I was so excited to get a copy of this one, I have really enjoyed other books by BA Paris. This one did not disappoint!
It grabbed my attention right from the beginning, I continuously flipped my opinion on what was happening. I love being able to guess who did it- even if I am wrong and let's just say I was not right.

Gabriel & Iris have it all, great friends, a beautiful house, good jobs and a lovely daughter.
Gabriel unfortunately runs into a sad situation when out for a run, and finds an injured man, who burdens him with a deep secret in his last breath.
As if that wasn't stressful enough, a friend of theirs comes to stay with them while struggling with some martial issues. Everyone is keeping a secret and were waiting to see who crumbles first.


Thank you NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.
This review will be shared to my Instagram (@mugsbooks) at a later date

Told thru many twists and turns, B.A. Paris sets up another who dun it!!! Brilliant story!
Iris and Gabriel are great friends! So much so they open their home to Laure, who has left her husband. Do the reasons she left add up? Why is Laure wearing Iris's clothes? Sleeping in their bed?
With the help of neighbors, and a questionable gardener, these questions and more are answered! If you have never read this author, you should. If you have read this author, you know that this will be a great story!!!!

3.5 ⭐ This has been a wild ride, the book kept me hooked from beginning to end. At first, I was more interested in the gossip to be honest, a good domestic drama! But as I kept reading, I was getting more and more intrigued as to who had done it and why was all of these events happening. This book is full of secrets and lies that I really wanted to get to the end of it and know how everything was going to unfold, and the ending was such a shock! If you are into domestic dramas, and Mystery thrillers, make sure to pick this book up. It will be released at the end of February, 2024.
Thanks to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for my ARC!

If I had one word to describe this book, it would be bland. None of the main characters (Iris, Gabriel, Lauren) are particularly interesting and feel very one-dimensional. The pacing of this story is so slow, it doesn’t get interesting at all until 60% of the way through. And even then, it never really builds towards some big climactic moment.

I hate books that are written in a specific POV where the character basically just lies to themselves in their own head so that information is concealed from the reader. It makes the final reveal feel so unearned and not shocking.

This book’s final chapter is a confession/tell-all that not only goes on for way too long (and walks us through literally every single detail) but is also just a terrible and clumsy way to do a plot twist.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for providing me with a digital copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

The first half of this book was slow and winding, and I couldn’t figure out the point of it all. The dialogue was juvenile and distracting. When the plot finally started picking up speed it felt forced and unrealistic. The epilogue explained it all but I just felt annoyed at the whole thing because it felt like someone doing a bad job of explaining the plot of a made for TV movie. Skip this one!

Unfortunately, I could not get into this book. The writing style seemed old fashioned to me, like I was reading a book from the 1950’s or something. I was not able to continue reading past 10% because of it. I wouldn’t recommend this novel, but B.A Paris has other novels that are magnificent.

Gabriel and Iris are just returning home, only to be surprised by the presence of their friend Laure, who tells them she's separating from her husband Pierre. Apparently, Pierre has just revealed he has a daughter with another woman, but that's all he's telling her at the moment.

Severely distressed, Laure decides to stay for a few weeks until she sorts things out, which is ok at first. But eventually, her presence starts being a bother because she is permanently there, always crying, and always talking about that single tiresome subject.

Since Gabriel hasn't been ok either, Iris is happy when she meets a new friend, Esme, who's about to give birth to her first child.

So what happens? Well, someone dies, of course.

____

My take: Three stars!! The first half of the book was quite fast paced and interesting, but then it starts to stall and at some point I stopped caring until the last few chapters, where everything starts getting super interesting again.

I love this author, so I will always read and recommend her books, so I'm very glad I read this one!

Thanks to Netgalley for providing me with a digital copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

Secrets, secrets, secrets, this book has lots! I am never disappointed by Ms Paris. This book was brilliantly twisty! Iris and Gabriel have a great life in the countryside. They have one daughter who is taking a gap year before college. They have great friends and a new couple has just moved in near them. Circumstances occur which lead us to know there are lots of secrets here. I thought I had it worked out but then the end was so twisty and unexpected. It was great!
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advance copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

B A Paris does not disappoint. Story starts slowly when a French friend comes to stay., or should I say out stays her welcome.. Two couples on either side of the English channel have been friends for some twenty years, when one couple experiences a crises. One thing this story brings out is how fast it is nowdays to get from London to Paris, a day trip. The tension builds after several deaths, that seem to be connected. Be sure to read the epilogue which is full of surprises that I did not see coming. I would question why Esme, who is pregnant and on bed rest, went out to dinner!

I absolutely love any and all of this author's novels! She is an outstanding novel and knows exactly how to write a good thriller. I am intrigued the whole time reading this novel. The suspense kept me wanting to read all night long! Absolute must read.

I am a HUGE B.A. Paris fan. This book did NOT disappoint. I couldn’t put it down and read it in less than 24 hours. The characters, the setting, the plot were all amazing and kept me hooked.

B A Paris has done it again! This book was really good—-suspenseful, character-driven, and with enough twists to really surprise me! I wasn’t expecting all the reveals on the epilogue—-the author fooled me all the way through!

Iris and Gabriel have an unexpected guest that shows up in their home while they’re away—-but that really is the least of their problems!

