Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for my digital ARC copy.

This is my first read by B.A. Paris. I've heard a lot of good things so I was excited to see for myself. I was not disappointed. At first, I thought I would be and couldn't understand the hype about her other books. But then... oh my, now I understand the why! I can honestly say I did not see that coming.

While reading it, I thought well this is okay but I thought her books were full of suspense and jaw dropping moments. This seemed to just be a story about friendship and moving on from grief and loss. Which it kind of is, but ohhhh the secrets!! Lots of secrets! I want everyone to read this, all of it and I want to tell all of you, do not give up, just wait for it because it will come! Read every word of it because I guarantee you it has an ending you will not see coming. I'm going to go now, I need to pick my jaw up off the floor and go look for my next read by this author.

Thank you for the opportunity for the ARC of this book! Paris does it again with another twisty thriller. I thought I had it figured out… but with every turn of a page something darker happened. Marriage, love, gardens. Which has higher walls and more vines and thorns?

Iris and Gabrielle’s friend turns up at their flat with startling news. Can they help her in her time of despair? Gabrielle is dealing with his own dark shadows and Iris is holding everyone together. A story of friendship, marriage, secrets, lovers, with twists and turns I didn’t see coming.

#netgalley #vinesoflies #gardenofsecrets

I have read all of BA Paris’s books. She is a good writer and her stories are almost always quick reads to me. This one was a fairly middle of the road read for me. It wasn’t my favorite of hers, but I did enjoy seeing everything come together. It did have an interesting twist at the end that I wasn’t necessarily expecting. It’s probably worth reading if you enjoy reading mysteries, especially character driven stories.

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for my advance copy on exchange for an honest review.

I am a fan of B.A. Paris’ works, but I found this book was hard to get in to. The characters were unlikeable, and there were so many characters involved that I found it hard to follow.

The plot was slow and it didn’t really capture my attention, I’m sad to say that this one wasn’t for me, but others may find it more enjoyable!

This was an interesting story following the life of Iris and Gabriel, and sudden guest and long time friend, Laure. The longer Laure stays, the more tense the household becomes. Secrets from the past lure in the background of their lives.

Quickly after Laure comes into their lives, so do their neighbors Esme and Hugh, and their gardener, Joseph. While the days turn to weeks for Iris and her guest Laure, Gabriel struggles with haunting memories in his past.

While the book prologue was captivating, I had a hard time staying interested again until around the 50% point. I would say this is a slow burn at first but does pick up. I was fearful several of my questions would go unanswered, but the end was tied up nicely. I felt the "twists" throughout the book were somewhat predictable and a little undewhelming, but the ending was surprising to me.

This was a good read if you like a slow burn thriller, but if you are expecting mind-blowing, page turning twists, you may not love this book.

Thank you to St. Martin's Press and  Netgalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Expected publish date February 20th, 2024

This is the classic tale of a houseguest who overstays their welcome - with a few added twists, of course! After a long trip, Iris and Gabriel return home to find their friend Laure has been living there. Laure found out that her husband, Pierre, had a child with another woman, and she left him, but had no place else to go.

For the first few days, the couple puts up with Laure moping around their house, eating their food, wearing Iris’s clothes, and generally being an annoying guest. As the arrangement turns into weeks, they are desperate to get her back to her husband. Laure needs to confront Pierre and decide her next steps, but that becomes difficult when nobody can reach Pierre.

This was a relatively generic, but still quite entertaining, mystery/thriller. There is a back story of a boy who died in front of Gabriel, and he is struggling with hearing the child’s final words. The book was probably a 3.5 star book for me most of the way through, then we got to the ending. The epilogue completely came out of nowhere and blew my mind! I had no idea that was coming, and that rounds this book up to four stars.

(Thank you to St. Martin’s Press, B.A. Paris, and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my review. This book is slated to be released on February 20, 2024.)

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for my advance copy. I've been a fan of B.A. Paris, as she always spins a good psychological thriller and looked forward to this. I found the plot was a little slow in getting started and the characters were not particularly likable. I did stick through it and was glad I did. The ending was totally unexpected and worth the wait!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for this ARC. I absolutely enjoyed this book and the twists and turns that it took me through.
This story followed Iris, her husband Gabriel, her daughter Beth and their family friends Laure and Pierre through a summer of tragic circumstances and changes for them all.
Laure decides to move in with Iris and Gabriel for the summer and in so was beginning to wear out her welcome, following leaving her husband. Laure begins taking liberties around the home; wearing Iris’s clothes even rearranging the kitchen, when enough becomes enough Iris and Gabriel try to get Laure to reconsider leaving her husband when some new neighbors enter the frame.
Hugh, Esme and Joseph seem like the nicest new neighbors, always welcoming and ready to lend a hand in the garden, but there is more there than what can be seen. Through the summer more and more secrets come to light and actions have to be taken to keep them safe. This novel by B.A. Paris is a wild ride through one summer that would never be forgotten. I highly recommend this thriller to anyone who loves to be kept guessing and enjoys staying on the edge of their seat.

3.5 Stars. I really enjoyed the story line and thought it rather creative. I guessed a few outcomes throughout the book, but the ending was a surprise.
A suspense filled family and friend drama.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC.

The Guest is ultimately about the relationships of three couples, one couple’s daughter, and a gardener. Except, of course, there’s more. Secrets, deaths, unreliable characters…the typical mystery ingredients.

