Plot wise, this was very different from the other book I've read by B.A. Paris (Behind Closed Doors). Behind Closed Doors was a suspense/thriller and this book is a domestic/drama story. It centers around a family with secrets. The mother, Livia is gearing up for a much anticipated 40th birthday celebration and during the course of the day of the party, many things are revealed to the reader and a huge dilemma is presented to one of the characters.

I love B.A. Paris's writing style and will continue to pick up anything that she writes but this particular book was not one that I enjoyed (because of the basis of the plot). Without spoiling anything, I will say that the things that occurred in the story caused me a lot of anxiety and preyed on my deepest fears. I did appreciate how everything unfolded and the mystery surrounding it but once things were revealed, it was hard to finish.

This was just a tough one for me...had I known the actual twist of the book, I never would have read it.

I’m happy to finally be able to share a great summer read by one of my fave authors: B.A. Paris’ The Dilemma. I received this book months ago from St. Martin’s Press via Net Galley. (thank you!!).

In this novel, two people are keeping secrets in order to keep others blindly happy, but their worlds are about to come tumbling down. Don’t want to say more and give anything away!

This story was a bit different from B.A. Paris’ last ones. I loved the suspense of her earlier works and the intensity. This is more a story with psychological suspense, but it’s heart-breaking, and it touches on the base elements of family life and relationships. I really liked it and read it in one evening because I couldn’t put it down.

I have to admit this book made me extremely anxious. I loved every minute of it but could not stop the feeling of wanting to go staright to the end and know what would happen in the last pages. I did not... I kept my resolve to keep the suprise but it was very hard. This is a book about a family that are about to celebrate the bitrhtday of liv, the mother. A wonderful surprise suddenly turns into a nightmare and the psychological dilemma around it is just simply too muc to bare. I kept putting myself in the position of Adam, Liv's husband and kept reading to see how it would turn up. Reading this book was amazing. I would highly recommend it

This is my first book by B.A. Paris and it won't be my last. The Dilemma is a thoroughly enjoyable page-turning story!
The story takes place over 24 hours and is being told in the alternating points of view of Livia and her husband, Adam. For years Livia has been planning a huge party for her 40th birthday, to make up for the wedding she never had.
Both Livia and Adam face a dilemma. They each know a secret and choose to withhold it from the other until after the party. At what cost? Will their revealed secrets tear them apart or bring them closer together?
A gripping family drama that had me hooked from the beginning!

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for an arc of this novel in exchange for my honest review.

At first I thought this was more of a thriller book, but it is more of a drama type. A good drama book. Both Livia and Adam have kept secrets from each other for, in their view, good reasons, but now the party that Livia has dreamed of for years is set to happen and all the secrets are going to come out. Will it ruin the day? Can they keep the secrets for just a few hours more until the party is over? Should they?

I liked the book and the story line, although it bothered me a bit that a grown woman felt the need to have this big party just for her. A little odd. But it provided the background for the story that needed to happen.I enjoyed the characters and the overall love story of Livia and Adam. I also liked the strong group of friends that extended into their children's lives.

I have read all of B.A. Paris's books and I would sat overall, this is my favorite one.

it was an amazing book the plot was well written very easy to understand, i kept reading from the beginning, once you start the book you wont stop. it kept me guessing o loved this book

I’m addicted to B.A. Paris’ style of writing. It’s captivating and thrilling and makes you thirst for more. I do have to say that out of all her books, this is my least favorite. There wasn’t as much mystery and suspense to this story as some of her previous stories. That’s because we, as the reader, get more of a taste of the lies going on rather than finding out along with the characters in the end. I still really enjoyed the read, but a little off the beaten path from what I expected from this author. I still recommend reading it for sure!

3.5/5 Stars

This is not a mystery nor a romantic novel, but rather a family saga that revolves around Livia’s self planned 40th birthday party as elaborate as the wedding she never had. Needless to say there are secrets being kept and not shared so as not to spoil Livia’s special evening that she had thought about for 20 years. There are betrayals exposed, changes n plans which could have a negative impact on a father/son relationship, an unexpected reconciliation, and a devastating loss that will cause the whole family to find a new normal. I found this an interesting read and would recommend it highly.

Livia is turning 40, and she wants to have a party. A big party, that all her friends and family can come to. With a big tent in the backyard and caterers and special music. It would be her day, and everyone she loved would be there to celebrate. Despite the years that she and Adam struggled financially, trying to raise two young kids while they were barely out of school themselves, Livia had put away a little money each month just to get to this point, where she could have a big party.

It’s not as selfish as it sounds. When she was still a teenager and found out she was pregnant, her parents refused to attend her wedding or help support her and Adam in any way. They had a small ceremony and then went on with their lives. Now, Marnie and Josh are grown, she and Adam are still happily married, and they’re financially secure. Now, Livia can celebrate with her friends and family the way she wants to.

