This is a really good read. Livia is married to Adam and they have two children, Marnie and Josh. The story unfolds with details about both of their past frustrations and their relationships with family and close friends, all centred around Livia’s 40th birthday party.

Within the chapters, told from both Livia and Adam’s perspective, lies the dilemma.

It’s a well told story, frustrating in parts , but, with a well constructed storyline and characters.

A solid 3* Good read.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for the opportunity to preview.

This book drove me crazy, but I was compelled to read on and finished it quickly.

Livia is planning her 40th birthday party – something that she has been fantasizing about for almost all her adult life. Her husband Adam wants the party to be perfect and so tries to arrange a surprise visit from their daughter Marnie who is abroad.

But secrets abound and hardly anyone in the family is willing to do the obvious thing and speak to the others about what is going on. There are affairs, and mysteries, there is a terrible tragedy and even this is made worse by the secretiveness of family members.

You can be screaming at the book sometimes – just tell him/her/them!!! The heroine is infuriating in her selfish need to have the party of her dreams and her blindness to what is happening to everyone else.

Two big secrets both kept in the dark by two people during a very intense and public event made for a lot of drama and a huge build up of tension and yes frustration. People keep secrets because of misplaced kindness, or guilt, or fear, or embarrassment, or just because they don’t know how to tell. But in a marriage you would hope that such huge elephants in the room might be noticed rather earlier than they are in this one. However in the end I felt that both the main characters of husband and wife perhaps deserved each other as they were both more motivated by selfishness and delusion than by love.

I enjoyed the book but am not sure that these are people I would like to know.

I have one!
A dilemma
( apart from constantly spelling it with 1 m )
My dilemma is what to say about and what to mark this book
Firstly I am not going to give away any of the plot except to say ‘Dilemma’ is 352 pages of focused dilemma (s)
Words to describe it would be:
Claustrophobic, irritating, suspenseful, aggravating, wonderful, dark and upsetting!
Also at times repetitive
But boy did it drag you in, coax you to stay, involve you and make you tense at the same time as frustrating you
At times I wanted the ‘Dilemma’ in its gaining parts to ‘all come out’ and be solved, other times I wanted it to go away and be gone, pretty much like some of the character’s were feeling throughout
Fascinatingly written
‘The Dilemma’ is all its meant to be and maybe some its not

Am not sure what to mark it tbh so will go for a
8/10
4 Stars

This is the fourth book of B.A Paris and it didnt disappoint from the others. It was completely different to her others, but what an absolute Corker it was.

I was constantly gripped and just kept turning the pages. I couldnt put it down.

Adam and Livia both have their own dilemmas to deal with amidst Livias big 40th birthday party. The party she has been planning for half her life. But they have to choose when to ruin the day for each other.

We follow the story from the perspectives of both adam and livia in hourly parts and we follow both of their thought processes and how they feel about the situations they are in. The suspicion that they have for each other in their intuition that they know the other one has something to tell but unknowing that each of them will blow their own world apart.

This book is heart breaking but awe inspiring and I absolutely loved it.

The Dilemma is told from two points of view Adam and Livia are married with 2 children. Livia didn't get the wedding day of her dreams and so she had decided long ago that her 40th birthday party was going to make up for that.

Everyone that Livia knows and loves is going to be at the party apart from Marnie, their daughter who is studying in Hong Kong.
All of Livia's friends and family are being understanding about how upsetting this must be for Livia, but we soon find out that Livia is actually pleased that Marnie can't make it. Livia knows something about Marnie and she needs to tell Adam but has decided to wait until the party is over.

But Adam also has a secret that he's waiting until after the party to share with Livia. Knowing that once he's told her, nothing will be the same again.

This is the second B A Paris book that I have read and I enjoyed it much more than "Behind Closed Doors"

This book had good momentum, and was definitely a pacy read - however the twists were predictable and the ending was very quick. I would recommend to a fan of domestic thrillers.

