February release of B.A. Paris, The Guest. True to her previous novels, I enjoyed this one quite a bit. I have to admit it took me some time to get into it but as the character development took shape, it became a page turner. Just when you think you see it coming, the ending throws you for a loop.

The Guest by B.A. Paris had me guessing throughout. The characters were intriguing and mysterious. This was one book where I had no idea which character to trust…I thought they all did something bad. This book kept me reading.

The narration by Emily Joyce helped with this. She was able to portray the characters in a way that defined them while intertwining them in a way that kept the listener guessing. Also the flow was good making the book go quickly. I love how audiobooks bring the story to life.

Overall this book did not disappoint. I enjoyed the mystery of it all as with other books by this author. The only reason I did not give 5 stars was the ending. It didn’t sit that well with me. Still, if you like a good thriller, give this one a listen.

Many thanks to NetGalley, MacMillan Audio, and the author, for the opportunity to listen to this audiobook ALC for my honest review.

Thank you to Macmillan Audio the chance to listen to this ARC!

This book has a twisty plot with alternating character perspectives. It was easy to relate with the character’s emotions as they felt frustration, sadness and fear throughout the novel. Had the story ended without an epilogue, I might thrown my phone across the room.

I was caught by surprise by the twist revealed in the epilogue. It isn’t often that I’m unable to figure out at least part of what has happened. Poor Gabriel, I thought it was him most of the time!

Paris's writing is engaging, and she effectively creates an atmosphere of suspense and unease. The novel's exploration of themes such as trust, deception, and the nature of evil adds depth to the story and keeps readers invested. Overall, it was a 3.5 out of 5 star book to me.

B. A. Paris is a go to author for me. this one proved why. so many twists and turns and that OMG finale! Wow! Emily did a great job narrating.

This book definitely kept me on my toes, and kept me constantly guessing at not only who was the killer, but what was actually going on in the book. One part domestic thriller, one part murder mystery, this book has the perfect blend to keep you interested and engaged, and guessing. The twist at the end was perfected, and narrated with perfect nonchalance-- so much so you may miss it if not paying attention.

I find some books are hit or miss for me with this author, but this book was definitely a winner.

Thank you to the Author, narrator, publisher and NetGalley for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. My thoughts are my own.

I love a twisty book. This is part domestic problems and then people just keep dying. Iris and Gabriel seem to have an idyllic life, but one thing happens then another. When an old friend comes to stay with them I see red flags everywhere.
It’s a great short book. Thank you to NetGalley and St Martins Press Macmillan Audio for early copies.
Audio was well done, narrator does have an English accent but it was easy to listen to.
This book is available February 20,2024 and I highly recommend it

DNF, I used to enjoy most of BA Paris novels but unfortunately they have gone downhill for me. This novel had my attention at the beginning, like they all do. However, it got to the point where I had to ask “what is the synopsis of this book?” I didn’t know what the actual thrill was. The thrill started to pick up more than 50% through but it still made me question what is the whole book suppose to be about? We had nothing for the beginning then two random murders. It just made me feel like that could have happened sooner.

Thank you to the publishers, author and NetGalley for the free copy of this audio book.

This was an enjoyable read! I had somewhat guessed at the twist at the end but it was still pretty surprising. Somewhat hard to keep all the characters straight while listening but not terrible. The narrator did a good job.

Thanks for the review edition.

One of the greatest things about BA Paris is that there's always a twist at the end that nobody could see coming - this was no exception. The pieces were RIGHT THERE and I missed almost all of them. I love when that happens and it's not common for me at all. This was a fun and great read... with a whole lot of cringe thrown in.

I thoroughly enjoyed the story, even though I had to restart it on audio quite a bit I will say that this audiobook is one that you would have to listen to slow down or definitely pair it with the physical copy of the book. What made me struggle in the beginning was the fact that there are quite a few characters to keep track of because each of them had their own flare to the story and I knew that I needed to keep track of who everyone was and what they had going on so once I paired it with the physical and took notes on each character and what was going on with them, I was able to connect with the story more and ended up really liking it!!

Thank you to NetGalley, McMillion Audio and the author for allowing me to listen and review this audiobook! I truly enjoyed the story line and thought I had the mystery figured out. (Which I didn’t)
At first it was a little hard to keep the three couples straight. After a while it got easier, just can be hard for me personally when listening to an audiobooks. I thought the author did a great job developing the characters. The Epilogue of the story, I did NOT see coming and took me a while to process. I enjoyed the narrator and thought she did a great job. Would recommend this audio book in the future. Rating 3.5 rounded up to 4 stars.

