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The No-Show by @betholearyauthor

Thank you @berkleypub and @netgalley for the ARC

I have been looking forward to reading this for a long time. I have loved everything that I have read from this author and I have to say I was surprised by this one. It’s not quite like #theflatshare or #theroadtrip. While I still liked it I felt like I would have enjoyed it more if I didn’t spend the first 75% hating the love interest(s) unnecessarily.

#thenoshow #newbooks #northsurreysecondary #bookstagram #arc #booknerd #canadianbookstagram #readallthebooks #readallday

I loved The Flat Share so much, but unfortunately O'Leary has yet to deliver anything as charming since then. Ultimately, I was v disappointed in this one and can't put my finger on why other than it just felt ick. I didn’t care for the male lead, and felt emotionally manipulated once the big ‘reveal’ happened. I am sure many romance readers will enjoy this. It is certainly something different but overall, was lackluster for me.

I went into this blindly and let it unfold page by page…and I ended up really liking it!

At the halfway mark, I had made my mind up about Joseph Carter and the three women. After that point though…things started to shift and I’m so glad my impressions were wrong! This one felt more like The Flatshare and reminded why I came to love O’Leary in the first place.

This book was okay. The reason why I rated this book so low is simply because I couldn't connect with the characters. Not only did I not find their separate storylines interesting, but the overall plot just felt too predictable. In the end, these factors made the book fall flat for me. It's still a cute romance read to pass the time, but not anything new.

This read is wonderful--genuinely surprising and cleverly constructed. I've recommended it often and will continue to!

Three women on Valentine’s Day are stood up by the same man. This is the start of a wonderful and engaging story of love and loss.

This book had a clever twist that I did not see coming! I didn’t read the synopsis or know anything about the book going in and I highly recommend you do the same. I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised and entertained by this story.

This book needs to be a movie. I don't know how, but this is a throwback to the 90's bittersweet genre of RomComs. The ones where Julia Roberts realizes her best friend is really the love of her life. Or Love, Actually is all around us and not always a happy ending but also always a happy ending. I don't know how else to describe it, other than well-written and life-affirming.

This rom-com just might give you all the feels, especially as you get to the end where all the pieces fall into place.Three women, Siobhan, Miranda and Jane are strangers to one another, but they all have something in common - they are all involved with the same man. One Valentine's day leads to all three of the women more than disappointed. The man they have in common is Joseph Carter, who made plans with each of the women, but didn't follow through.

Is Joseph a player? Is this a book about "justified cheating"? Can cheating ever be justified in any relationship? What is it about Joseph that Siobhan, Miranda and Jane are a part of his life? This multi-layered story evenly shares Joseph's story and motivation.

Our three female protagonists, Siobhan, Miranda and Jane, are more than strangers than one another. Not only are all three involved in Jospeh in some way, they all got stood up by him on Valentine's Day. As the story progressed, readers learn about the women and their differences and perhaps what draws each of them to Joseph.

As mentioned, this is a rom com, so are we to expect a happily ever after? If so, who is the woman Joseph ends up with and why? In fact, how does any reader justify Joseph's actions when it comes to the three women and what opinions do we form about each of them?

While there were light moments in this story, I saw it more of a story that came full circle, especially when it came to the "reveal" as the book came to what ended up being a very heartwarming conclusion.

Many thanks to Berkley and to NetGalley for this ARC for review. This is my honest opinion.

Please also enjoy the following YouTube video https://youtu.be/uxDOgLQCnv0

4.5 ⭐️ but rounded it up to 5 stars (it was that good!)

This is the first Beth O’Leary book I have read and I will be seeking others out now. It was a smart romantic comedy in that it was both well written and it had some plot twists that really did keep me guessing until near the end. The characters were sympathetic and the story had just the right emotional pull for this reader. It is hard to say more without giving anything away — and every reader deserves the experience of the twists and turns without spoilers.

With thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an eARC of this title.

Pretend you're having lunch with three friends who've all been on recent dates with the same guy who showed up late each time. The first enthusiastically tells you, "My date was WONDERFUL! I had to wait quite awhile for him to show up, but when he finally did, BOY was he worth the wait!" The second one says a bit more conservatively, "I wasn't sure I'd like him after he was so late arriving, but he ended up being a pretty cool guy after all." Your third friend isn't feeling so generous, and she says, "I waited all that time for THIS? Ugh."

