What a wicked web we weave, when we practise to deceive..
Juliet and Hugh are living comfortably in their rambling grade 1 listed home Mullens End when approached by a stranger. Having not had replies to her two emails she turns up on their doorstep to stake her future claim to the property. Of course she won’t inherit until Hugh is dead. You think you know how this is going to play out but trust me, you don’t! Is there anyone in this story who doesn’t have some deep, dark secret just waiting to be exposed? And what won’t they do to protect those secrets?

DNF @ 43%

I was enjoying the basic storyline, but I didn’t love that a dog was killed as, presumably, part of the lead-up to the main events of the story. I was hoping I could move on and get through the rest of the book, but when that scene was revisited in more detail, I had to call it. Unfortunately, this book is not for me.

I thoroughly enjoyed the audiobook version of this! The narration was spot on. The multiple points of view, broken into sections, were each told by a different character. I feel like this uniquely added to the story. I loved all the twists and turns, which made predicting what would happen next nearly impossible. I would definitely recommend adding this one to your TBR!

Thank you NetGalley for this amazing ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This book was really well written. About halfway through the book, I thought I had the whole plot figured out. Boy was I wrong. Alison James made sure to leave you on the edge of your seat. The story offers multiple points of view for the different angles of the story. It helped to better tell the story and tie in every detail. The character development of each character is also well written and once the story starts to unfold there is no detail left out of place. The pace of the story is a fast paced one so there are no dull moments. Be prepared to have things thrown at you that you would never see coming.

What would you do if a stranger showed up on your door with a suitcase and a tale. Would you let them stay? A bit of a slow burn, kept my attention through out.

This book was a bit much. I’m all for a fun and twist mystery/thriller but I feel like there were too many things going on, too many people with their own motives, too many happy coincidences that just so happened to play perfectly into everyone’s plans. I like the premise. I think a handful of the twists could have worked better if they weren’t in conjunction with all the other twists. I think with many thrillers less is more and this is one of those cases.

I enjoyed the narrator (though I had to listen at 1.75 so that impacts the experience) and would likely listen to another book narrated by her.

A very well written psychological thriller, told in several points of view, each revealing unexpected twist.
The audiobook’s narration was great.

Thank you to the publishers and NetGalley for the ARC.

The House Guest
Author: Alison James
Pub Date: November 1, 2023
Thanks to NetGalley, the author, and the publisher for an ARC in return for an honest review.

My Rating: 5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

"I let her into my home. And now she's destroying my life.."
What a ride! Alison James delivered a brilliant, entertaining, addictive thriller that kept me wanting more of the story with every chapter progression. I found myself fully engrossed in this guest, the drama of the primary couple and their neighbors, and how it was all going to play out. I absolutely loved this book and recommend for some entertaining tea!

The House Guest to me was not very likable. I did not like the story, I did not like the characters and I really did not like the narrorators on this audio. Especially Alexis, who they even said in the book how high she spoke but she has the WORST voice in all the audios I have listened to. Not for me. DNF at 30%.

The House Guest- Alison James
I want to start off by thanking the author, publishers, and Netgalley for allowing me to read this book, in exchange for my honest opinion.


Book Review:
Hugh Mullen inherited the home that has been in the family for generations. He married Juliette 10 years ago, and in order to keep the home, they must have a child of their own. Looking from the outside, Hugh and Juliette appear to have a picture-perfect life. They have a beautiful house and the freedom to do what they please. This story was filled with secrets, betrayal, and murder. How far would one go to keep the home they cherish so dearly? One evening, an unexpected guest arrives at the family estate of Mullen’s End and has no true intentions of ever leaving.
Overall, I think this book was great. Each character was well-developed. Some parts of the book were a little expected, in my own opinion, but I’m always skeptical. I would rate this book a four and recommend people read it and judge for themselves.

Wow. The House Guest exceeded my expectations!!
I really enjoyed the way the author told it from multiple POV, yet not alternating chapters. Instead it was broken into sections, each told by a different POV. It was like seeing the other side of the story. And like a house of cards, each layer added a little more weight and intrigue, until it all came toppling down.
This book had so many twists and turns, which really kept me on my toes.

The narration was good, but I think for this book it would have been better to have at least 2.

Thank you NetGalley for this amazing ARC in exchange for my honest review.

