I was beyond excited when I recieved the written and audio for B.A. Paris' new book from Netgalley and McMillan Audio.

The begining of the book through about 40% was very intriguing. I was wondering where Amelie's story and kidnapping was going. I kept flipping back and forth on if Ned was a part if it or not even though he was kidnapped too. As other characters, Carolyn and Carl and Hunter to name a few, emerged more ideas came into my head.

The ending was not what I had expected for the begining. Though there were a few loose ends and the ending lack shock value or excitement, it was still a solid book.

I really liked the narrator on the audio version.

I Buddy Read The Prisoner with my great friend Tiffany. I love chatting about books while I read.

Thank you to #NetGalley for the ARC audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

The opening chapters introduce us to Amelie in a dual timeline explaining her a) current predicament and b) details of her life over the past 3 years that have culminated in said predicament. This novel is split into 2 parts and personally, I enjoyed the first half more as I found the second half slow and rather predictable.

Part 1: Amelie is kidnapped and held prisoner in a pitch-black room. Through the writing and details, you can feel the disorientation that Amelie was experiencing. The flashback scenes interspersed with the 'present day' kidnapping scenes kept the reader engaged.

Part 2: The second half felt like a Scooby-Doo episode, in which the reader is having the resolution told to them after the "unmasking." I read a lot of psychological thriller novels and when these novels are written well, the exposition isn't necessary. It was a "ruh-roh!" for me.

Lastly, the labeling of Stockholm Syndrome was just completely off for me - add to that the ending where she wants to have anything to do with Hunter, and it's a double nope.

2/5 stars.

B A Paris has been an auto read for me and I was super excited for The Prisoner. This one had things I liked and didn’t like. It was a slow burner, but the chapters were short. I did like that this one wasn’t a very long book. I always love when a book goes back in time. My problems were that there were too many characters and some of the things that happened in the book seemed too far fetched.
I will continue to read this author.

B.A Paris kills it again in this new novel where we are following Amelie as she is making it on her own in London. She’s minding her own business when she gets engulfed in a billionaire. They fall in love and get married, but she never expected to wake up and be unfamiliar with what is going on. What’s strange is that, she doesn’t remember what happened or why she’s here, she can’t even remember who took her. But she starts to think that life in captivity is better than her lush lifestyle.

I am a huge BA Paris fan so I was very excited to be approved for this ARC. It was a great book, but a little bit slower paced than her other books.

Many thanks to NetGalley, St Martin's Press, and Macmillan Audio for gifting me both a digital and audio ARC of the latest book by B.A. Paris, wonderfully narrated by Georgia Maguire - 4 stars!

Amelie finds herself homeless after the death of her father and leaves for London, where she can escape from being put in a care situation. There she meets Carolyn, who befriends her and employs her as a live-in housekeeper. Through Carolyn, she meets a group of friends who all work for the same magazine, headed by billionaire Ned Hawthorne. When Jed invites her along to Las Vegas on a business trip, he proposes marriage. But she soon finds herself being kidnapped and held prisoner in a separate room from Ned.

This was a fast-paced thriller - I started reading the digital ARC but soon switched to the audiobook and the narration was wonderful. The book's chapters alternate between Past and Present, giving lots of background to absorb. You have to swallow a lot of coincidences and a bit of repetition here, but I still enjoyed going along on this ride and figuring out all the pieces. Another winner by B.A. Paris!

2.5 stars rounded up. I just didn't care about anyone in this book. It was slow and steady throughout. Maybe my mood is impacting this🤷‍♀️. I've loved BA Paris before but this one wasn't for me. I felt it was rather predictable and repetitive.

This was a great book. I loved the dual timelines, I saw the twist at the end coming earlier in the book, but it didn't take away from the rest of the story in anyway. I loved how Amelie fought for herself and what she knew was right, even though she made some questionable decisions. Ned was a very hated character, as he should be. I loved the way the author tied everything up at the end, no small detail was left unanswered.

I wish I had paid more attention.
Unfortunately, I received possibly half of this download and listened to the entirety before really checking back. This did make me feel validated in my confusion as I was listening!

I began this story with strong excitement and liked the beginning. At chapter 5, it skipped to chapter 11, and that confirmed the reality that I was missing something. I honestly thought it was just a really interesting choice of moving the story forward and having the reader have to put the pieces together! Not so, not so. The initial confusion was not helped by the fact that chapters are not named in the NetGalley app. If they had been, I would have seen it very quickly and possibly spared myself the spoilers that I did end up listening to.

I don't feel like I can adequately rate the story. From what I listened to, it sounded promising. I was very engaged through the beginning, but felt more and more lost as it went. I don't think I actually received the final ending, though I can't be sure. I will try to rate this according to the possibility it may have had for me. I am guessing it would not have been less than a 3.5 stars, maybe a 4? I will also decline to post any review on any other site, as it won't be a true review. Bummer! I do think the narration was going quite well aside from the weird glitch. This has never happened before, so I don't expect it to be a usual issue.

