I’m not a rom-com fanatic, nor do I really read a lot of contemporary fiction, so picking this up was a surprise in itself. Imagine my face when I come to discover that not only is The No-Show an incredible book but it is the leading reason why I’m dipping in contemporary fiction one toe at a time. Beth O’Leary is a genius and she may also have gotten me interested in becoming a tree surgeon.

The premise of this is brilliant for starters – three women, all dating this guy who seems perfectly sweet and kind but slowly he starts skipping out on dates. Worse for the reader is the fact that he might be cheating on all three of them. The storytelling had me so emotional – I would be angry one moment and gushing over someone the next, never knowing what was really going on with the girls and with this elusive man playing them. Never have I been so invested in a romance book before.

The pacing and the tension building was so good! It took the time it needed to introduce each of the girls, to set the stage and make things feel authentic and accurate to the conditions. As the story progressed and the pressure was applied the pacing and tension increased and then we get the sweet sweet climax which I honestly gasped at. Who would’ve thought that brilliant detail could suddenly reduce all my ill-feeling towards a man I had previously wanted to throttle with a bookend.

The girls are great, but I did favour Miranda and Jane more than Siobhan. There’s just something about working as a tree pruner that had me latching onto Miranda (it was likely AJ lets be real here and forgive me if his name isn’t AJ as I don’t have the book on hand to refer to) and the struggles she was facing which differed to the other girls gave it an interesting twist in my opinion. This is, after all, a romance book so having on of your characters contemplating breaking up with the guy leans towards a different side of the genre. I didn’t mind Jane but the whole context and movement of the story had her sitting on the backburner for me. Siobhan, unfortunately, just isn’t my kind of gal but I appreciated her importance in the story.

Overall, I highly recommend this to the whole spectrum of romance readers, especially those who aren’t romance readers per say. It’s light, but deals with heavier themes and plots as the story progresses, its humorous and the main and supporting characters have such great dynamics with each other. It’s fun and gripping and keeps you on your toes, making you exercise your control to not shout into your pillow and whack the nearest man you see. Jokes aside, I thoroughly enjoyed it as one new to the genre and Beth O’Leary is certainly a name I will be coming back to for years to come.