The No Show has a great premise, one man, three women. All dating at the same time without the other knowing.

Sadly, I DNF’d this book.

I had a hard time keeping up with the three POVs, and I found each encounter with each woman boring.

I could have given it a chance and pushed through and maybe it would have caught my eye, but I wasn’t excited about it. So unfortunately, I chose to stop reading.

Thanks to Berkley and Netgalley for the opportunity to read and review this title prior to publication. I loved The Flatshare so much, and I was really looking forward to this new book by Beth O'Leary. Siobhan, Miranda, and Jane are all in a relationship with Joseph Carter, and this book is about the unpacking and unraveling of those relationships. I picked this up when I needed something lighthearted to go with my heavier reads, and I loved how fast I was turning the pages. I really liked many of the characters as well - and while I was very suspicious of Joseph, another reviewer had me giving him a chance. However, I felt so duped by the twist in this book. It did not work for me. I did continue reading, but I was just not happy about this one. Still, I loved the characters and the writing, so this remains a 3.5 star book for me.

Synopsis: 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.

This was an amazing book! I was instantly drawn in when our one MC said “I even shaved my legs for him!”😂

This turned out to be a great, binge worthy read. At first it seemed a little predictable at first, but nope, I was wrong!! It had me completely fooled. Also, don’t be fooled by the little blurb at the top and the opening line. There is some content in this book that’s not to be taken lightly. The characters in the book had depth, I was happy to get to know them. They were real and so well developed by the author. This is a decent size book, too- 352 pages, yet the pacing was perfect and the story flowed perfectly.

The No Show is a loud out loud, sweet, and heartwarming book. I had tears in my eyes a few times, despite laughing at a few scenes Highly recommend. Thank you to NetGalley and tho the publisher for the ARC.

This book is best to go blind. There are some emotional twists and turns that shocked me. I love the message and how I thought I was reading one book but ended up reading a different story. This book reminded me of old Liane Moriarty's books.

Beth will be a guest in the What to Read Next Podcast. The interview will air publication week.

I am having a hard time reviewing this because I found it so upsetting.

I picked this up anticipating a rom-com with light emotional depth in the veins of Beth O'Leary's other book - but the question of whether all of these women were being cheated on made me feel so viscerally anxious, and then the plot twist at the end was gut-wrenchingly sad.

Objectively, the plot was extremely well done and tied together very well. However, it was not at all what I was expecting and I question whether the cover art/blurb accurately depicts the content of this book,.

The No-Show was my first book by Beth O'Leary and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I feel like women of all ages could really connect with this story. We follow three different ladies throughout the book and their thoughts and emotions about love and heartache were so relatable.
From the start of the story I was sure I knew where it was going but I couldn't have been more wrong. The twists that happened by the end had me shocked in the best way. I thought this was going to be a simple and light hearted read but it was deeply moving and thought provoking. For anyone who likes a good emotional drama I highly recommend The No-Show.

The No-Show is an engaging tale, and a departure from O’Leary’s more light-hearted novels. The characters are wonderful, but the plot is the star of this story. It seems simple at first. Three women, Jane, Miranda and Siobhan, are all stood up by the same guy, on Valentine’s Day no less. What a jerk, right? Readers may think they know where this courtship catastrophe is headed, but as the multi-layered story unfolds there’s so much more going on. Things get real when the truth comes out, and readers will have to rethink everything. I did. Hold onto your heartstrings.

Three women, one man, love, loss, heartbreak, and redemption. The plot unfolds slowly until you see the entire picture, and I was so uncertain about this book because of the pace--but then it broke my heart just a little bit, in the most perfect way.

Content warnings: sexual harassment, parent with dementia, grief, loss of a significant other

Jane Miller is hiding in Winchester. She's lying to her family about living in London and is volunteering at a charity shop. Her fellow volunteers are like her family and she has no friends to speak of. Then she meets Joseph in a bakery; he's handsome, intelligent, and just as well-read as she is. They begin a book club of two and Jane develops feelings for Joseph even though she's promised herself she'll never love a man again.

