Books by Beth O'Leary

“The No-Show is told through the voices of three protagonists. The first character is a woman called Siobhan, who is meant to be meeting a man for breakfast and he doesn’t show up. Siobhan’s a life coach. She’s got her act together; she’s very smart; she takes no nonsense from anybody. You’re following her story with this man, with whom she has been having an on-off, more than a fling but not really a relationship, but she’s falling for him and doesn’t like that loss of control. You then go to the lunchtime date with a woman called Miranda, who’s got a quite unusual job. She’s a tree surgeon, so she’s a very outdoorsy girl. She has been dating the same man. She has a lunch date with him and he doesn’t show up. The third character is a woman called Jane. She’s got some secret in her past that has caused her to run away from her life and go and work somewhere far away in a charity shop. You get the impression that there’s a whole history that hasn’t yet been revealed. She has bumped into the same man. He was meant to be her plus one at an engagement dinner and he doesn’t turn up.” Read more...

The Best Romance Books with a Twist

Dani Atkins,

“It’s absolutely brilliant. There’s an older protagonist and a much younger one—grandmother and granddaughter—and they swap lives for a little while. One part is set in a village, and it takes you there immediately, and the other part is set in London—so it’s a complete comparison of settings and age group. There are so many issues in there—grief, loss, friendship, new relationships and the traumas of old relationships. It’s extremely well written.” Read more...

The Best Romantic Comedy Books: The 2021 Romantic Novelists’ Association Shortlist

Celia Anderson, Novelist