3.5 stars.

Thank you to Netgalley and St.Martin's Press for this arc. I'm a huge fan of B.A. Paris, but this one is not a favorite.

Maybe I've read too many psychological thrillers but there were so many "fillers" that were irrelevant and only meant to confuse the reader, so they couldn't guess the twist.

There were a few times, I felt conversations wouldn't have taken place in the manner they did, felt too jaded, or the person would never have brushed the comment away. It's only after reading the epilogue, which is the longest chapter, that you learn everything, but the foreshadowing didn't sure well with me. I feel that if the secrets were revealed throughout the story it would have read better and actions of characters would have made more sense.

I'm a fan of B.A. Paris and was excited over receiving the arc of The Guest. It was a good read but lacked some of the suspense as her other works. It was a little too slow to get to the exciting stuff. I kept asking myself "where's the mystery here?". But then that ending tho! Mind blowing! I just wish it had been that way throughout the book.

I received this text as an advanced copy by NetGalley.

The Guest is Laure, who unexpectedly is at Iris and Gabriel's house when they get back from their vacation. She showed up unannounced and with news. She has left her husband, Pierre, after finding out that he has a daughter. This turns out to be a HUGE deals since the two couples are close friends. As Iris and Gabriel attempt to console Laure and assure her that despite appearances, her marriage is not necessarily over - Pierre's silence over the passing weeks begins to worry them all.

After Laure attempts a visit to talk and Gabriel does the same, it appears that Pierre just wants to be left alone to figure it out on his own. So, Laure decides to move on with her life and quickly finds somebody new to occupy her time. This upsets her friends, who believe she may be moving too quick, despite what Pierre may have done to cause their marriage to end.

Iris and Gabriel become increasingly suspicious about the whereabouts of Pierre as time continues to pass and they still haven't heard from him. But now Laure has fallen for somebody whom also has a questionable past. Is it a coincidence that Laure and Joseph crossed paths at their house? Or was it planned all along?

This was a pretty good read, lots of twists and turns. However, I wasn’t as invested in this one as some of her others. It was still enjoyable and comes with a shocking ending.

This story has a lot of surprises and shocks that I did not figure out. Iris and Gabriel live in England and good friends Laure and Pierre live in Paris. Iris and Gabriel return from a brief vacation to find Laure in their home, angry at Pierre and settling in for a long stay. By the end there are multiple deaths and mysterious behaviors that lead to quite an earth-shattering epilogue that explains everything. I did get a bit impatient towards the end, trying to fit together all the pieces, but overall, I enjoyed the suspense. Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for providing an ARC.

Thank you Netgalley, St-Martin’s Press and B.A. Paris.
This mystery was slightly too long for me, but I enjoyed the beginning and the end.
Secrets over secrets.
Laure drama was more than I could take.
Overall rating 3 stars

The Guest is a domestic drama about a house guest who won't leave and secrets between spouses. It took a while for the tension to build. Up until about the 60% mark, the drama between Gabriel, Iris, and Laure seemed repetitive and drawn out. The ending was satisfying but the delivery style of the reveal wasn’t my favorite. I love B.A. Paris, I’m sad this one didn’t work for me!

Thank you St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this ARC!

This was exactly what I’ve come to expect from BA Paris: a quick read full of twists! I read The Guest in a day and really enjoyed the pacing as well as the characters. There were lots of secrets that were revealed that I wasn’t expecting!

Very good book! I was not expecting the ending! BA Paris never disappoints! I am happy with everything she has written! It would indeed be very frustrating to have your friend stay with you for weeks and not leave!

Thank you @macmillan.audio @netgalley for a copy of this book. This is a story about Iris and Gabe who lives in England and their long time friend, Laure, stays with them because she has a fight with her husband, Pierre. I found the story's pacing a bit slow and was wondering where the story was leading to. I thought Paris did a great job and making you wonder what Laure was doing and what she was up to and question her motives. I don't know how I feel about story where the villan tells you what happens rather then revealed in the story.

B. A. Paris does it again! Secrets have a way of always coming out. In typical Paris fashion, the twist will leave you shocked.

🔑THE GUEST🔑
𝙶𝚎𝚗𝚛𝚎: 𝙳𝚘𝚖𝚎𝚜𝚝𝚒𝚌 𝚝𝚑𝚛𝚒𝚕𝚕𝚎𝚛
𝙿𝚞𝚋 𝚍𝚊𝚝𝚎: 𝙵𝚎𝚋𝚛𝚞𝚊𝚛𝚢 𝟸𝟶, 𝟸𝟶𝟸𝟺
𝙼𝚢 𝚛𝚊𝚝𝚒𝚗𝚐: 𝟹.𝟻 𝚜𝚝𝚊𝚛𝚜 ⭐️⭐️⭐️✨

🤏𝚃𝚎𝚎𝚗𝚢 𝚝𝚒𝚍𝚋𝚒𝚝...Laure has walked out on her husband after a confession of an affair & secret child. She goes to stay with Iris & Gabriel(mutual friends), but her unpredictable-ness is starting to take its toll on her hosts.