That's NOT the story of the three dates in this book, but rather the story of all the reviews I've read for it, ranging from glowing to unimpressed. As for me, I'm the second friend. I waited for what started to feel like too long for my "date" to show up - in this case, the big reveal that made me see the book in a different light - but once it did, I truly enjoyed the book's company and was so glad I didn't give up and walk out on it!

Joseph Carter, the titular "No-Show" of this story is - to use a famous Winston Churchill quote - "a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma". I thought I had him all figured out as a mild-mannered lothario who's just stringing along the three very different, but equally fascinating women of the story: Siobhan, a life coach, Miranda, a tree surgeon, and Jane, a charity shop volunteer. I questioned what on earth O'Leary could possibly do to turn my opinion of him around. Well, I shouldn't have doubted her for a moment! She masterfully puts all the pieces together in the final third, and in a way that genuinely surprised me and touched my heart.

My advice? You may have to wait awhile for this date to start, but stick around! You may not think it's the best one you've ever been on, but you'll probably have some lovely memories of it to share with your friends and, if you're like me, possibly even a resolution to not judge by appearances next time around!

★★★★

Thanks to Berkley Publishing, Netgalley, and author Beth O'Leary for this ARC. I've given my opinions honestly and freely. This is now available.

This book shocked me. It is absolutely not what I expected, in the best way.
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Siobhan is a life coach, Miranda is a tree surgeon and Jane volunteers at the charity. These three strangers have one thing in coming. They were all stood up on Valentine’s Day…by the same man.
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Once the women forgive him they all find that they are falling for him.
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I don’t want to say much more than that because this one really surprised me and I hope it surprises you too!
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Thank you @berkleypub @berkleyromance and @netgalley for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.
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“Love yourself first. Don’t wait for him to do it for you.”
Beth O’Leary is a brilliant storyteller. If you haven’t picked up one of her books because you’re not the biggest romance reader, then trust me when I tell you that The No Show is more of a story about the connections we make with people and the emotions that affect us with romantic elements than it is a true conventional romance.

The No Show introduces us to three different women with one thing in common. They’ve all been stood up on Valentine’s Day by the exact same man, Joseph Carter. Siobhan is an Dublin-based life coach who frequently makes trips to London and her chemistry with Joseph is “light the sheets on fire” type of hot. Her story caused me the most anguish because of her backstory, but also due to the situations she knowingly puts herself in, and then the mental aerobics she does in order to make a decision. Yet she also remained so woefully oblivious to her feelings that I began to wonder about the validity of her being a life coach in general.

“And Carter’s story doesn’t feel done. There’s something more to it. Until she knows what it is, she’s starting to worry that she just won’t be able to put the whole thing to bed.”
Miranda is a strong-willed and independent tree surgeon in an occupation that isn’t known for the female persuasion, so she desperately tries to prove herself on the job to her male coworkers. Her relationship with Joseph felt more like she was trying check a box: this is the guy I should date, and this is the life I should have. I didn’t necessarily love the two of them together mostly because Miranda was so aware of everything that was unspoken between them. But I loved her character arc, and ultimately her happy ending gave me such wonderful ooey-gooey lovey feelings.

Jane was the character that I most wanted to hug, and the one that I most wanted to figure out. I was also the most nervous for her and her friendship with Joseph. Jane hints at—and ultimately reveals—that she’s been living a quiet life in order to stay hidden from someone in her past. While Joseph is tempted to take her friendship to a deeper level, he also reluctantly reveals that he cannot but refuses to explain why. One of the best characters in Jane’s story is her burgeoning friendship with Aggie. I adored this character with a fierceness that made me question my own introvertedness because Aggie is absolutely an extrovert and a bit of a hot mess.

“What I mean to say is, we sometimes tell lies to the people we love, I understand that.”
I’m trying to contain any spoilers, but I will tell you this: until I got to the turning point in the story, I desperately wanted to order a hit on Joseph Carter. I do respect the way Beth O’Leary intertwined the lives of Siobhan, Miranda, and Jane through Joseph Carter as it was pivotal to get to know each of the women in an emotional way in order to fully appreciate the conclusion of each of the women’s stories. I will also say that there are descriptions of assault as well as situations that are a result of a power imbalance. But I felt all these situations didn’t detract from the overall story, nor did I get taken out of the storytelling. Although I did shed a tear due to the descriptiveness of the emotions and not because of the situations themselves.