Miranda Rosso is a tree surgeon in Surrey, and she loves her job working with a gardening crew. Her boyfriend is lawyer Carter, a fun and charming man that she enjoys spending time with until he stands her up for their Valentine's Day lunch. Miranda is committed to Carter and tries to squash her workplace crush on AJ.

Dubliner Siobhan Kelly is a life coach whose days are filled with counseling sessions, public speaking, and posting on social media. Her schedules are sometimes down to the minute, with each day full of her business and her brand. She's not looking for a relationship, but there's something about charismatic Joseph Carter that she's drawn to. She has their hookups penciled in for the first Friday of each month while she's in London. This works for busy Shiv, until she questions her feelings when he is a no-show for their Valentine's Day breakfast. She can't say no to Joseph, and it dredges up issues from her past she hasn't yet dealt with.

The three women's stories entwine until the reader gets a clearer picture of Joseph Carter's life, and where he is when he's not with each woman. He is awfully charming and the reader will find themselves loving him through his relationships. The three women's lives cross in unpredictable ways, and the reader may jump to the wrong conclusions about Joseph Carter.

This outstanding novel is a rollercoaster ride of the entire spectrum of human emotion while weaving in elements of mystery. Highly recommended for readers of romance and women's fiction.

I'm so so happy to have an advanced copy of this and that it's a great book! I was a big fan of Beth O'Leary and I was really disappointed by The Road Trip. The No-Show has everything I love about O'Leary's books; romance, humor, and a lot of realistic depth.

This is definitely a book you won't want to stop reading and it's my second favorite O'Leary book(The Flatshare will always be my favorite I think.)

It's hard to rate this book. I would say it's more of a 2.5 for me, but I'm rounding it up to 3 because I do want to recognize O'Leary as a clever writer. She's great at telling stories from multiple perspectives and weaving various threads into a complete story like putting together puzzle pieces. Her stories have multiple layers and surprises. She comes up with intriguing premises and her short chapters keep readers turning pages.

This particular book had another interesting premise. Three women (so we get three points of view in this one!) get stood up on Valentine's Day. By the same man.

Having three different voices ended up contributing to it being hard for me to get into this book. I struggled with keeping characters and their stories straight, and I didn't automatically care about any of them. I actually continued to not care about any of them and wasn't really rooting for anyone. However, I kept with the story mostly because the pacing kicked up and I did kind of want to see how it all went down in the end.

Looking back at my review of THE ROAD TRIP by this author, I can see similarities in my overall feelings. I didn't like the characters (though some redeemable qualities are more revealed towards the end... but it takes reading the whole book to get there!). I don't feel like I'm the right audience (as in I'm probably too old). And both books were less light and fluffy than I wanted/needed. (This book had some disturbing parts that really brought me down.) But I liked THE FLAT SHARE by this author enough that I keep wanting to read more by her. And, like I said, O'Leary is a clever and talented author. But maybe I need to accept that I'm not the right reader for these books.

At first I thought I wasn't going to like this book and that it was moving to slow. I've read other books by the author and have adored them. And then about halfway through I was hooked. This is a complicated story about 1 guy and 3 women - relationship and life. I recommend it. Thanks NetGalley for the advanced copy. #NetGalley #TheNoShow

I will preface this review by stating that I am not the target audience for this novel. It is aimed at millennial women, and I am older. However, it was recommended to me by someone in that demographic who really liked it.
Much of what might appeal to millennial women frankly put me off. I am not fond of an author relying heavily on texting, social media and pop culture references to tell a story. There was so much of that in this book, I wondered if it was written to intentionally exclude other readers.
The timelines were strange. At one point, I thought I had found an error. The author was talking about various New Years Eve celebrations in different years. This was ~80% into the novel. I realized these women were involved with the male lead in different years. I did not have a problem following the POVs of the 3 women, but the timelines became confusing.
This book got rave reviews from many people. I just don't think it's that good. Parts of it are very messy and difficult to follow. I believe this would be the case for a millennial reader as well. The story did not start coming together until well over halfway through. However, I am giving it the benefit of the doubt with 3 stars.
Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for an ARC of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

