3.5 ⭐️ This had all the twists and turns that I love from any Paris novel but lacked much of the character development I was looking for in order to care which way the book went. I felt the book picked up substantially about 60% of the way through, but it was a slow climb to get there.

I received this book as an ARC through NetGalley and leave this review voluntarily.

Overall I enjoyed the story here, and a twist ending, but it was a bit slow for me with a lot of unnecessary stuff going on. Because of that, I had a hard time getting into the book. The narrator was very good, and I enjoyed listening.

Thank you to St. Martin's Press, Macmillan Audio and NetGalley who provided me with a copy of this audiobook.

Thank you to NetGalley and MacMillian Audio for providing me with an ARC in exchange for my honest review. I really enjoyed this thriller. Iris & Gabrielle are living a nice quiet life when one of their long time friends, Laure shows up on their door step saying that she & Pierre are separating because he is having an affair and has a daughter with this woman. Iris & Gabrielle cannot believe it. They are good friends with both Laure & Pierre and often go an vacations together and now all of that is coming to an end. They agree to let Laure stay with them until she can straighten things out with Pierre. However, things start to get a little uncomfortable as Laure is making herself a little to "at home" in their house. Gabrielle decides to take a trip to see Pierre as he is not returning any of his texts but Pierre is on a sabbatical for a month and he will have to wait until Pierre returns to get the full story. The twists in this story were good and the whole storyline leading up to them was very believable. I enjoyed the characters, the story and the narrators. Enjoy!!!

I love BA Paris and couldn’t wait to listen to her latest! “The Guest” was a wild tale with A LOT going on. It took a bit for me to get hooked but I enjoyed the narration and all the different story lines. Some aspects were predictable and others had me guessing! A fun book for sure!

Thank you so much to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

*3.5 stars*
Oh boy, oh boy! I feel so conflicted on this one because it's definitely a slow burn for a domestic drama thriller. It's not super intense but yet it keeps you going. Some crazy stuff happens and you're like okay now what? We still have how much to go what else could go on? It was a wild ride.

I'll be honest I wasn't super impressed until we literally got to the end and the twist was reveal. Then I was like oh snap, okay, this was better than I thought! I feel like I should have saw it coming but I'm kind of glad I didn't for once. I was just along for the wild ride. It did feel a little slow and anticlimactic for most of it but the end made up for it. I liked seeing how it all wrapped together! The audio format was great!!!

I have enjoyed this author in the past but I just couldn't get into this one. I really did not like the characters and that took away from any enjoyment of the story/mystery. The ending was not as twisty as I was hoping, but it was satisfying. The narration was fine, no complaints.

This started out kind of boring, more like a family drama. But stick with it, because it gets good! I always enjoy audiobooks with British narrators.

Thank you Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for the ARC audiobook. First off - the narrator is one of the best I’ve ever listened to and she did a fantastic job differentiating characters and keeping pace on a story with many twists and turns. I’d rate this as 3.5 stars. I was very drawn into the story from the beginning and at the 50% mark I couldn’t stop listening but the end began to get convoluted for me. The end was great and unexpected, but I think overall it shock value would have been more effective if it had been shorter. I do love this author and will continue to rec her books.

"The Guest" by B.A. Paris is a captivating psychological thriller that immerses readers in a web of suspense and intrigue. This gripping novel takes unexpected turns, keeping the audience guessing until the very end. Paris skillfully crafts a suspenseful atmosphere, making it difficult to put the book down. The characters are complex and the plot is filled with twists that add layers to the narrative.

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.