What a crazy whirlwind of a book. I love the twists, but sometimes the storyline got confusing because key pieces were left out to make it a twist or mystery. It made me feel like I missed something so I would go back and relisten since I thought it was me not paying attention.

This book lacked character development and I had no connection with any of the characters. This didn't feel the like work of B.A. Paris. I have loved her previous books. A

I'm so happy I had the digital copy too to read since the audio version didn't have the last two chapters included. So that was super confusing. I also didn't really enjoy the end of the book.

I was immediately drawn into this book from the start all the way through to the end! This is my first book from B.A. Paris and I'll definitely be trying more.

Amelie has been in survival mode for most of her life. This book is mainly focused on her marriage to a billionaire that turns way deadlier and more dangerous than she could have imagined when she is kidnapped and locked in a dark room for weeks because of her husband's unsavory dealings.

Again, this book had me hooked the whole way through. It was somewhat awkward when about 75% of the way through I thought the book was wrapping up but it just kept going. The ending wasn't bad, I just didn't super love how it was executed. I recommend!

I had really high hopes for this one. Behind Closed Doors is one of my all-time favorites.

This one starts out with the prisoner. How? Who? Why?

Those are questions I'm still trying to figure out. And I've finished the book.

As soon as I hear that there is another B A Paris book to be published, I get in line! I have loved most of her books. This one started really good. It stalled out on me in the second part and the ending left me frustrated. I wondered if somehow, I didn't download the whole book. This book is not a favorite.

HOLY COW THIS BOOK.

This book kept me captivated from literally the first word to the last. I loved the format of flashing from the current timeline to the past and sprinkling in clues along the way (pretty standard with thrillers). But what I really loved was that I couldn't guess the twists and turns! Some you saw coming and some were out of left field. I now have to read all BA Paris books because this was so fun! It made me question EVERYTHING.

And since I was given the audiobook arc specifically I want to mention that the narrator was phenomenal. Her pauses and cadence added so much to the story and the overall production was wonderful. 6/5 stars!

I am a big fan of B.A. Paris, and I was thrilled to be given the chance to listen to her latest novel. I will start off by saying that the narration was fantastic. Unfortunately, this was not my favorite novel by Paris. Amelie is on her own, having lost both of her parents at a young age. She meets Carol, a divorcee, who gives Amelie a job and place to stay, as well as friendship. Through Carol, Amelie meets wealthy Jed Hawthorpe. When Jed proposes marriage as a business proposition, Amelie is looking for a new job and home, and thinks she has nothing to lose. However, she has everything to lose. Once married to Jed, she realizes she doesn't know anything about him. Then, when she and Jed are kidnapped, she begs to not be released back home with Jed. This story had a great premise, facilitating between the months leading up to her kidnapping, and the present. The story really flew in the beginning, dragged a bit toward the middle, and the ending was a bit of a let down. Not my favorite by Paris, but it is a quick read. I would recommend givig it a try.

I wanted to like this book so bad but it lost me at somewhere around 56%

I have read Behind Closed Doors by B A Paris and I absolutely loved it. Unfortunately, this one just lacked the thrill.

- I loved the psychological aspects of her survival, seeing how she processed her capture
- for being a shorter book, the pacing wasn’t as fast as I usually expect with a thrillers I tend to read
- compared to her other novels, this one was heavier on backstory and less on the tension which I personally enjoy

This book draws you in the first chapter! I was hooked and really enjoyed the story. Towards the end of the book, it felt like the story dragged a bit and I was waiting for the end to come. Overall, I give it a 3.5 rounded up to 4 stars and will definitely check out the authors backlist in the future. Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for a copy of this audiobook!

You can’t love them all 🤷🏼‍♀️

Wasn’t a fan of any of the characters or the storyline in general. The only part of this story I actually enjoyed was the ending when everything was summarized.

I love it when books get right to the point in the first chapter! This book starts with Amelie being kidnapped, and the first few chapters are very quick paced. It jumps back and forth between past and present and is easy to understand. I enjoyed the start, but that was really it. The book dragged on a bit for me.

I have read some other B A Paris books, and I will say this one wasn't my favourite. At the end, there were some questions I felt that were unanswered.

B.A. Paris can be hit or miss for me. I did enjoy this overall much more than some previous books. I was very invested in the story and why Amelie was kidnapped. This has short chapters, tension, and lots of suspense! The story is told in dual timelines and I kept reading this very quickly to get back to the past timeline. The present day timeline just felt a bit repetitive since she is in the same room for a huge portion of the book. I guessed the 'who' very early on but not the 'why'. The main character had a good background and story arc but some of the other important supporting characters lacked much detail and I confused a couple names because of that. I didn't love the ending and how everything wrapped up (a bit eye-rolly too) but the first 80% was very solid for me. You really have to suspend reality with much of this story as well. Amelie also mentioned Stockholm Syndrome earlier and I think this played a role as well into the slightly ambiguous ending.