Mad about You: The biggest romcom of 2022: heart-warming, laugh-out loud funny and wonderfully romantic

Product Information

It starts out a hoot with plenty of laugh out loud moments as you’d expect from the smart writing of Mhairi McFarlane. I really like the character of Harriet who is smart, she has her issues but almost because of this she feels authentic and relatable. I do enjoy the way the author manages to some people up in just a few words and yet you really see them. There are some enjoyable coincidences and several scenes that are almost movie or TV worthy they are so lively and entertaining. 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’.”

Mad About You by Mhairi McFarlane | Goodreads

And while this has similar themes to previous books, they have a new twist to them. This is, in part, because they’re viewed through different lenses—Cal and Hattie are both characters who’ll react differently to the events they experience than those before them. And, as ever, the story that is told is treated with kindness and gentleness. 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.’ And she does it because she believes women should help other women. One of the themes of this novel is the importance and power of female friendship and advocacy.

BookBliss

Mhairi McFarlane’s Mad About You is a wonderful character-driven story that follows Harriet Hatley, a wedding photographer who finds herself in need of a place to stay after rejecting her boyfriend’s marriage proposal. She ends up renting a space with Cal, a runaway groom in need of a roommate. But how can Harriet like a person who would do something like that? Both are avoiding their pasts, but could facing them help them find a future together? Harriet is the main character and she is a photographer and happens to shoot a lot of weddings. Jon is her current boyfriend. When they are away for a weekend with Jon's family and celebrating the anniversary of his parents, Jon surprises her by proposing in front of his family. She feels obligated to say yes but immediately when they are alone she changes it to a no. This of course becomes the end of their relationship putting her in a predicament of needing a new place to live since they currently live together in Jon’s home. I felt like cheering at the end of this one, even though the "romance element" was not central to the plot for a change.

Mad about You: The biggest romcom of 2022: heart-warming

Man, that still makes it sound like a huge downer and it really isn't. I liked Harriet and her insights. She's observant and wry without being cynical or judgmental and that's a lovely balance. I felt for her struggles with her exes and trying to find a healthy balance in her relationships (not just romantic, but with friends, roommates, and clients, too). My heart always soars at a new Mhairi novel, I love love love her. She's so great at treading the narrow line between humour and loss. I read this with delight and envy' Marian Keyes, Again, Rachel 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. Though the cover might convey something different, Mad About You is more of a women’s fiction than a romance. Thoughts: I love Mhairi McFarlane’s writing and feel she is on of the most underrated authors on Bookstagram and in general. Her character development is always superb as she creates these well rounded, three dimensional individuals, flaws and all, that you feel you could have encountered in your own life.

Summary

Mhairi's writing is always just super witty with layered, emotional depth . . . Loved. Adored. All-star.' In Harriet, we see a woman who has undergone a lot of emotional abuse and gaslighting. We see a woman who despite her hardships, finally finds the courage to stand up for herself. All of which to say, this is a highly insufficient review to really get across just how much I loved this book. Perhaps it should have been wholly expected—I was always going to love it, and I was always going to struggle to find the words to explain exactly why. She was 30, and it was “very much not the ambition to be at the local paper” any more. “There was no-one’s job I wanted, which is very much the lodestar for moving on, for ambition, isn’t it?” she says. “And I thought, ‘What is stretching me?’ I loved romantic comedy—what if I tried to write something like that? What if I actually tried to write long-form fiction?” When I started making myself laugh, I thought, ‘Oh, you might be onto something here.’