The No-Show

Enjoyable, but it seems to be categorized/marketed/etc. as a romance along the lines of [b:The Boyfriend Project 52211784 The Boyfriend Project (The Boyfriend Project, #1) Farrah Rochon https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1570712674l/52211784.SY75.jpg 73615834], with one guy dating three women at the same time and hijinks ensuing. I can't say a whole lot more here without spoiling, but that's not the case. The puzzle-box nature of the interlocking stories was really well-done, but this is not a romance according to the definition I usually use/see mentioned: central love story and HEA. The three POV characters make it kind of hard for any of the supposed love stories to be central, and while two of the three POV characters do end up with what could maybe be considered an HEA, I still didn't feel like either of those relationships were really all that developed. The plot was way more focused on the interlocking/multiple POVs and so especially Miranda's resolution felt pretty tacked on. Despite that, I did enjoy this! I really love O'Leary's writing - it's engaging and fun to read, and often funny. I would still recommend this, but just go in knowing that it's much more general fiction than it is romance.

The reason I keep going back to O'Leary's books is because she makes me fall in love with her characters. Not just the male lead, but all characters involved. My favorite story to follow was Jane's and I'll admit, it took me an embarrassingly long amount of time to realize Joseph was the same guy. I didn't read the full synopsis before going in. The way each character saw him and their different relationships with him made it seem like different guys.

The No-Show was different and wonderful. The book is told from the perspectives of three different women; Siobhan, Miranda, and Jane. At the beginning of the The No-Show, I was most interested in the stories and backgrounds of the three women. Even when I wasn't sure what to think about each woman's interactions with “No-Show” Joseph Carter, I was invested in finding out more about the female characters.

The way in which everything was connected was so different from what I was expecting. I was enthralled. The characters were well developed with depths that I was excited to uncover. I did not predict what was going on in this book, and it was so much better than what I would have guessed.

After reading Beth O'Leary's The Flatshare, I had been wanting to read another of her books. I couldn't decide between The Switch and The Road Trip. When The No-Show came out recently, I decided to go right for her newest release.

I also consumed this book entirely through audiobook, because I had a backlog of Audible credits and I saw that one of the narrators is Evanna Lynch, who played Luna Lovegood in the Harry Potter movies. They used a different narrator for each woman and it was really well done.

Spoiler
I was expecting the three women to run into each other and the man to be caught, or for there to be some mystery that they would solve surrounding his missing day. Maybe the man was a spy or had multiple personality disorder or something. That was nothing like what was actually in The No-Show.

I was ready for all of the characters to all come together at the New Years Eve party when it was revealed that they were all in different years! 

The way all of the characters' stories connected was really amazing. At some point before the end, I realized that something terrible was probably going to happen to Siobhan. It wouldn't really make sense otherwise. That was pretty sad. But the way Joseph Carter and Jane's stories were intertwined so that they ended up together was pretty cool. They both had so much trauma, they were able to be each other's second chances. 

The different years twist really reframed the whole first half of the book! I'm still going over things in my head and realizing how they fit together. The mysteries were explained in really satisfying ways that enriched the story rather than taking away from it. 

This book is the opposite of Lost.

Siobhan was supposed to meet with Joseph for a valentine's day breakfast, Miranda for lunch and Jane for an engagement party dinner. Where is Joseph?

Beth O'Leary writes novels that eschew from traditional tropes and formulas, with believable characters facing real life problems. The No-show was no exception and I enjoyed it very much.

I've saved this book for over a year, waiting for a time when I needed the fuzzy and warm feelings of a good rom com. And then comes a book when you spend half of the time confused about why the male character sounds such a loser and the other half horrified about having found out the reason. Although there's a happy ending and well built characters, I felt a bit deceived and altogether in need of fuzzy and warm feelings.

I misjudged this book based on it's cover. I thought it was a romcom. It's not. I'd say it's more of a romantic drama or women's fiction than genre romance. Because of false expectations, I didn't like the beginning, based on where I presumed it was heading. But it's really good. My recommendation—read it.