'The No-Show' by Beth O'Leary

 

From the BLURB:

Three women. Three dates. One missing man... 

8.52 a.m. Siobhan is looking forward to her breakfast date with Joseph. She was surprised when he suggested it - she normally sees him late at night in her hotel room. Breakfast on Valentine's Day surely means something ... so where is he? 

2.43 p.m. Miranda's hoping that a Valentine's Day lunch with Carter will be the perfect way to celebrate her new job. It's a fresh start and a sign that her life is falling into place: she's been dating Carter for five months now and things are getting serious. But why hasn't he shown up? 

6.30 p.m. Joseph Carter agreed to be Jane's fake boyfriend at an engagement party. They've not known each other long but their friendship is fast becoming the brightest part of her new life in Winchester. Joseph promised to save Jane tonight. But he's not here... 

Meet Joseph Carter. That is, if you can find him.

‘The No-Show’ is the new and fourth stand-alone novel from UK-author, Beth O'Leary.

Since the release of her bestselling, break-out debut novel ‘The Flatshare’ in 2019, Beth O'Leary has released one-book-a-year. Which is no easy feat, and very savvy marketing to her primarily romance-reading audience who are more used to that fast turn-around in their favourite genre. I will say that nothing O’Leary has written since quite reaches the giddy heights of ‘The Flatshare’ for me – but to be fair, that was a remarkably clever concept executed beautifully and I’m also not surprised that it’s the one of her books currently in-production as a six-part series (I do believe ‘The Switch’ has also been optioned, but is not yet filming.) So all of this is to say … I didn’t love ‘The No-Show’ as much as ‘The Flatshare,’ but also take that with a grain of salt because it was her first and (in my opinion) strongest.

The thing with Beth O’Leary books now also, is that in ‘The Flatshare’ she established a ‘trick’ to the narrative. Admittedly it’s one that readers were “in” on from the get-go (that her two protagonists – destined to be love-interests – were renting a flat together, but due to their work-schedules hadn’t actually encountered each other face-to-face, and the ‘trick’ was the build-up to that moment.) So that’s what Beth O’Leary established as a kind of subversive slice of romantic trope playing and something of a ‘trick’ has been present in all her books since (I say ‘trick’ to avoid ‘gimmick,’ which doesn’t seem at all fair). To varying degrees and magic. It’s the same in ‘The No-Show’ and if you (like me) pick up on ‘the trick’ pretty early on (I blame being a devotee of ‘This is Us’ TV series) then it won’t wreck the story for you by any means, but you may feel yourself getting slightly fed-up with the build-up. 

The premise being; three different women, stood-up for a Valentine’s Day date by the same guy. One of these women is Joseph Carter’s London hook-up (Siobhan), one is his committed girlfriend (Miranda) and one is just a friend (Jane). The story switches between each POV of these women as they navigate their increasingly tricky relationships with Carter. And herein lies one slight problem that’s quite usual when you get multi-person POV books … I really only liked, and was interested in, one of these women’s stories. Miranda. 

Miranda is an arboriculturists (or, ‘tree lopper’) – she climbs into a harness and climbs trees to lop off branches for a living. She’s very cool, and has just started a steady job with a new tree-lopping crew. She’s also been in a relationship with Joseph Carter for a few months now, and is happy, even if she often feels like Carter is compartmentalising parts of himself and she doesn’t really know him … When Miranda starts her new job; she also encounters ladies-man and tattooed lumberjack-type, AJ, who makes very clear early on that he’s taken a fancy to Miranda. 

Now – I far preferred Miranda’s chapters to Siobhan and Jane’s. So much more. Partly because I imagined her as Rose Matafeo because Rose Matafeo was in this great New Zealand rom-com movie called ‘Baby Done’ about a tree-lopper who is so good at her job that she also competes in tree-lopping at a professional level, but her future is derailed when she falls pregnant and suddenly her and her devoted partner (Matthew Lewis, otherwise known as Neville Longbottom!) have to make very grown-up life decisions, and it’s just great. But from the moment that Miranda locks eyes with AJ on the page, I was way more invested – these two have *chemistry* and each time I had to be waylaid by Siobhan and Jane’s chapters and taken away from what was building between Miranda and AJ, I got frustrated. Now – could Miranda’s story have maintained an entire book? Unlikely. While reading, would I have liked Beth O’Leary to try? Absolutely. 