Except for Marnie. Marnie is studying in Hong Kong, and Livia doesn’t want her to have to make that long journey back home just for one night. Plus, there’s the secret. She knows a secret that Marnie’s been keeping, one that will devastate Adam and ruin their close father-daughter bond. Livia knows that she’ll have to tell Adam at some point, but she wants to wait until after the party to change things between them forever.

Meanwhile, Adam himself has a secret. He’s been talking to Marnie about her coming back to surprise Livia for the party. But when those plans come crashing down, he’s not sure when or how to tell Livia his secret. He wants her to have this night, the one she’d been dreaming of for over 20 years, but he has to figure out how to carry his heavy secret until the end.

B.A. Paris is back with The Dilemma, the story of a family celebrating their lives and loves, while fate hangs in the balance, waiting to change these lives in unknown ways. Thriller writer Paris is known for past successes such as Behind Closed Doors and The Breakdown, and The Dilemma is takes secrets in a new direction.

Told in the alternating perspectives of Adam and Livia, this story of family love and unfortunate decisions is a powerful look at the weight of secret keeping from those you care about most. But I’ll be honest here: this is not my favorite of her novels. As someone who is more than a little familiar with anxious over-thinking, this novel felt like a really long neurotic episode that could have easily been resolved for either of these characters by having a conversation with the other. It wouldn’t be an easy talk, or a pleasant one, but it was only the secrets these characters carried that moved the story forward at all. Personally, I prefer a story with a little more meat on its bones. But that being said, Paris is a compelling writer, and there are redeeming qualities to this novel (strong characters, a loving family) that kept me reading all the way to the end.

Egalleys for The Dilemma were provided by St. Martin’s Press through NetGalley, with many thanks.

A few pages into The Dilemma, the relentless theme of the Perry Mason show pulsed in my brain. Something earthshattering and inexorable is about to consume Livia’s much anticipated 40th birthday party. The story is a departure for B. A. Paris, who is famous for her thrillers. The Dilemma is suspenseful and riveting, but no crimes are committed nor uncovered.

Adam and Livia fell in love when they were barely adults, planning someday to get married. The only child of distant parents, Livia remembers:

[T]he closest I got to my mother was when she bought bridal magazines, and while we looked at the dresses and cakes and flower arrangements.



But when I became pregnant, not long after my seventeenth birthday, they refused to have anything more to do with me. And the lavish wedding became a hurried fifteen-minute ceremony, with only Adam’s family and our best friends, Jess and Nelson, as guests.

Adam became a wood craftsman and Livia a stay-at-home mother, taking care of Josh, now 22, and Marnie, 19. Everyone Livia loves has been invited to her party—only Marnie can’t come because she’s living in Hong Kong. Livia is not unhappy about that because she recently learned something very troubling about her daughter’s life, a secret she keeps from Adam. Unbeknownst to Livia, Adam arranged for Marnie to be a surprise guest. Husband and wife will pay a terrible price for secrets they seem unable or unwilling to share. But enough foreshadowing.

On the cusp of her 40th birthday, Livia admits to herself, “If I’d been able to have the wedding they promised me, I wouldn’t have become obsessed with having my own special day.” Adam is not equally invested in the party but he writes to her estranged parents, pleading with them to come, saying it would mean the world to his wife.

In their early years near Bristol, patterns were established that still haunt them. Because they had no money, Livia took in laundry and built a hidden nest-egg. She thought it was a secret, but it wasn’t. Months before the birthday party Adam says that with Josh going away this summer and with Marnie in Hong Kong, money is sure to be tight.

She looked at me, and I knew that look. Guilt.



“What?” I asked.



“I’ve been saving,” she admitted. “For the party. I’ve been putting money by for years, not huge amounts, just a little each month. I’m sorry, I should have told you.”



“It’s fine,” I said, wondering if the reason she hadn’t told me was because of the time I spent her savings on a motorbike. It still makes me cringe even though it happened years ago, before Marnie was born.

Freedom was another issue. When they were newly-weds, they depended on Adam’s piece-meal income to survive but every so often he went AWOL. His friends and his employer explained to Livia that it wasn’t personal, he was letting off steam—keeping up with college friends—but she was very hurt and those wounds, although papered over, didn’t disappear. An anonymous quote sums up Livia’s feelings, “Time heals all wounds, but it doesn’t change who somebody is. Stop going back to pain.” Livia’s tendency to re-open painful memories feeds into her knee-jerk need for secrecy.

Their differing relationships with their children also marred their marriage. Adam and Josh were awkward together: their breaking point came during the construction of a Lego fort.

“Daddy, I only need help with this last bit,” he’d said for the fifth time. “I did the rest all by myself, just like you told me to.”



