Thank you to Netgalley for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

A good psychological thriller with plenty of twists and turns. Unpredictable, started off as a family drama turns into a full-blown thriller. A recommended read.

Ellie lives a pretty privileged and happy life with her husband and two kids, until they get a strange house guest. Her husband’s cousin’s friend, Ace is handsome and charming. Soon, her husband is inviting him to live with them. It’s terrible timing. As soon as he comes to live with them, she learns that her husband has been pretending to go to his job every day but has actually been laid off, and her son is rumored to be involved in the murder of a beautiful girl who lived on their street. As Ellie begins to feel the relationships between herself, her husband, and her son, she begins to search for comfort in Ace. Then she learns that Ace has a dark, secret past and she begins to question everyone and everything.
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💭Thoughts💭
An unreliable character in a thriller is a real advantage in never suspecting who the culprit is. This book definitely excelled in that! You don’t even realize that your narrator is unreliable until the very end. The twists and turns were very sneaky. I was definitely guessing until the last moment.

Great book! Very well written and loved the characters as well.  I was hooked from the beginning to the end. Can't wait to read more my Cathryn Grant.

This was such a good book! It gripped me from the start and kept me tense and paranoid right until the end! Fantastic!

Life has always been good to Ellie, she has a successful business, a loving partner and two beautiful children. 

Until life decides to throw a few curveball her way... suddenly her husband has lost his job, her son is tangled in the investigation of a missing girl and to top it all off, her husband has invited a complete stranger to move in with them. 

This psychological thriller had me gripped from the beginning. And the final twist - I never saw it coming!! 

4 ⭐⭐⭐⭐ 

Special thanks to Netgalley for providing me with this ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

The Guest
By Cathryn Grant

2 stars

I have read a few of Cathryn Grant’s books. This one fails to live up to the standard of many of her other titles. After reading about a quarter of the way through the book I was left wondering and with questions;

Where is the tension?
Where is the drama?
Where is the plot?

There are some key elements missing from the book which I believe fails to engage the audience.

This title has been reviewed by www.books-reviewed.weebly.com 

This title was provided by Netgalley and the publisher in return for an open and honest review.

#TheGuest            #NetGalley

The Guest was slow starting but well worth reading. I finished the second half in 1 afternoon. The story had a little bit of fun and mystery. Don’t always look at the likely suspect. Sometimes things really are what they are. Read through. You won’t be disappointed.

This was such a great read, enjoyed it thoroughly, i was hooked from the first page, great storyline and loads of twists and turns , highly recommend this book x

3.75 - 4 star rating.
A busy family with all sorts going on, some of which are none too pleasant and then Seth, out of the blue, invites a complete stranger to stay without even one word to wife Ellie.  Why is Seth behaving so coldly to his wife and her son?  I really enjoyed this story and thought the ending was brilliant.  Not really keen on the kitchen scenes, meal preparations, who ate what and with what wine.  It was exciting as it built from a slow start to a great crescendo!

The Guest by Cathryn Grant

 

Synopsis: Ellie owns an art gallery, has her perfect house, a husband she loves, and two children, Simone and Brandon. When a girl at Brandon’s school is found murdered, Ellie’s knocked off her feet when the police insinuate her son might be involved. Ellie has sensed a change in her husband for a while, after he makes a confession, he swiftly moves a stranger into the house. Ace, is kind, helpful and goes out of his way to help Brandon come out of his shell. She notices weird stuff is starting to happen, as she begins to look into everything, something happens she never expected.

 

Review: I found the beginning of the book a bit too slow for me however, about halfway through, the pace picked up. The twists were great, and totally unexpected! It’s always great when a thriller can still surprise the reader.  I really enjoyed Ellie’s character; however, I feel like some situations were over exaggerated. The ending blew me away, I never would have thought it would end that way! I think this book would be 5 stars if it was written in multiple person POV, it would have enhanced the build up and overall plot.

 

3.5/5

I got about 30% thru this one and then just didn't care enough to continue.  May try to pick back up later but for now dnf

i really enjoyed this type of mystery, it was suspenseful with great characters. It really kept me hooked from beginning to end.

