To be honest, I’m always game for a B.A. Paris story. This one is no different. I’m not always a fan of psychological thrillers, but I gravitate toward Paris because it is an easy read with a fast pace, just gotta finish right away mood.

The Guest is a twisty domestic drama that follows 3 couples through the highs and lows of each of their lives. I appreciated the pacing of this thriller as it spanned across years but didn’t feel dragged out as many books do. There is a lot of death in this book, which I didn’t expect but I believe it added to the twisty vibes that Paris was going for. Something about this book felt…I don’t know…immature? Some of the dialog between characters felt more YA for me and occasionally made me cringe. Overall, I didn’t expect the final twists of the book and enjoyed how everything was wrapped up! I recommend this read especially if you enjoyed Shari Lapena’s Just the Nicest Couple - similar vibes!

I have read all of B.A. Paris's works, and I have enjoyed most. Unfortunately, this will be one of the few on the list of books that missed the mark.
The Guest starts with Iris and Gabriel returning home from a vacation and finding their friend Laure has moved in while separating from her husband Pierre. Laure left in a hurry, so she has already helped herself to Iris's clothes, bedding, and just about everything else in her life. The first half of the book does a great job capturing the tension of having an omnipresent house guest that nobody wants to ask to leave. I was captivated and couldn't wait for the inciting action that would bring some resolution. Sadly, for me, that's where this book failed. I will avoid spoilers and will just say that everyone has something they're hiding, the characters have interwoven back stories that are hard to fathom, and the final exposition and resolution is contrived and not satisfying.
The skill of the writing in the first half of the book earns the three star review, in spite of the weak second half.
Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for an advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

Gabriel and Iris returned home one night to find that their friend Laure was staying in their house. They find out that Laure and her husband Pierre are in a huge fight because he told her that he had a daughter with someone else.

Laure stays there for a while, to the point where they are growing tired of her. Gabriel had been through a lot over the past few weeks, from his dad passing away, to stumbling upon Charlie, a kid he knew that passed away before his eyes. He had a hard time coping so he put his effort into fixing his walled garden at his house.

During this time they become very close with their new neighbors Hugh and Esme. So much so that they hire their landscaper to help out with the garden.

A lot of different storylines open up that keep you wanting to know more and I love that everything gets tied up in the end.

This had me at the edge of my seat throughout the entire book. I was so intrigued and couldn’t wait to see what had happened.

I did find the ending a bit underwhelming but overall this was a great suspenseful book.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for an eARC in exchange for my honest review.

This is B.A. Paris' best book since the Dilemma and Behind Closed Doors. I did not mind the slow-pace because it maintained the creepy atmosphere of the new neighbors. I do not want to spoil anything. I thought this was going to be a very predictable because I figured out one thing, the rest was not!

Very suspenseful and recommended. Her best book by far!

Thanks to BA Paris, Netgalley and St Martin's Press for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Available: 2/20/2024

Once again B A Paris has created an amazing psychological thriller!! This book immediately grabbed my attention and i could not stop reading!!! The relationships, the secrets, the little snippets telling you that there is way more to the story..

I thought i had some of it figured out and i ended up being so very wrong. This book definitely kept me on the edge of my seat the entire time. I loved how it all played out and how everything finally got revealed and left me totally speechless!

Such an amazing story!! Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher! This book was amazing!!

Thank you to NetGalley, BA Paris and St Martin’s Press for the free ebook in exchange for an honest review.

This one felt a bit slow to build up, but once it did, I didn’t want to put it down because I couldn’t figure out exactly what was happening. I didn’t like most of the characters so I suspected them all. It’s what I’ve started to expect of Paris - I enjoyed it overall!

The Guest will draw you in slowly to the story of the uninvited house guest Laure who facing a personal crisis with her husband moves in with Gabriel and Iris.

Something is not quite right with her story and she does not seem to have any thoughts of moving home.

There are a lot of characters ( its easy to keep track of who is who) and they all seem to be hiding something.

The Guest had a compelling element to it as I wanted to know where the story was going and I sure did not trust quite of few of the characters.

Twists and turns and a surprise ending( I did not see coming) made for an entertaining read.

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the privilege of reading and reviewing The Guest.

The Guest is a psychological thriller full of secrecy, uncertainty, and death. Iris and Gabriel are trying to regain their footing, because Gabriel hasn’t been the same since he was plagued with the guilty burden of a young man’s final message. However, things are far from returning to normal, as they receive an unexpected houseguest - their friend, Laure, who claims her husband, Pierre, has fathered another woman’s child. As Laure overstays her welcome and Pierre becomes increasingly distant, Iris and Gabriel are forced to come together to do some sleuthing of their own. It appears that everyone is keeping secrets from one another, and you have to read until the very end to find out who is willing to do the most to keep theirs hidden.

I am a big B.A. Paris fan; her books are always jam-packed with twists and turns that I never see coming, but that is only mostly true for this story. It did take me a while to catch on to what was happening, but ultimately, nothing really surprised me. The story starts with a prologue, which is actually one of the last chapters in the book, and it really drew me in. I knew this big, dramatic scene was going to occur, and I just kept waiting for it to happen. The only downfall with knowing ahead of time, is that I started to piece together when it was going to occur, and so it lost some shock factor. The book ends with a lengthy epilogue which thoroughly explains all the secrets and clarifies any questions left unanswered, which I really appreciated. There were many different sub-plots intertwined throughout this novel, and I was glad that they were all seen through to the very end. I don’t know what the future holds for these characters, and it is a bit unbelievable that one could successfully get away from all that occurred, but at least until the end of this book, I knew exactly what became of all aforementioned characters.

