Review: Don't You Forget About Me

Somehow I had never read a Mhairi McFarlane book before picking up Don't You Forget About Me. And after reading it? I'm definitely going to be checking out her backlist. I even have a head-start as I own You Had Me At Hello. (So there's no excuse for me never having read her before.) This book was pretty much everything I look for in a rom-com and I absolutely loved reading it.

Here's the synopsis:

Sometimes you have to hit rock bottom to rise again…
If there’s one thing worse than being fired from the grottiest restaurant in town, it’s coming home early to find your boyfriend in bed with someone else.
Reeling from the indignity of a double dumping on the same day, Georgina snatches at the next job that she’s offered – barmaid in a newly opened pub, which just so happens to run by the boy she fell in love with at school: Lucas McCarthy. And whereas Georgina (voted Most Likely to Succeed in her school yearbook) has done nothing but dead-end jobs in the last twelve years, Lucas has not only grown into a broodingly handsome man, but also has turned into an actual grown-up with a business and a dog along the way.
Meeting Lucas again not only throws Georgina’s rackety present into sharp relief, but also brings a dark secret from her past bubbling to the surface. Only she knows the truth about what happened on the last day of school, and why she’s allowed it to chase her all these years…

I love a good second chance romance novel. I don't know what it is about that trope I love so much but love it I do. And when it's done well? It makes for the best reading experience. McFarlane does really, really great things with this trope. See, the reunion between Georgina and Lucas does not go well. From Georgina's perspective, it's quite embarrassing (which is the story of her life, I think). Here's her first love, someone she tried to get over because of pretty crap circumstances, and he...doesn't remember her? I, like I'm sure every other reader, was pretty certain that Lucas did remember her and was just pretending not to. But why? What happened all those years ago?

It's that question that takes a wee bit too long to be revealed. Normally I don't mind that there are secrets and such that keep being revealed over the course of the novel. But, in this case, I knew there had to have been a major reason that Lucas and Georgina broke up. Was it the same reason that has led Georgina to think she's not good enough for anything but menial, dead-end jobs or terrible boyfriends? Instead of having total relief at the revelation at the end of the book, I kind of found myself thinking, "about damn time I knew the whole truth." This isn't a deal-breaker by any means but it was a weird irritant that kept this book from being 5 stars.

What I did love about this book was how real it was. Georgina is not perfect. Not even close. It might be because she's a white, British woman but I would say she's like a more modern (and, dare I say it, better) Bridget Jones. Maybe I just think she's better because I was too young to fully identify with Bridget when I first read the book. I'm 32, just two years younger than Georgina, and I was in high school when I read Bridget Jones's Diary. Anyway, like Bridget or not, McFarlane has totally embraced this new wave of rom-coms (WHICH I LOVE) and has given us a character who has flaws and has no real interest fitting into some preconceived notion of what a thirty year old woman should be. And, for that, I love her. (Her being both Georgina and McFarlane.)

If you're a rom-com lover - or even just a fan of really great contemporary novels - you are going to want to pick up Don't You Forget About Me. I thoroughly enjoyed Mhairi McFarlane's latest novel and think you will too. Now, time to check out her other books!

*An ARC of this novel was provided by the publisher in exchange for review consideration. All opinions are honest and my own.*