Like I said – it’s just an oft-encountered problem when you write multi-person POV books that readers will want to spend the most time with one in particular, but have to share page-time with others. 

So between that and guessing the ‘trick’ probably too early, this book just stumbled a couple times for me, personally. Very much about my taste and where my head was at when reading. I did also realise that Beth O’Leary’s romance writing isn’t quite on-par with favourite author Mhairi McFarlane for me, I actually think O’Leary is more up there alongside Jojo Moyes. Take away the fact that Moyes mostly writes historical-fiction; I posit that she and Beth O’Leary both similarly write ‘tricks’ in their romantic fiction, and they both tend to prefer the sweet-bitter stuff. 

All up … I enjoyed my time with ‘The No-Show’ especially because I do love Beth O’Leary’s world-building and writing generally. Miranda and AJ were MVP’s for me however, and given that that was only one-third of the story meant this was an unbalanced read for me. But still good. Just not as good as ‘The Flatshare.’ 

3.5/5

'The Road Trip' by Beth O'Leary

 

From the BLURB: 

Addie and her sister are about to embark on an epic road trip to a friend's wedding in rural Scotland. The playlist is all planned and the snacks are packed.

But, not long after setting off, a car slams into the back of theirs. The driver is none other than Addie's ex, Dylan, who she's avoided since their traumatic break-up two years earlier.

Dylan and his best mate are heading to the wedding too, and they've totalled their car, so Addie has no choice but to offer them a ride. The car is soon jam-packed full of luggage and secrets, and with four hundred miles ahead of them, Dylan and Addie can't avoid confronting the very messy history of their relationship...

Will they make it to the wedding on time? And, more importantly... is this really the end of the road for Addie and Dylan?

'The Road Trip' is British author Beth O'Leary's latest women's fiction book. After the overnight success of her 2019 debut 'The Flatshare' (which I *loved*) and rising popularity with 2020 title 'The Switch,' her third book in three-years was hotly anticipated and eagerly devoured by her increasing fanbase.

And - look - I really enjoyed it.
I did!

It's just ... in the last half of the book; I'm talking the sprint to the finish at 50-pages or so, I had this epiphany I now can't shake and it's kinda clouded my whole reading of it.

The story is told in alternating chapters by protagonists' Addie and Dylan, and jumps between 'Now' and 'Then'. In the 'Now' - Dylan and his friend Marcus are en route to a wedding when they've suddenly hit the car in front of them and had a right fender-bender. The car in front just so happens to have Rodney, Deb, and Deb's sister Addie - Dylan's ex-girlfriend he hasn't spoken to in two-years, and all of whom are also traipsing out to the same wedding. A détente is reached and it's agreed that they'll all squish into Deb's mini and make the 8-hour trek from Chichester to Scotland to make the wedding in the nick of time.

In 'Then' Addie and Deb are caretakers at a villa in Provence for a summer, where Dylan appears after his family cancelled on a cozy trip, and he's decided to traipse out to his friend's empty villa on his lonesome to get some poetry written. What he doesn't count on is the beautiful caretaker Addie, who takes his breath away and the two tumble into a summer romance that evolves into so much more ...

In the 'Now' Dylan and Addie have been separated after a cataclysmic break-up that's painstakingly alluded to and pieced together in the flashback chapters. What becomes clearer and clearer however, is that Dylan's best-friend Marcus is somehow deeply involved in their break and thus his presence in the mini makes everything all the more delicate for Dylan and Addie's already-awkward reunion.

And look, without giving too much away; here is the realisation I came to that kind of clouded my overall enjoyment of the book ... and this *might* be a Spoiler, so; 

While I read a little bit of 2014 TV series 'Lovesick' in here, (Dylan/Addie/Marcus kinda reminded me of Dylan/Evie/Luke - I can't believe the same name as Johnny Flynn's character is pure coincidence. And then I just could not shake the idea of Joshua McGuire's Angus as Rodney!) the bigger connection I found was 'Love Actually'.

