This Wasn't Meant to Happen

by Ali Harris

'A beautiful, brave, important book…filled with light, hope and so much love' Sunday Times Bestseller Paige Toon –-

This wasn’t meant to happen. But it did.

Sofie Jensen knows the safest way to live is by staying in control. And she knows that love can come with a cost.

But what she doesn’t know is that one unexpected moment will change everything. Because meeting Rory and falling in love wasn’t part of the plan. Neither was becoming pregnant or losing her baby.

Sofie doesn’t know how she’ll survive this kind of grief – but she knows life will never be the same again…

Told with quiet strength and breathtaking honesty, This Wasn’t Meant to Happen is a powerful portrait of love, grief and the tender, complicated path back to hope.

'Oh my heart. This is a book that lands deeply' Sunday Times Bestseller Giovanna Fletcher

Audible Audio

Published September 11, 2025

About the author

Ali is a magazine journalist who has worked in the world of glossy magazines for ten years.

She grew up in deepest darkest Norfolk, where she spent her formative years dreaming of the bright lights of the big city. At 18 she swapped sheep for show tunes and moved to London to do a degree in performing arts. After three years of 'studying' (read: doing jazz hands) she became.... a waitress. In her spare time she started writing a book (about a frustrated waitress, of course) and soon realised that writing was her true passion. After many rejection letters she decided just getting paid to write for a living would be a step in the right direction. One work placement at a celebrity style magazine later and she'd found her spiritual home. Surrounded by clothes, shoes and celebrity gossip she threw herself into her new career and was ecstatic when she bagged a job at Company magazine.

Ali was soon given her own dating column but then, she met 'Email Boy' and her column became focused on their blossoming relationship - she even won an industry award for her efforts. She left Company in 2005 to broaden her horizons as a freelance journalist, writing for Cosmo, Grazia and ELLE, amongst others. She also got married to Email Boy (now going by his official name of Ben) and then got lured back to the world of glossies with a job at number one women's magazine, Glamour. She left in 2009 to write books and have babies.

Ali's debut Miracle on Regent Street was published by Simon & Schuster in October 2011. Her second novel The First Last Kiss was published in January 2013. Her latest novel, Written in the Stars, is out now.

You can follow Ali at facebook.com/aliharriswriter and twitter.com/aliharriswriter or discover more about the author at her website aliharris.co.uk

Reviews

[Bookread2day · Rating 5 out of 5]

My heart goes out to author Ali Harris who has bravely reflected her new novel , based on her third baby girl that died inside her at twenty-four weeks, with having to give birth naturally, to a stillborn baby. This story had me in tears, Sofie King, and Rory, are blissfully happy together, with Rory, that proposed out of the blue. Rory is always sees the positive side of things, he has that feeling getting married is meant to be. By an accident Sofie falls pregnant. It’s so sad, at thirty-nine weeks Sofie hasn’t felt her baby move for several hours. Sofie has to give birth to her precious stillborn baby. The story is true in what the process is once a stillborn baby has been delivered. Although it says in this book one in 225 pregnancies ends in stillbirth in the Uk, over 35 years ago I used to work in labour ward and can only recall one baby that was born stillborn, however that was 35 years ago. Thanks to all the midwifes in the UK, that have compassion, in understanding the heartache that a mother goes through when a mother gives birth to a stillborn baby, and for being there when my daughters baby died inside her. My daughters issue was different her baby died inside her very early on in pregnancy with it having to be taken away, nevertheless it was a devastating time where I was right by her side in the hospital. I think maybe a box of tissues, might be need reading this novel. This Wasn’t Meant To Happen by author Ali Harris is one novel I highly recommend reading.

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

This Wasn’t Meant to Happen is one of those books that reaches in and squeezes your heart from the very first chapter. It’s about Sofie and Rory, a couple facing the unthinkable loss of their baby, and how grief reshapes not just their lives but their love for each other.

Ali Harris writes about loss in such a real, tender way that it never feels forced or overdone. You feel the weight of Sofie’s heartbreak, the silence between her and Rory, the moments when love feels both like an anchor and a wound. It’s devastating, but also strangely comforting, because it shows that while you never truly “get over” something this big, you can find a way through it.

It’s raw, emotional, and incredibly human. I found myself tearing up more than once, but also closing the book with a sense of hope. This story reminds you that even in the darkest moments, love and connection can still shine through.

Definitely keep tissues nearby, but also, don’t be afraid of this one. It’s heartbreaking, but it’s also full of compassion, warmth, and the reminder that healing is possible.

Thanks to #NetGalley, the author, and the publisher for an advance digital copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

[Gem ~ · Rating 5 out of 5]

Initially, I was quite reluctant to start this book, aware I needed to be in the right headspace to take on the emotional subject of baby loss, however once I did I was soon engrossed and had no regrets.
Yes, this is a raw and poignant storyline that does not hold back and takes you through every step of stillbirth/ miscarriage and so many presentations of grief. The authors own experience of infant loss is explained right at the beginning and with it a promise, that this book is to honour the stories of parents who have suffered such loss and not been able to talk about it, and that it is handled sensitively and carefully, had that is exactly what Ali Harris does.
There were so many points where I felt a deep connection to the characters and a recognition of how different people handle and show up around difficult topics such as death and grief. How important true connection is, how much love there ultimately is that underpins grief and loss and how there can be beauty to be found in connecting with different versions of ourselves and with nature at our most difficult times.
This is a beautiful book that I really hope people have the courage to pick up and read, I promise you will find so many gifts within it's pages.

[Gillian Evans · Rating 5 out of 5]

A sad but often uplifting book on love and loss . The story is told from a personal experience that is absolutely heartbreaking at times. Quoted from the book “you never get over the loss of a baby but you get through it” .

[Nelly Atkins · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 stars simply for writing a novel about baby loss.
I enjoyed reading this and cried at times. I couldn't get entirely lost in the story but it's an excellent fictional insight into a world that isn't spoken about.