If Not You is a second chance romance with workplace rivals. It’s steamy and angsty and I especially enjoyed The Hating Game vibes.  

In the beginning of the story, we see Mattie and Campbell are copywriter interns with desks facing each other and they are snarky from the start. The story reminded me of The Hating Game (which I loved).  They are competing for one job opening at a prestigious advertising agency that will be available at the end of the summer.

Then the story fast forwards five years and Campbell is now a successful, award-winning, senior copywriter while Mattie is doing well at a smaller creative ad agency. She is surprised when she finds out that their companies are competing for an ad campaign with a luxury resort. As part of the pitch, they must travel together for a month, at two of the resort’s locations in Aspen and California.

They want to appear professional and show that they can get along, but they are rivals with a lot of chemistry between them so it gets complicated.

They both have personal things going on in their lives. Mattie’s roommate has been her best friend for years and now she’s getting married so she’ll be moving out. (Mattie’s backstory is sad). Campbell also has some difficult things he is going through with his family. Mattie and Campbell’s love story is an emotional rollercoaster and I couldn’t guess how it would all come together.

I was happy to see it had a sweet and satisfying ending. This is my first time reading this author and now I want to go back and read The Heartbreak Hotel! Thank you to the author, Berkley and NetGalley for the ARC.