I am writing a review based on an ARC provided by the publisher. This review is based on the unpublished version and the final product may vary. Let me premise this by saying that I have read all but one of BA Paris' books, so I have a fair sample size for comparison. I generally enjoy her books, but this one fell short for me. While the premise of the story is interesting, the sequence of events that make up the book require the suspension of disbelief. Nearly every scene, relationship and interaction is "too" convenient. Additionally, there are story lines that seem to make no sense and have no place in the book. Some of these are tied up in pretty little bows with an over-complicated epilogue, but the shocking end wasn't shocking enough to compensate for the tedium beforehand.

The guest mostly follows two couples who met on vacation twenty years prior, and have remained fast friends ever since.

Iris and Gabriel return home early from vacation to find their friend Laure inviting herself to stay at their home after a big falling out with her husband Pierre.

I feel sorry for Iris, her husband is in the midst of a mental breakdown and her friend Laure is sucking all the oxygen out of the room with her never ending discussions about Pierre. Not only that but a new mysterious neighbour who’s inserted herself into their lives is harbouring secrets.

Although the book starts off relatively slow as we are getting back story from all the chatacters, once everything clicks into place around the 40% mark, the momentum picks up and we are thrusted into a world of endless lies, deceipts and twists. Everything is connected but we don’t see it until it is all revealed to us. I would recommend sticking with this one as it is worth it in the end.

Thank you to NetGalley and St Martin’s Press for a copy of this book.

3.5 stars. I am a big fan of B.A. Paris so I was excited to get an early copy of The Guest. This book was a page turner, but not in the way that I expected it to be. I often felt like the plot was slow moving and dragged out. Luckily, the ending made up for it. Definitely not my favorite of hers, but still recommend.

It was a little slow at the start for me but the rest of the book made up for it well. I really enjoyed this. BA Paris is awesome at easy yet suspenseful writing.

I really enjoy reading B.A. Paris books. This book was a slow burn. There is some fantastic plot twists I was completely blindsided by. I thoroughly enjoyed the perspective of each character throughout the book which gives insight to who they are and how they develop in the book. Thank you netgalley for allowing me the opportunity to read The Guest!

Iris and Gabriel have just come home from holiday to find their friend Laure staying in there home. Laure has been sleeping in their bed, wearing Iris's clothes, even rearranging items in their home. Laure has left her huband, Pierre, who is Gabriel's best friend.
Iris and Gabriel meet a couple new to the area. Esme and Hugh. but they also brought a land scaper, Joseph. Joseph is hired by Iris and Gabriel to work on their garden. Laure likes Joseph even thou she trying to work things out with Pierre.
Suddenlly Laure is found died, everyone is trying to reach Pierre, only to find him dead, shortly after Laure. Whats going on, and why are Iris and Gabriel in the middle of it. thanks netgalley

B.A. Paris has long been an auto read author for me. This book, definitely emphasized that decision.

Iris and Gabriel are struggling in their marriage. The cracks have grown and they just keep multiplying. When arriving home from a trip, they find their friend Laure in their home. She's distraught with marriage problems of her own. Laure being there sets off a chain of events that grows by the second. All the cracks are now craters. The people around them are falling apart. Where will it end?

This book was fantastic. Fast pacing, page turning, and thrilling. Thank you Netgalley for the advanced copy of this book.

Let me start by saying that B.A. Paris is one of my favorite authors. After discovering Behind Closed Doors, I preceded to binge her entire backlist within a long weekend. While this one had me hooked from the start, and kept me highly entertained throughout, the ending fell flat for me.

Paris does a fantastic job of developing each of these characters and creating a well layered and complex plot line. At times I felt as though I knew these characters, that they could be my neighbors. I was glued to the pages, flipping (or in my case tapping) as quickly as I could, so eager to know what exactly had happened. This entertainment factor is the strongest aspect of The Guest.

While the story itself is engaging, my issue is in the detail. I really appreciate when authors take the time to lay the breadcrumbs throughout the story, and whether or not you are able to see them in real time, you can find them when you go back and look. Unfortunately, there were a few big twists here, all that came at the end of the story, and none of which seemed to have been plotted or hinted previously in the story.

And yet with all of that said, I still think this is a fun, bingeable thriller that will keep your attention until the final page.

Read if you like:
•domestic suspense
•psychological thriller
•dual timeline
•single POV
•bingeable books
•Katherine Faulkner

Thank you St. Martin’s Press and Macmillan Audio for the gifted copies.

#StMartins #TheGuest #BAParis



Laure is the guest who won't leave. She leaves her husband to stay with Iris and Gabriel. So many secrets and lies in this book.

This was a quick read. A domestic thriller mystery that kept me flipping Kindle pages until the end.

The reader will want to find out the mystery and secrets. None of the characters were likeable. The story itself was enjoyable and thrilling.

I would recommend this to readers who like the author s other books or domestic thrillers.

I will be selling this at the store.

Highly recommended

Thank you :Net Galley the publisher and author

The Guest 🚪

This book was spinechilling, in the best of ways! It was filled with twisted and turns that will definitely keep the reader engaged while trying to figure out who they can trust. Both of the narrators seem a little bit suspicious, but the most suspicious is the friend Laure who just shows up in their house and almost seems like she’s trying to act as Gabriel’s wife. I was honestly expecting that she would try and murder Iris to take her place as his wife because of her husband having an affair and a secret child. The twist at the end was completely unexpected and the author did an amazing job, making the narrator seem reliable, even though she turned out to not be!

