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paperkindle's review against another edition
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Miscarriage, Stalking, and Dementia
aspiereads33's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
mysterious
relaxing
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Car accident, Grief, Emotional abuse, and Gaslighting
Minor: Stalking, Self harm, Sexual harassment, Pregnancy, and Pandemic/Epidemic
allyjshand's review against another edition
emotional
funny
lighthearted
sad
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? Yes
3.75
I normally avoid rom-com books, but I’d read that this book had a plot twist so I was intrigued. The book is very easy to read and I found myself reading large chunks at a time. I enjoyed the three female protagonists and felt invested in each of their storylines and narrative voices.
When it seems that the three women are finally meet going to meet, we’re hit with the plot twist - a real ‘ohhh’ moment! I wished this moment came sooner so we could read more about Richard’s escalating obsession with Siobhan, so that her death is more hard-hitting and reflects the violent dangers women face from men. But regardless I found this section very impactful.
Definitely want to pick up one of O’Leary’s other books.
Definitely want to pick up one of O’Leary’s other books.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Grief
Minor: Alcohol, Death, Miscarriage, Stalking, Alcoholism, Gaslighting, Dementia, Car accident, and Emotional abuse
I normally avoid rom-com books, but I’d read that this book had a plot twist so I was intrigued. The book is very easy to read and I found myself reading large chunks at a time. I enjoyed the three female protagonists and felt invested in each of their storylines and narrative voices. When it seems that the three women are finally meet going to meet, we’re hit with the plot twist - a real ‘ohhh’ moment! I wished this moment came sooner so we could read more about Richard’s escalating obsession with Siobhan, so that her death is more hard-hitting and reflects the violent dangers women face from men. But regardless I found this section very impactful. Definitely want to pick up one of O’Leary’s other books.yelaninihara's review against another edition
emotional
mysterious
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
TW: self harm
Very very slow paced my god
Beth O’Leary might not be my style at all. A bit too serious.
Ugh god so it’s a SAD BOOK. This is not a romcom.
This book is not about these women, it’s about this stupid man and his mystery because that’s what keeps you reading.
HERE IS A PLOT BREAKDOWN TO SAVE U THE TRAUMA.
Spoiler. I scrolled through the first 20 reviews and no-one posted a spoilery review. Here’s the summary. Let's begin with the big twist. Carter, or Joseph, or whoever. I'll call him Carter to uncomplicate things. Carter is not cheating because it’s 3 different timelines. And im gonna save you the trouble and untangle the timelines. There's a TLDR at the bottom.
For Carter’s timeline, it’s Siobhan he meets first. They fall in love, through her trauma, through her damage. They work on their relationship and they are #foreverinlove. He calls her the love of his life. Meanwhile, one of Siobhan’s clients, Richard, is beginning to behave inappropriately towards her,. He starts by revealing that he’s having an inappropriate relationship with his assistant and then this slowly turns into making inappropriate advances towards Siobhan which she clearly rejects. However, he makes her feel unsafe. Unfortunately it is revealed that in a moment of panic, when she was running away from Richard, who was being a real slime and following her on her journey through the tube, Shioban is involved in a hit and run and dies.
Man I’m doing SLEUTHING to figure out this fucking timeline. It is not this simple, let me tell you.
Ok at this point, Carter is now single for 3 years, but doesn’t get over Siobhan. This is when he meets Miranda. They have a relationship that’s funky because of course Miranda thinks Carter is cheating on her. Because his mother who has dementia mentions Siobhan, and there's a long standing google calendar invite that implies Carter is seeing someone else, but in reality he just hasn't let go of his past love so it's just the longstanding date that he had in his calendar with Siobhan. Of course, since this book banks on Carter not dealing with his feelings or fucking COMMUNICATING, the reader believes, like Miranda, that he's two timing. But it's not like Miranda has the backbone to COMMUNICATE either??? God this is so stupid. Anyway. It all comes to a head, and Miranda confronts C, and they get in a big fight. Where he reveals Siobhan is the ex who DIED. Miranda dumps Carter. Side plot moment: she longs for her coworker who was interested in her, but he moved on to someone else, so Miranda is big sad, too. Well, a few months pass and Miranda decides to reach out to Carter to find out the details of what happens with Siobhan. She arrives at his house, where he is drinking, a lot. Miranda and Carter become friends, sort of, and Miranda tells Carter he's not ready to date anyone until he works on processing his grief. He's piss drunk, and at this point he reveals that after he and Miranda broke up, he ran into a girl in a charity shop and he's developing feelings for her. Miranda tells him to not date for at least a year because he needs to get his shit together and deal with stuff. She and her hot coworker get together and theyre both kind of friends with Carter, idk.
