If Not You by Ellen O'Clover
Publisher: Berkley Publishing
Publication Date: September 15, 2026
Format: Paperback - 400 pages
Audiobook - 11 Hours 22 Minutes
Kindle - 396 pages
Nook - 400 pages
ISBN (Paperback): 978-0593952566
ASIN (Audiobook): B0GG1DCLSH
ASIN (Kindle): B0G774VH6N
BNID (Nook): 978-0593952573
Genre: Romance
Buy The Book:
Disclaimer: I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review. I also purchased a hardcover copy from my Book Of The Month (BOTM) monthly subscription.
Book Description:
Five years of history. Four weeks on the road. Two rival copywriters learning love is the hardest sell of all.
Mattie French has always known how to tell a good story. It’s why she stopped at nothing to land her dream career as a copywriter at a scrappy independent advertising agency. In fact, if it weren’t for one person, Mattie would probably be the most-talked-about rising star in town.
Campbell Porter is a senior copywriter at Chicago’s slickest agency. Absurdly talented, incredibly aware of it, and the bane of Mattie’s existence since they were interns together, Campbell is always just…there, with his golden-boy smirk and the familiar gaze that never fails to taunt her across a crowded room.
Mattie would love nothing more than to avoid Campbell forever. But when their agencies are pitted against each other to compete for a luxury resort account, it’s her chance to prove she can beat him—and earn the promotion she covets.
During the month of travel required for the pitch, Mattie and Campbell are thrown together as fierce competitors and, slowly, as unexpected witnesses to each other’s hidden wounds and softest parts. As their trip barrels toward its final pitch, Mattie is forced to confront the increasingly obvious the story she’s crafted for her and Campbell over the years might need a new ending.
My Book Review:
In If Not You, author Ellen O'Clover weaves a fun rivals-to-lovers romance story that will keep the reader turning the pages as they follow Mattie and Campbell's story.
Set in Chicago, the reader is easily drawn in as they follow the rivals-to-lovers story of Mattie French and Campbell Porter. Mattie and Campbell were copywriter interns who worked together five years ago during the summer at the prestigious Slater Faust ad agency. They were told that at the end of the summer there would only be one full-time copywriter position available, and whoever didn't get the position could become the other's intern or leave. There was a serious competitiveness between them on every assignment, but Campbell always outshined her and got the job. Mattie moved on to become a copywriter at the rival Art Room ad agency.
Set in Chicago, the reader is easily drawn in as they follow the rivals-to-lovers story of Mattie French and Campbell Porter. Mattie and Campbell were copywriter interns who worked together five years ago during the summer at the prestigious Slater Faust ad agency. They were told that at the end of the summer there would only be one full-time copywriter position available, and whoever didn't get the position could become the other's intern or leave. There was a serious competitiveness between them on every assignment, but Campbell always outshined her and got the job. Mattie moved on to become a copywriter at the rival Art Room ad agency.
Five years later, Campbell is the golden child of the ad agency industry in Chicago and Mattie's nemesis, always outshining and stealing her chances to be great too. Both ad agencies are invited to compete for the luxury Wicksteed Resorts account. The competition has three rounds: first pitch in Chicago, then a month of travel for the other two rounds for the pitch presentations at Wicksteed's Aspen and Bodega Bay, California resorts. Wicksteed wants the ad agency teams to immerse themselves on the luxury accommodations that their resorts offer and come up with a fresh ad campaign in time for the upcoming holiday season. The competition between Mattie and Campbell ratches up a level as their contentious history pushes them to do whatever they have to do to win the account, but will the chemistry that has been simmering under the surface all these years develop into something more?
If Not You is such a fun romance tale that easily keeps the reader engaged as they follow Mattie and Campbell's story. I loved how the story featured Mattie and Campbell's past alternating with the present. The reader gets a look into how Mattie and Campbell's competitiveness progressed over the five years, and how it somehow always kept them drawn to each other, especially when their simmering chemistry and attraction came to the surface during the month on the road. I loved how they kept dancing around each other in the name of competition until they finally realized that what they really had was so much more.
If Not You is a wonderful story has a lot of humor, drama, and romance that will definitely leave the reader with a sigh and satisfied smile.
Rating: 5 STARS
About The Author
Ellen O’Clover is the USA Today bestselling, award-winning author of If Not You, The Heartbreak Hotel, and other stories for teens and adults. Her books have been selected for Book of the Month and appeared in outlets like NPR, The New York Times, and Rolling Stone. She lives in a little green house under a giant aspen tree near Boulder, Colorado, with her rocket scientist husband and two perfect bulldogs.
