Book Review: If Not You by Ellen O'Clover
Official Synopsis: 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 truth: the story she’s crafted for her and Campbell over the years might need a new ending.
Mattie French has felt like she has to prove herself to everyone, including herself, and now there are enough changes in her life to make her fear her best friend is going to move on without her. When her company gets a chance to compete to make the marketing champaign for a hotel chain, one that Mattie couldn't afford in a million years, she is ready to put everything in it to win, especially when she learns that her competition is Campbell Porter. He has been her rival since they were interns together at a different firm, one that offered him a full time job while she would have worked for him.
Their two teams are being sent to two different resorts to get a feel for what the hotel has to offer, putting them in close proximity for longer than Maddie would like. She can't seem to avoid Campbell, even when she is actively trying, he manages to get under her skin and cause her to lose all sense of what she is trying to do. But then she starts to realize that some of his habits aren't always malicious but might actually be...nice? Mattie doesn't want to see Campbell as anything else, but something is changing when she sees him and she doesn't know what to do about it. As she and her partner Dexter work on their ideas for the hotel, Mattie also tries to figure out what is changing about her feelings for Campbell.
There is something about Ellen O'Clover's adult books that absolutely wreck me. For one, the feelings Mattie has about feeling left behind or occasionally unwanted feel so real. She spends a lot of her time wondering if she anyone's first choice, but also pushes people away before they have a chance to push her away. She is struggling with the idea of her best friend getting married and moving out, mostly because Ava is the only one who feels like family to her. When she starts to feel something different for Campbell she is worried those feelings will be her undoing. Campbell also has some complicated feelings about love and relationships, but he has been yearning for Mattie for years, waiting to see her again so she will make fun of his weird shirts and southern accent. Ellen O'Clover always manages to bring in powerful backstory to her characters that makes it feel like something so real.
I liked how both Mattie and Campbell had to work through some of their own opinions to realize that things can change, especially when you picture things with the right person. Mattie is definitely a stubborn character and not easily swayed and it was fun to realize that she was wrong about Campbell the whole time.
I rated this book 5 out of 5 stars! If Not You comes out September 15, 2026!
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