BUG: read_excel skips single-column empty rows
Ref #39808

- [x] tests added / passed
- [x] Ensure all linting tests pass, see [here](https://pandas.pydata.org/pandas-docs/dev/development/contributing.html#code-standards) for how to run them
- [x] whatsnew entry

This is the fix proposed in the discussion of #40095
Not sure if this closes the original issue, as the parameter would have to be exposed in order to truly fix. 
I think modifying this function https://github.com/pandas-dev/pandas/blob/fad96e1d3145019a5d865564bb4db008a1b1e5ea/pandas/io/parsers/python_parser.py#L596 might be able to fix the issue, but it could also introduce some side effects for CSV parsing.  @lithomas1 I'm nervous about breaking the CSV behaviour, because it seems deliberate. I found one test where an input line `,,` is supposed to produce a row of NaNs:

https://github.com/pandas-dev/pandas/blob/154026cc7104f7b58c10a1557564eccd0f71c4a2/pandas/tests/io/parser/common/test_common_basic.py#L412-L414

Maybe this behaviour should be documented better? @simonjayhawkins @jreback - This is a bit of an odd case, wanted to get some eyes to make sure it's being handled appropriately. This PR fixes the following bug (not a regression, AFAICT) on master: when reading an excel file, blank rows would be skipped if and only if a single column is being read. This PR makes it so that blank rows are never skipped.

However, the previous workaround was to supply `skip_blank_lines=False` in `**kwds`; this argument was removed in 1.1 and so is no longer available. I'm -0 on adding `skip_blank_lines` back in (see https://github.com/pandas-dev/pandas/pull/40214#pullrequestreview-605859867).

Since this is a rather localized case, my thinking is to have this be a bugfix for 1.3 and leave the regression in 1.1.x and 1.2.x unresolved. > Since this is a rather localized case, my thinking is to have this be a bugfix for 1.3 and leave the regression in 1.1.x and 1.2.x unresolved.

sgtm. does the OP need to change to not close the issue? @simonjayhawkins, thanks for taking a look at this. My preference is to close #39808 based on

- the OP of https://github.com/pandas-dev/pandas/issues/39808#issuecomment-784366880 prefers the current solution now that we understand how `skip_blank_lines` really works
- IIUC, @rhshadrach and I don't think `skip_blank_lines` should be added to `read_excel` in the future

But I'm happy to edit the PR if everyone prefers to leave #39808 open. > * IIUC, @rhshadrach and I don't think `skip_blank_lines` should be added to `read_excel` in the future

The issue could be closed once that is agreed as they way forward on the issue itself. for 1.3 Thanks @ahawryluk! I've left the issue open for now, but will put my thoughts there shortly.