“It’s too old for him,” Marnie kept telling me when I ignored him. “He can’t do it.”



But Josh had persevered and instead of praising him, I lost my temper and knocked the fort over.



“Why you do that?” Marnie asked, her grammar deserting her as she looked in horror at the trashed fort.



“I—it was an accident,” I lied.



The look she gave me, of pure disgust, reminded me of the one Livia used to give me when I eventually turned up after spending days in Bristol with Nelson.

Adam feels guilty and tries desperately to mend fences but in vain: after the incident Josh will have nothing to do with his father. Years later, Adam can release some of his guilt because he arranged for Josh to get an internship in New York City with one of his wealthy clients. The family trait to be secretive and avoid examining painful truths creates a time bomb. Adam doesn’t want to be separated from his girlfriend Amy, but he dreads letting down his father. When he finally talks to his dad during Livia’s party, his father is surprisingly understanding.

“Josh,” I say, stopping him. “It’s fine. It’s not a problem. If you don’t want to go to New York, don’t go.”



He stares, relief washing over his face. “Really?”



“Yes.” I swallow painfully. “Life’s too short. Just do what makes you happy.”



He shakes his head slowly. “You wouldn’t believe how worried I’ve been about telling you.”

When a young couple encounters problems like lack of money, an unequal division of household labor, or difficulties with child-rearing, those issues seem insurmountable. Years later, when time and money ease those difficulties, is all well? Not necessarily. The Dilemma is an honest, sometimes jarring, exploration of secrets made and kept in the name of love. As Robert Frost said, “In three words I can sum up everything I’ve learned about life: it goes on.” The Dilemma explores the hard-won wisdom underlying that statement.

Okkkk. I went in knowing this book was different from Paris’ other novels. I have read them all and LOVED two of them. I would give this one 3-4 stars. I was still waiting for something big to happen at the end, some huge twist or reveal and I think that’s on me and my thriller-loving self. This is a quick read and if you love lies, secrets, betrayal, and characters making decisions based off emotions you’ll enjoy this one.

I'm a huge BA Paris fan, so when she has a book coming out it's an auto-buy for me. With that being said, while I loved her first two books, her third book's ending left me feeling a bit unsatisfied. So when I heard she had a new book out, The Dilemna, I wasn't sure how I would respond to it.

For me, this book is a real winner hearkening back to the success of her first two books. It is of course well written with carefully drawn characters, so detailed you feel you are immersed deeply in their heads. Like most of her books, this one is a very, very drawn out angsty slow simmer. Like some criticism, one has to wonder exactly how long a "dilemma" can be drawn out with the reader still wanting to read the story and get to the conclusion. BA answers that for you - and it's quite a long time.

The ending is satisfactory and this is a book I'd recommend to suspense fans for sure. My only criticism? After the dilemma is resolved, there's still a bit more story to wrap everything up. It begins to drag. Honestly, the whole story drags but in a good way. Only once the "dilemma" is cleared up, that motivation to keep reading is lost and it makes reading the "after" a bit tiresome. I'f I'd been the editor, I'd ended the story a bit before it is written.

First line: It’s the cooling bathwater that wakes me.

Summary: Livia has been planning her fortieth birthday party for twenty years. She wants it to be perfect. Everything is in place and it looks like it is going to be a beautiful day. She does not want anything to spoil it. But she has a secret she has been keeping from her husband. She knows she should tell him but she doesn’t want to ruin the day. So she decides to wait until after the party.

Adam, Livia’s husband, wants Livia to have a great birthday especially since she has been planning it for so long. He has a big surprise for her but when he learns something that may ruin her life he has a dilemma on whether to tell her or wait until after the party.

My Thoughts: This wasn’t a thriller in the traditional sense. No one is murdered. It is just lots of miscommunication and secrets that cause problems throughout the plot. I really enjoyed it. I was very anxious about how it would end. I made myself not look at the end so I didn’t find out what happened. It was hard not to. I needed to know. This is a book that I really had to put down so I could sleep. Even after that I kept thinking about it. So immediately I had to finish it in the morning.

I did get a little annoyed with the characters and their misunderstandings. So many secrets involved in this. Lots of messed up relationships. But it gave the book a lot of shock factors. I know I gasped a few times. B. A. Paris is a really good author for a fast paced thrill ride. Give her books a try if you haven’t already!

FYI: My favorite so far has been Behind Closed Doors.

Livia has planned her 40th birthday party for years. Adam her husband is acting weird and Livia cannot figure out the reason for his actions.
I love B.A. Paris' books. They are always keeping you up of night trying to figure out the answer to the mystery. This one is just as good as her other books. Truly enjoyed this book.

I’ve enjoyed all of B.A. Paris’ novels up to this point but this one did not live up to the previous suspense type books. It felt more like an extreme family drama and it was just not what I was expecting.