I could not shake the connection that Marcus was maybe a head-nod to Andrew Lincoln's Mark character, and the love-triangle he's in with Chiwetel Ejiofor's Peter and Keira Knightley's ugly hat-wearing Juliet (remember the video scene?!)

That scene - of Juliet turning to Mark with bewilderment, after watching the wedding-video he filmed (all shots of her, turns out) and saying; "But, you never talk to me? You always talk to Peter. You don't like me!" those lines are basically where a good portion of 'The Road Trip' and Addie & Dylan's complicated, messy love affair lives. And that's ~fine~ but it maybe does more heavy-lifting for the anti-Love Actually backlash that's been steadily sprouting in the nearing 20-years since the film came out. You know what I mean; all that 'The case against Love Actually' stuff.

Because - truth be told - a book that largely hinges on toxic men being toxic to innocent women merely for ~existing~ and being beautiful is not a great place to be reading for some 401-pages? And for me it was a case of; once you connect it, you can't un-connect it - y'know? 

So yeah. I liked this. Not as much as 'The Flatshare', and Beth O'Leary isn't yet up there with the likes of Mhairi McFarlane for me. But she's a good, reliable read - and fab company on cold April nights. Reading this also made me want to go back and re-watch 'Lovesick', and also look up and see if O'Leary has a fourth book scheduled yet (she sadly, does not - but I'm sure her ongoing success means an announcement is imminent!)

It was just that last little sprint to the finish, and a hurdle in (maybe?) the inspirations that pulled me up short.

3.5/5

'The Flatshare' by Beth O'Leary

Received from the Publisher 

FROM THE BLURB: 

Tiffy Moore needs a cheap flat, and fast. Leon Twomey works nights and needs cash. Their friends think they're crazy, but it's the perfect solution: Leon occupies the one-bed flat while Tiffy's at work in the day, and she has the run of the place the rest of the time. 

But with obsessive ex-boyfriends, demanding clients at work, wrongly-imprisoned brothers and, of course, the fact that they still haven't met yet, they're about to discover that if you want the perfect home you need to throw the rulebook out the window...

'The Flatshare' by Beth O'Leary is a debut fiction novel, coming out in Australia on April 23.

My first read of 2019 and it’s a favourite! Beth O'Leary’s 'The Flatshare' was AMAZING - I inhaled it in two days, and then went back for a re-read straight away. 

"Tiffy & Leon share a flat. Tiffy & Leon share a bed. Tiffy & Leon have never met."

It's a clever romantic premise that plays out in duelling-narrative chapters, when our protagonists initially communicate via Post-It notes left around the house, and by picking up on one another's moods, days, and personal battles via the social-cues left around the flat. Interestingly, Beth O'Leary says she got the idea for this set-up while living with her doctor-in-training boyfriend, when he worked long hours and she perceived his mood from things like how many coffee-cups were left on the drying-rack, and if his runners laying out meant he'd managed to squeeze in some exercise before work. 

What elevates this novel and the romance aside from the quirky and ingenious premise, are the personal obstacles Tiffy and Leon are overcoming. For her it's a recently disintegrated long-term relationship, and the dawning realisation that her ex was a lot more possessive and calculating than Tiffy ever allowed herself to examine. For Leon, it's his brother who is in prison and currently campaigning for appeal - coupled with his job as a palliative-care nurse who is trying to track down the long-lost love of one of his patients ... eventually these various threads that account for a lot of Tiffy and Leon's anxieties that leave an imprint on the flat, leak out into their real-world evolving relationship with brilliant results. 

Honestly, I need this quirky love story to be adapted into a rom-com movie (my request is for Riz Ahmed to play Leon) because my SOUL needs it! I haven’t fallen so hard for a book and its author since Rainbow Rowell’s 2011 debut ‘Attachments’ (which ‘The Flatshare’ gave me some vibes to in the best way, plus some Mhairi McFarlane feels - which you KNOW means a lot coming from me!)

And, honestly, I haven't instantly re-read a book as soon as finishing since Sally Thorne's 'The Hating Game' - which is high-praise indeed! 

'The Flatshare' is a stellar debut, and needs to be on everyone’s must-read list because Beth O’Leary is a UK author who KNOCKS IT OUTTA THE PARK first time out. Wow.

5/5