While I am reluctant to want men who act extremely stupidly to get a redemption, even I know that the best stories and characters go through an emotional journey and ultimately turn out for the better in the end. This is exactly why The No Show is such a brilliant showcase of the spectrum of human emotions and the capacity to love whether someone is ready to love or not.

“Its one of those things, happiness. One of the ones you don’t really notice is gone until it comes back.”
But don’t worry romance readers, Beth O’Leary delivers us a wonderfully sweet HEA that left me really satisfied as a romance story lover. The No Show challenged me in the best of ways. Even if I was ready to write off the hero, I adored the heroines and I put my trust in Beth O’Leary. Truly, I loved the journey she took me on. The No Show is absolutely worth your time.

The No-Show by Beth O’Leary is a realistic, relatable, and utterly emotive and surprising romance (or should I say women’s fiction? I still can’t make up my mind on genre) that revolves around three women who were stood up on Valentine’s Day by the same man they have feelings for. The story is about friendship, love, mental health, grief, and kindness.

The writing is beautiful, emotive, intriguing, and captivating with slow pace. The story is told in third person narrative from three perspectives- Jane, Siobhan, and Miranda. We get Joseph’s perspective in the end which made the story really interesting.

This is mainly character-driven story. All three protagonists – Miranda, Jane, and Siobhan- are so much different from each other and have their distinct voices that never made the multiple perspectives confusing. They are most realistic, relatable, and developed. I liked Siobhan and Jane most but none deserved to be stood up by Joseph. I was surprised to see they all gave him second chance that changed their life.

It was interesting to see who at last will be with Joseph or if they all will discover he has been dating three of them and kick him out of their life. Trust me when I say it’s not that simple and you’re in for a mind-blowing surprise.

Siobhan is workaholic and travels a lot because of her life coaching business. She is direct, no-nonsense person, passionate for her work, and amazing friend. She is planner and organizer who like to have control over her life but her ex shook her up badly and now she is afraid of a serious relationship. When she meets Joseph she convinces herself, it’s just for good sex but soon she has feelings that develop to love.

I liked how author explored pregnancy fear, mental health, trauma, harassment, and work stress through Siobhan’s story. I felt for Siobhan for going through so much. I admired her for giving herself and her health priority when she needed to and only return back to the world of work when she is ready. It was lovely to see how their relationship develops and how slowly she opened to Joseph and let him in her life.

Jane is timid, kind and lovely person who doesn’t like to be seen and doesn’t do well in crowd. She had a secret and mystery about her job and life in London that impacted her confidence, somehow making her think no one likes to be friends with her, and she isn’t a likable person. Because of that she keeps rules about what to wear on what day, what she can eat, how many books she can read per week. It was sad to see her like that, making me want to cross the boundary of reality and fiction to reach her, hug her and tell her she deserves everything good in life. It was clear the person must be an ex but who and what happened wasn’t revealed until the climax (okay you might get the idea at some point but not whole picture).

I liked how workplace exploitation is represented through Jane’s story. It was amazing to see how she slowly comes out of her shell after meeting Joseph and Aggie, try to take more control of life, not by her set of rules but by confronting people, her feelings, her rules, and what she want to do about her past.

Miranda is a tree surgeon, the only female tree surgeon in the team, and is passionate about her work. She is the only one who doesn’t have a terrible past but she struggles with self-awareness. It’s not like she is not most self-aware person, in fact, she is most developed, but it’s more because of Joseph and how much she wanted the relationship between them work and how that changes her and she struggles with that change or rather recognizing that change. What she did in the end just won my heart. I loved her for understanding everything she discovered.

Joseph Carter is charming, developed, successful, handsome, nerd who never had problem capturing attention. He is easily likable, very observant, and empathetic person. But yes, I as a reader, had a hard time warming to him because just look at these women. They are amazing and the way their story is told it easy to feel he is playing with them. His one wrong move might destroy them, especially Siobhan and Jane. I was often felt annoyed and angry at him and yet he never had that playboy persona, that smug, ego, self-pride for dating three women. And he has that mysterious air. We know him through these women’s perspectives but don’t have his story which makes the story most intriguing. It made me want to know his hidden self, to know why he is doing this, and which part of him is really true which is revealed in climax.

