This book is a gossipy, speculative discussion between a husband and wife from start to finish. Barely anything actually happens and when it does, it’s almost unnoticeable. I kept at it because I just kept waiting to find out what on earth was going on, and then didn’t find out until the incredibly long (and thankfully somewhat redeeming epilogue). The epilogue on its own made me add a full star. I wish the author had found a way to write the whole book that way, but I see why she couldn’t.

I will continue to read BA Paris, but this one wasn’t the best.

Was not expecting that ending. B.A. Paris did a great job of misleading you throughout the story but it all made perfect sense upon the reveal.

Emily Joyce did a good job narrating the novel and I will definitely look for books narrated by Emily in the future.

I love the author, but the books lately haven’t been hitting for me and while this one was interesting, I was struggling to follow for a bit and get into it.

The Guest by B.A. Paris.... where to begin?

I became a fan of B.A. Paris with Behind Closed Doors, so I wanted to listen to this one without a doubt. But I am not always a fan of everything she writes, so I wasn't sure if this was going to be as good.

I often like to listen to books without knowing the premise behind them from the beginning. I think it lends to a greater mystery from the beginning and keeps me guessing along the way.

This book is a mystery about a friend that comes to stay with a couple after devastating news from her husband. She out lives her welcome, and things go downhill from there. I don't want to give any more details than that, so you can learn more about the story along the way.

There are a lot of things I really enjoyed about this book. The characters were interesting without being too much. And the plot of the book keeps me wondering along the way; where is this story going and what is happening? Who is the good guy/girl and who is the bad guy/girl? It is really difficult to know.

I think what I found difficult was that it was kind of convoluted along the way, and I think there were parts that stretched out longer than they needed to be. I also think that the <i>epilogue</i> could have just been included within the story. But I am sure that was the author's choice.

I want to give a HUGE shout out to Netgalley and Macmillan Audio. I am so thankful that I could listen to this before it was published.

I had recently finish a book by this author that I really enjoyed so I had high hopes. I will say that the character development was really rich. However I struggled to stay interested as I felt the same stories kept being told in different ways. I got to the end of the “regular” chapters and was disappointed. But after reading the epilogue, I felt better. The twist at the end was surprising and made me feel less disappointed and more fulfilled.

This book was so excellent. I absolutely loved the depiction of all the characters and their individuality. What a twist it was in the middle about about the actual father of Irises daughter. And the ending….OMG. I can not recommend this book enough. All books by BA Paris are wonderful!

This is the story of a very unlucky couple. Iris and Gabriel have their careers, a beautiful home, and an almost grown daughter, Beth, who is away at school. And then, right from the beginning, there's an accidental death in the quarry, their good friend, Laure, comes to stay with them due to marital problems, and nothing will be the same. This story felt long and drawn out at times, often, and I'm not sure why I kept going but I'm so glad I did. While I can't say this is my favorite story by B.A. Paris, I can say it sure packs a punch like no other. Feb 2024 Pub Date

B.A. Paris is the queen of domestic thrillers, and with The Guest she brings 3 different couples together and sets up lies, twists, cover ups and murder to keep us entertained.

First of all, I listened to the book and the narrator was amazing. She gave us different accents for the different characters making it super easy to follow along and to differentiate between each one of the characters. Wonderful French accents and even gave us a couple men accents as well. She was by far the best part of my reading experience.

I love Paris as a writer and the way they incorporate family and relationships into most of their stories. The secrets and lies always come out at the end, but this one was full of major lies among the characters, making it very difficult to like any of them, especially the females.

The story was slow to build up and I found myself following along, but not totally immersed within it, although there was a "secret child" element that was dropped to keep us pulled in, along with a couple sudden deaths that just happened to line up with other events. It wasn't until the end that everything was laid out for the reader like a total dropped bomb. It was almost too simple and not as twisted as I'd hoped.

Overall, great narration and ok story. Was hoping for more, but at least the narration performance kept me pulled in.

Twisty story about long time friends and the things that happen when no one is looking. Narration is good and the story ends with a twist in the epilogue.

The Guest is a complex narrative of three couples whose stories are interwoven inexorably over a few months. Iris and Gabriel return home from a vacation to find Loure, a long-time friend, in their home, completely heartbroken over an affair and love child her husband recently confessed about to her. Iris and Gabriel are dealing with their own trauma as Gabe had recently found a young man dying in the local quarry and is haunted by his last words--despite this, they let Loure stay until she feels comfortable returning to her home in Paris. Further down the street, a new couple move in who also have a guest staying with them, and over the coming weeks, long buried secrets will be unearthed and no one will be safe from the reveals.

This book was a really slow burn until about the 60% mark. If it hadn't been an audiobook, I might have had a much more difficult time getting through it. Most of the time is spent on Iris listening to Loure's woes and finding her friend more and more insufferable as she ingratiates herself into the household. Most of the book is the day-to-day minutiae with gossip, letting Loure stay way past her welcome, and Gabriel sulking and ignoring his wife. Frankly, I was very bored.

As I stated, it finally picks up, but even when it does, I didn't have my interest truly peaked until the epilogue, which was a dress down of the whodunit where everything is explained. It would have been difficult for some of the breadcrumbs to be followed, honestly, as we the reader, deal with two narrators who are completely insufferable and have no backbone.

The narrator did a great job with the French accents and differentiating the voices between characters, and she was the only reason I was able to chug through this book in a couple of sittings.

I will continue to read B.A. Paris' work, but this one was truly middle-of-the-road for me. Thank you to NetGalley and MacMillan Audio for an Advanced Listener Copy of this novel!

