Entertaining but slightly unbelievable story about a family who have an exchange student from London come and live with them for a year. The mother is eager to have her stay as she resembles her oldest daughter who died a few years earlier in a terrible accident. But Page and Will, her younger children are suspicious about Tanya, the exchange student, and wonder is she actually came from England at all. As the mystery unfolds, everyone starts to question if they are safe and what Tanya's real motive for staying with them is.

This book is a domestic suspense with jaw-dropping twists of dark family secrets where the past and present collide. I think anyone who enjoys a quick moving plot and over the top characters would enjoy this book like I did! I definitely recommend reading this if you're in the mood for a good suspenseful novel. thank you to Netgalley, the author and the publisher for a chance to read and review this book in exchange for an honest review.

I loved this book! Definitely did not see the twist at the end coming! I hope that the author releases another book soon as this was a great debut!

If you are a fan of lifetime movies, “The Family Guest” is the book for you.

Written by Nelle Lamarr, “The Family Guest” is told from 2 perspectives and quite the thriller.

The story follows a foreign exchange student and her stay with the host family. The story continues with the family realizing there is just something not right about her.

Thank you NetGalley and Bookouture for this advanced audiobook. I enjoyed it.

The Family Guest is a page-turning domestic suspense with twisty dark family secrets.

The Merritt's welcome a foreign exchange student, Tanya, into their home. Natalie Merritt immediately has a connection with Tanya. Not only does she look like her deceased daughter, Anabel, but she even acts like her. Natalie is in denial about Anabel's death. Tanya slides effortlessly into her prior daughter's role.

The Merritt's have two other children, Paige, and Will. Paige and Tanya instantly have a troubled relationship. Paige hates that Tanya reminds her of Anabel. As time goes on, Paige is convinced Tanya isn't really who she says she is. Who is Tanya? And what does she want?

Everyone is hiding something.

Narration by Lynn Norris and Cecily Bender Schmidt make for a great duo. The narration definitely added to the personality of the characters.

Fans of Freida McFadden will devour The Family Guest. 5 stars

Thank you NetGalley and Bookouture Audio for a copy of this audiobook.

Narrated by Lynn Norris and Cecile Bednar Schmidt. Lynn is one of my favourite audiobook narrators and I never hesitate to choose audio over book when I see her name.

Exchange student Tanya comes to live with a family that has quite a few secrets - but Tanya has a big one of her own. Tanya is a rich diplomat’s daughter from the UK coming to live in the US. She’s rich, entitled, and shows unpredictable behavior. From the moment she arrives with her host family, she clicks right away with mom, Natalie, and clashes with daughter, Paige.

With a dual POV from Natalie and Paige’s perspectives, we see learn about Tanya, how sweet and loving she is to Natalie and what a wretched witch she is to Paige as she tries to take everything away from her for herself.

We quickly learn Tanya is hiding something and may not be who she says she is and Natalie is guarding a huge secret of her own. The mystery was fun to dig into however a couple of the twists were easily predictable.

I don’t mind some unrealistic writing but sometimes it’s just too much and sadly this was one for me. I think Lamarr should have tried to write in exactly how Tanya came from a reliable and trustworthy exchange program. Also the complete and utter lack of parenting did not make sense for how these characters were written. Paige was also very poorly developed.

Really enjoyed this thriller. The author presents loveable and hateable characters. The amount of twists and turns will keep you guessing. And once you hit the peak, there's still a shocking ending coming. I hope there is a second book in the works.

This is the first audiobook I listen from this author and I have really enjoyed it. The narration was very good, making it an enjoyable experience. The plot gripped me from the beginning and the characters were believable. Overall I’d recommend this book.

The Family Guest by Nelle Lamarr and Narrated by Cecily Bednar Schmidt, Lynn Norris was an addictive and gripping psychological suspense thriller that is full of twists and turns throughout with a deadly twist, you won't see that coming!
I found Tanya the main character was excellent, she's like marmite You either love her or hate her.......
This was a book I found hard to put down once I started to read it and especially as Nelle is a new author to me.........Just excellent book

I highly recommend this latest book and 5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐.

But the Narrator's Cecily Bednar Schmidt and Lynn Norris were terrible doing the English accent! and made my ears hurt! So fake!!!!
Shame though....but don't let it put you off it was an excellent book.

Big Thank you to the author, Bookouture and NetGalley for my eARC in exchange for my honest review.

3.5 stars

Can you say whiplash??? Woah! My neck is sore after that OTT story!! For readers who love a twisted thriller and are okay with suspending disbelief as well as some character decisions that really don't make sense, this book was a wild ride. By about the halfway point, I was hooked and really had to know what was going to happen next. I think every character, except Paige and Will, was narcissistic and unlikable YET I couldn't help feeling drawn into the cray-cray. It was kind of like watching a gripping train wreck.