My thanks to NetGalley for the digital ARC. All opinions are my own.

The Guest by B.A. Paris 4⭐

Wow. What a wild ride this book turned out to be, and I loved every minute of it! I was intrigued from the very beginning, trying to put the pieces together that always seemed to allude me. Some books from the beginning you already know where it is going but you still enjoy watching it play out. And then there are others that leave you always one step behind until the final reveal that blows your socks off. This is that book.

Iris and Gabriel have everything going for them, a beautiful home, a grown daughter, and great friends. But while out for a run in the quarry, Gabriel stumbles on a young man. With the young man's final breathes he burdens Gabriel with his secret. Gabriel struggles not knowing what to do with these final words, eventually he decides to keep them to himself rather than destroy the young man's family.

When his burden becomes too much to bear, it leaves his wife struggling to understand his spiral. As if that doesn't put enough strain on their marriage, their friend Laure comes unexpectedly to stay after the revelation that her husband had a child with another woman.

Laure and Iris are good friends, but when Laure overstays her welcome. begins wearing Iris's clothes, and asking questions about the young man's death, Iris reaches her breaking point. Secret's, deception, and lies put Iris and Gabriel's marriage to the test, and when bodies start dropping they are left to wonder who can they trust?

Thank you NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I was given this book by NetGalley for an honest review-
Gabriel and Iris come home from vacation to find Laura in their house, in their bedroom, wearing her clothes. They are good friends who have shared their home with each other so are surprise but yet not surprise until they hear she has left her husband. She says she has left him because he had an affair and had a child. Who would he have had an affair with? Who is the child? When did this happen?
After three weeks and she still hasn’t left things become tense and they wonder if she will ever leave..
And when she finally decides to meet him- he doesn’t show. Later it is said he has been murdered. Who?
Are secrets of the past coming to light?

The Guest is about a couple that come home from their vacation to find an uninvited houseguest. This was a quick read, on the shorter side with fast pacing. The characters were interesting and kept me engaged. I will honestly say that the ending was a bit of a surprise, I'm not sure if there were many clues dropped in the story that I just missed or if the author was going for that last-minute shock value. Overall, this was a good read, I enjoyed it a lot more than her last book, but not as much as some of her others. I would recommend it to anyone who enjoys psychological thrillers. I am giving this book 3.5 stars. Thank you to St. Martin's Press and Net Galley for allowing me an ARC of this book for my honest review.

3.5*
BA Paris typically does a really great job with her twists, but it just didn’t hit in The Guest. While I didn’t guess what happened in the end, I just didn’t find it all that compelling.

Thank you St Martin’s press and Netgalley for an ARC of The Guest in exchange for an honest review.

I love B.A. Paris books. I expect to find a twist at the end of her books, proving all of my guesses completely wrong. And boy did I find a wicked twist at the end of this one. I was mind blown. Throughout the entire book, she gave you bits and pieces of information which were not expected. I was fully engrossed the whole time.

Iris and Gabriel are living completely normal lives until Gabriel finds the body of a young man in a quarry. He’s there with him as the boy whispers his last word, which Gabriel keeps to himself as it slowly destroys him. Their best friends, Laure and Pierre are having marital issues. Laure invites herself into Iris and Gabriel’s house indefinitely. Everyone comes to realize that they really don’t know the people they are closest to.

The first half of the book was pretty slow for me. I feel like there was a lot details about Laure being at Iris and Gabriel’s house that could have been left out. I do see how some of the details led to the plot at the end but it seemed to drag on. I liked the characters and felt I could relate to them and also could relate to a friend going on and on about the same thing for what seems like forever and how daunting that can be. I feel like things really started to pick up at about 70% in. Once I hit that point I couldn’t put the book down! I finished it in one sitting. I did not see the plot coming at all. Fantastic end to the story!! Overall, was a great read.

BA Paris is one of my favorite authors. When her books come out, I immediately add them to my TBR, usually without even checking the description. The Guest did not disappoint. Paris' newest novel has a little family drama, a lot of suspense, and ends with a massive twist. There are a lot of characters in The Guest and many plot lines to follow. The result was a tangled web of possibilities, which made the Epilogue that much more shocking. I got so caught up in the story I read until 2 AM just to find out how it ended!

The story follows the couple, Iris and Gabriel, struggling to keep their marriage afloat. After witnessing a traumatic accident, Gabriel becomes withdrawn and distant. When family friend Laure shows up at their doorstep unexpectedly, the estranged couple becomes entangled in Laure's own relationship drama. After learning of an old affair, Laure leaves her husband and comes to live with Gabriel and Iris indefinitely. But Laure quickly overstays her welcome, and when a new couple and their handsome gardener move in down the street, darker secrets come to light, posing the age-old question: How much can you really know about a person?

A huge thank you to NetGalley for sending me an ARC of The Guest!

BA Paris does it again! This thriller had me on edge the entire book trying to figure out the who and the why. I instantly connected to Gabriel and Iris, and went along them with their journey. Gabriel had endured so much loss and just as he was getting through it all, that happens?! And his wife was no support at the time. I instantly loved Esme, but at times was even second guessing her. Who could be so diabolical? Or were they all just a coincidence? This book was such a page turner and had me guessing until the very end! You will not regret picking up this thriller and trying to figure this mystery out for yourself!!