The No-Show: O'Leary, Beth: 9780593438442: Amazon.com: Books

3.5.Siobhan has been sleeping with Joseph Carter whenever she’s in London on business. So, she’s thrilled when he asks her out on their first public date outside a hotel room – a breakfast on Valentine’s Day no less. But now Siobhan has been sitting alone in a café for the past half hour waiting for Joseph. Has he stood her up?Miranda has been dating Carter for five months, and he’s planned a special Valentine’s lunch for them in a pricey restaurant. But, Joseph fails to show up, and he isn’t answering any of her texts. Has she been dumped by her boyfriend?Jane’s friend Joseph Carter had promised to pretend to be her boyfriend for a Valentine’s engagement party dinner. But, there’s no sign of him, and her work colleagues think he’s imaginary. Where is he?The No-Show started strong, and my compliments to the author for such an inventive premise – I was swept up in the first few chapters, and I found Miranda’s career choice particularly fascinating. And, even though I had my suspicions, I did enjoy the original and overlapping way it all came together in the end. I even shed a few tears. So, it started on high note, and finished on one.But, given Joseph’s above behaviour and continued secretiveness it was hard for me to root for any of the couples. I was more invested in a secondary romance. Also, most of the book was boring. Jane’s story arc was my favourite, but even that started to drag after a while. Furthermore, anything involving Miranda’s twin sister’s and Siobhan’s friend, Marlena was just too immature for my tastes.I will say that when it comes to romances I am very hard to please, and there are few I love. Other reviewers have categorised The No-Show as a romantic mystery rather than contemporary romance, rom-com, or romantic drama, and I 100% agree. Problem is, I wanted the latter from Beth O’Leary – absolutely adored her first two novels The Flatshare and The Switch, and I don’t think romantic mysteries are really my thing.

Siobhan is a quick-tempered life coach with way too much on her plate. Miranda is a tree surgeon used to being treated as just one of the guys on the job. Jane is a soft-spoken volunteer for the local charity shop with zero sense of self-worth. These three women are strangers who have only one thing in common: they’ve all been stood up on the same day, the very worst day to be stood up—Valentine’s Day. And, unbeknownst to them, they’ve all been stood up by the same man. Once they’ve each forgiven him for standing them up, they are all in serious danger of falling in love with a man who may have not just one or two but three women on the go…. Is there more to him than meets the eye? Where was he on Valentine’s Day? And will they each untangle the truth before they all get their hearts broken?My Thoughts:The No-Show is an intriguing tale of romantic entanglements that will connect three women who are strangers.They all share one man at different points in their lives.With these connections happening, it seemed that the women might have bumped into each other at some point, but by the end of the story, we learn that these “no-show” events happened in different years. And one of the women preceded the other two by some time; in fact her story has an unexpected conclusion.The one man seemed ordinary, although he is called “handsome.” From descriptions of him, he seemed quirky more than interesting. He had apparent social issues that led him down this path. Or so we think. But when we finally reach the conclusion, we realized there is much more to his story.I enjoyed this book, for the most part, although the time frame was a bit confusing, and a lot of pages were spent describing the women and their other relationships, including friendships. The ending was the best part, in my opinion, as we learn, finally, what led this man to behave the way he did. 4 stars.

The best kinds of books are those that surprise you with their perfection. I love it when a book completely surprises me and it’s even better when a romance catches me off guard and that’s exactly what I got with this one. The emotion this story evoked in me left my human heart shattered BUT those are the kind of books I always hold close to my heart long after the last page has been turned.The No-Show was an unexpected pleasure and nothing like I thought it would be. A unique premise of 3 women, with seemingly nothing in common except for their connection to this one man, who stood all three of them up on Valentine’s Day. This story is many things bundled into one book. It's beautiful and touching. It's agonisingly sad and heartbreaking. It's frustrating and maddening. It's clever and unique. It's unexpected and brilliant. It's everything....I don’t want to give a single thing away because this is a story that you want to go into blind and with an open mind. But these characters spoke to my heart. Every single one of them. They broke it and it was so heartbreaking being inside their story. I am utterly in love with this book. Incredible writing, solid plot, twists you won't imagine. A standing ovation to this intricately woven plot with so much more meaning then what you think you're in for. I will be thinking about this book for a long time to come. Top read of 2022. Hands down.