B.A.Paris created another master piece! While the first half of the booker was a slower read, the twist was worth the wait?
WOW!!

This one wasn’t for me. I felt zero connection to any of the characters and they all seemed so…off. I can’t really explain it, but it made it hard to care what happened. The twist was good, as usual with this author. But it wasn’t anything unique or super memorable. I thought it was going to have more of a wow factor. The timeline seemed to jump around a lot, which made things more confusing than they needed to be as well.

Put this more in the mystery category, because you're kind of meandering along for a while and not sure where the thread will unravel. I did not guess the ultimate twist, which is why this book is 3 stars. The chapters are short and quick and you may be like "wtf get on with it" but the ending makes up for it.. def good vacation/beach read.

Laure crashes with Iris and Gabriel, after a falling out with her husband, Pierre. Pierre revealed to Laure that he had a child with another woman. Iris insists that Laure can stay with her and Gabriel for as long as necessary,. However, Laure starts to become completely intertwined with Iris' life - from wearing her clothes to crashing all her plans.

Iris meets a new woman in town, Esme, who is expecting a baby. Iris and Esme become close. Esme even sends her hunky gardener to help at Iris' house. This gardener may have a bit of a sketchy past...

Through this all, secrets are revealed, but mainly not until the epilogue. There is a lot going on and the plot is somewhat messy. The characters were somewhat annoying and frustrating. This really took away from the book. I could not connect with any of the characters.

This book had a very slow start. Well, more than just a slow start. I would say the first half or so was slow and at times, a tad boring. Sadly, I found the twist quite predictable and guessed "whodunnit". I am normally a huge found of B.A. Paris' work, but this one just did not do it for me. If you want a fast-paced thriller, this is not it.

Thank you St. Martin's Press for the ARC.

I’ll start by saying thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced copy of this book!
* I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.*


This book was crazy! I was never sure the direction that we were going in. I was surprised by the end. I will be honest and say that this book FELT extremely long, and the beginning was a little slow, but the end made it worth it.

This book follows Iris and Gabriel, and their temporary house guest, Laure. Laure is Iris’ best friend, and having marital problems, so she asks to stay with them temporarily. Though, everything gets WILD. 3.5* for me!!

This book was a very slow burn and more of a mystery than a thriller.

Iris and Gabriel return home to an unexpected guest, Laure. As time goes on, Laure decides that she will not be returning to her husband and has some suspicions about a big secret that he had just told her about. Only she’s totally wrong.

While the book did introduce a good amount of characters, I found myself being able to guess the the ending. If you like a slower burn mystery, you might just love this one.

Such a good book! I love BA Paris' other books so I was excited to get an ARC of The Guest and it did not disappoint! I was very surprised with the outcome and read it in 2 days. It was an excellent twisty storyline.

I really enjoyed reading this!! I didn't guess the twist and had no idea what was going to come out at the end. I really liked all the characters as well. B.A. Paris never disappoints and would highly recommend this one.

THE GUEST was filled with many secrets and lies. The story is slow to start, but I also couldn't stop thinking about it. I quickly became invested in Gabriel, Iris, Laure and Pierre's lives. Their friendship was unique to say the least. I thought Gabriel was the most gullible of all of them and I couldn't quite figure out why Laure would postpone her stay for so long. But I did get my answers soon enough! About halfway in, you may start to guess what's really happening and think you have figured it out. I thought I did, but when I got to the epilogue, my head was spinning! I never would have guessed the ending. B.A. Paris is an auto-buy author for me and I would recommend reading THE GUEST.

Many thanks to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for my gifted ARC.

This review will be shared to my Instagram (@coffee.break.book.reviews) closer to pub date.

B.A. Paris does it again. Another book I could not put down!

Gabriel is on a run through the quarry and finds a teenage boy on the verge dying after a bad fall. His last words are to Gabriel who has to relay the message on to the paramedics. This experience changes Gabriel within himself, his job and his relationships, especially with his wife Iris. Gabriel and Iris decide to take a trip to get a way from the day-to-day stresses, and come home to find their long time friend, Laure, staying at their house. What they don't know is that this visit from Laure is just another stress to add to their plates.