The House Guest🏠
By Alison James🧳

Review📚

This was a great thriller that had tons of plot twists! I absolutely adored all the crazy characters. Although not very relatable characters, I found myself liking how unlikable they were. There are so many secrets and lies you don’t know who to trust. My favorite thing about the book is how each character tells the same story from their perspective. The ending tied everything together and was super satisfying.

Plot twists🌀
Murder🔪
Betrayal🤫
Multiple POVs🗣️
Domestic thriller💍

4 stars
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

This was just what I needed this week.
I listened to the audiobook, and it was a riot.
The narrator voiced the characters far better than my imagination could.
It was full of unlikeable characters, that amused me endlessly, and the story was revelation after revelation after revelation.
Twists and turns a plenty.
Enormous good fun.

Full disclosure: I grew up in the 70's, spending summers with my Grandma "watching her shows." By "her shows", I mean General Hospital, All my Children and Days of our Lives. And then all year, in telephone calls, Gram would catch me up on the stories. My mom hated it. I loved it, and that's the emo I got from reading The House Guest.

Alison James, I don't know who you are, but I know you and Gram would have been besties.

This book kept my jaw dropping the entire time. Just when I absolutely saw where it was going, James would reverse course and take another road. This was the book for me, right now, in this moment of history, when distraction from anything resembling real life is my goal.

Presented in multiple POVs, the story unfolds slowly and it was a delight to hear of an event from one character's perspective, followed by a chapter showing an opposing character's experience with the same event. Each chapter built upon the next and at one point, as an audio where you can't dogear a page to reference back to, I admit to thinking I needed a score card. It was awesome. Exactly the medicine my over-stressed brain needed.

Now, off to find out if James has other books in her catalog.

This is a slow burn thriller about Hugh and Juliet. They live in a family estate called Mullen’s End. A houseguest appears claiming to be family and unbelievable madness ensues.

Thank you to NetGalley for the advance audiobook copy. I absolutely hated the narrator for this book. She talked extremely slow. I had to put the speed up to two times speed in order to try to attempt to get through the book. Her voice seemed a lot older for what was claimed to be a 40 year old.

3.5 stars rounded up.

‘The House Guest’ is a fun, quick read packed with intrigue and unlikeable characters!

Premise - When an attractive young woman claiming to be a distant cousin shows up at the country estate of a British couple, weird things start happening.

Juliette is the only likeable character in this book and even with her, you have to squint to see the likeability. That said, the characters are written to be wretched and it’s a lot of fun to see the story unfold through their various perspectives.

The book has:
* unreliable narrators
* Brits being British
* a lovely setting
* sexual intrigue and affairs galore
* weird inheritance rules
* multiple POVs
* telenovela-style returns from the dead

Thanks, NetGalley and Thomas & Nelson, for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

THE HOUSE GUEST was non-stop entertainment. First of all, I would never let someone into my house even if they did tell me they were a distant cousin and showed me a DNA match. After Alexis is invited in to the house, things start to get really interesting. All the juicy details start to unfold in the seven parts it's told in. I really couldn't stand that characters of Hugh and Belinda. But I did like Juliet's character, she was not going to let anyone fool her! And I'm very happy with how everything turned out in the end.

Many thanks to Bookouture and Netgalley for my gifted copy.

This review will be shared to my Instagram (@coffee.break.book.reviews) in near future.

Actual rating: 4.4/5!

I loved the writing style of this book, getting to hear everyone’s different POVs of the same situation. It was so intriguing and a super fun addition about 30-40% of the way through the book after hearing from just Juliet’s POV until that point!

The plot was interesting and got my to continue reading and not want to “put it down” (aka stop listening) so I did the full 8.5 hours in one day. Lots of twists, albeit some that I saw coming, but enjoyable and exciting nonetheless!

Where it could have been better was the very ending because it felt a little anticlimactic for me. It left me curious as to what happened next but not enough was at stake for it to feel like a really strong cliffhanger but maybe this is just me.

It was an overall an excellent read. Thanks so much to Bookouture & NetGalley for the ARC and give I’d highly suggest giving this a read once it’s released!!

Wow, Wow, Wow. I absolutely loved this!

Every twist and turn of The House Guest had the story going off in several directions, forcing increasingly wilder actions and reactions from the characters, making you as the reader wonder where it's all going, eagerly waiting for the final act and the villain's comeuppance.

It was like watching a painstakingly placed pile of dominoes toppling one after the other, to reveal a beautiful picture.