𝙼𝚢 𝚝𝚑𝚘𝚞𝚐𝚑𝚝𝚜...Domestic thrillers are so my jam so I was excited about this one. While it started slow, I still wanted to know more. Then the slow burn just got to be a bit too slow & I didn’t like the characters at all! This usually doesn’t matter in thrillers, but I needed to root for somebody, ya know?!?! I also could not figure out why they let this guest stay for this long for a strange reason(no spoilers) …With all that said, the ending was pretty friggin great with a unique delivery and for that it upped my rating. I had the advanced copy in both audio & kindle & thought the narrator was superb on the audio. 🎧Her accent & voices was 👌.

B.A. Paris is so good at writing a domestic thriller.

We follow Gabriel and his wife iris. They are going through a hard time, as Gabriel’s dog and father have recently died, and he stumped upon a teenager who was minutes away from death, being with him as he died and hearing his last words. He hasn’t been the same since.

Upon returning from vacation, the couple find their friend Laure in their home. She has left her husband Pierre, because he states he had a one night stand years ago and fathered a child. She has brought her troubles to Iris and Gabriel.

As life continues, Iris meets a new couple down the street, pregnant Esme and her husband Hugh and their live in gardener/friend Joseph.

There is mystery woven throughout the story and many unanswered questions. Paris sets a great tense feeling throughout the book making us want to read on to see what would be revealed.

Leaving it at that, or I can also say SPOILER ALERT. This is a story that completely turns on its head and becomes something totally different in the epilogue. Everything is thoroughly explained with the full truth, not just the truths we learn about in the story, and it gives us an entirely different outlook. Definitely a fun twist tying everything together.

Thank you B.A.!

BA has been an automatic read for me since Behind Closed Doors, and she always delivers. Addictive and gripping and with an ending that will catch you off guard in the best possible way! Catch BA talking about The Guest -- and giving away copies -- on the Killer Author Club: February 20th at a special time, 4 pm ET. For how to watch, surf to killerauthorclub.com.

The Guest is a typical B.A Paris domestic thriller.. I felt like I had read this book before and had trouble getting into it.

I have been on a B.A Paris kick lately and I usually love their books. The Guest felt like it was all over the place. There were a lot of different plots in the book that either did not feel necessary or they were extremely rushed. Laure is definitely the character you love to hate, that character met that role quite well. Gabriel's character felt like he was lacking a lot. Overall, the book was okay and the ending plot was a bit unexpected, but I felt extremely let down that that was all that happened.

Thank you to St. Martin's Press and B.A.Paris for an ARC of the book. I wished I had liked this book, but I didn't. The plot was super slow and nothing happened till about 40% in and that too did not feel believable. The author kept repeating the same storyline so many times about how so-and-so character felt guilty, bad etc. that I got tired reading about it. The plot felt absolutely weird and off at times and most of the events felt improbable. There is only one twist which came at the 90% mark until when I was bored out of my mind and couldn't care less about who did what. Even though I had not predicted the end, it also felt strange in the same vein as the whole story. The dialogue between the characters was also something that felt artificial as if people don't really talk like that in real life! All in all, not a book I would expect from an author of B.A.Paris' calibre.

Iris and Gabriel’s marriage is on the rocks, and after they return home from a make-or-break holiday they have a have a surprise house guest, Laure. The atmosphere quickly becomes tense as she oversteps again and again: sleeping in their bed, wearing Iris' clothes, even rearranging the furniture.

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.

My thoughts:
Oh man. I was so freaking excited for this one after loving Behind Closed Doors. I was enjoying it until the last 10% where the book starts to get wrapped up. I don’t like how this book ended. It was like reading two different books, and the whiplash I got from that plot twist was just too jarring for me to jump on board with it.

B.A. Paris has some of my favorite books, especially the Breakdown. She is a queen of domestic thrillers. This one fell a little flat for me just because it was one of the tropes I do not enjoy.


Gabriel and Iris are a couple that seem to have it all. Until one day Gabriel finds a local boy dying at the bottom of a quarry. Working through the trauma of that and the lies he told, it all begins to come to a head when their friend, Laure, shows up unannounced stating her husband has a child with another woman. Who is the other woman? Why can no one get ahold of Laure’s husband, Pierre? And who exactly are the new pregnant couple down the street? As always, B.A. Paris sets the perfect atmosphere for this domestic thriller.


*****SPOILER WARNING*****





The twist was the reader being lied to by the MC, and I don’t enjoy books written like this. I still enjoyed the story overall, just wish it would have ended a little differently. B.A. Paris is still an auto read author for me.

3.5/5

The Guest is about a friend who has overstayed her welcome, for the characters and myself. The pacing was slow and kind of boring at times. The twist was great but I was actually disappointed with how the ending was delivered. It was more of “well let me tell you what happened” instead of reader unfolding the story for themselves.