BOTM Monday: If Not You

Author: Ellen O'Clover Title: If Not You Publisher: Berkley Date Published: 09/15/2026

Read Dates: 09/23/2026- 09/24/2026
Rating:⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

This was my Book of the Month club pick for September. 

If Not You is a single POV rivals-to-lovers romance. Mattie and Campbell met five years ago as interns competing for the same job at a top Chicago advertising agency. Now, Mattie has made a name for herself at a smaller agency, but feels her career has been overshadowed by Campbell: he won that summer and has continued winning each time their work is pitted against each other for recognition or awards. When the two agencies are brought together in an unusual competition for a luxury resorts business, Mattie and Campbell are forced to spend a month in close proximity, traveling to resort locations and working closely. The forced proximity reveals secrets and helps Mattie reframe some of their past interactions, but both struggle with whether seeing each other in a new light is enough!

I really loved this one, but I did waiver on my rating because I struggled with Campbell. Even with context, some of his interactions with Mattie were petty and even kind of cruel (in my opinion), but when she responded in kind she was censured by everyone. However, that fit with a larger theme of the book, about the differences in how men and women are often perceived and treated professionally and I didn’t let it detract from my overall rating. I really loved Mattie, her passion for her work, her frustration with feeling like she had to constantly prove herself, her desire to keep her loved one close and happy. And Campbell, while flawed, was very real, and his uncertainty about love and his own insecurities made him well rounded, I loved the tiny nod to The Heartbreak Hotel and really enjoyed this overall!

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.