I found The Guest difficult to get into and slow to start. I also didn’t particularly like any character. I found Gabriel irritating and depressing, Iris helpless, Joseph vile and immature, and Laure infuriating and annoying. I still can’t see where Hugh and Esme fit in, other than to “introduce” Joseph. Moreover, adding Beth as a character was superfluous, and could have been kept as the abstract idea of the daughter, rather than another character to follow who didn’t add much value other than the abstract concept. Ultimately, B.A. Paris tried to sew together too many plot lines and interrelationships to these characters. Instead of making them intricate connections, it made each more unbelievable.

Overall, an okay read, despite the unlikeable characters and peripheral plot lines. Though cliché and in this case predictable, I liked how the epilogue tied it all together.

⭐️⭐️💫 rounded up

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

The author takes the reader on a wild ride with this story about love family and deception. When I is friend Laurie comes to stay with Iris and her family after she claims she just found out her husband has a child. As Laure stays she insinuates herself in Iris's life.

But layer by layer the author reveals more about each character, and the suspicious gardener, Joseph. While all this unfolds, Gabriel is still dealing with the death of a young boy he found on the road and the message he asked him to deliver to his mother.

As the story unfolds readers will discover each character has secrets they don’t want revealed. And if they’re exposed it could be deadly.


This story is a slow burn. Little by little facts are revealed. Until the climactic ending when shocking truths are revealed. My head was spinning at the end. I did not see that coming!

The guest

Fast paced twisty psychology thriller that keeps you guessing right up until the end!

B.A Paris has such an amazing writing style that is easy to read because it just flows well.

When you arrive home to a friend being in your house because of a secret her husband is keeping the only thing you can do is be supportive to that friend. This is what Iris and her Husband Gabriel do even though Gabriel is struggling with a secret he’s kept from Iris since Charlie Ingrid’s accident. So many lies and secrets in this book make you not want to put it down because you keep guessing. Every chapter from about 40% on was a gripping twisty ride.

I loved this book and will recommend to people who love a bit of mystery and thinking outside the box.

Thank you so much to B.A Paris, St Martin’s Press and NetGalley for the ARC.

I love all of B.A. Paris books, and enjoy the edge of your seat ride. Yet, this book was missing that edge of my seat feeling. I thought the plot was very slow. The book centers around, Gabriel, Iris, Lauren, and Pierre's lives and friendships. The storylines include a couple's ill-fated relationship following the discovery of the husband's secret child from another woman, and a man's depression stemming from the haunting last words of an 18-year-old who vindictively declared he would never forgive his mother. Lauren, who could be considered the most unwelcome guest you can imagine. It was very hard to like her, and to feel sorry about her husband’s affair. The last half of the book, had me thinking I was reading a different book, it was like the author had a hard time trying to connect the dots and end the story.

I will still look forward to her next book, and she will still be one of my favorite authors. This one was just not for me.

Many thanks to netgalley for allowing me to review this book

# netgalley

The Guest is a domestic thriller that intertwines three very different couples with a series of secrets linking them. This a different set up for a domestic thriller and it mostly succeeds. I enjoyed the twist, but felt it came a little late in the novel. Everything was revealed in the last chapter. Overall an enjoyable and quick read.

Thanks Netgalley for allowing me to read this book. Iris and her husband are surprised to find a friend in their house when they return from vacation. The woman has no problem making herself at home in their house. The friend is at a crossroads in her life. I liked this book.

the ending of this book blew my mind! it tied everything together so well and answered all of the questions i still had. i did go into it expecting a much faster paced read, but it was still worth reading and i would still recommend it!

Iris and Gabriel return home from a holiday in Scotland to find one of their best friends of twenty years living in their home after leaving her husband who dropped a bombshell on her - he fathered a child with another woman. Laure is distraught by Pierre's betrayal and sets up camp with Iris and Gabriel who have been struggling with Gabriel's recent brushes with death - first his father, beloved dog, and a boy he used to coach. The couple tries to make the best of it by befriending a new couple down the street but the new neighbors might just bring more drama into their lives that they don't need.

I went into this cautiously optimistic and I was not disappointed! Throughout the entire book, I kept thinking that I had a handle on what was going on only to be shocked by a twist or a turn. My only complaint is that I was just not clever enough to not fall for a few red herrings thrown about. I would fall in love with a character only to immediately suspect them of something nefarious! It made for a wonderful, twisty ride though.

And the ending... the ending left me floored. I had made countless guesses throughout the entire book, but never even touched the big reveal. A good, nay great, thriller MUST have a good ending. If the ending doesn't rock you right out of your chair, then it just wasn't a great thriller. This, despite admittedly some slowness here and there, was a great thriller with an ending that you likely will not see coming.

B.A. Paris, writes another compelling and unpredictable thriller. This time, with ‘The Guest.’

Although, it took about 25%-30% into this particular novel for me to become really hooked, the story was twisty and though I thought I had it all figured out, I obviously didn’t. The only redeeming character is Gabriel, the others, including Iris, I really could not find redeeming qualities with, it wasn’t about being unlikeable, it was more they were just insipid.

The ending was a bit wrapped in guild edge golden paper with a pretty bow, which I’m still coming to terms with because at mid mark, I wasn’t sure how this could happen? With that being said, the story was twisty and trademark Paris, which makes for a fun and entertaining read.

Thanks to NetGalley and the Publisher for an eARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Not my favorite BA Paris, but as with all her books, they’re compellingly written and tough to put down! This plot was a bit far fetched in my opinion, but like I said, I enjoyed the ride and the bombshell dropped at the end. I will recommend!

I love BA Paris’ books. This is a twisty psychological thriller that kept me guessing the whole time. Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this ARC.