Laure's husband, Pierre, had an affair, at some point in time, and is claiming to have a child that he just found out about. He wants to be a part of this child's life, but Laure cannot bare this idea. Laure's week long stay, turns to three weeks to then six weeks. Gabriel and Iris, although they love their friend, get to a point of annoyance and hope to see their friend leave soon as they start to see who she really is. Pierre will not answer any of Gabriel's calls and does not show to see Laure after he sets up a meeting for them for him to come clean completely to her.

Iris is left with two important people in her life dealing with these traumatic experiences and finds comfort in her new neighbors; Esme and Hugh..... and their gardener, Joseph?

5 stars!!

Thank you, NetGalley, St. Martin's Press and B.A. Paris for this ARC.

B.A. Paris has another winner with The Guest. This was another book that I could not put down. There were so many twists and turns throughout this book. I don't even know how to begin to describe this book without giving the ending away. Let's just say that the reader will be in for a ride. The ending was kind of expected but all the details still shocked me. I will also say that Iris and Laure's personalities got on my nerves, and I wanted to just yell at both of them to stop being so self-centered. Yes, Laure's marriage was in trouble, and she was going through something life alternating but her taking over Iris and Gabriel's life was taking her pity party to another level. Also why didn't Iris and Gabriel put their foot down?! I love my friends, but I would not have put up with what they did. Gabriel may have been going through his own issues, but he should still have realized what was happening and how much Laure was taking over Iris and his personal life. Be a friend but have boundaries. Iris and Gabriel also need to communicate with each other! They were going through their own personal hell yet not reaching out to each other. I wanted to scream "couples therapy" so many times. I think the only characters that I had any sympathy for was for Hugh and Esme, friends that Iris met during one of her runs. They seemed to have been dragged into everyone else's mess! They needed to run away from all the crazy around them.

Summary: A must read if you love drama!

I found The Guest to be a bit slow moving for the first half, but still an easy, entertaining read. The second half was where it picked up and had many plot twists and turns that kept me guessing and reading. I did not love the characters and I either disliked them or had little interest in them. I didn’t feel like there was much development beyond surface level and their current problem they were going through in the plot. What saved this book for me was the end (WOW!) because I did not see that coming!

I recommend this book for a quick, fun read! It seems predictable until the very end, but is an easy page turner.

⭐️⭐️⭐️💫 3.5 stars- Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for a digital ARC in exchange for my opinions and thoughts!

4.5⭐️

I've heard so many great things about B.A. Paris and her writing style, so I was very excited when I was approved for "The Guest" as my first ever NetGalley arc in exchange for a very honest review. Happy to report- this was the first book I have ever read by this author, and I couldn't of asked for a better experience. I could see her books easily be turned into movies.

What I appreciate about this author is her ability to do dialogue so well, as well as her attention to detail when it comes to descriptions. I could really visualize the scenes in my head and felt like I was watching a drama unfold right before me. Even though there was a good amount of characters, I was able to distinguish them very well once I got into the story.

I usually don't lean towards domestic thrillers, so for me to enjoy this so much really says something. This was a nearly perfect book for me, despite a couple minor flaws that don't necessarily effect the storyline as long as you're willing to suspend disbelief.

The ending had so many fun twists that I never saw coming. Just when you think you've got it figured out, you're left only to be completely shocked again. This was jaw dropping, over the top dramatic, and such a fun time! I will definitely be picking up more books from this author in the future and checking out her backlist. I'll also be talking about this more in my august reading wrap up on YouTube (link in Goodreads bio.) If this is a book you're even slightly considering picking up when it releases in February, I highly recommend you add this to your wishlist! 💐🔥🏡🥂💞

First off, I devoured this book. I love a good mystery thriller. If I give you a full review of this book it will ruin it, and since I refuse to do that I’ll talk about other things.

I throughly enjoyed the authors writing style, and the world building. The plot, perfection. Did I see the twist coming? Nope. I was shocked by it, which is the best thing a mystery thriller can do to you. It takes a lot of skill and talent to be able to write a book where the reader thinks they have everything figured out only for them to be wrong in the end. Perfection.