When Iris and Gabriel return from vacation, they discover their friend, Laure staying in their home after separating from her husband. What is meant to be only a 2-week visit becomes indefinent and Iris and Gabriel begin to suspect that Laure isn't being entirely truthful with them while at the same time dealing with their own stressors. Soon, the new neighbors and their live in gardener become involved in the drama and everyone seems to have secrets.
I listened to the audio version of this book and felt like the narrator did an excellent job. Overall, the story was intriguing and fast paced kept me interested. As secrets were revealed, the book sucked me in more and more making it an enjoyable read and an exciting thriller. I have to say that I didn't like the ending of the book because the twist just seemed over the top to me. But I would definitely recommend the book as an engaging thriller, especially for readers who enjoy a major twist.
.# NetGalley #McMillanAudio

Let me tell you, I absolutely loved reading this one from start to finish. I flew through this book so quick, and did not want it to end. I was completely shocked by the ending, I did not see it coming at all! I thought I had most of it figured out but I was very wrong, I didn’t have any of it figured out in the end. The narrator also did an absolutely fantastic job! B.A Paris is an auto buy author for me, I’ve been hooked on her books ever since I read “Behind Closed Doors”, and I can’t see that changing anytime soon! I gave this book 5⭐️‘s.

⭐️⭐️⭐️/ 5 Stars
Happy publication to B.A. Paris and The Guest! Thank you to B.A. Paris, Macmillan Audio and NetGalley ( @netgalley ) for allowing me listen to the audiobook 📖 for an honest review!

📅 February 20, 2024 is the pub date for The Guest. 📅

🎧 The narrator🎙️for the audiobook is Emily Joyce. 🎧

B. A. Paris offers a new and interesting story for thriller lovers. Although this book didn’t keep me on the edge of my seat and constantly engaged, I recommend it for anyone who enjoys the thriller/mystery genre.

What do you do when a friend overstays their welcome and then starts acting suspicious? Do you start paying more attention to their decision and behaviors to see if you can catch anything out of the ordinary? Do you just leave everything alone and let them continue to bother everyone? Do you ask them to leave and kindly let them know they are an interference to your life?

This book had a great twist towards the end that I didn’t see coming but the pacing seemed very slow and often times, I found myself losing interest in the story line. I believe that readers should still give the book a try because it is overall a good read. I definitely want to read other books by B.A. Paris to find out if this book matches their overall writing style or if it is an outlier.

Ok this one was totally bingeworthy! It’s a quick read where I was intrigued immediately and I just couldn’t put it down!

It’s a character driven domestic thriller that I found incredibly well plotted and executed. It’s just bursting with secrets and kept me on my toes the entire time! About half way through the bombs start dropping and they honestly never stop!

Super twisty reads always get me but they have to be done just right! Paris nails all the shocking revelations with this one and I def recommend!

Thank you MacMillan audio for a copy of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

I had a love/hate relationship with this book. While the storyline was gripping and I wanted to keep reading to know the ending, the characters were extremely unlikeable. I listened to most of the book on audio, which helped me push through to the end. The book follows a couple, Iris and Gabriel. Their friend, Laure, appears and asks to stay with them for an extended time due to finding out her husband Pierre has a child. They meet another couple, Esme and Hugh, who live in the same town. While everyone's stories tied up in the end, it was hard to follow each problem that arose, especially because the characters were so annoying.

The narrator, Emily, was pretty good. She did a good job of changing her voice when she needed to, however, her accent was incredibly think and at times hard to understand.

Overall, I would recommend this book to anyone who likes a slower mystery with a touch of family drama.

I have to admit I was slightly bored throughout this book but tense at the same time waiting for the other show to drop. I guessed one of the twists but not the other so that was good. But I don’t like unreliable narrators. Overall, I think if you’re a fan of this author and their writing you’ll probably enjoy it but it just wasn’t my fave.

Thank you NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the opportunity to listen to this audiobook.

Started strong, but too many weird relationship connections.


Review copy provided by publisher.

<b><font face="roboto" size="12pt">TW: Language, drinking, PTSD, grieving, depression, anxiety, postpartum, death of parent, cheating, alcoholism, abortion, death of child, mourning</font></b>

<b><big>*****SPOILERS*****</b></big>
<b>About the book:</b>
Iris and Gabriel seem to have it all: a beautiful home in the British countryside, a daughter happily working in Greece, and good friends Laure and Pierre from Paris, who they often vacation with. But when a young man has a tragic accident in a nearby quarry, Gabriel is the one to find him and hear his final words, leaving Gabriel with a guilty burden.

As Iris tries to help ease her husband’s trauma, they acquire an unexpected house guest. Laure has seemingly moved in after her husband’s revelation that he has had a child with another woman. Iris and Gabriel insist Laure stay as long as she needs. But Laure keeps wearing Iris’s clothes, following her every move, and asking her about the recent death of the young man.