'The Guest' tells the tale of a woman scorned--she finds out that her husband cheated on her and fathered a child, one neither of them knew nothing about. She runs away to stay with friends, where she hopes for comfort and support.

Iris and Gabriel have been going through a hard time, but when Larre shows up, they can hardly turn their dear friend away, despite the fact that she stays so long she wears out her welcome. Over the course of the novel, new characters are introduced, and while initially they all appear to be strangers, new information comes to light that makes it clear things aren't quite what they seem.

The narrator was easy to listen to and made listening to the audiobook a pleasant experience.

I thoroughly enjoyed The Guest and was surprised at the ending (which is always a good thing!). I'd definitely recommend this if you are a fan of B.A. Paris.

Thank you to the publisher and #NetGalley for the ARC. All opinions are my own.

Talk about a plot twist ending! Whew! Such a wild ride of a book. I enjoyed every bit of it. This book had drama & suspense wrapped up in a neat bow. It’s amazing what a person may do to cover up one little lie/mistake.
Be sure and read this one.

The Guest by BA Paris is a Great Twisted Domestic Thriller.
The story follows 3 main couples. You have Iris & Gabriel and their good friends from France, Laure & Pierre. Laure comes and stays with Iris & Gabriel since her and Pierre are having problems, which her stay with them turns out to be a lot longer than expected. Then we have their new neighbors Esme & Hugh. Esme is expecting a baby soon.
Great Twists, especially that ending. I would definitely recommend.
The Guest is available Feb. 20, 2024.
Thank you NetGalley & Macmillan Audio for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Good writing, good pacing, good storyline. It held my interest consistently and I plowed through it. The suspense continues throughout the book and the ending does not disappoint.

I liked this book, but thought the story was way too long. I was all about the ending though, that was a major plot twist! I did not suspect this person at all during the story, so when it was revealed I was like "whhhaaattttt". I normally guess the person beforehand so this was a nice surprise.
This was the first time I listened to the narrator, Emily Joyce, and I would listen to more audiobooks narrated by her.
Thanks to Netgalley and Macmillan for allowing me to listen to this ALC.

This is a solid 3.5 and a great popcorn thriller. One thing BA Paris does consistently well is a unique premise that is so easy to just fly through. The premise of this book really pulled me in, with the idea of this "guest" who starts completely ignoring boundaries. I think I would have preferred that element to lean a little more unsettling (as opposed to just annoying for the MCs), but I enjoyed it nonetheless. There are a few circling mysteries in this story that worked really well, with some reveals being obvious and some totally taking me off guard. I recommend this to any reader who's looking for a fast, compelling mystery.

Thank you to St. Martin's Press and Netgalley for this audiobook!

This is my second B.A. Paris novel. I had bit more trouble engaging in this one than I did Behind Closed Doors (to be fair, that one was hard to beat!), but once I got a few chapters deep, I felt more engaged.

The book starts out with a bang - literally! Which drew my attention but seemed a bit rushed if I'm honest. We learn about Iris and Gabriel, a couple who lead a seemingly normal life, with their daughter away in Greece, working toward her dream. Based on events that happen early on in the story, things become a bit strained between this pair.

Their friends, Pierre and Laure, who reside in Paris, are also experiencing a rift because of a secret that is revealed decades later.

I may be an odd-ball, but I enjoy "unlikable characters." I tend to rationalize, "Well, I might feel the same way if something like this happened to me!" I ended up enjoying the book enough to give it a 3.5 star rating. This is great because I went into it thinking it might fall flat. I was pleasantly surprised, and I will continue to reach for B.A. Paris novels in the future!

The Guest is a thriller that follows Iris and Gabriel, a married couple that comes home early from holiday to find their mutual friend, Laure, crashing at their house after a recent split from her husband, Pierre. What was supposed to be a few days turned into a couple of months of Laure staying with them while determining what to do about her marriage/separation from her husband.
Meanwhile, Laure becomes more comfortable with her stay with Iris and Gabriel and begins adopting their lifestyle more and more and overstaying her welcome in their home. Both Iris and Gabriel are eager for her to either reconcile with Pierre, or figure out a plan to move on with her life that doesn't include staying with them.
There's another side plot to this book that involves neighbors Esme and Hugh and their gardener Joseph, but this storyline doesn't pick up until the end of the book.

I like this author's previous books and this story was captivating, but overall I am rating it 3.25 stars. It kept me entertained enough, but was wrapped up way too quickly at the end. I can't give my full reasonings as to why this story didn't work for me without giving spoilers, but overall it was just ok. I will continue to read this author's future books.

I thought the narrator did a good job with this audiobook.

Thank you NetGalley, St. Martin's Press, Macmillan Audio, and the author for the ALC of The Guest in exchange for an honest review.
Publication date: Feb. 20, 2024

This book was a quick listen and kept me interested throughout. I couldn’t stop listening because I wanted to know what was going on and what was happening as fast as I could. But then we got to the end and I said “you’re kidding me, right”? It definitely seemed to be done as trying to be a big twist, but that’s not how it felt. I was rather disappointed, unfortunately.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for my audio ARC of this book!

I’m not going to lie, I was seriously close to giving this book a 3 because I was disinterested most of the way through the book. There were a few things I was curious about where things were leading so I kept reading and I’m glad I did because dang…the ending was pretty mind blowing. Out of the blue, did NOT see that coming, did I just read that right, WTF kind of ending. Twisted and made the read worth all the details early on! Thank you NetGalley for the arc!