She told him to make himself at home. He did.
Life has been good to Ellie – she owns a successful art gallery, is deeply in love with her husband, Seth, and has two beautiful children, Brandon and Simone.
But not everything is perfect.
Lately, Seth seems to have something on his mind and has become cold and distant. And things don’t improve when he invites mysterious stranger Ace to stay in their home.
Ace is charming, but Ellie can’t help feeling there’s more to him than meets the eye, that he has some kind of agenda. She’s also aware that she is dangerously attracted to him.
Then a girl at Brandon’s school is murdered, and Ellie is beyond devastated when the police tell her they think her son might be involved.
Ellie knows in her heart that Brandon is innocent and she feels certain that Ace is somehow connected to the disturbing things that are happening. She starts to dig for the truth and uncovers the terrible secret that will change her life in ways she can’t imagine.

A really quick easy read it also made me think how far would you really go for your children? Would you let someone you hardly know into your house? Would you assume the worst but the twist at the end is what stuck with me and I haven't stopped telling people about this read

I was very excited to get an ARC of The Guest from NetGalley. 

I had a bit of trouble staying focused on this book--I put it down a couple times in favor of a few other titles that held my attention better. I found the middle of the book dragged on a bit--the middle 50% was a lot of slow character development. The author spent way too much time describing every ingredient of the family's meals in intricate detail, which only served to make me put down the book and go looking for a snack. I was still interested in getting to the end and finding out the twist, though, so I stuck with it. I was intrigued by the fact that in the first chapter, Jasmine definitely knows her killer. 

Things began to pick back up about 80% of the way through the book. The ending was great, and I'm tempted to go back through the book to find the hints I missed. Check out my review on my blog here: http://www.howdidthatbookend.com/the-guest-cathryn-grant/

I volunteered to read this book, through netgalley in exchange, for an honest review. 

I seriously couldn't put this book down, it was so enticing to read and I wanted to eagerly know how it finished. Brillaint read

Absolutely loved this book. 
Ellie's husband Seth invites Ace a friend of his cousins to dinner. The whole family seem to love him. Ellie finds herself feeling a sense of attraction towards him that she knows she shouldn't. 
So when Seth invites Ace to stay without asking his wife, their marriage starts to take a turn for the worse. 
Along side this Brandon Ellie's son finds himself being questioned by the police over the disappearance of local girl Jasmine who was his high school bully. 

The story unfolds with  not everything being as it seems. I wouldn't  really categorise this as a psychological thriller but none the same I really enjoyed it. The dissertation of a marriage, gender roles, murder and insecurities is done really well. All the themes are handled so well and thats what makes the book such an easy read. 

Its hard to review the book without giving away the plot line too much but I must admit I loved it. 5 stars. 
Thank you netgalley, Cathryn Grant and the publishers for a digital copy of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review.

I've decided that this just isnt the author for me, this is now the 3rd book I have read but I just cant connect with any of them which is disappointing. 

The premise had me excited and instantly grabbed my attention but once I started it my interest just wained and my mind found itself floating off elsewhere. 

The characters felt one dimensional and I didnt feel a connection with any of them, they just felt a bit 'meh'.

Personally I wouldn't stick this in the thriller genre, yes its has lots of unexpected twists and turns as promised but the whole thing just felt flat.

It felt like there were way too many filler chapters and what's with all the food and wine talk? There were paragraphs full of prepping meals!!!

Sorry to say but this was just a whole heap of disappointment for me.

Thanks to netgalley and Inkubater Books UK for the ARC.

A twisty, mystery, thriller that I could not put down! I read this one in 2 days!  Perfect for a summer thriller read, and I highly enjoyed it! Started out as a family drama, and ended nicely with a twist!

Thank you to Netgalley for my copy in exchange for a review.

what a twisty story.  Ellie has a loving husband and two sons, but the balance is upset when Ace comes to stay with them.  Suspense builds while exploring family drama.