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for sending this book for review consideration. All opinions are my own.

Thank you, NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for this advance copy in exchange for my review.

OK wow this book started with a literal bang and the secrets kept rolling.
Everyone's lives were so intertwined. As more and more connections were revealed the ride just kept getting wilder.
There was so much going on with all the various plot points that I almost forgot about a lot of major moments until they resurfaced later. Example: Pierre's secret child and Laurel's fate. Just completely slipped my mind, which is strange for me. At the same time this is what I really loved about this book. With all of the craziness happening my mind didn't have time to dwell on every little thing and figure out what the twists would be.
A wild ride for sure.

This book was a fairly easy read because of the short chapters. I feel like these shorter chaptered books are usually page turners but this was more of a slow burn. The characters were all quite obnoxious, and while I don’t mind a cast of villains, these characters seemed to be insufferable and unrelatable for no real reason. The twists at the end were unexpected and I would have loved more of that fast-paced unexpectedness from the rest of the book.

How about that ending!?! Wowza, I did not see that coming!

Suddenly Iris and Gabriel suddenly have a lot occurring in their lives. Gabriel finds a young man who has had a terrible accident and hears the young man's last words, leaving Gabriel with a terrible burden. This burden affects him greatly. Then their friend Laure, from Paris, arrives and moves in after telling them that Pierre, her husband informed her that he had fathered a child with another woman. They tell Laure that she can stay as long as she needs, but she soon becomes a tad bit annoying. Laur begins wearing Iris' clothing, following her around and asking questions about the young man's death. Then there are the new young neighbors and a handsome gardener thrown into the mix.

The characters in this book deal with all kinds of issues: depression, distance in a marriage, learning a partner has a secret child, loneliness, and lack of boundaries to name a few. Iris and Gabriel want to help Laure, but she soon outstays her welcome. She makes herself a little too much at home. Iris and Gabriel want to help but they also want her out but feel bad so don't ask her to leave. It sucks when one feels uncomfortable in their own home. I thought the author did a great job showing their annoyance and discomfort with their guest.

I thought the book was done at one point and was shocked to see there was more to go. Well hold on to your hats because the ending was a shocker! I did not see that coming at all! I wish that the book was that way the entire book through. This was an enjoyable book, but I wasn't completely wowed until the ending I mentioned. There is a lot of "talk" and scenes that didn't feel necessary. Plus, parts were slow and slow, and I do not get along.

Plus, the characters were not likeable or engaging. I found myself feeling meh about some of them. Having said that, I was invested enough to want to know how the book was going to end and for me, the final reveal stole the show and saved the book.

Although this was not my favorite book by B.A. Paris, I look forward to reading more of her books in the future.


Dramatic and well written.

3/5

I usually love B.A. Paris’s books but this one was just okay. The ending is great and makes me glad I stuck with the book. It’s a little twisted and a great ending to the strong. Iris and Gabriel are great characters and I didn’t see some of the twists coming.

I feel like it lagged at some parts but I’m glad I kept with it for the ending!

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for a copy of "The Guest" in exchange for my honest review.

The Guest features a couple whose friend comes to stay with them amid marital trouble, and she makes herself more than at home. I enjoyed this solid twisty thriller from B.A. Paris and did not see the ending coming! My first book from B.A. Paris was Behind Closed Doors, so I had high expectations for this one as well, though I am not sure if anything can top one. I did think the beginning was slow and was glad when it began to pick up about halfway through. Overall, I would recommend if you are looking for a good slow burn thriller!

I am a huge fan of BA Paris’s book Behind Closed Doors and have been waiting for another book to grip me as much. This is a great thriller! I was really captivated by the story!

The Guest by B. A. Paris
⭐️⭐️⭐️.5
B.A. Paris has another page turner! The Guest sucks you in and makes you think “who really is involved?” in a complicated situation of friends and secrets that keeps piling up. With a surprise I didn’t really see coming, and fast paced chapters, I liked reading this one!

B.A. Paris is one of my absolute favourite authors and I was very excited to get my hands on this ARC. It wasn’t my favourite but still a solid read nonetheless. The Guest seems to dive right into its namesake when Iris and Gabriel arrive home and find one of their long time best friends, Laure staying at their house. At times it felt like the story was just that, a tale of an unwanted houseguest but as the story unfolded I realized The Guest was so much more. There are numerous twists, turns, lies and secrets that had me second guessing every assumption and conclusion I had previously reached. Overall, I give this book 3.5 stars rounded up to 4 stars because the Epilogue was certainly a surprise that I did not predict at all. Well done.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for allowing me to read and review this ARC.

I absolutely love B.A. Paris and I was so excited to read her new book, but this one was just a miss for me. I enjoyed the premise of it, but it was just felt slow and drawn out. The twist didn’t come until the epilogue, which is the only part of the story that I found intriguing. I even told my mom that it felt like I was reading a different author - it just didn’t compare to her other books. I enjoyed the twist at the end and didn’t see it coming, which is definitely a plus, but overall I just wasn’t the biggest fan of this one.

* This was an ARC sent to me from NetGalley. It will be available on February 20, 2024*

This book was decent! It was an easy read but was not as suspenseful as I had hoped for.

I didn’t really care for any of the characters so it was hard to care about the events in the book.