B A Paris’ latest novel explores a multitude of moral dilemmas. At its centre is a golden couple – perhaps a little too golden - Adam and Livia, married and with two children on the cusp of adulthood. Whilst Adam and Livia married very young because she became pregnant at seventeen, despite early problems they have stayed together and grown to love each other deeply over the years. Because Livia was disowned by her parents on falling pregnant, she feels she was cheated out of her dream wedding and has built up her fortieth birthday as the moment for an extravagant party, a replacement, if you will, for the wedding she never had.
In the early sections of the novel, I found it difficult to sympathise with this character. She appears indulged, extravagant, and rather child-like in her expectations. However, as the narrative progresses, we begin to appreciate just how heavy a burden she is carrying unbeknownst to the rest of her family. Her predicament is, ‘When is the right moment to reveal all?’ Her husband also learns of terrible news during the day of the party and is faced with a similar dilemma. Should he ruin Livia’s party with his revelation or wait until it is over and face her fury, her guilt and her despair when all have gone home?
As details of their secrets are skilfully revealed by Paris, this narrative becomes truly compelling and the reader is encouraged to ask themselves what they would do in the circumstances. One of the strengths of this novel is that there is no easy way out, no neat tying of any loose ends. The author reminds us that sometimes life brings us terrible issues to deal with and how we deal with them shapes our whole future.
Because the central issues are so effectively dissected through the characters’ thoughts, motives and conversations with others, it is easy to brush aside the weaker elements of the story. However, it is difficult to believe in Adam’s complicated relationship with his son; more exploration of the rift between the two would have strengthened this element and, in the circumstances, wouldn’t Josh have been just a little resentful of his father’s adoration (not too strong a word in this instance) of his sister, Marnie? And why did Adam begin to face up to his paternal responsibilities all those years ago when he had been behaving very badly indeed? I’m not sure that the damascene moment described rings true. However, all this aside, ‘The Dilemma’ is a gripping and thought-provoking read – perhaps BA Paris’ best novel yet.
My thanks to NetGalley and HQ Harper Collins Publishers Ltd for a copy of this novel in exchange for a fair review.

I have no hesitation whatsoever in giving this book 5 stars. It was fantastic. A gripping read full of suspense and intrigue.

After reading the other books by B A Paris I was so excited to receive an ARC copy of The Dilemma and it was fantastic. I could not put it down and was up all night until I had finished.

We meet Liv and Adam as they are preparing for Liv's 40th birthday party. This is something she has planned and dreamt about since her small, quiet wedding 23 years previously. Estranged from her parents and with one of her children studying abroad she is determined that everything will run smoothly. Adam knows how much Liv has lived for this day and no matter what it takes he is adamant nothing will spoil it and ruin her happiness.

As the characters and story unfold we come to find there is more than one person with a dilemma.
The story builds up slowly and then unravels at such speed I couldn't stop reading and found myself asking more than once - what would I do? I really don't want to give too much away about the twists and turns so highly recommend you read this book.

If you have read B A Paris's books then you know you're in for a treat. If not, it's a great place to start. Massive 5 stars.

I found this book hard to put down.
Each chapter alternates between Olivia and her husband with everything in between.

Olivia didn’t have a fabulous wedding. She’s longed and planned for her 40th birthday, what seems like, all her life. She’s saved and invested all her years focused on it.

But does her birthday huge party go off with a bang?

It sure does. But not in the way we think.

Olivia is walking around with a secret. And we get to read what she’s really thinking and feeling.

And a dark cloud of revelation is hanging over her husband that day.
And we get to read what’s going on in his head, and his emotions.

They have two grown children.
And we get some tearful times with Dad and his son that brought a lump to my throat. Emotional at times.

Picturing the birthday party in my head was so well played out with top “star” characters being there.
I grew to love Nelson. A best friend of her husband.

The parental family enveloping from her husbands side was lovely and all that it should be. Family support in crisis.

At one time I thought it was a bit drawn out that’s why it has 4* from me. But don’t be misled because I absolutely was invested in this book 100% and more.

We see about communication.
We learn about ‘good intentions’ that can go badly wrong.
We learn about family and relationships.
And we learn about love. Pure unselfish love.
And we learn about grief.

It’s one I’ll remember for quite some time.

This author astounds me with her abilities and insight to human depths of character

I can't believe I'm only giving this three stars as it's so well written, heart-breaking and sad. It's a tale of family love, separation, sorrow, misunderstanding and tragedy. That should make a wonderful read, shouldn't it? But something is missing. Once we discover the two threads that form the basis of the story it just dragged and dragged till in the end I just wanted to scream 'just tell her and get it over with'. I waited for the twist that would surely come. But no. It really went out not with a bang but a whimper.
But the other things that frustrated me. The party. I just didn't get it. Twenty years she had waited for a birthday party that would make up for the wonderful wedding she never had. It made her look a bit bonkers to be honest. They could have renewed their vows after 10 years or so. We got married in a registry office and renewed our vows after twenty five years in church because my husband knew it meant a lot to me (no wedding dress or anything over the top). Then there was Adam's treatment of her in the first few years. She forgave him so easily and put it down to his youth. Really? More selfishness.
Having said that I rocketed through it in two sittings but it would have been better if the whole thing had been cut by half. Then it would have been at least 4 stars.
Thanks to Netgalley for an ARC..

I love B A Paris but The Dilemma was a total disappointment.