What I loved most apart from these female protagonists and Joseph’s mystery is their support system. They all had people who supported them, stood by their side in all situations, and help them to face all problems in life. They also makes up for what I actually want in the book- the fun, light moments that give a breather to a serious tone of story.

Adele and Frannie– Miranda’s 18 yr old twin sisters are super fun and hilarious. I also loved Miranda’s team and how lovely they were to Miranda, never making her feel she’s only female in the team. Aggie is breath of fresh air in Jane’s life who makes her want shake her routine and make her realise she needs to get over whatever that made her feel less of herself and take chance. I couldn’t have guessed their age difference if it wasn’t mentioned. Small gestures from Charity shop owners and old colleague was lovely. Fiona, Siobhan’s roommate and Marlena their mutual friend are amazing. They were like a family to her.

Climax is most amazing part of the book. I was most excited for it with my theories but it turned out most surprising and most emotive. It’s not often romance can surprise me and what a mindblowing, out-of-the-box surprise it is. Damn, it also made me cry. I loved the way Joseph told his story and everything happened till the end. End is perfect, uplifting. lovely, and filled with hope.

Why 4.5-

If you have asked me what I’ll rate the book in the middle of the story, I would have said 3.5 as it’s slow, slower for my taste and makes me impatient, or 4 if story picks up speed in next half. But that surprise in climax made me add extra half star to my decision. It’s still slow read but I love that surprise.

Overall, The No-Show is beautifully written, heartfelt, utterly emotive and surprising romance.

I highly recommend this if you like,
Romance that surprises you
Slow read
Multiple perspectives
Theme of Grief
Layer of mental health and kindness
Developed interesting main characters
Fun secondary characters
Emotional read
A perfect book club read

Adorable and witty, a great romance intro to start the summer with. Beth O'Leary hits all the right spots with this one. however, i just wanted to feel a bit more from the characters, but this is meant to be a light-hearted read. It made me smile throughout!

Blurb Time:

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?

So, when I first read the blurb, sometime before starting the book, I made a few assumptions. Rereading the blurb, it’s clear that to some degree I didn’t read closely enough, because one of the assumptions was that this was going to be “three women get together and get revenge on the cad who broke all of their hearts”, which is actually not indicated. As the blurb states, each relationship continues for some time after the standing-up in the beginning of the book, and in fact for the majority of the book none of the three even knows about the other two.

Siobhan is stood up on a morning coffee date with Joseph, who before the date had been her monthly friends-with-benefits when she came to London for business (Siobhan is based in Dublin). Events in her past have made Siobhan slow to trust and she prefers to avoid relationships, which is why she kicks herself (metaphorically) for even making the effort to dress up for a coffee date, only to have Joseph not show up.

Miranda is starting a new job on Valentine’s Day, having to negotiate the usual awkwardness with new co-workers who tend to be all male and not necessarily comfortable with a female colleague. One of them, A.J., has a reputation with women and immediately hits on Miranda. She leaves work early to meet her boyfriend Carter for lunch, but Carter never arrives and doesn’t respond to her calls or texts.

Jane has to attend an engagement party on Valentine’s Day, and she asks her friend to come with her and pretend to be her boyfriend; both to fend off questions from an obnoxious acquaintance who is always trying to set Jane up, and because Jane is very shy and awkward in company. It’ll be much easier if her friend, Joseph Carter, is with her. Unfortunately, he never shows up.

Because of the unusual plot structure, I find myself having trouble working out how exactly I felt about The No-Show.

In its favor for me, like all of O’Leary’s books, The No-Show is extremely readable. Anyone who knows my reviews knows I value readability highly (sometimes to a fault; occasionally I’ve struggled to grade a book that was both a page-turner and also kind of dreadful). The plot here breezed along, with the story being narrated in alternating chapters by Siobhan, Miranda and Jane.

The three women are distinctly different types. Siobhan is a former aspiring actress, confident and successful in her current career. She had a bad breakup with her last boyfriend, which makes her wary of getting into another relationship, but she has a lot of close friends, the closest of whom is her longtime roommate and bestie, Fiona. Siobhan is the glamorous one of the three protagonists.

This is a partial review. The rest of the review can be found on our blog, Dear Author, here:

https://dearauthor.com/book-reviews/review-the-no-show-by-beth-oleary/

The No-Show is the third book that I have read by Beth O'Leary and I found it to be enjoyable. It ended up being totally different from what I was expecting based on the synopsis. I'll admit that it started pretty slow for me and I spent a lot of time wondering when something was going to happen and then there was a twist that I didn't see coming at all. I really loved the last quarter of the book and found the ending to be very satisfying.

