Thank you to the author and Net Galley for providing me with an e-arc of book #2 in the Silicon Valley series.

Innovation, greed, and danger collide in 'The Guest House', a standalone sequel to Bonnie Traymore's 'The Stepfamily'.

When Allie moves to Silicon Valley to pursue funding for a device she's created to help the D/deaf community, she quickly realizes that Silicon Valley is a cut-throat place to be, especially when you're new in town. With a little help from a familiar face, Laura Foster - our FMC from book #1 in the Silicon Valley series, Allie seems to be on her way to making her device a reality. That is, until she moves into the guest house on a property owned by the Silicon Valley real estate agent she met at Starbucks. Once she's settled into the guest house, Allie quickly realizes that something is off with her new landlords. Is it Mike, the real estate agent? His wife Susan? Or is it Barnat, the other young entrepreneur that's living on the property?

'The Guest House' is a multi-POV psychological thriller with twists, turns, and a little bit of romance. Like the first book, I like that the author doesn't shy away from complicated family dynamics. Unlike book #1, 'The Stepfamily', all POV's in this book are first-person, which I love! Switching back and forth between first-person POV and third-person POV was a huge turn-off for me while reading book #1.

If you're not looking to get into a series, please note that while this book is technically book #2 in the Silicon Valley series, it can be read as a standalone. However, if you struggle with multi-storyline plots that include a variety of characters, reading 'The Stepfamily' first may help.

In conclusion, I enjoyed this book and am looking forward to reading more from the author. I would recommend 'The Guest House' to anyone looking for a fast-paced psychological thriller set in the tech world.

Man I really truly wanted to like this book but I couldn’t. The best thing about this book is Allies idea about her tech startup which is written in the blurb and that’s about it. Someone should REALLY make this live captioning clip on device, it really would be a game changer.

The mystery angle of the book is so flat that by the time the climax came I was just grateful it was over. The worst part is that it didn’t even make any sense.
Laura’s perspective seems to be about some previous book. Even though the author goes to narrate the highlights of that storyline, it just did not land in a way that was hoped.
It’s a shame because it had the bare bones of being a great read.

Thank you NetGalley, the author and publisher for this copy for my honest review.

I enjoyed the stepfamily so much that I couldn’t wait to read the sequel! A brilliant physiological thriller full of twists and turns! I am now a big fan of this author and can’t wait to read more.

<b>3.5/5</b>⭐
<b>Spice Rating</b> - NIL/5🌶️

I started this book with such high hopes. But the ending, unfortunately, let me down .

It starts with Allie who moves into a rented home in Silicon Valley for R&D as well as finding Venture Capitalists to take on her project. Allie is <i>"deaf with cochlear implant"</i> and the book follows her experiences as she moves into a rental guest house.

First up, this book was easy to read and keep up with. Surprisingly, this is one of the few thrillers in which the protagonist is cautious, careful and does not make rash and foolish decisions. This book provided a good insight into Silicon Valley, Venture Capital, cutthroat competition and technology, corporate and criminal espionage. I loved the author's writing style as well. I enjoyed the book up to the 45% mark, things were moving along albeit slowly.

After that though, the story gets stagnant and draggy for a bit. <spoiler>I was very bummed to find that other than a couple of things, nothing creepy even happens to Allie in the house! What I also found to be a bit odd were that the transition between scenes and time skips seem to have a little hitch, they were not smooth. At 42%, Allie and Laura make a calculated guess as to what could be the reason Mike and Susan were behaving very oddly and that was exactly the reason revealed in the end. The first twist that came at 75% was very hurried, rushed and lacklustre. They did not even give us a concrete motive or reason for whatever happened, rather threw around more speculations. That was very frustrating. Also, there is no closure on Mike, Susan and Bernat?!</spoiler> The characters all seemed very 2D. They were written well but sounded mechanical. Yet, the story, premise were all very interesting.
The second twist was surprising and came out of left field.

All that being said, I find the author's writing style perfect for the kind of thrillers I enjoy and will definitely be reading more by Bonnie Traymore.

Overall, a good thriller that will have you up all night reading another chapter.
Pick it up if you want something quick, involving crime, espionage and smart Silicon Valley folks battling it out for their lives.

<i>I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.
Thank you to Netgalley, the Author and the Publisher for providing a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.</i>

I really have to give an honest review, this book just didn’t have the affect of other thrillers I have read, it wasn’t gripping and suspenseful enough for me, maybe it’s because I never read the first book in the series but it just didn’t grab my attention like I wish it would have, it really left me wanting more and then being let down. I really wanted to like it but felt it left a lot to be desired.
Thank you NetGalley for for the ARC and a opportunity to read from this author.

I hate doing reviews because everyone likes different things. However I will give my thoughts. This is my very first thriller, with that being said this book had no thrill, no mystery no twists…honestly I spent most of the time wondering what was going on. It definitely had some good parts and I was hoping it would pick up and then it would fall flat…again. I loved her writing, that was not the issue. I possibly have a twisted view of what a thriller is supposed to be. I plan to give her other books a try. But I just could not get into this book.

I really wanted to love this book! While it had plenty of twists and kept me guessing all the way through it, I really wouldn't call it a thriller. The writing just lacked "excitement" and I felt a little bored even though I was interested in how it was going to end. Overall I decided to rate it 3 stars, because it held my attention enough to want to know how it ended. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for my honest review!

