Mixed feelings on this suspenseful domestic thriller by Cathryn Grant. I liked the beginning of the book a whole lot. The writer is adept at building suspense. And the premise is great - what if your husband brings a random guest to stay with you in the house without asking? And the guest is rather scary, but also kind of hot - and you really don't know why he's staying in your house. Two thumbs up on the premise and the initial thrills it brought with it - this was very original for a domestic thriller, and for the first half of the book I read it all in one sitting with great interest.

Unfortunately towards the last third of the book, the story began to fall apart a bit for me. The book took a turn away from its initial focus, so that by the end I felt like too many separate threads and questions from the beginning were not fully resolved. To me, the biggest question was, why did Ellie's husband bring this guy home to stay? I didn't feel like the answer to that (which was the whole premise of most of the book) lived up to my expectations. Also....without spoiling the plot,I will say that I come to a domestic thriller for the either the villain or the hero. I need to either enjoy the deliciousness of a villain enough to want them to get away with it, or despise them enough to want them to get caught. I also usually need to identify with/like the hero(ine) enough to root for them. I did not feel like I was able to connect that way here - I think because certain aspects of the characters and their relationships that came into play the last third of the book were not developed enough in the first part of the book.

Despite that, the book was well-written and I would give this author another try - the first half was very readable and shows she understands how to build suspense and deliver the thrills you want in this kind of book. I would give this book a 3.5. It had potential, but ultimately didn't thrill me like I hoped.

Thanks to NetGalley, Cathryn Grant and Inkubator Books for this advance copy in exchange for my honest review.

Ellie, happily married with two children, is the owner of a successful art gallery. Her life seems to be on track until her husband invites an almost-stranger to temporarily live with them. The premise for The Guest is interesting and I wondered how the author would develop her idea.

But, unfortunately, the book just didn’t pan out for me. I didn’t find any of the characters appealing and the story seems so implausible. Even the day to day conversations are unrealistic. Ellie is presented as a woman who takes care of issues as they occur but, in reality, she often sets aside problems with the attitude that all will all work out eventually. Furthermore, the fact that her husband would invite a stranger to live with them without consulting or even telling his wife first is odd. But, what’s even more odd is that Ellie never really attempts to talk to him or find out what prompted his decision. Instead, she just goes along with it.

All in all, this book was a true disappointment. The only reason I have given it 2 stars is because the basic concept is interesting.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing a copy of this book for review.

Ellie and Seth have the perfect marriage and family. They are both successful in their respective jobs. Ellie owns an art gallery that she started and is very proud of They have two children, an teenaged son and a six year old daughter everything is good until Seth decides to invite a guest for dinner unannounced. Ace seems nice he's good with the kids. Evidently he's a friend of her husband's favorite cousin. In no time Ace has moved into the guest bedroom. A week turns into a month. Ellie is fed up. She missed the romantic evenings with her husband. The quiet family times they had together. She googled Ace. She finds out he was in prison for murder. She is incensed. She confronts her husband. She can tell by his reaction that he already knew. Why wouldn't he tell her. She has had a murderer around her home and her children. Hell no, he has to go.
I enjoyed this story. It didn't take where I thought it was going. Clever storyline. Incredible ending! Recommended!

Ellie's husband welcomed a handsome stranger into their home, but will their generosity be rewarded or will it come back to haunt them. And just as this mystery man arrives in town, a girl is murdered. This wasn't full of drama, multiple murders, or gore, but it was just the right twist that I did not see coming! I enjoyed this fast-paced read!

I received this book through netgalley. I never read this author book. I thought the cover looked interesting. it was A great mystery. I really liked the plots and the character's. I thought it was like a thriller as well. I liked Ellie in this story. she was a tough character. I hope to read more by this author.

I didn’t really care for this book. There wasn’t enough interaction for me. Seems like 94% of this book is the protagonist’s thoughts. Had a pretty good premise & ending as well, just seems like nothing much ever happened. Wasn’t an awful book, just not my cup of tea.

This was a good one with huge twists and turns. Looks at family loyalty and parental love. Well worth a read, and definitely made me think! I had to read the last 3-4 chapters again as I didn’t see the ending coming at all. Thanks for letting me review this book.

Ellie is the type of person you know and want to be. She has it all. She owns a perfect art gallery, has the perfect relationship and has two beautiful children, who always seem to be perfectly behaved. I think we all know an Ellie in our lives. We try to remind ourselves that the grass isn't always greener. The Guest did a great job at reminding us to not judge the individuals in our lives because we never know what is actually going on. Ellie's life turns out to be not so ideal when her precious husbands becomes distant and invites a guest into their home. This guest is a good looking man who seems to be great with her children. When a student at Ellie's sons school gets murdered, and her son might be involved, Ellie is trying to find all of the answers. Ellie believes that her son Brandon had nothing to do with it, but why do the police feel differently? Was their new house guest involved?

I really enjoyed the twists of this thriller. I was definitely shocked multiple times!

I really enjoyed reading this book! The writing style was super easy to fly through. There was a lot going on at times, but I found it kept the pages turning. I totally did not see the twists coming! Especially that ending - wow! Overall, pretty good!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing an ARC of this book.