Now let’s come back to Jane for a moment. Jane had to leave her job in London because she was harassed. This is slowly revealed over time. The climax point of her narrative is when it’s revealed that it’s Richard that seduced Jane and then fired her from her job, at which point, tons of rumors had spread about her at the law firm where she was working as a secretary to Richard. She has to confront him at some social gathering, because it’s revealed that more allegations have come out against Richard at his workplace and he’s looking for her to buy her off. Now, Richard and Carter work in the same law firm, so the day Siobhan died, Jane (Richards secretary who he was boasting about have sex with to Siobhan) saw Carter storming in to Richards office to shout at him. So when he walks into the charity shop where she is volunteering, its a big traumatic for her, but he's so nice and they become friends so he banks on the face that he didn't really notice her sitting outside Richard's office, because he only stormed in to argue with him that one time. Jane is v brave and goes up to London to tell her story to the law firm's HR, explaining this altercation between Richard and Carter, as well as detailing their affair. It's clear to HR that this woman was taken advantage of. HR (and the reader) piece together that Carter stormed into Richard's office to accuse him of being the reason that Siobhan died.
Ok now we have to swing back around to Miranda because its’ through Miranda’s timeline we can piece all this together. When miranda learns of shiobahn and how fucked Carter is, not dealing with his grief, she and AJ encourage Carter to take a year off dating. Even tho at this point, he's met Jane, who he thinks is dating someone because it's her standby lie to say that she has a boyfriend. He's attracted to Jane but basically agrees to not date for a year. When Jane confesses she has no BF, and then later confesses her feelings for him, HE LIES AND SAYS HE HAS A GIRLFRIEND, WHICH IS THE RED HERRING OK, tHIS IS WHAT MAKES YOU THINK HE'S TWO TIMING JANE AS WELL OH GOD I HATE THIS COMPLICATED ASS BOOK and this stupid man.
But ok, the linear timeline ends with Jane not seeing Carter for a bit and then they get together cus he explains everything to her. THERE. THE END. GOOD LUCK.
TLDR: Siobhan and Carter meet and fall in love. Siobhan dies. Carter runs into Richard's office, offering Jane a glimpse of him. Jane gets fired. 3 years pass. Miranda and Carter get together. They have a relationship that is meh because Carter won't communicate. Miranda confronts Carter. They break up. some time passes where Carter walks into the charity shop Jane is working at. Miranda gets back in touch with Carter. They become friends. He promises her that he’ll not date for a year. He and Jane fall for each other but can't be together cus he just won't communicate. Jane is a badass and gets Richard fired. Jane and Carter get together. Miranda, Jane, Carter and everyone stay in touch as friends and meet to honour Siobhan's memory.
Very very slow paced my god
Beth O’Leary might not be my style at all. A bit too serious.
Ugh god so it’s a SAD BOOK. This is not a romcom.
This book is not about these women, it’s about this stupid man and his mystery because that’s what keeps you reading.
HERE IS A PLOT BREAKDOWN TO SAVE U THE TRAUMA.
Spoiler. I scrolled through the first 20 reviews and no-one posted a spoilery review. Here’s the summary. Let's begin with the big twist. Carter, or Joseph, or whoever. I'll call him Carter to uncomplicate things. Carter is not cheating because it’s 3 different timelines. And im gonna save you the trouble and untangle the timelines. There's a TLDR at the bottom.
For Carter’s timeline, it’s Siobhan he meets first. They fall in love, through her trauma, through her damage. They work on their relationship and they are #foreverinlove. He calls her the love of his life. Meanwhile, one of Siobhan’s clients, Richard, is beginning to behave inappropriately towards her,. He starts by revealing that he’s having an inappropriate relationship with his assistant and then this slowly turns into making inappropriate advances towards Siobhan which she clearly rejects. However, he makes her feel unsafe. Unfortunately it is revealed that in a moment of panic, when she was running away from Richard, who was being a real slime and following her on her journey through the tube, Shioban is involved in a hit and run and dies.
Man I’m doing SLEUTHING to figure out this fucking timeline. It is not this simple, let me tell you.
Ok at this point, Carter is now single for 3 years, but doesn’t get over Siobhan. This is when he meets Miranda. They have a relationship that’s funky because of course Miranda thinks Carter is cheating on her. Because his mother who has dementia mentions Siobhan, and there's a long standing google calendar invite that implies Carter is seeing someone else, but in reality he just hasn't let go of his past love so it's just the longstanding date that he had in his calendar with Siobhan. Of course, since this book banks on Carter not dealing with his feelings or fucking COMMUNICATING, the reader believes, like Miranda, that he's two timing. But it's not like Miranda has the backbone to COMMUNICATE either??? God this is so stupid. Anyway. It all comes to a head, and Miranda confronts C, and they get in a big fight. Where he reveals Siobhan is the ex who DIED. Miranda dumps Carter. Side plot moment: she longs for her coworker who was interested in her, but he moved on to someone else, so Miranda is big sad, too. Well, a few months pass and Miranda decides to reach out to Carter to find out the details of what happens with Siobhan. She arrives at his house, where he is drinking, a lot. Miranda and Carter become friends, sort of, and Miranda tells Carter he's not ready to date anyone until he works on processing his grief. He's piss drunk, and at this point he reveals that after he and Miranda broke up, he ran into a girl in a charity shop and he's developing feelings for her. Miranda tells him to not date for at least a year because he needs to get his shit together and deal with stuff. She and her hot coworker get together and theyre both kind of friends with Carter, idk.
