Reviews with content warning for Sexism - The No-Show

Reviews tagging 'Sexism'

The No-Show by Beth O'Leary

12 reviews

lindsay424's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Spoiler-this is my favourite book by Beth O'Leary that I have read so far. The writing for this was extremely clever and I didn't see the plot twist coming. Once the plot twist was revealed it was clear what why one of the main characters was doing what he was doing.

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nyree42's review against another edition

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emotional lighthearted mysterious fast-paced

3.5

This starts off as the kind of novel where you don't understand what's going on and then start to hate the cheating bastard who appears to be leading three women on at the same time...

Or is he?

You might get immersed in the tale, hoping it's a revenge fantasy, waiting to cackle with glee once the philanderer gets caught in one room with all the women, who then realize exactly what he's been doing...

But wait...

At the last section of the book, suddenly the reader is thrown for a loop when they are shown that they were NOT reading the story they thought they were, nor is Joseph Carter the man they assumed that he was.

This is a character study about mysterious behaviour, miscommunication, erroneous assumptions and misunderstandings - all of which are incredibly annoying to deal with in real life while dating somebody. In this case, yes, it is primarily Joseph at fault for not explaining himself clearly, but the reader will be shown "why" he is that way so that they will have more sympathy. (You'll understand if you read it.)

Don't read if you don't like those tropes - but if you tolerate them, I promise that you will be treated to the happily-ever-after ending you'd hope for in a romance.

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drphillgucci's review against another edition

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emotional funny inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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bookishlysophie's review against another edition

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emotional funny sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

This book is full of plot twists that you won’t expect. I love how complicated the characters are. You’ll be surprised how the story unfolds. O’Leary’s writing flows so well. Parts of it felt quite jarring but I’d still recommend.

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crodgers90's review

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emotional funny hopeful lighthearted mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

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theliterarywayfarer's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful lighthearted reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

Three Women. Three dates. One missing man..

Ah, what can I say about this one that hasn’t already been said? It was one of the most anticipated summer reads of the year, and I’m exhilarated to say that, as usual Beth O’Leary delivered! 🙌🏻

Told from the perspectives of three women, all stood up by the same man, Joseph Carter, this book is one hell of a rollercoaster ride. Don't let the charming cover fool you; this book will shatter your heart and then piece it back together in the most satisfying way 🥰

🧡 O’Leary’s execution is flawless. Switching between three different POVs could get tiresome, but she manages to do it effortlessly, in a way that makes you feel for the characters, and at times, be their personal cheerleader 👯‍♀️

🧡 This book felt like I was solving a puzzle. At times, I was frustrated, and at times, I was so sure I knew what was happening! And when I was waiting by the edge of my seat for that ‘Gotcha!’ moment, O’Leary threw the biggest twist in my face in a way that made me lose my footing 🥲

🧡 With The No-Show, O’Leary also explores the complexity and repercussions of topics such as grief, sexual harassment, stalking (😭) and being a young-carer.

🧡 A piece of advice: Stay with the story! I was a bit frustrated by the characters 2/3rd into the story, but I’m SO GLAD I stuck with it or I would’ve missed THAT O’Leary magic. She ties it all together so beautifully, that it will leave you teary-eyed, as well as smiling 🥹❤️‍🩹

🧡 This story will stay with me for a long, long time and I’m already excited to see what O’Leary has in store for the future 😋

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cepbreed's review

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emotional hopeful medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

I love books that just perfectly fall into place like this. My emotions were constantly running so high after our introduction to the timeline. Jesus. I hated Joseph Carter and I think I still would if

I hadn’t experienced loss myself. Books with loss always take me aback now. I don’t know if I will ever be able to handle it.

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kathshiroma's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful mysterious sad

4.5

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bookforthought's review against another edition

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dark emotional funny medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

I went into this book expecting another rom-com-style story about a two-timing guy, a serial cheater of sorts and had fully built in my head a John Tucker Must Die kind of plot flowing from that (I know, weird). But! Knowing Beth O'Leary after having thoroughly enjoyed The Flatshare, I should have guessed it just could not be that simple.

It's tough to review this book without spoilers, so I'll already apologise if everything I say sounds super-vague but I really don't want to risk giving anything away since the way the story developed was definitely a key factor in my enjoyment of this. This is one of those stories where it's best to go in blind, but just be mindful that there is some heavy content and it's not a super fluffy and light-hearted read. For me, it was definitely heart-warming and heart-breaking at the same time, which really shows the author's talent!

The three main characters are amazing women, each in her own way and with her own flaws. I loved how their individual voices came through in the multiple POVs and they really sounded like different people. To varying degrees, I grew to care about all of them and I loved following along for a part of their journey.

Despite this, at times I felt as though they weren't 100% fleshed out as characters: maybe it's because of the need to juggle three main characters and a full cast of secondary characters, but there were points in the novel where the three women definitely felt like characters instead of real people, boxed in their key distinguishing traits and not moving away from them. This didn't happen all the time, but it was often enough that it took something away from me in the enjoyment of this.

Their relationships with Joseph were also annoying at times. Yes, he's charming but he also doesn't always behave fairly towards them and all three women certainly put up with a lot of stuff without questions. Much is explained by the end, going a lot way towards his redemption in my eyes, but it was not enough to justify some of his behaviour.

I loved the experience of reading this book, as the writing fully drew me in. The beginning and end had me rushing through, but I felt some steam was lost towards the middle, which bored me slightly. Still, powering through it was certainly worth it to get to the ending! Some of the side plots were also brilliant and definitely added to my enjoyment.

The No-Show is a very clever book that is likely to appeal to anyone who likes a good romance with depth in plot and themes tackled. There is plenty going on just underneath the surface, and it was a delight to get to it.

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lauramparis's review against another edition

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emotional lighthearted sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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