I was hooked from page one! The Dilemma by B.A. Paris was a good read. It's attention grabbing, it keeps us wondering until the end if some miracle is going to have happened to change the course of what's coming, it goes deep into issues that are intriguing to the reader ... but it is in no way a psychological thriller like it's being touted. It's not even a suspense or mystery because we basically known up front what has probably happened, we just have to ride out the book to see if it's true or not. Had it been presented as what it is (Women's Fiction) expectations wouldn't have been in place of what it was supposed to be and I could have rated it higher.

Livia is a bit selfish. She's dreamed of a day all about her for all of her life and when she was denied the wedding of her dreams, she began to plan for the future and that day has now arrived. She's going to have the fortieth birthday bash of all bashes. She won't let anything ruin it ... not the fact that her daughter is away studying abroad and unable to make it ... not the fact that she's uncovered a secret that is going to rip her family and social circle apart at the roots.

Adam is painstakingly trying to give Livia everything her heart desires and a spur of the moment surprise with their daughter is going to really top off the day. It's the day of the party, last minute details are being taken care of, guests are set to arrive shortly ... and disaster strikes. He can't ruin this day that she's dreamed of for forever ... but how can he keep her in the dark about something so major?

I recommend this book to anyone who enjoys women's fiction with a hint of mystery. It's emotional and filled with friendship, family and scandal.

I am a massive fan of BA Paris. I’ve read every single one of her books and have absolutely loved ever single one so I was tremendously excited to be approved for The Dilemma.

I found it to be hard hitting, emotional, and impactful. I read this book in 2 days because I found it to be difficult to put down.

With that said, I had a couple of issues with the plot and characterization.

After I passed the midway point of the book, I started to feel as though it was becoming very repetitive. Adam was about to tell Livia the truth, then he’d look for any reason not to, then he’d put it off. This sequence was repeated again and again. After awhile, it started to annoy me a bit when I had been loving everything about the book prior to that.

Then there’s also the issue of this book being marketed as a domestic thriller. I kept waiting for that to come through. I thought that perhaps Marnie had not been killed in the plane crash but maybe by some twisted irony Rob had killed her right before reaching the party or something like that.

I just felt as though this was much more of a family drama or literary fiction as opposed to a thriller. At least, not in the sense that I think of thrillers.

Nonetheless, I love books written in such a fast pace. We saw all of these events unfold in under 24 hours which was exciting and panic inducing. I picked up on the anxiety that Adam felt.

I still rather enjoyed the entire experience and look forward to BA Paris’s next book!

This was so suspenseful I had to read it in one sitting so I could find out the ending. This was my first B.A. Paris novel and I look forward to more. Will recommend this for book clubs.

This felt different than previous B.A. Paris books. Livia is throwing herself a huge 40th birthday party, with the cooperation of her husband. She has it in her head that she is owed this party because of her lack of a proper wedding. It was the beginning of my dislike for Livia - she's still holding onto her anger about her parents not supporting her when she became pregnant.unlikeable for me. She is understandably upset about her parents lack of support when she became pregnant, but honestly, it's been 20+ years, get some therapy, work through it.

Livia finds out a huge secret about her daughter, Marnie (currently studying overseas), she's got a secret love - I won't say who it is, it's too big of a spoiler, and she doesn't want her husband to find out, because Marnie is is his baby girl, who can do no wrong. Also pretty annoying, she keeps telling herself she wants to have one more happy night - even if it's with the person who betrayed her by sleeping with her daughter.

Adam, the man who runs away and drives motorcycles dangerously, even though he has a family depending on him, decides to fly Marnie home in order to surprise her mom, although I didn't feel like this really mattered much to Livia. As they begin preparing for the party, Adam gets some terrifying news. But he doesn't want to worry Livia or ruin her party, so he keeps it to himself all day, while he tries to learn more about the situation. Ummm, once again, won't spoil, but I cannot possibly imagine keeping this news from my spouse for a minutes, much less hours.

Honestly, it was a good story about not good people. The problem was that it was pretty dark, and I didn't find myself caring about any of them, even in the face of tragedy. I feel like I was attending the longest party ever. I do understand an author not wanting to follow one formula, so I'll keep my eye out for the next book and see if pulls me back in like all of her other books.

The Dilemma is a story about Livia and Adam, a married couple that has two children. The story takes place in a 24 hour time span, on Livia’s 40th birthday. She has dreamed of this day for many years. Her and Adam were married very young and she didn’t have the wedding of her dreams, so she was throwing herself the party of her dreams instead. However, Adam holds a secret that entire day that could change their lives forever.

This story fell very short for me. I love the authors work, however this story felt more like a long drawn out short story that could and should have been wrapped up in 200 pages or less. This story is a long way from Behind Closed Doors which is by far my favorite book.