Some of the sections of this book felt a little slow, but once I got to the end those parts abs details made so much more sense. Some of the characters weren’t very likeable, but for the story they worked extremely well. While the end was a shocking twist, it felt a little drawn out.

For anyone who enjoys having a shocking twist at the end of a book they might not see coming. Please pick this one up.

The Guest releases on February 20, 2024.

Thank you to Netgalley, St Martins Press, and B.A Paris for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

B.A. Paris quickly pulled me into the friendship between Iris, Gabriel, Laure, and Pierre and the odd circumstances surrounding this particular visi from Laure. With short chapters I didn't want to stop reading and devoured this book quickly. While the story seemed like it took awhile to get to anything happening it was worth every minute to get to know the wide variety of characters and how they play into the bigger picture. I will continue grabbing up books by B.A. Paris whenever I see them!

This was my first B.A. Paris read and 'The Guest' kept me guessing even as an avid psychological thriller reader.

The book begins present day, then takes you back six months when Iris and Gabriel return home from their vacation to their unannounced house guest and friend, Laure, who is distraught after learning her husband, Pierre, had over a decade-old secret.

When Iris meets Esme and Hugh (the new neighbors in town) and their landscape gardener Joseph, they come as a welcome distraction as Laure's extended stay quickly becomes unwelcome. However, these new acquaintances lead to unexpected connections and become entwined in the ultimately twisty ending.

*Thank you to the publisher for the ARC through NetGalley

Wow! I never saw that twist coming! This was a fast-paced novel that I read in a day. I couldn't figure out how the different parts were going to come together so it definitely kept me guessing all the way through. When everything is revealed in the epilogue, I was shocked. The only reason I'm not giving The Guest 5 stars is because I can't understand why Gabriel lied to his wife and pulled away from her the way that he did. That part never made sense to me and made him seem like a jerk, even though he seemed like a nice guy in general. Other than that, I really enjoyed this book and would highly recommend it! You won't want to miss this one when it comes out on February 20, 2024!

Thank you NetGalley and St. martin's Press for the ARC.

First book by this author and enjoyed it! Not a complete favourite but it was good! The characters threw me off a bit but the plot was fantastic

This book gave me really strong Liane Moriarty vibes —contemporary domestic fiction with some added suspense, but little plot progression until about half way through. Regardless of the slow plot progression, I was still very much invested in the story due to the rich character development, the relationship building between the characters and the concise chapters. The story takes shocking twists that made it impossible to put the book down. Layer by layer, the mystery peels away and readers are left with a jaw-dropping revelation.
What I didn’t like was that the story often seemed to jump forward, sometimes days and even weeks, without warning or any indication that time had moved forward, which would throw me slightly. I wish that the plot had been a little more streamlined in this sense.
Overall, this was a really great psychological suspense novel and I would recommend it if you are looking for a quick mystery that falls on the lighter side of violence and graphic content.

I have to say, B.A. Paris has done it again with, The Guest. This was a domestic thriller that I really didn't want to put down. You start of in the present, with a literally explosive start. Then rewind six (6) months and Iris and Gabriel arrive home from a holiday and find an old friend staying in their home. As if that wasn't enough, she drops a bombshell on them that starts a chain of events that keeps you on the edge of your seat until the very last page. The plot slowly builds and builds until you are desperate to turn the page and get more information because what you have isn't fully adding up.

The way that B.A Paris writes allows you to feel the energy of her characters. You feel the tension between Gabriel and Iris. You feel the annoyance with Laure, the uninvited and perpetual house guest. You feel confusion with Esme and Hugh and Joseph. There are a lot of different story lines that intertwine and come together for an even more explosive ending. I love not being able to guess the twist of a book, and let me say, I was way off with this one. You can tell that each character is dealing with their own struggles and their own demons and you can see the intensity throughout the book, while some secrets never leave, some are just waiting to be unraveled. The way that B. A. Paris allows you to be suspicious of each of the characters throughout the book is genius.

Rated up for 4.5 stars for The Guest, by B. A. Paris.

Thank you Netgalley, St. Martin's Press and B. A. Paris for this eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Publication date for the The Guest, 20 February 2024. Do yourself a favor, and add this one to your TBR.