The No-Show by Beth O'Leary on April 12, 2022
Genres: Fiction / Romance / Contemporary, Fiction / Romance / Romantic Comedy, Fiction / Women
Pages: 352
Format: Audiobook
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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….
This book was NOT at all what I was expecting but it was SO much more! Without giving away more, I’m admitting this is THE BEST BOOK OF THE AUTHOR and don’t you ever DARE TO MISS OR SKIP IT! More important than the rom-com angle is the amount of depth this novel has. The fully dimensional characters felt so real, and so did their situations. Original, authentic, creative, heartbreaking, and heartwarming all at once. This book gave me all the feels, and I think readers are going to be left very happily stunned by this one…just like I was. O’Leary does it right. She does not downplay manipulation, abuse, or violence, but is still intent on capturing the complex (un)predictability of human slips and inescapable tragedy of life. She also takes care of her characters as much as allowing them to find their own way. There is this highly characteristic sense of domesticity and tender friendship in O’Leary’s writing.
I can only say two things: the romance parts of the book didn’t get me excited but the smart twist I never see it coming ( I had lots of theories and guessing during my read but I failed! Silly me! ) earned all those brownie points so I couldn’t give less than five stars to this book.
Because it’s smart, it’s really emotional, it’s also promising! Interestingly this sad book emphasizes the importance of second chances in life!