Thank you for the advanced reader copy from Netgalley.

This was a quick read that had me second guessing multiple characters. I felt the ending was a little lack luster but maybe there will be a sequel.

It was interesting to discover about a relatively new way to help the hearing impaired, using a special screen to clip on to glasses,, a glass screen that would capture and print speech for the deaf to read in real time. That was the author's intention, to bring this technology to readers, and to urge venture capitalists and others to invest in such a technology.

I get that the author's aim is to aid in understanding of deaf issues and new technology, as her own daughter uses the screen to read speech. However, the thriller plot was disappointing. It did not capture my attention or interest and was somewhat disappointing.

The main character, Allie, rents a guest house from a suspicious couple, hence the title of the novel. The focus on the deaf technology in the book dominates a thriller plot.

Truly enjoyed every minute of this twisty and turny book! It was a pretty standard psychological thriller, in my opinion, but I was on the edge of my seat and didn't figure out any of the twists which is always an A+ in my book! I do think I should have realized this was a series and read the first book before diving into this one for osm ebackground information on one of the main characters but otherwise absolutely loved this one!

A relentless, suspenseful, and propulsive thriller that I devoured in two days. I always love the authors books for vivid characters and clever twists. She is a master at crafting truly palable tension, and her skill at plotting and suspense building that have readers glued to the pages. Then add in a jaw-dropping, earth-shattering final reveal, and you have all the key ingredients of a well executed thriller. Bonnie nailed it as she always does. I thoroughly enjoyed .

This was my first book by Bonnie Traymore. I should have started at the first book in the series. I did have a hard time following the characters. However, it kept me engaged and guessing until the very end!

The Guest House starts off with a bang. Someone is committed to reaching their goals, whatever the costs, and will kill if that’s what it takes to succeed.

Traymore keeps good pace and suspense right to the end.

Her characters too are an interesting mix. Allie is busy with the upcoming launch of her startup that would market light wireless clip-on caption frames for the hearing impaired. But she can't move past what she believes she saw being dragged across the lawn of the guest house in the dead of the night.
Laura's hands are full with her program that mentors and funds aspiring women entrepreneurs. But she's constantly preoccupied with thoughts of her family having murder in their genes.
And then there are a bunch of scamsters out to steal unpatented tech ideas.

I especially liked how Traymore weaves new tech and funding into the story, without coming off as contrived.

The only thing I found odd was Allie feeling there's a language barrier between her and Barton, whereas Barton's English is nothing but fluent.

But all in all, a real thriller. I'm looking forward to the next in the series.

This was my second book by this author, and I am definitely a fan. I loved that Traymore wrote a book with a main character that is part of the D/deaf or hard of hearing community and wears a cochlear implant. I loved the premise of this book. It was narrated from two different POVs - Laura (who was my fave in the 1st book) and Allie. I read this suspenseful book in one sitting, and it did not disappoint. As someone that reads a ton of thrillers every year, I can say that I didn’t guess right on this one.

We see Laura come into her own from the 1st book, and I loved that she stood up for herself and followed her heart. She found her voice in this book, and I enjoyed watching her develop. I also loved Allie. It was great getting to know her in this book. Traymore did a great job with character development in this novel.

The suspense was at an all time high and I devoured this book in a few hours. The twists were twisting in this one! I was invested and very entertained while reading this. Traymore did a great job weaving a tale that was gripping while also educating me on the D/deaf or hard of hearing community.

Thank you to NetGalley and BooksGoSocial for this ARC. All thoughts are my own.

Review of “The Guest House” by Bonnie Traymore

Disclaimer: Please note that I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley, in exchange for an honest and unbiased review.

⭐⭐⭐☆☆

I gave “The Guest House” a shot, hoping for a gripping read with its intriguing premise of a deaf protagonist and innovative technology. But, alas, the writing style just didn’t click with me. I find first-person hard to write for, but when done well, it can be great. A lot of this, though, felt like sentence after sentence began with “I”, and it just felt repetitive and hard to fall into.

The constant switch between characters’ first-person perspectives made it hard to connect, and the story failed to show, not tell a lot of the time.

Despite some good twists, I found myself struggling to stay engaged. Maybe it’s just not my cup of tea, but others might enjoy its unique elements more. I would give this a 2.5-star rating.

This was my first read from Bonnie Traymore and I quite enjoyed the psychological thriller.. There was so much drama with the characters which I found quite interesting.

There was a loose end that I found, which was the Taberskys and where did Barnet go?

Definitely fast paced. Quite enjoyable

Thank you to Netgalley

Such a good book. I love the writing style and storyline. Cant wait for another book from this author

The Guest House is a great, easy beach read! However, I don’t know if I would consider this a psychological thriller to binge read during a dark and rainy day. I had different expectations for this book. Traymore has a fantastic style of writing; quick-paced, witty, and relaxing. I would have loved more cliffhangers and “thriller” style writing to make this a, stay up until 3am reading because it’s just that good” book.

While I had forgotten the first part of the series, it all came back when reading this new part. I have to say, that the first part was even more engaging than this one. The suspense was not high and ththe relation between the characters from the first part and the new characters seemed forced.

Allie was a great and unique character I so enjoyed reading. This story was riveting and I couldn't put this down. I will be looking for more from this author, including the first book in this series.