This book sucked me in from the very first page and didn't let go til the end. I always love Rona Halsall books and can always count on them being a 5 star read. Fantastic book!

Rona Halsall builds the tension slowly as Steph's conventionally perfect life begins to unravel. You can almost hear the music that tells you something is getting ready to make you jump!!! As she finds herself alone in the house she shared with her husband and children for most of her life, she cannot understand why everyone thinks she should sell her home and move. Then "things" start to happen. Suddenly Steph does not feel safe in her own home. Since everyone is convinced it's only because she's alone in such a big house, she offers to rent a room to a young man. Let your inagination take it from here......

This story definitely has all the mystery/thriller creepy feel that readers love. With lots of clues that lead to several twists, the reveal is surprising.

Gripping writing with likeable main character. I felt for her and wanted to make sure she was ok. Lots of ominous things happened and so it really added to the tension of the book.

A great twisty thriller that keeps you guessing and the twists are good. I did start to see one coming a little while before the reveal but that didn't detract from my enjoyment of the book.

Steph is married to Andy for thirty years and her husband wants a divorce because he believes his wife is having an affair with her boss. Their daughter Sophie is married to a wealthy man travels a lot and is home alone alot. She has to get used to living alone and she starts to have weird things happen. Noises, smells, windows open. A brick thrown into her front window. Their son has been gone for ten years. Accidents are happening to Sophie and her daughter suggests that she comes to stay with her. Sophie invites a man Noah into her spare room to feel safer. She had met him at her job at the homeless shelter. Her parents are not happy about that. Things start to calm bit then one day they escalate. Does someone want her out? Thanks NetGalley and the publisher for the advance ecopy.

This one was a page-turner, rollercoaster ride! I absolutely loved it.
The creepy setting, mysterious characters, had me turning pages late into the night! Some of the twists were genius and difficult to guess. Loved this book!

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for providing me an ARC in exchange of my opinion

Okay. I completely DNF’d this. I tried but this is not doing anything for me. Sorry!

Thanks to Netgalley! Hoping for a better read next time!

The Guest Room was my first from Rona Halsall. I really enjoyed her writing style, throwing in a lot of red herrings and suspicious characters so you're constantly questioning who could be behind Steph's troubles. I will say that my only complaint with this was that there were so many clues thrown in that I was able to figure out who the culprit was pretty early on. It was pretty easy to figure out the whole picture even with all of the extra suspicions thrown on just about every other character. That being said, I still really enjoyed watching the ending play out and didn't expect it to happen the way it did. I found all of characters to be really intriguing. I loved the explanation and conclusion of Max's story as well. This was really captivating and held my attention from start to finish. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Stephanie and Andy have split up--Andy wants to sell the house they shared for over 25 years. Steph want to keep it. Then strange things start happening and they've escalated to dangerous. Steph isn't sure who is doing this, a homeless person? That's what the police thought. Maybe her soon to be ex-husband Andy? What she wouldn't give to have her son Max back, but he's been gone over 10 years. So, who is doing this? You will be surprised when you find out. I enjoyed this story but felt it kind of dragged on longer than necessary. I voluntarily reviewed a copy of this book

In Rona Hallsall’s the Guest Room, this shockingly twisted psychological thriller has some domestic suspense elements to keep your head spinning. For Stephanie Baker, all she wanted was to stay in her home, and to be reconnected to her estranged son Max. Due to the divorce with her husband Andy, both he and her daughter Bea wanted her to sell the home. But when push came to shove, she was adamant and stood her ground. Until some incidents had taken place at her home to scare her senseless and made her feel a bit unsafe. Then she met Noah, a homeless man who lived in the shed of her home. At first, she was suspicious about him, but she questioned everyone who wanted to harm her—her ex, Noah, people at work. As she had gotten closer to knowing him better and helping him out, things took a turn for the worst when unsavory people showed up at her home, and then later a house fire. That’s when Noah saved her life and her daughter Bea became needy. Little did Steph know the truth, when she started adding up the strange happenings at her home and connected the hard hard truth before it was too late.

