Mhairi McFarlane has written some of my favorite novels of the last decade, so it is with great sorrow that I’m giving Cover Story a relatively low grade.

This is women’s fiction with a romance at the very end. While the characters work together and spend time together, they aren’t dating or involved romantically for most of the novel. The narrative includes sexual exploitation and stalkers.

Bel (Isabel) Crenshaw left a successful podcast career for a position at a major national newspaper. She works in the Manchester office, with the hope of eventually heading to London, and she may have just landed the lead on a story that will get her there. The married mayor apparently romances young interns who work in his office, and once he’s shagged them, dumps them, and moves on. The biggest problem with this (rather predictable) yarn? Her source flatly refuses to be the first on the record. If Bel can catch the mayor in the act or if she can find others to come forward, then this woman will, too. Otherwise, it’s a no-go.

After a tiny bit of sleuthing, Bel thinks she’s hit upon the perfect way to catch the mayor in his crime. He conducts his trysts at an Airbnb, but unfortunately, the door can’t be seen from the street, so no photos can be taken of him entering the house with his paramour. Bel’s only hope is to access the Ringcam files that are kept on the proprietor’s iPad.

Connor has pushed restart on his life. After a colleague committed suicide, he realized that the stress of his lucrative job in finance wasn’t worth his increasing depression, and where it would most likely end. He has returned to his first love – journalism – interning at the Manchester office of a national publication. His girlfriend of five years hasn’t joined him, making vague promises of a visit, so Connor is ready to hit restart on his love life, too. He’s pretty sure she’s only stayed with him as long as she has for the money.

Bel isn’t impressed with the new intern at her office, and judging by his reaction to her, he’s not very impressed with her, either. (His exact thoughts are, “I’m not going to be begging you for advice. Unless it’s on how to dress for a Just Stop Oil protest.”)  and judging by his reaction to her hangover comfy look, he’s not very wowed by her, either. That makes it all the more regrettable when a series of unfortunate events forces them to work undercover together, pretending to be boyfriend and girlfriend. Naturally, the more they spend time together, the more Connor and Bel wish their fake relationship were real.

I found this book both unbelievable and unenjoyable. Let’s cover the unbelievable aspects first. Bel’s master plan for obtaining the Ringcam footage involves befriending the young woman who runs the Airbnb and then downloading the Ringcam info from that woman’s iPad. It’s rather sleezy, a fact acknowledged by Bel and Connor numerous times, and is also illegal/dubiously legal at best. It’s especially difficult to read about since the young woman and her boyfriend turn out to be charming, trusting people, and some of the few fun portions of the book involve their double dates with Bel and Connor. The whole scheme seems to be exactly the sort of plan that would only be utilized in a RomCom. Not only is it shady and unlikely to work, but there were a dozen better, legitimate ways to get the goods on the skeevy politician.

The way journalism is presented is odd. Bel appears to have only one story going at a time, which seems atypical, especially since it doesn’t eat up a lot of her time. Also, how Bel gets her evidence at the end snapped my suspension of disbelief.

Another unrealistic aspect is Bel’s excuse for not being on social media. Initially, it’s about avoiding an evil ex, but the text quickly shows that a) she had known the evil ex for a significant amount of time before hooking up with him, and b) as a result of that, he knew all about her family and friends and could easily find out information from them. Not to mention that he’s well-connected in her industry and could trace her through acquaintances. It’s as ill-thought-out as everything else Bel does.

Now for the unenjoyable part: the tale revolves around a lot of cheating. The philandering mayor is one cheater, but Connor’s girlfriend turns out to be another. Then there’s Bel. She had an affair with a married man before her last relationship was quite finished, and now that married man, aka the evil ex, is stalking her. I’ve read five of Ms. McFarlane’s standalone novels, and the stalker/won’t let you go ex is a staple of her brand. In this case, we are actually treated to two of them since the nice guy boyfriend Bel cheated on holds a grudge. He’s said some pretty nasty things about her to their close friends group, and Bel is struggling to keep the peace amongst everyone while handling his snark. I didn’t like that by the end of the novel he’s been reduced to an immature, nasty, insidious jerk; it reflects poorly on Bel that she has lousy taste in men and poor relationship management skills.

Which leads to my next point: I never really warmed to either lead. Connor finds out his girlfriend is cheating on him through missent nudes. I totally understood his anger, the sarcasm he hurled at her, and the fact that he wanted to break up, but I didn’t appreciate his demand to know the details or see pictures of the man involved, since Connor and his significant other are (per him) done. Especially since the pics he seems to be angling for are the nudes, calling them “bulbous salutations”. Also, I’m not sure the best follow-up to a breakup with a cheater is to date another cheater. Apart from this troubling aberration, Connor is Bel’s brave defender whenever one of the exes shows. When he’s not treating us to those two aspects of his personality, he’s a milquetoast nice guy.

Besides being a cheater with questionable work ethics, Bel is a hot mess – a stunning, rich girl who seems to blunder from one success to the next. She vacillates between being super sweet and adorably feisty. I found both sides equally exhausting.

As mentioned at the start, the romance, such as it is, is a slow-burn where the characters aren’t officially together until the last few pages of the book. Since this one isn’t a romance novel, I can’t really give a feel for them as a couple. They make okay friends, but Connor’s internship in Manchester is temporary, and they will have to do long distance if they’re going to stay together. My own take is that they won’t last much past the honeymoon phase since they have so little in common. Given how he took his last breakup, Connor may well be Bel’s next stalker.

Some funny moments, quirky but entertaining secondary characters, and the author’s smooth, breezy style kept Cover Story from being a complete flop, but the plot and irritating main characters keep it from being good. I don’t recommend it.