The plot involved a wealthy couple who recently lost their eldest teenage daughter in a tragic accident. Natalie, the mother, decides to bring in an exchange high school student who is quite similar in looks and age to her deceased daughter. The two younger siblings immediately know that something is off, but Natalie can't or won't see it and instead invites their houseguest deeper into their lives and family.

There were many holes in the plot. Too many to ignore, really. Loose ends that were never addressed properly. However, if one is able to get past this and just sink into the drama, it was super entertaining.

Thank you Bookouture and Netgalley for an audiobook in exchange for an honest review. The two narrators performing Natalie and her teenage daughter Paige were both terrific.

I love fast-paced thrillers with strong main characters like this who are willing to do anything to get what they want. This was full of gaslighting and manipulation and made for a very frustrating yet exciting plot. I absolutely loved the way everything played out but wasn't totally surprised by the ending or the epilogue as I felt there were a lot of clues scattered to lead to those inevitable conclusions. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

When Tanya, the alleged daughter of a British diplomat comes to stay with the privileged Merritt family in Los Angeles as an exchange student, it's no surprise that she rubs up the children the wrong way. It's no long though before it's obvious to all (Save seemingly to the clueless Merritt parents) that there is something 'off' about Tanya, and that both she and the parents have secrets they want to keep hidden. This was an excellent thriller - the type that makes you want to find more household chores to do whilst you listen, just so that you have an excuse to keep listening to the story. Thanks to Netgalley for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review

Sneaky sneaky sneaky! Oh Nelle Lamarr, you know how to write suspense!

The Family Guest is a really entertaining book with some batsh*t crazy characters that kept me reading until the middle of the night. I couldn’t wait to find out what secrets they were keeping behind their magazine-photo-perfect facades.

A Los Angeles family with wealth and privilege takes in a high school exchange student from London. A year before, the family’s teenage daughter Anabel had died, and the family is hoping that the exchange student Tanya will bring some joy back into their home. Bubbly beautiful Tanya and her outgoing host mother Natalie hit it off right away, leaving the other teenage daughter in the family, a sullen loner named Paige, feeling jealous and excluded.

What happens next is unpredictable and unsettling. Little inconsistencies in Tanya’s behavior point to her being a fraud, but Natalie is willing to turn a blind eye both because she has quickly come to love Tanya and because she has hidden sins of her own past away and doesn’t want anyone exposing it. Things get worse and worse and the ending is explosive, dramatic, and perfect.

I think anyone who enjoys a quick moving plot and over the top characters would enjoy this book like I did! I’m rating it 4.5 stars and I always round up.

Thank you Netgalley and Bookouture for giving me a free advance audiobook for review consideration. Both narrators did an excellent job.

The Family Guest is a a twisty thriller that kept me hooked. Although some parts were unrealistic this was still a very fun listen with loads of twists and turns and interesting characters. This felt tense throughout and the narration added to this incredibly well. Overall I would recommend to thriller fans.

This thriller definitely had its edge of your seat moments. Many times though it reminded me of a lifetime movie. It was very soapy and somewhat predictable. Some of the characters’ actions were frustrating. Parts were over the top and were more enjoyable if you left common sense out of it. All in all, it was entertaining and kept me interested until the clever conclusion. The narration added a layer of intrigue while bringing the characters to life. Thank you NetGalley and Bookouture Audio for my audiobook.

This book was absolutely in-freaking-sane. I honestly had no idea where it was going until the last minute and I was shocked!

Well, this was a good one.
There was action, mystery, drama, twists and turns and even a granny🤩
I cannot say I was expecting the ending, it held a lot more that one could hope for.
There were sad moments, loss of a child, animal abuse, but they all find their exact place in the book.

This is a Young Adult psychological thriller, which is about a young girl called Tanya who goes to live with an American family for a while. The American family consist of Natalie, Paige, Matt and Will, and there was also a daughter called Anabel, but she passed away previously. Tanya starts to use Anabel's things, and this upsets some of the family, especially daughter Paige, who gets jealous.

Is Tanya an honest person, or is she hiding something? Can she be trusted, or should the family be suspicious of her? There are so many secrets and lies in this book that it is hard to work out who we can trust, but by the end of the book, all things are revealed, and everything makes sense.

I really loved the audiobook narrators of this story, and they worked well together to do the different accents, and bring the book to life.

I really enjoyed this book a lot, and I listened to it while I was doing some gardening, so it kept me entertained while I was cutting my grass and doing other jobs. I recommend this book highly, as it was really great, and I liked everything about it!

Many thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for a copy of this book.

I found almost impossible to stop listening to this audiobook, it was soooo gripping! Highly recommend this one! Thanks to NetGalley, the editor and the author for the opportunity to access this copy.

Exactly as it says on the tin - an absolute corker of a thriller. Well paced and creepy. Excellent narrator too