Now let’s come back to Jane for a moment. Jane had to leave her job in London because she was harassed. This is slowly revealed over time. The climax point of her narrative is when it’s revealed that it’s Richard that seduced Jane and then fired her from her job, at which point, tons of rumors had spread about her at the law firm where she was working as a secretary to Richard. She has to confront him at some social gathering, because it’s revealed that more allegations have come out against Richard at his workplace and he’s looking for her to buy her off. Now, Richard and Carter work in the same law firm, so the day Siobhan died, Jane (Richards secretary who he was boasting about have sex with to Siobhan) saw Carter storming in to Richards office to shout at him. So when he walks into the charity shop where she is volunteering, its a big traumatic for her, but he's so nice and they become friends so he banks on the face that he didn't really notice her sitting outside Richard's office, because he only stormed in to argue with him that one time. Jane is v brave and goes up to London to tell her story to the law firm's HR, explaining this altercation between Richard and Carter, as well as detailing their affair. It's clear to HR that this woman was taken advantage of. HR (and the reader) piece together that Carter stormed into Richard's office to accuse him of being the reason that Siobhan died.
Ok now we have to swing back around to Miranda because its’ through Miranda’s timeline we can piece all this together. When miranda learns of shiobahn and how fucked Carter is, not dealing with his grief, she and AJ encourage Carter to take a year off dating. Even tho at this point, he's met Jane, who he thinks is dating someone because it's her standby lie to say that she has a boyfriend. He's attracted to Jane but basically agrees to not date for a year. When Jane confesses she has no BF, and then later confesses her feelings for him, HE LIES AND SAYS HE HAS A GIRLFRIEND, WHICH IS THE RED HERRING OK, tHIS IS WHAT MAKES YOU THINK HE'S TWO TIMING JANE AS WELL OH GOD I HATE THIS COMPLICATED ASS BOOK and this stupid man.
But ok, the linear timeline ends with Jane not seeing Carter for a bit and then they get together cus he explains everything to her. THERE. THE END. GOOD LUCK.
TLDR: Siobhan and Carter meet and fall in love. Siobhan dies. Carter runs into Richard's office, offering Jane a glimpse of him. Jane gets fired. 3 years pass. Miranda and Carter get together. They have a relationship that is meh because Carter won't communicate. Miranda confronts Carter. They break up. some time passes where Carter walks into the charity shop Jane is working at. Miranda gets back in touch with Carter. They become friends. He promises her that he’ll not date for a year. He and Jane fall for each other but can't be together cus he just won't communicate. Jane is a badass and gets Richard fired. Jane and Carter get together. Miranda, Jane, Carter and everyone stay in touch as friends and meet to honour Siobhan's memory.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Stalking, Sexual harassment, Death, and Emotional abuse
Moderate: Self harm and Grief
this book is not a romcom, despite it's cute and kitchsy cover.laurenvoice's review against another edition
emotional
funny
hopeful
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
The blurb on the back of this book does not do it justice; there is much more to the story than it lets on!
The No-Show was filled with funny and heartbreaking moments, and the twist was spectacular. It was easy to catch on what the twist would be early on in the story. However, Beth O'Leary keeps the mystery alive with a few red herrings. Although The No-Show had some emotional scenes, the ending was full of hope and a lovely home-built library.
The No-Show was filled with funny and heartbreaking moments, and the twist was spectacular. It was easy to catch on what the twist would be early on in the story. However, Beth O'Leary keeps the mystery alive with a few red herrings. Although The No-Show had some emotional scenes, the ending was full of hope and a lovely home-built library.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Grief, Death, and Self harm
Minor: Pandemic/Epidemic, Toxic relationship, Stalking, Sexual harassment, Gaslighting, and Dementia
hilarylouise's review
emotional
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
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Infidelity
Moderate: Death of parent, Death, Stalking, and Car accident
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.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Car accident, Panic attacks/disorders, Pregnancy, Sexism, Sexual content, Alcohol, Death, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Miscarriage, Pandemic/Epidemic, Stalking, Self harm, Cursing, Dementia, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Grief, Sexual harassment, and Toxic relationship
nyree42's review against another edition
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.
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.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcohol, Stalking, Mental illness, Misogyny, Death, Sexism, Sexual harassment, Dementia, Grief, Self harm, and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Miscarriage, Abandonment, Pregnancy, and Sexual content
nicksalex's review
emotional
reflective
sad
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? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Grief, Toxic relationship, Alcohol, Car accident, Chronic illness, Death, Sexual harassment, and Stalking
Minor: Miscarriage
cassienolan's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
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
I found this book infuriating, but then all of a sudden I loved it - which is exactly what Beth O’Leary intended. I felt such a strong connection to the characters by the end and it brought up a whole lot of emotion. It is another beautiful book by the author.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Dementia, Grief, Stalking, and Death