The No-Show by Beth O’Leary is heartwarming, clever, surprising, emotional, and beautiful!

Three women - Siobhan, Miranda, and Jane - get stood up by the same man on the same day. Even worse, it’s Valentine’s Day. Will they be able to forgive him or will he end up breaking their hearts?

I did not expect this to be a 5⭐️ book for me when I started reading it, but I ended up absolutely loving it! There was a twist that I never saw coming and made me completely reevaluate my feelings about one of the characters and the entire direction I thought this story was headed in. Basically, everything I thought was wrong! I even teared up toward the end. All three women were so different yet extremely likable, and I loved getting each of their perspectives on the same man. Jane was my favorite, though. She was a bit awkward but kind-hearted and caring, and she really came into her own by the end. I am keeping this review short and sweet because I definitely think this is one you should read without knowing too much. At this point, I will happily read anything Beth O’Leary writes!

Back in 2020, I discovered this author when I read her first book The Flatshare. I absolutely fell in love with her books. I devoured the next two books that she wrote. Imagine my delight when I saw that she had a 4th book coming out. I added it to my Amazon Wish List. Fast forward a few months and my friend told me that her next book was on NetGalley up for review. I squealed with delight and raced to NetGalley to request. Much to my delight, it got approved. I couldn’t wait to read it.

Siobhan, Miranda, and Jane all have something in common, Joseph Carter. They all love him. Jane had a bad relationship prior to this and thinks she isn’t worth it. Miranda loves him but can’t shake a nagging feeling that Carter isn’t being completely honest with her. Siobhan finally gives in to her feelings and admits that she loves Joseph. They are soulmates. This book gave me all the feels. I spent the entire first half of the book so mad at Joseph for dating all three of these girls at the same time. Until I realized what was going on and that the book was written in different timelines. Once I figured that out, I started to put all the clues together and form a story behind the story.

I loved all the characters in this book. The way they worked through their issues. The prevalence of mental health issues that are not hidden in the closet is wonderful to see. Most of the time they are swept under the rug or they are seen in a bad light. I think my favorite character is Siobhan, for this reason. She had her issues and she recognized them and faced them head-on with the support of her inner circle. Jane is the one that drove me nuts the most. All of her little quirks bothered me. I am sure that the reason was that I saw some of myself in her. The wondering if you are worth it if you are wanted. I loved the way the author wrote this book. It made you think that Joseph was the bad guy until she put all the pieces together for you. Once she did that the whole story just opened up. I can’t wait till she writes another book. I will be waiting patiently for that time.

This was the first book I’ve ever read by this author and I loved it!! Definitely makes me want to go out and read her other ones!

I can’t tell you what it’s about because I will 100% give something away. But I will say that I was not expecting it to turn out the way that it did. I loved that it surprised me because that doesn’t often happen in a romcom!

I loved the dual POV between Jane, Siobhan, and Miranda. I felt like I really got to know the characters and enjoyed getting to know their very different personalities. Jane was definitely my favourite and that’s probably because I felt I could relate to her a lot.

I would definitely recommend you give this book a try, especially if you love romance books! I did find it a bit slow in the beginning, but once I got into it a bit more, things definitely picked up and I flew through the second half!

Thank you to Berkley Publishing Group for the digital copy. I have posted this review on Goodreads and also on my Bookstagram account (link provided).

Jane, Miranda and Siobhan are all stood up by the same man on Valentine’s Day. While on the surface it seems like Joseph is a jerk, there’s way more to the story than meets the eye.
The story is told from each woman’s POV as they go on a journey of love and loss, and most importantly, self discovery and self love. Through each woman’s eyes, Joseph is portrayed very differently and in the end, I found him to be super flawed yet not despicable lol
I went into the story blind as I typically do, but especially with these types of books because they tend to be so predictable, but this one wasn’t, which made it so much more enjoyable. There are lots of clues along the way and if you miss them, you’ll be surprised at the ending, so pay attention!
One again, this was overall a sometimes sad, sometimes sweet but altogether great read written by a Beth.
Thanks to Berkley Books, Elisha Katz and NetGalley for this eArc in exchange for my review.