A 3.5 rating rounded to 4 (that ending though)

I am so glad I read this! With all the elements that could make a thriller great, The Guest's premise is what made me pick it up in the first place. An charming uninvited guest, a son that seems to be struggling to fit in, a distant husband and a case of a missing person turned dead.

The book's fast pacing makes this a quick and easy read. I do wish we could have gotten a more in depth exploration of the characters at play and have the chance to fully connect with them. Despite the at times disconnect from the author’s writing, this story definitely delivers when it comes to a shocking twist and a thrilling ending.

I’m not really sure what I thought of this book. The beginning and the middle were ok, the ending however was really good. I didn’t see it coming.

The story could have been such much more if it was built up throughout to match the end.

Thank you netgalley and the publishers for letting me read this book.

Overall, I genuinely enjoyed this book, but mainly the ending. It was difficult to stay with this book in the beginning as the story was slow to start up, and there were some chapters that looking back don't really have much point to the story?

Thanks Netgalley and the Publisher. I am not sure what to write about this book, I finished it (with a lot of skipping) but can honestly say did not really like it. Sorry

A seemingly normal family invite a guest into their home. Things seem great at first but soon lies and crimes start to unfold. Who is lying ?

I did enjoy this book and it was a good quick read. I did find it a bit heavy on the detail, I felt like everything was over described, but I don't think this was a bad thing as it was consistent throughout the book. It started off relatively slow and I found myself just going along for the ride rather than itching to see what happened.

Towards the end, things really ramped up and I got really invested in finishing it. The slow beginning made for an even better finale as I was prepared for the book to continue on the same path. had not even considered any of the events that came to light towards the end, something that I like in a book.

All in all, I enjoyed reading The Guest. It would be suitable for anyone who wants a book with twists and turns and a bit of a mystery without being "scary". Recommended for fans of Gone Girl.

How do you get rid of a guest who you didn’t invite and won’t leave? What is the guest hiding? In this book everyone is hiding something but some secrets are worse than others! Art gallery owner Ellie seems to have it all but then her life starts to slowly come apart at the seams...is is salvageable it will it all fall apart? Great book with lots of plot twists!

The Guest by Cathryn Grant publishing on May 24th, 2020, by Inkubator Books was more of a short novella than a full-length novel depending on your definition of a novella. The premise is a family unfamiliar with the cracks happening amongst their relationships within the husband/wife relationships, husband/children and children/school relationships, which leaves a neighbourhood girl dead.  However, things change in the family when a guest of Seth shows up without his wife knowing his friend Ace was coming to staff with them for an undetermined time. The houseguest named Ace Hartman begins to change all relationships within the house, and not all of them for the better.

The book described as a general fiction/mystery thriller is more suited for a general fiction novel because the thriller part was completing missing with nothing shocking at the end. However, reclassifying the book in the description would not have misled me, leading to a greater appreciation of the love of a mother for her children.

As an avid reader, a few holes were leaving it predictable. However, certain aspects of the books have stayed with me, such as the overall premise of the book, which would make a great movie with a few changes. When reading the book, it dragged and lulled at times and fell short of giving me the “loss of breath” moment as I knew exactly who it was and how it was all going to play out.

Wow! What an insane amount of emotions I experienced reading this! Overall a fantastic read! Not sure I expecting where it was leading, was most surprised with the ending. But honestly, I was hooked! If you like books that keep you on your toes, then this is the book for you! Murder, Secrets, lies, romance. It's packed with it all! An amazing piece of work! Well written and kept you guessing the whole way through!

I don’t know how to feel about this novel. On one hand the premise was good, and if started well. But it then seemed to lose its way and sadly I couldn’t finish it.

I read 32% of this book, but did not feel a desire to continue. A number of storylines ran through this book, some well, others repetitively boring and unrealistic, such as agreeing to a stranger living in your home because he’s teaching your son to play pool....
The main female character appears to have no backbone and for me this story was not really coming together. There may well be some good twists and a great ending, but I was not enthralled enough to find out.

I was given the amazing opportunity to read this book and give an honest review, thanks to NetGalley and Inkubator Books.

All I can say is just WOW! The twists and turns in this book? I finished it in one sitting and I am actually pretty shocked! The end wasn’t what I was expecting, which is most of the times a good thing.

Ok so Ellie is a successful business owner, she has her own gallery, an amazing husband, perfect kids, pretty much she has a perfect life. But we all know that perfect isn’t really perfect, am I right? Or am I right!

Anyway Seth, her husband, brings a friend for dinner, and Ellie has this crazy attraction to this man, and she was taken aback by him as well, not only is he hella hot, but he’s most definitely not someone that her husband will befriend.

One thing that took me back was also what was going on with her son. Her some Brandon is a freshman I’m high school and they all found out that a girl he has been crushing on was missing and then later on found out she was killed. And aside from that Brandon has been bullied by her as well. This broke my heart because I was in his shoes of being bullied and I know the toll that can take on a person.

There is so much going on in this book, and I loved the distraction, from Seth keeping insane secrets from Ellie, from Ace also keeping his background a secret as well, and even Ellie’s secrets as well. It was insane! Towards the end I was like “omg!! What the heck!” Cathryn kept me on my toes all the way to the end, I loved the feeling.