While this may look and sound like a romance, don’t let the title or synopsis fool you. This is a story primarily about a woman overcoming a past toxic relationship.

TW: emotional abuse

Not that there isn’t a love interest in the story. Complete with dry humor and a cast of characters that are vivid in depiction, there are light moments woven throughout. The story has a slower pace, allowing the reader to soak in the details. 3⭐️s

Many thanks to NetGalley & Avon and Harper Voyager for this e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

Harriet Hatley is a wedding photographer that is less than invested in the idea of marriage. When her boyfriend proposes to her after knowing her stance on marriage, she knows she has to end their relationship and move out. When her realtor friend points her towards a room for rent, she accepts before even meeting the landlord. She meets Cal Clarke the day she moves in and recognizes him immediately. She may have less-than-stellar opinions on Cal, but she will soon find out they have more in common than she thinks.

This is the first Mhairi McFarlane book I have read. I was very surprised that this was less of a romance and more of a story on trauma, friendships, and empowerment. I felt like the beginning of the story was long and drawn-out but as I kept going, I wouldn’t want anything taken out. These character arcs are incredible and the banter was *chef’s kiss*.

Thank you to NetGalley and Avon and Harper Voyager for an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Mhairi gets me EVERY SINGLE TIME. This story pulled me and didn't let me go.

Wedding Photographer Harriet breaks up with her boyfriend after he proposes. She ends up lodging with the runaway groom from one of her recent weddings. Neither are thrilled about this unexpected roommate situation, but eventually they become friendly roommates and even friends. Neither of their pasts are far enough behind them and Harriet finds herself face to face with her ghosts both romantically and from her childhood.

Harriet is so brave. My heart broke for her a million times. Mhairi writes characters that are so real. While I was frustrating with Harriet's action and thoughts many times, they are completely realistic. This is an author who doesn't shy away from writing characters that are imperfect. Her voice is absolutely one of my favorites. Romance is secondary to self-development and female empowerment here, but it's there and its delightful. I'd have so much loved more of them together.

though it wasn't as romance focused as expected, this story had a lot of strengths that had me turning the page with it's bigger focus on harriet as a character with her reasons for her recent breakup along with aversion to romance start to unravel through the story and make sense. mcfarlane undoubtedly written well done conversations on toxic relationships, emotional abuse, and how it affects your future relationships. along with the realities of being in your 30s and singles. the funny moments between harriet and cal with the situations cal got in due to harriet's ex and his family sure was endearing with how it contributed to their bond, and of courseone particular impactful scene was a girl power moment with ties to harriet's past relationship that had me internally cheering seeing them get to use their voices and be heard finally.

I really loved this story. Lots of the usual romance tropes but character development that we expect from MM's work. Cal and Harriet's meet cute is one for the books (literally).

While this was an okay read and I like the author Mhairi McFarlane, this book was not a romance as it was categorized. I overall enjoyed the book, but was disappointed in the romance aspect.

I want to begin this review by saying I would never categorize this as a romance. And definitely not humor. I also feel like the cover is very misleading.

Now, all of that being said, I liked this book. The storyline was deep and dark, as most books centering on emotional and mental abuse is. The "romance" is a very small part of this book, and almost a happenstance or afterthought at best. But the plot was very well planned out, very well written, and very well executed. I felt deeply for these women who were party to the relationships with the abuser, and that is because McFarlane has written her characters so well. I loved the women forming a group to confront their common abuser, but hated the subplot of her friend and ex hooking up. I felt she could have gone a different route with Harriet and Jon finding their closure.

Overall this is a very good book to read, however, not if you're in the mood for a fun rom-com/contemporary romance. The epilogue made me cry. SO MANY FEELINGS!

I really enjoyed this book! Harriet's thoughts at Jon's parents anniversary weekend were some of my favorite lines, and I 100% agreed with her and was furious with Jon. You know it's a good book when you're ready to yell at the characters, and I definitely wanted to yell at Jon. I also absolutely loved the ending. Harriet's friendship with Nina and Marianne is truly one of a kind, and I was very happy that Harriet got closure from her past relationships so she could move on with Cal.

I love how so many things happened in the book. I could not keep myself from the book because it was so good

I went into this hoping for more romance than what we ended up with. I enjoyed the character growth, but I went in expecting something completely different and that put a damper on my overall feelings.

Mad About You was a good read, but I would definitely say the romance was more of a sub-plot. The main focus of the story was Harriet coming to terms with how previous relationships have affected her current view on love. I did enjoy this book, however it took a while for me to really get hooked. I got kind of confused at point when Harriet starts talking about a character that the reader hasn't met yet, but eventually after the character was introduced it made sense. The romance felt kind of rushed. I wish there was more of a build up to the ending in that aspect, but as I said it wasn't the main plot. There were no graphic scenes so you could feel comfortable talking to your mom about it. Overall, I think this is a good read for people who aren't looking for an overly sappy romance.

This is my first Mhairi McFarlane book, and I can't wait to run to her backlist and read them all. Harriet's story unfolds slowly, as we learn about her difficult past and cloudy future, past and present betrayals, and complicated friendships. The pacing is perfect, and the characters are believable, complicated, and vulnerable. Lovely!

The friendships among women and solidarity at a pivotal point in this book are the high point. This is definitely more women’s fiction than romance. The plot is definitely unique- for much of this book I wasn’t sure where the plot was going. There is very little interaction between Harriet and her main love interest Cal. Most of the book focuses on her exes and how she moves on with her life. While I enjoyed the writer’s style and the book was easy to read, the relationship with Cal felt like an afterthought. There are a lot of characters thar I felt could be streamlined to make a stronger story.