3.5 stars. This book is full of secrets and the lies needed to keep them. THE GUEST follows the unraveling of relationships and has a web of lies up to the bitter end. It was a little less exciting than other B.A. Paris books I've read such as Behind Closed Doors. I'm glad there were some epilogue twists to add a little excitement/shock value.

Whew! This one has left me speechless.

Iris and Gabriel have arrived home from holiday to find their friend Laure staying in their house. Laure has recently learned that her husband of 20 years, Pierre, has fathered a child with someone else, and he wants to be part of his child’s life. Laure is not accepting of Pierre’s choice and decides to continue staying at Iris and Gabriel’s instead of returning home to Pierre. But Laure is not the ideal houseguest and tensions begin to run high.

B.A. Paris had me guessing and following red herrings all throughout The Guest, and the jaw dropping twists revealed at the end left me speechless.

Ultimately, this book is on the lower end of 4 stars due to a slower pace than I’d prefer and my utter dislike of nearly all the characters but is one I’d recommend if you’re a fan of domestic thrillers.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for an advanced copy of B.A. Paris’s The Guest.

I think I overhyped myself up to read this novel. I have always heard great things about the author and was excited to devour this book. Unfortunately, I found myself hoping for this book to be over. I thought the plot was a bit repetitive and a lot could have been cut out to make the book a better reading experience. This book is also very dialogue heavy and I found that made for a slower read. I also found the characters to be a bit annoying. I think if the book had lacked some dialogue and moved at a quicker pace, it would have been a more enjoyable read. Knowing that this was labeled as a mystery/thriller book, the reader has to be well into the book to pick up on where the twists were coming from. I was actually really disappointed in the ending until I finished the Epilogue and thought "ah, I did not see any of that coming!". The epilogue saved my rating and I wish we had more of that style of emotion and twists in the heart of the book. At the same time, I found how she got pregnant completely unbelievable. The loose ends were all wrapped up by the end of the book and the author did not leave you with any cliff hangers.

This domestic psychological thriller checked all of the boxes for me. While it was a slow burn, it kept me engaged and had me questioning everyone and everything. I thoroughly enjoyed learning about all of the characters and unraveling all of their secrets and the secrets between them. I admit that there were times where I felt that certain events didn’t make sense/mesh together and that some questions I had throughout wouldn’t be answered, but the epilogue wrapped everything up tight in a perfectly wrapped bow! And the final twist 😮‍💨. Did not see that coming. Well done, B.A. Paris 👏🏻
Don’t miss out on this one!

Thank you, NetGalley, St. Martin’s Press and B.A. Paris for a #gifted ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Reading Between the Wines book review #6/130 for 2024:
Rating: 4 🍷 🍷 🍷 🍷
Book: The Guest
Author: B.A. Paris
RELEASES on February 20, 2024

Sipping thoughts: I always enjoy Paris’s books and this book was not any different. After getting to the twist, I don’t see how I didn’t see it from the very beginning. There are some twists that are revealed that most thriller readers will guess because of just being great thriller sleuths but I definitely missed something that was right under my nose. One thing I really liked about this book was the character development and that fact there was not any real likable characters so you just didn’t know what to expect.

Cheers and thank you to @MacmillanAudio, @StMartinsPress, and @Netgalley for an advanced copy of @TheGuest.

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I liked this! I found the pace to be quick with short punchy chapters. About 75% in I thought, ‘Okay, what IS going to happen here?’ and found myself devouring the epilogue once we finally got answers (and they were even juicier than expected). Fast, easy to follow and not too many characters in the mix.

This one started off slow for me. I was also confused by so many characters in the beginning. A couple of times, I found myself going back to the synopsis to remind myself what this book is about. But, I'm so glad I pushed through. The story eventually comes together. If you think you've got it figured out, the epilogue will blow your mind. Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

As a fan of B,A, Paris her novels never disappoint. I always find a good story and lots of twists and turns. This story isn't any different. We have a story of friends who find themselves forced against the wall when a secret could be revealed. However when a murder happens anyone could've done it, but who was it? I was stuck to the pages til the very end to find out what happened.

After her husband has confessed to an affair and secret child, Laure comes to stay with their good friends Iris and Gabriel. As they try and work out why Laure’s husband would do this, Laure begins to overstay her welcome and step on toes. As things grow tense, Iris’ only escape are new neighbors who bring with them secrets of their own. As tensions grow, secrets are revealed that could turn out deadly.

Another fabulous domestic thriller/suspense read from Paris! The build up of the tension between the characters and their inner turmoil was palpable and unsettling at times. The ending will leave your head spinning!

So, I have a couple thoughts. First, I'm sorry to say I was not into the plot at all. It was really complex for no reason. For the first part of the book, I was trying to figure out what she was trying to accomplish by building ties between a few different characters. Honestly, I couldn't even determine who were the main characters and there seemed to be a separate subplot for each one of them. That being said, I am such a fan of B.A. Paris's previous work that I kept reading and ended up finishing it in one day. I kept thinking maybe I hadn't got to the "point" of it yet, but by the time I got to the epilogue, nothing had been revealed. It seemed as though she didn't follow through with her ideas so she had to wrap it up in the epilogue. I was not a fan of that method. It left me feeling very unsatisfied. I'm giving it a 2.5 rounded up.

"The Guest" by B.A. Paris offers an average reading experience. While the inner turmoil of the characters may come across as unrealistic at times, the intricate interweaving of the storyline proves interesting. The titular guest can be quite annoying, adding a layer of tension to the narrative. The true strength lies in the unexpected ending, which delivers a surprising twist, concluding the book on an intriguing note.