I'll Sleep When I've Read... The No-Show by Beth O'Leary

Title: The No-Show

Author: Beth O'Leary

Publication: 12 April 2022

Format: Kindle eArc via NetGalley & Berkley

Amazon Description

Three women who seemingly have nothing in common find that they're involved with the same man in this smart new rom-com by Beth O'Leary, bestselling author of The Flatshare.

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....
 
Is there more to him than meets the eye? Where was he on Valentine’s Day? And will they each untangle the truth before they all get their hearts broken?

Ramble-y Teaserish Stuff

I was not expecting to like this book. At the time of the reading I was on vacation. It was supposed to be a wonderful break from life with many hours spent with the one I adore the most in this world (aside from my child). And, of course, thanks to the universe conspiring against me as it so often does, I spent the entire time alone aside from one marvelous hour. He didn't exactly "no-show." Well, he did ... but I at least was given warning that things had happened. A "no-show" is far superior to a "no-call no-show," after all. Those can get a person fired. Or broken up with. Or a book written about them. 

Regardless, it probably wasn't the best of times to try to read this.

But .... it was exactly the perfect time to read this.

I was thinking that it was going to end up being like a more grown-up version of the movie "John Tucker Must Die" in which one guy is caught dating three girls at the same time and they band together to pretty much destroy him. Cute enough teenish cheesy chick-flick with a decent early 2000s cast. 

This was not that.

This was so much more and so much better and I so highly recommend it.

There is more than a fair amount of angst. Sometimes we need angst in our books. Sometimes the angst in the books helps us to get over the angst in our real lives. That is, more or less, what The No-Show did for me -- to some degree, anyway. I was still way angsty after reading it, but more hopeful that it would all work out the way it should. 

A certain man should be very thankful that I grabbed this to be my angsty-read rather than one of my serial killer/psychological thriller/kill-kill-kill books. Even though I thought this would be closer to that with a rom-com twist, I'm glad that I was wrong... and I now have everything Beth O'Leary has written waiting not-so-patiently for me to get through more of my NetGalley shelf. Maybe I should just buy the paperbacks and keep them on hand for future vacation attempts.

If you want to share whatever has kept you up past your bedtime because you just needed one more chapter ... or the entire book ... please comment! My TBR pile is already toppling, but I can always add more.