This story is about a couple, Gabriel and Iris who are going through some relationship and personal issues due to some deaths that have happened in the husband's life recently.

Upon returning from a trip, they discover that their house has been taken over by a friend of theirs, Laure. Laure has just found out her husband has been hiding something from her. As she needs time away from him, Iris and Gabriel welcome her into their house with open arms in what they think will be a short stay. They soon realize, Laure is planning for a much longer stay. She becomes unbearable and annoying, over staying her welcome.

The new neighbors are introduced, Esme and Hugh, a married couple who are expecting their first child. They also happen to have a house guest, Joseph who has a troubled past.

Honestly, I don't understand the need for the neighbors in the storyline. It more or less seems as if they are only present in the book just to add in some extra pages. Esme and Hugh served no purpose existing in the book. Joseph does. He plays into the storyline, but I think Esme and Hugh's presence is redundant. Although the plot has a solid mystery wrapped into it, I got tired of the characters' constant back-and-forth conversations, anxieties, and daily routines.

When the book was winding down toward the ending, it was seeming pretty anticlimactic. Until the epilogue dropped a bomb! The twist the epilogue brought was great! The ending threw me! I did not see it coming at all! I love me a good jaw dropping twist! A great way to end the book. It was just what the ending needed. *chef's kiss*

This is my second BA Paris book. The first was Behind Closed Doors. She has a way with words—a way to keep you interested until the very last page. I admire any author who can deliver such a great twist. I look forward to venturing into more of her work!

Thanks to the author, St Martin's Press, Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for the ARC and audio copy.

I really enjoyed this B.A. Paris read. Her first book Behind Closed Doors set the bar very high for her next books. When reading The Guest I got the same feelings I did when reading the book that hooked me into reading this author! The Guest was the perfect mix of suspense and thriller. The twists were twisted and left me thinking when the book was complete. I found myself a little bored between 30-50 percent of the book causing my rating to be four stars.

I absolutely loved this book. It was stylized in a way that is extra formal, and it truly worked for the odd characters in the story. Paris took a whole bunch of seemingly unrelated events that you know have to be connected somehow, and wove them into a twist so massive, I was absolutely floored. This is an excellent read for mystery/thriller fans who enjoy the journey to the end as much as the shocking conclusions.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for ARC.

I enjoyed this book more than the author’s recent work. It was a bit slower pace for the genre. But I enjoyed the twist!!!

The Guest is the latest novel by the author of Behind Closed Doors and a slew of other domestic suspense stories. This one is about a married couple, Iris and Gabriel, who have two challenges in their life. The husband recently found a boy dying after an accident whose last words to Gabriel were negative regarding the boy’s mother. Gabriel decides to spare the mother’s feelings by changing the boy’s last words. Gabriel then endlessly rehashes that decision ad nauseum throughout the book. Their second challenge is a friend named Laure, who is the worst uninvited houseguest ever. And she just-won’t-leave. Soon more complications arrive to convolute the plot even more.

I think you can tell by my description above that I didn’t like The Guest as much as I wanted to. The characters are all unsympathetic. By the middle of the book, I wanted them to be punished for how annoying they were. The end slightly improved my feelings about the book. However, I’m not sure if it is worth slogging through the rest of it to get there. This book is probably best for diehard B.A. Paris fans only. 3 stars. I recommend reading the author’s best book (5 stars in my opinion), The Dilemma, instead.

Thanks to St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for a digital review copy of the book.

I’ve read pretty much all of B.A. Paris’ books this one really got me good. So many lies, so many secrets. What dark secrets are they hiding. A seemingly perfect family, best friends and new neighbors. Everyone has a secret who’s is the biggest and the deadliest.

4.5 ⭐️
Thank you netgalley for the ARC! I loved this book. I wasn’t hooked in the beginning however as the book went on I started liking it more and more. I loved that all the chapters were on the shorter side and I did not predict the ending. The ending literally blew me away and I cannot wait to read more! I would 100% recommend.

Wow this book was so good it took me no time to read it. I'm a huge fan of this author and I recommend going into this book knowing as little as possible. I can't wait to read what she comes with next. So far I've enjoyed all books by this author.

Iris and Gabriel are adjusting to a lot of changes in their lives. Gabriel had recently found a young man involved in a tragic accident and it messed him up. Their daughter has decided to take a gap year working in a pet sanctuary in Greece and Iris and Gabriel are figuring out empty nesting. But when they return home from a vacation away, they find their friend Laure in their house. She and her husband Pierre have separated and Laure has nowhere else to go. As Laure's stay drags on, Iris and Gabriel try to stay sympathetic, but wonder how much longer she plans to stay.

I was reading this book and loving what was happening and then it was finished with a delightful ending and I thought, oh how nice this all turned out. And then I looked and I was at the 60% mark. I had no idea what was going to happen after that point but I was not disappointed, let me just say. There's always more to the story!

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for providing me with an advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

Available February 20, 2024.

Thank you so much @StMartinsPress for giving me this ARC in exchange for my honest and unbiased review (Release Date | 20 February 2024)

SYNOPSIS | Iris and Gabriel return home to find their longtime friend (Laure) staying in their house after she has left her husband (Pierre) since she learnt that he has been keeping a child secret from her for many years.