Thanks to Avon and Harper Voyager and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I read plenty of books in this genre but this one was a big nope for me. Couldn’t get into it. Couldn’t relate to it.

I spent this summer listening to MM's entire back catalog and lamenting the end of my audio book binge when I saw Mad About You up on NetGalley. YAY! I quickly requested it and spent some 'at sea' days on a recent cruise enjoying it. Now, I say enjoy because I liked it. But I also realized that I prefer this author in audio form. Her characters are a bit flat on the page, and great narration definitely boosted some of her earliest books. I digress.

So as any fan of MM knows, her books are less romance and more romance adjacent, and despite readers knowing almost from the get go who winds up together, her stories are mostly focused on the journey the female takes to wind up with the true love of her life. Friends, I'm here for it. I love her books. Unfortunately, this time the balance is a bit off and the romance never quite connected with this reader.

Harriet Hatley is a professional wedding photographer with no illusions about love. She isn't in it - which is unfortunate because she's spent the past couple of years living with a boyfriend she knows isn't 'the one,' and she isn't looking for it either. After the mental and verbal abuse she experienced in an earlier relationship, she's walled herself off emotionally from ever seeking 'love' again. When Mad About You begins, she's just lost out on a job after the groom fled before the ceremony, and her own relationship abruptly implodes after her boyfriend asks her to marry him. Suddenly in need of a new place to stay, Harriet lucks out when a close friend gets the inside track on an amazing house share.

Told exclusively through Harriet's PoV, MM slowly parcels out the sad history behind Harriet's failed love life. Her current ex is desperate to win her back - and then slightly deranged in his attempts to show her what she's missing, and her abusive ex makes a surprise reappearance in her life, too. Meanwhile, she's charmed by her new landlord Cal, despite their surprise connection.

It's clear from the start that Cal is the man for Harriet. But not to her. And not really on the page either. We know it because we're MM fans, but the story takes MUCH TOO LONG to resolve all the noise in Harriet's life, and not enough demonstrating why Cal and Harriet belong together. They have a few great scenes together, but not nearly enough. Mad About You is NOT romantic. It's good, but also...sort of depressing? And a bit too ooh la la Girl Power? I'm conflicted about my feelings for this one. It needed a LOT more of Cal and Harriet, and Harriet and her friends, and less of Harriet and her ex. He was repellent, but his comeuppance felt a bit forced and I never quite got behind the new friendships that enable Harriet to finally strike back at him. It all seemed a bit overdone.

I'm convinced I'll like this book better in audio, but I'm not sure. This book is heavier subject-wise, but also too light and flimsy? It just hasn't resonated with me like most other MM books.

One of the common themes in MM stories is abuse - verbal and emotional (and physical in one case) - and the way in which her heroines overcome this abuse and find inner strength they didn't realize they had. These women are damaged and changed by their experiences (obv), but they somehow find a way to transcend that abuse to become better versions of themselves. They also, coincidentally, find true love and always have great friends to help them along the way. This time the abuse seemed much too much like a plot device that just doesn't work, and the friendships...well, this book is different.

I liked it, but I would only recommend it with reservations.

This book made it to a four star rating for me for the second half of the book. The first half was a bit slow going. This is my second book by this author. I enjoy how she writes about real life hard topics and it's not your typically fluffy light hearted romance or romcom. I will continue to read this authors books and recommend them.

Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for a chance to read this book in exchange for my honest review.

I'll go anywhere Mhairi McFarlane takes me! No glance at the synopsis necessary!

Just Last Night is one of my favorite books and I still need to re-read and gobble up all the other Mhairi books I've missed. The ones I've read, including Mad About You, are all beautifully written women's fiction. They've each centered around a woman I'd love to know in real life and her growth while navigating a hard but relatable situation. In Mad About You, Harriet Hatley is coming to terms with her baggage from her past relationships while protecting her heart from someone new.

What else:
💍 Harriet is a wedding photographer who doesn't want to get married. . .current boyfriend proposes anyway 🤦‍♀️
🏠 gorgeous roommate she cant quite figure out! A bit of forced proximity never hurts!
🤼‍♀️ Positive female friendships and positive boundary setting when needed
👊 to see some awful humans/ex-boyfriends get their comeuppance
💕 swoons and lots of feels!

Wow, I'm all over the place about this book.

What I liked:
- the Secondary Characters: I loved their stories, their personalities, what they brought to the overall book
- the female relationships; for the most part, I loved how they interacted and supported each other.
- the ending. For the most part, I enjoyed watching the end.

What I didn't like:
- I'm not sure I've disliked a character as much as Harriet in a long time. She had some really REALLY hard things in her life, but she was also the worst! Quick to judge, never took responsibility for anything, never listened to another person's point of view, never learned from her actions, was at some points VERY hypocritical in her judgment. Flawed characters can be good for a story, but Harriet learned absolutely nothing.
- One relationship was left very much up in the air and never resolved.

Overall, the ending saved this book. I was very frustrated with Harriet for much of the story to enjoy it too much.

Two and a half stars rounded up. This isn't a bad book, it just didn't do much for me. I knew what to expect from Mhairi McFarlane going in, but I think it's important to point out she doesn't write straight forward romance novels. There are a lot of side plots and characters. It made the main story drag for me.

I requested this one on the advice of a friend and wow did it not disappoint. I absolutely devoured it in a day. There's a lot to love here and I don't know where to start. It's a very lived in, real story, with a lot of intersecting parts, none of which feel awkward or tacked on. The depictions of emotional manipulation and abuse were at times too much to bear, but only because they were real. There's a lot of humor and heart in this one, even as it deals with a lot of heavy subjects, and there's an empowering fantasy of an ending you can't help but cheer for. An all around winner.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the review copy. And thanks to Annie for telling me to read it.