This twisted psychological thriller would have you at the edge of your seat. I cared for Steph, who wanted to reconnect with her son Max, and to live at her home. I loved how she had a caring nature to help Noah out with his family and residential issues. The dual locations of Harrogate and London had stellar scenic settings from her home to the homeless shelter. The theme is jealousy is a ugly skin when we should love one another equally.

This gripping psychological thriller will have your heart racing and your skin crawl. I rated this book, four out of five stars, for no reason. If you love twisted psychological thrillers with non-stop action, plenty of dramatic suspense, and spine-tingling twists, The Guest Room will keep you up all night. This is recommended for fans of Cara Reinard, Gillian Flynn, and domestic suspense and psychological thriller novels and movies.

I received an eARC of The Guest Room by Rona Halsall from Bookouture and NetGalley in exchange for an honest opinion. Thank you!
I give this book 3 stars. It was overall a good suspenseful with a few hiccups in the plot.

Steph has lost everything. When a failed marriage, career and complete loss of self-worth hit, she takes it upon herself to rebuild her life. Its when things start to go eerily wrong, that she suspects someone is targeting her. But why?

This is a fast-paced, shocking and thrilling dark read. All the deception, lies and twists will have your stomach in a knot and you the reader will have you pointing fingers at so many characters you deem as the culprits only to have your hand sliced off at the final plot twist.

Get in for a real rollercoaster of twists. Highly recommended.

A well paced thriller that keeps you guessing. The protagonist made some questionable choices throughout, which was slightly frustrating, but didn't distract from the story.
The sub plots within the main plot really kept the pace up, whilst continually building dread in the reader.

Would recommend to anyone that loves a good edge of your seat, dread filled read.

This was a decent read, though I never really connected with the protagonist. It was very clear to me from early on who the culprit was, but the story was still fast-paced and I enjoyed how it all played out.

Another 5star read from Rona who never fails to disappoint. This book is well written, full of surprises, and very twisty.

The characters are well developed, believable and I LOVED the plot. The main character never felt safe after her husband walked out on her, the home has strange things going on, but it makes you wonder whether she's over paranoid or truly is unsafe...

Can't wait to read more from Rona.

Full of suspense, fast paced . Even though I picked it early it didnt change how I felt about this book. It had a superb ending which made the book for me.

This was a slow read to begin with where Steph found herself at the end of marriage with the husband suddenly accusing her of infidelity (imagine that! after 30 years!!) Creepy stuff started to occur which caused her to find a lodger. But things got worse. And that were the subplots of this thriller. IT was atmospheric where the author brought fear into play, giving the story an edge.

Though I couldn't connect to the characters, I still was kept guessing about the perp. A good read.

Now whilst I found this a good read, I couldn't find any connection to the characters what so ever. I'm most definitely a reader that needs to relate to a character (preferably the protagonist) even in the smallest degree but it just didn't happen.

The main character Steph finds herself living alone after my marriage of 30 years falls apart. Creepy goings on start happening around the home so she decides to take in a lodger hoping that things will settle down. Things get worse!

The writer cleverly brings fear onto the forefront and portrays Stephs real fear brilliantly.

I did guess 'the baddie' quite early on which was slightly disappointing but the storyline did have me wanting to carry on.

With thanks to netgalley and Bookouture for the ARC.

I enjoyed Steph's storyline as she wades through the devastation of losing her marriage, career, and confidence. Definitely a very naive character - a bit frustrating that she didn't seem to see the very obvious signs of something occurring around her.

Great characters, and a fast paced storyline with some fantastic twists and turns. Definitely a good relaxing read for a psychological thriller.

📌 Pub Date: January 31, 2022

I was given an ARC of this story to read; but thoughts and opinions are all my own. Thank you to Netgalley and Bookouture for the chance to read this book!

A good read
Plenty of twists and turns
Will have you hooked till the very last page
Thanks NetGalley