I can’t point out exactly what went wrong with this story it was just lacking. I was waiting for an event to happen and set the plot off. Well written but something is missing.

It was very exciting and frustrating at the same time waiting for him to tell his wife what’s happened I wanted to shout at him myself, although I did feel for him, what a dilemma. I was shocked to find out the story about his daughter and never would have guessed that story line.

Wow what a great book! Compelling and intriguing right till the end!
Livia is planning the most lavish 40 th birthday party for herself to make up for having a small wedding! However she has a dilemma in wether to tell her husband something she has found out about their daughter Marnie or not!
Her husband Adam has found out some devastating life changing news and is in a dilemma about when to tell livia, the suspense as they both struggle to come to terms with their actions and the sense of what they are doing is borne out of love for their family will stay with you long after you have read the book! Totally unputdownable, thank you so much net galley for this early read.

Wowsers what a read.... I sat and read The dilemma in one sitting, I just could not put it down. BA Paris strikes again, a little different to her previous books, but it’s just as good if not better. Our full review will be published in January on the blog tour.

As soon as I read the blurb for this book I was intrigued and having read the author’s three previous books and given them all five stars I was so excited to have my hands on a copy and couldn’t wait to get started!!

I started reading and was hooked by the first few chapters – this is a book that makes you think, you go through a fair few emotions with the main characters and they do make you start to question what you would do if you were in the same situation. It was emotional and heart-breaking in places too.

This is quite different to the author’s previous books and I was really excited to see how the story would pan out and I have to say that I thought that the characterisation in the book was superb, I loved some, disliked others, exactly as the other would have planned and wanted – she did a great job at bringing everything to life.

It was a very well-crafted book and she had an additive writing style too. This was definitely a book that I read more than I had planned too in each sitting as I wanted to read just a few pages more each time and I read it over the course of an evening – staying up late to finish it off!

It is 5 stars from me for this one - this is an excellent story and very well developed, it had me gripped and it was such a good read, very highly recommended!!

I am usually a great fan of B A Paris’s books but this one definitely had something missing. It was a good. well written story, but dragged in places and lacked any twists or surprises.

I'm sure that we have all had the experience of something that has happened in our lives that we really should tell someone about but whether through anxiety, fear, embarrassment or perhaps guilt, delay and delay imparting this news, not ever finding precisely the right moment. As longer the times goes by the more difficult it becomes and all the time you are under constant worry that eventually may well impact your physical and mental well being.

Here in the aptly named The Dilemma bestselling author B.A. Paris takes the to tell or not to tell predicament as the basis of her new novel which I'm sure many readers will find gripping and quite (certainly in my case) unputdownable. With alternating first person chapters of the two main characters, Paris is able to explore and narrate all the internal self analysing and emotions that accompany decision making that will inevitably change not only their lives but those around them forever.

I do not want to give too much of the plot away only to state that Livia is about to celebrate her 40th birthday by holding a party, something she has looked forward to and planned for years. She needs to tell her husband Adam something about their daughter that she has known for several weeks but has been keeping secret, intending to reveal it after the party. Now during the day of the party, Adam hears news that if true will change all their lives forever but should he tell Livia this devastating news on her special day? With twists and turns aplenty contained in readable short chapters this may well become another best seller for the author.

I did enjoy this book, however I also feel slightly disappointed. Compared to B A Paris’s other books, I feel like this one was quite uneventful. The whole time I was feeling like something big was going to happen, but then it didn’t. I liked the characters and liked reading about them, although at times I did find some of them a bit annoying. I thought Livia was very selfish and Adam was quite a weak character. It was a very easy to book to read and did have me hooked. It was definitely a page-turner. The build-up was there but the main event was missing. I also wish there was a bit more information included as to why certain things happened, as I feel like some parts were lacking explanation. I’m still a fan of B A Paris and will be reading their future books.

Review
Livia is obsessed with holding her perfect 40th birthday party. She has been dreaming of this day for over 20 years. All the plans have been made and she’s ready to celebrate her day.

Husband Adam has been planning his own surprise - arranging for daughter Marnie to fly home from Hong Kong to join the party.

This whole book was about preparations for a party and two people who are happy and have been married for many years who cannot find the right moment to speak to each other about important matters.

It dragged on and could have been condensed into a couple of chapters. Really surprising and disappointing for this author as I’ve loved her previous books. I continued reading the book to the end because (a) I don’t like to give up on a book and (b) because I expected there to be a twist at the end. Spoiler: there wasn’t.

I rate this book 2 stars 🌟🌟 because I do like B A Paris’s writing style and it is consistent throughout this book.

Thanks
Thank you to the author B A Paris and publishers HQ for an advanced copy of this ebook in exchange for an independent review.