Heartbreakingly good, and possibly my favourite of O'Leary's 4 novels now. I envy her ability to write characters who don't make all the *best * choices all the time as they struggle with grief and insecurity and fear of abandonment, each one affected by prior wounds, yet we root for these characters with all our hearts. The plotting in this one is especially brilliant, and as the story unfolds, O'Leary plants little clues about where it's going but she leaves it entirely up to us to pick up on those clues the way we might if we were reading Agatha Christie, searching for the murderer (though I promise, this is not a whodunit!) or to simply let the story unfold of its own accord. What we end up with is a story about a network of characters whose lives intersect and impact each other in profound ways, sometimes joyous, sometimes achingly painful. I stayed up way too late reading this one, unable to put it down. My ONLY complaint: can we PLEASE stop marketing every book as a rom-com. Is this romantic? Absolutely. Comedic? Brilliantly so. But it's more of a thematic look at how we love and how we make ourselves available for love, rather than a jaunty take on a dude trying to date three women while antics ensue. If you're a fan of complex books about friendship and love and family and moving through the things that close us off until we learn to open again, grab this one. It's amazing.

The No-Show is unlike any book I’ve ever read. I highly recommend going in blind and not reading spoilers because there were so many twists in this book. It follows Joseph Carter and three woman that he stood up on Valentine’s Day. The chapters alternate between each woman’s POV and they have never met each other, so it is almost like reading three different stories at once. I liked the book a lot, but found myself getting less interested as it went on. However, I absolutely loved the ending.

Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for this ARC!

3.5 rounded up. In The No Show, three different women are all stood up by Joseph Carter on Valentine’s Day. Siobhan hasn’t let anyone in her heart since her last boyfriend left her unceremoniously, but she’d been looking forward to this breakfast date. Miranda has been dating him for a while now, but when he doesn’t show up for lunch, and when she discovers a receipt she can’t explain, she wonders if he’s telling her the truth about his life. Then there’s Jane, who fled London after something bad happened, and Joseph agreed to be her pretend boyfriend for an engagement party. Except he doesn’t show, which disappoints her more than a pretend boyfriend should. Their friendship has meant a lot to her since started over in a new town, even if she doesn’t want to tell him about the events that led her to doing what she’s doing now.

I liked the backstory and the present stories of these different women and Joseph. All is not what they seem to each other and to us, the readers. This deals with some heavy topics in a manner that is generally light.

Thanks to NetGalley for the opportunity to review this novel, which RELEASES APRIL 12, 2022.

Three women, one man. What will time tell?

I thoroughly enjoyed this novel. I loved the characters, both main and secondary. I loved the story, enough twists to leave you guessing, but well-paced and enough detail given to each female perspective. I love the writing, Beth O’Leary is such a creative storyteller. There is complexity that elicits emotions and captures feelings connected with the character. A story of love, loss, acceptance, and forgiveness; fate and second chances.

Thank you Netgalley and Berkley for this ARC. This would be a great book club book and I appreciate the questions at the end. This is one that I look forward to the audiobook to experience it again!

Not your standard chick lit! Three very different women are stood up on Valentine’s Day — by the same man! It’s not what you think and the end is a genuine surprise. Does a nice job of messing with your assumptions about people!

This one really surprised me; what a fabulous twist to what I thought was a traditional story. Highly recommend.

I remember there being a sweetness to The Flatshare that felt noticeably absent from the first twenty percent of this book. Which isn’t to say that this book isn’t sweet - even the first twenty percent. But I got to this point where I had to stop. I became uncomfortable with the…ahem…situation as I grew to care for the characters.
I actually set the book aside for several days. Once I came back to it it became a mystery that I was nearly obsessed with resolving.
And then we arrived at a point when I was convinced that OLeary couldn’t save things. I mean - I had this idea - I’m not sure when it developed but it quietly buzzed in my brain. I poked at it. I tried to make the pieces fit. But it didn’t seem likely. And I had real concerns that I was going to be super angry. But my little guess was correct.
And I was also wrong. Bc this book was far far far better than I gave it credit for.
A wonderful read for those that love the sticky, the complicated, the sweet and messy.
And ps - I hope you’re not reading this review before you read the book. You really should go into this one blind.

As always - a thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an opportunity to offer my unbiased opinion.