad breakup with her boyfriend and must find a place to live. She ends up with Cal Clarke, the guy who jilted his fiancee at one of the weddings she was supposed to immortalize. It's an uneasy relationship, and as always in a McFarlane book, there are a lot of other characters to interfere and confuse issues.
Mad About You | Mhairi McFarlane | Book Review - bookGeeks Mad About You | Mhairi McFarlane | Book Review - bookGeeks
I finally got to read one of my most anticipated reads of the year. Did it live up to my expectations? Well, it may not have crossed the five-star threshold but I dove into this right after work and barely moved until I finished it, neglecting meals and more. So that definitely says a lot. McFarlane’s books always make me feel a ton of feels. Sometimes laugh-out-loud funny and other times a bit heat-breaking, Mad About You is a well-crafted and nuanced piece of contemporary fiction. The characters are relatable and compelling, and the themes are poignant. It’s pretty safe to say that I will enjoy most anything McFarlane writes at this point!The GR blurb for this book is quite misleading because it makes the book sound like a story of Harriet and Cal. It isn’t. It is Harriet’s story almost all the way.) The book's female protagonist is an in-demand wedding photographer who loathes romance and does not want to get married (loved that!) and moves in with a charming stranger, who also happens to be a runaway groom (loved that, too!).
Mad About You by Mhairi McFarlane | Goodreads
The other characters felt flat to me outside of Lorna and Sam. If only the book had followed them both. Roxy didn't ring true at all. Once again there's no set-up for what happens there and then there's no resolution. Jon was the same issue. So was Harriet's past boyfriend before that. I also called BS on the way that whole thing got resolved. It just didn't fit. But it did remind me a bit of the [redacted] thing which made me grimace. I think that McFarlane got it right in how people always seem to pile up on women online and decide they are suddenly 'experts' on everything under the sun when it comes to women they have decided to hate. Harriet Hatley is the most in-demand wedding photographer in town, but she doesn’t believe in romance, loathes the idea of marriage, and thinks chocolate fountains are an abomination. Which is why, when her long-time partner proposes, she panics. Suddenly Harriet is single… and living down the hall from her ex. She needs a new apartment, like, yesterday.Burningly funny, achingly romantic, and a plot so tightly crafted it’s like a song’ LAURA JANE WILLIAMS She is a survivor of abusive raltionship. With Miss McFarlane talented writing, the story speaks for itself. The twist and turn keeping me on my edge. I loving it. Enter Cal Clarke, a hopeless romantic who just experienced his own wedding-related disaster. Harriet and Cal are like chalk and cheese, but as they go from strangers to roommates to friends, it becomes clear they're both running from something. When Harriet's most heavily guarded secret comes to light, her world implodes. And Cal, with his witty humor and gentle advice, is a surprising source of calm at the center of the storm. Sunday Times bestselling author Mhairi McFarlane was born in Scotland in 1976 and her unnecessarily confusing name is pronounced Vah-Ree.
Mad About You by Mhairi McFarlane - Publishers Weekly Mad About You by Mhairi McFarlane - Publishers Weekly
The only issue for me was the first 1/3rd of the book. It took me a lot of time to get to the story, but the last 1/3rd was very powerful and quite eventful, to say the least. The kind of women empowerment we witness is just superb and I found myself rooting for the characters throughout. I listened to the 11-hour audiobook that could have easily been edited down to a 9-hour audiobook. Narrator Heather Long did an excellent job with the book's narration. The deputy editor said, ‘It would be really great if you wrote Bridget Jones’ Diary, but as if she lived in Nottingham’. It was the naffest thing I’d ever heard, but when I actually sat down to write it, I found myself having obscene amounts of fun. And then I remember getting a phone call from the girls upstairs in sales, and they actually said, ‘What happens to her next?’ They were treating it like it was a piece of fiction,” says McFarlane. “That was the first time I thought, ‘There might be something here’.” She ends up renting a room from Cal Clarke and after several serious misunderstandings they become friends and not just flat mates.There is a nice romance that provides a hopeful happy ending for our heroine, but it is very much secondary to the drama of Harriet’s journey to understand her actions (both good and bad) and achieve emotional closure. I don’t think Mhairi McFarlane is capable of writing a book that does not have plenty of humor interwoven naturally throughout serious situations and conversations as well as more lighthearted moments. As well as thoughtful insights and character arcs. This one is in my top 5 by one of my top 5 favorite authors. Definitely 5 stars.
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