Score: 5/5 Bookmarks

Steam Rating: 🍆 / 5

This is the second of Mhairi McFarlane’s books that I’ve read and Here’s Looking at You cemented her as an auto-buy author for me. I’m going to go back and read all her older books right away! The first that I read was If I Never Met You, which I thoroughly enjoyed as well.

I love the way she creates her characters, and gives them enough back-story that you feel like you’ve grown up with them, feel like you know them so so well. They’re flawed and real, often cynical but open to learning, changing, hoping. Ultimately I find her characters relatable and completely loveable.

In this book our heroine, Aureliana (Ana for short) goes to her high school reunion to try and face some demons that still haunt her after a particularly traumatizing school experience. But what she doesn’t expect is that no one recognizes her…at all. In fact, they think she’s a plus one.

Weeks later she turns up to a work meeting, to find that the hottest guy in high school (who tormented her) is a contractor assigned to her project. She’s torn between wanting to get him kicked off the project or taking the high road. After they are much thrown together they begin to develop a real friendship, but he still has no idea who she is. A recipe for disaster if ever there was one.

What I love most about Mhairi McFarlane’s books, even more than the wonderful characters, is the dialogue. Both the inner and spoken dialogue is just FULL of witty, hilarious turns of phrase, one liners and British slang—and I am here for all of it!

I listened to this book as an audiobook and loved Cassandra Harwood’s narration SO much. I could listen to her read a grocery list, but to hear her reading McFarlane’s words was just the best! The audiobook is a little under 11 hours but I flew through this one in two days.

Synopsis:

In essence it's an ugly duckling tale. Our heroine Aureliana returns to school after fifteen years for a reunion. School doesn't hold happy memories for her, as being a roly poly Italian (known as the Italian Galleon), and always armed with a Tupperware full of pungent Mediterranean food, she was bullied incessantly throughout her years there. Now in her 30s, Aureliana wants to put the past behind her once and for all and face up to the bullies who made her life hell. But she is much-changed from the girl she once was - all curves and because I'm worth it hair - and no one recognises her when she arrives. Losing her bottle, she backs out on her plan for revenge and slinks off, hoping never to be reminded of her years at school again. But fate gets in the way, and after the reunion her path keeps crossing with James - major hunk and Aureliana's major crush back at school. But alas, as a cronie to the bullies, Aureliana to this day believes that his beautiful exterior hides an ugly interior. As they continue to cross paths a love/hate relationship ensues until eventually something shifts, and they both start to discover what the person underneath is really like...

Full of Mhairi's trademark laugh out loud humour, Here's Looking At You is a novel about facing your demons and being happy with who you really are.