Their only respite from the increasingly tense atmosphere in their own home comes from a couple new to town and expecting their first child. But with them comes their gardener, who has a checkered past.
<b>Release Date:</b> February 20th, 2024
<b>Genre:</b> Domestic Thriller
<b>Pages:</b> 320
<b>Rating:</b> ⭐

<b>What I Liked:</b>
1. I liked the story
2. The characters were good

<b>What I Didn't Like:</b>
1. Wth is that ending
2. Dna - What's that

<b>Overall Thoughts:</b>
<small><b>{{DISCLAIMER I WRITE MY REVIEW AS I READ}} </b></small>

Okay I understand that Laure is upset at finding out that her husband has a child that she knew nothing about, but I don't get why she's so mad at him that she would leave. I get that he didn't say anything for a few months but maybe he was processing it and coming to terms with it. <s>It's not like he cheated on her (that I read) and he never even knew the kid existed before so this would be shocking to learn you have a child.</s>So I guess he did indeed cheat then because the child is like 6. Still though it really makes little sense that she would have a drink with him and he'd think to take a piece of hair to test.

Mostly I can't believe how much Iris puts up with this person, Laure. From the fact that when she comes home and she's in her house when she didn't even ask permission to be there is insane to me. And then all the times that she wears her clothing. And then she gets the same haircut as her. And then she just takes it upon herself to stay with them without even asking if it's okay. Now we found out that she lost Iris a job because a month ago she didn't give her the message. Honestly don't know why iris is dealing with such craziness from this person and still letting her stay there. They've gone to the point where now iris is just pretty much ignoring her but still letting her stay there so why not just kick her out?

There must be something in domestic thrillers and thrillers where the characters have to put up with an insane amount of craziness from people before they actually deal with any kind of confrontation. I feel like confrontation is the one thing that thrillers bask in with their characters. They just lack the sense of approaching a person in a normal circumstance and setting boundaries. Clearly there are people in the world that are like this so it's not so insane but it's amplified 100% in thrillers that people can't tell someone to leave them alone without going a thousand miles an hour to the most extreme ending ever.

Sorry, I don't buy that the baby is 5 weeks early but is right on time. I think she got pregnant before she said she did.

How did Laure manage to kill her husband in that time, get back, change clothes, went to the store, and came home. Iris even made a comment about how fast she managed to get back. Even if her husband weighed 100 lbs that's still dead weight - but she did change her others so yeah it's possible I guess.

Maggie's son Charlie dying has to do something with the the other characters. She freaked out when she saw Joseph. <s>I bet she was sleeping with Joseph and that's why Charlie took off.</s>She was actually dating another teacher at the school and that's why they fought because Joseph told Charlie.

Laure is found dead at the same area as Charlie but I keep wondering if someone wanted to kill Iris but got Laure instead since they look similar.

So then we find out that actually Joseph is responsible for telling Charlie about Maggie's affair with his teacher essentially making Charlie leave in the middle of the night and die. But in this passive aggressive world does Gabriel go and fire Joseph? No! He proceeds to keep him on because he's going to let him finish the job since he's leaving in a few weeks after the christianing of the baby. I just don't get it...why? Who cares. Gabriel was so upset about this death of Charlie and worried so much about Maggie it seems out of place that he would keep this guy on and pay him for his work when he was responsible for the death of this kid.

Beth is sleeping with Joseph - that's why she's been missing so much. Joseph and his amazing body & penis.

Omg now Joseph is dead. Is there any characters left for the book??? 4 deaths in this book. 4!

Omg........ Get out of here that Iris is the mother of Pierre's child. What a stupid and convoluted ending. So Iris just went around killing people to protect the identity of who her child's father was. How does DNA never exist in these thrillers? Is there no paper trail either or CCTV? I mean they went out to eat together. Did the detectives do nothing to try and find out who killed Pierre? Like they just accepted that this man was dead and his basement next to a chainsaw and that was it. I just don't know how she wouldn't have somehow left a paper trail that she went his house on a train. Like her phone record when she sent the text that thing there. Anything!

Then we get this like stupid boring rundown of the ending and how she killed all these people and what she thought and I didn't care and is this book over yet?

And of course of course Lori was able to figure out that Beth is Pierre's kid.

<b>Final Thoughts:</b>
Certain parts and actions of the characters bothered me I felt like they didn't match what the author had written about the characters in the beginning of the book, so by the time we got to the middle of the book their actions seemed off. Like Gabriel being okay with keeping Joseph on after finding out he was responsible for the death of Charlie seemed out of character for who Gabriel is as a person.

You know what I hate? I hate books that put me in the pov of the person that turns out being the Killer but through the whole thing they never once think about anything that leads them to being the murderer. Their whole tree of thought is like who killed this person why would they kill this person but really they're the person that kills them. It doesn't make any sense. If you're the Killer and you do kill someone you're not going to be wondering the whole time oh I wonder who was the killer or what happened.

Book was going until that over the top soap opera ending that made zero sense to anything I had just spent 300 pages reading.

<a href="https://www.instagram.com/horrorghoulreads/"><b>IG</a>|<a href="https://bookwordreview.wordpress.com/"><b>Blog</b></a>

<font face="roboto" size="12pt"><b>
Thanks to Netgalley and Macmillan Audio for this advanced copy of the book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.