WHAT I LIKED:
- multiple 'mystery' storylines

WHAT I DIDN'T LIKE:
- the pacing of the book felt off throughout (the storyline is extremely repetitive)
- the dialogue felt stiff & unnatural
- the 'surprise' epilogue basically rewrote the entire book (which honestly felt like an afterthought as there was no clues in the actual story)
- the prologue is included again later within the book word for word

I was so excited when I saw that B.A. Paris was coming out with a new novel. The Guest was a solid read and I enjoyed it. I’ve read many mixed reviews on this but I went into it knowing very little about the plot and just enjoyed it for what it was, an entertaining read. I will always want to read B.A. Paris’s novels, I am rarely disappointed.

If you didn’t read Behind Close Doors, get it right now. It was AMAZING.

Here’s the synopsis:

Some secrets never leave.

Iris and Gabriel have just arrived home from a make-or-break holiday. But a shock awaits them. One of their closest friends, Laure, is in their house. The atmosphere quickly becomes tense as she oversteps again and again: sleeping in their bed, wearing Iris’ clothes, even rearranging the furniture.

Laure has walked out on her husband—and their good friend—Pierre, over his confession of an affair and a secret child. Iris and Gabriel want to be supportive of their friends, but as Laure’s mood becomes increasingly unpredictable, her presence takes its toll.

Iris and Gabriel’s only respite comes in the form of a couple new to town. But with them comes their gardener, who has a checkered past.

Soon, secrets from all their pasts will unravel, some more dangerous than they could have known.

This comes out on February 20, there is a Goodreads giveaway happening right now for this book!

I always have high expectation for BA Paris after Behind Closed Doors, but this was a miss for me. Everything happened in the epilogue... I would have enjoyed it more if it was better paced.

Thanks to NetGalley and publisher for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

B.A. Paris knows how to spin a crazy, not-totally-realistic, twisty story and I binged it in a day.

This book was a bit of a rough start for me because it has one of my least favorite tropes: a friend overstaying their welcome in your house (I cannot explain how uncomfy and frustrated it makes me😂), but I could get past it once more started happening in the plot- and there was a lot happening. This got pretty twisty the farther along the story got; some twists I saw coming, and others were a total surprise. I wouldn’t say this is an “on the edge of your seat” thriller, but instead had a sense of dread and unease carrying throughout the story, which can be just as captivating in my opinion. The ending wraps up pretty neatly, and then the epilogue comes and completely blindsided me with a twist I never even thought of.

This is a quick domestic drama that’ll pull you in easily!

I enjoyed it but I dont think it will stick with me, I thought it was creative and well thought out, but the first 50% was pretty hum-drum. It started to pick up but I could tell as i was nearing the end that it was going to be the type of book that reveals everything at once in the last chapter. I did not guess the twist, so thats a plus!

This was a wild ride. Well paced, twisty, and tons of thrills. I thought I had it figured out and then bam! epilogue changes it all.

I do love an uninvited guest trope - they are always here to shake things up. The characters in this are going through a lot of things including marriage separation, grief, and depression. Parts of this felt extremely repetitive. I went back and forth between reading and listening and at one point didn’t realize I had skipped back a chapter because many parts felt so similar. I definitely didn’t see the ending coming and I would be shocked if anyone does predict it!

My relationship with BA Paris's books is somewhat of a love/hate. Love the stories...often hate one of more of the characters! The Guest is middle of the road for me. The pacing in this book was good but at times it felt like the story was a bit jumbled. I enjoy the build up to the twists and the twists themselves. Although this isn't my favorite, I will definitely read more of this author.

3.5 stars

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Guest
By: B. P. Paris
Publisher: St. Martin’s Press
Pub Date: 2/20/24

B.A. Paris’s thrillers never let me down. Her twists always knock me for a loop.
Iris and Gabriel have it all or so it seems from the outside. When they were on their honeymoon they met Laure and her husband Pierre. They kept in touch and and become good friends. Only the secrets began from the beginning. Now Pierre isn’t happy. He’s found out he had a child but who is this child and who's the mother? He makes a big mistake by not telling Laure what’s really going on. He continues to keep secrets until she flees France and heads to Iris’ & Gabriel’s place. Gabriel calls and texts Pierre over and over and he never picks up. When people start disappearing and bodies begin to appear you know there's more to the story.
I love how these thrillers are so easy to get sucked into. I just kept saying one more chapter well now it’s 2 a.m. I’ve read the whole thing in just a few hours. This book comes out Tuesday February 20th.

I listened to the audiobook of this one for the first third and then I switched to kindle because I honestly am a bit behind with audiobooks and they take me a little longer to read. I liked the narrator and I think it was a well done audiobook and I could have finished it that way. I liked this thriller overall even though I found the story to start way slower than I would have liked and it took way longer than I would have preferred to get more interesting. The epilogue was great and full of some fun twists (I had suspicions but I wasn’t positive of the outcome). Gabriel and his wife Iris return from a trip to see that someone has been in their home. Surprised they find an old family friend Laure who tells them she has left her husband because he had an affair and fathered a child. Laure plans on staying a few weeks, but after a few weeks goes by she doesn’t feel ready to return and asks to stay longer. The writing was good and I thought the characters were well developed (even if I didn’t really like any of the characters except Beth and Esme).

Paris is just killing it! The Guest by B.A. Paris is another bombshell of a story.
This book will leave you on the edge of your seat with each turn of the page.
This story was super compelling and had me totally invested.
The plot is packed with twists and turns, carefully arranged by the author to keep readers guessing until the end.
A wonderfully-crafted, tense, and absorbing story.
When you read a Paris book, you can expect to be hooked by one twist after another, a relentless pace, and smart writing.
B.A. Paris is a brilliant writer and I cannot wait to read more from her. I am so thrilled to have been able to read this advanced reader’s copy!

Thank You NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for your generosity and gifting me a copy of this amazing eARC!