Ruth Irons was a new author to me but I am glad I chose to read it. This book was a wild roller-coaster ride and I couldn’t turn the pages fast enough. This was so well written; tension was a plenty and twists and turns had you on the edge of your seat. I never saw the ending coming and I don’t think I will forget it in a hurry. If you love a dark thriller and an unreliable narrator then this is perfect.

A little slow at first but once we're in the thick of the action it never stops. A roller coaster of a page turner that I returned to every spare moment I had. Fab.

The Perfect Guest by Ruth Irons and narrated by: Stephanie Racine was a gripping physiological thriller. A excellent audiobook that had me gripped from the beginning till the end. This was a audiobook that I had to listen to whilst doing my chores and going shopping etc - I enjoyed it so much.

I highly recommend this audiobook. I loved it.

Thank you, NetGalley and Bonnier UK Audio for my ARC audiobook

Fast paced with lots of twists. A new author for me and one I will look out for in the future.
Many thanks to Netgalley for the opportunity to read this ARC in return for an honest review

Is there anything more delicious than a twisty read with a wholly unreliable narrator? If it’s done right then you’ll want to devour it in one sitting, and I’m here to tell you that Ruth Irons gets it absolutely spot-on with her debut offering, The Perfect Guest.

Dinah Marshall is not living her best life. She’s living alone in a tiny, dingy apartment and working at a miserable job in a grungy cafe where her every move is reported back to her judgmental sister, Hen. When she’s invited along on a mini-break with some old university friends, she thinks, “why not?” After all, surely she deserves to enjoy herself and have some fun … doesn’t she?

Of course she’s fully aware that she no longer fits in with the group. Well, if she’s being honest, she never really did! The other women are all that combination of married, successful, comfortable and confident – everything that Dinah is not. As much as she wants to relax and enjoy herself, she can’t help feeling completely judged and inadequate, until she finds a way to undermine them and manages to sneak around the house at leisure without the others even knowing. And then she discovers she can remain in the house for another night after they’ve left and before the owners return. She’s quite proud of her ingenuity!

As Dinah contrives to meet Sarah and Isaac, the owners of the luxurious home that has captured her heart, she becomes increasingly obsessed with inveigling herself into their lives. And when she finally does meet them and their friends, it awakens a new hope in her. Perhaps the life that she craves is not as far out of reach as she thought it was – it might be for Dinah Marshall, but not for her brand new persona, Diana Malone!

And while her new friends might not exactly know ‘Diana’ as well as they think they do, they also aren’t the perfect people they appear to be. The more she gets to know them, the more she comes to realize that the magnetic, shiny veneer that attracted her to them in the first place might be a bit more tarnished up close than it looked from a distance.

Ruth Irons sets the tension and tone from the very first page, making this an unputdownable, unpredictable, roller-coaster ride of a psychological thriller. The main protagonists are not likeable people but one cannot help eagerly racing through this fast-paced read, to see where the plot is heading. And I have to admit, it certainly didn’t head in the direction that I was expecting!

And what is it about unlikeable characters that makes the reader (against their better judgment) quietly root for them? That is all down to the skill of the author and their ability to create multi-faceted characters. I’m looking forward to future reads from Ruth Irons!

Smart, slick and sexy The Perfect Guest is guaranteed to tie you up in knots this summer. Strong lead, drama and consquence. This is not one to miss!

Skillfully written physiological thriller with hints of single white female. This does take a while to get to the action as there is a lot of character development. After a disastrous girlie weekend away at a posh house Dinah becomes obsessed with being part of their life and reinvest herself . The plot is full of twists and turns.
Some of the posh characters feel they are written to be hated. Its an easy enjoyable read finished too quickly.
Thank you netgallery and publisher and author

I was captivated by the cover and the title, I enjoyed this book and it was fast paced, most of the twists were towards the end of the book and personally I like it when they are throughout.

Wow! My first read from Ruth Irons and I will certainly be looking out for more of her books. What can I say about Dinah/Diana? A sad character but then I felt sorry for her, and then cheering her on! A really good read that I devoured in less than 24 hours!
Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for an ARC in exchange for my honest opinion

If you are looking for a twisty and clever book, this is for you. I thoroughly enjoyed this, fantastic characters and so many secrets. What’s there not to love!

We all encounter one of those people at least once in our lives: the friends who manage to insert themselves into our lives and who overstay their welcome.
Meet Dinah, or Diana Marshall, a forty-two year old woman who's not really fitting in with her old school mates anymore. They're all married with children, while she's still single and struggling to keep a job.
That is, until she stays at a rented villa with them, as a replacement for a group member who canceled at the last minute. While snooping through the house after her friends leave, she becomes obsessed with its owners.
So she sets her claws into the Perfect Couple who lives there, Isaac and Sarah Rivers.
I thought the book was super fast paced and easy to engage with. I finished it in a few days despite my busy schedule.
If you want something to binge while you’re lounging around this summer, this is a great one to consider.
Thank you @compulsivereaders for including me in this blog tour.

Firstly thank you for early access in exchange for a review .
I devoured this in one go and hard to believe this is a debut novel !
I was absolutely hooked straight away
What a fascinating mind to get into and I imagine a lot of fun to create !
Cleverly executed and unpredictable.
Human beings are complex and this web of deceit exhibits this like no other.
Thrillibg , exciting and addictive this is a great summer thriller.
I look forward to reading more from Ruth

Dinah spends a weekend with her friends at a luxury holiday home but quickly becomes obsessed with the owners and wants to inveigle herself into their lives. Can Dinah get the life she has always dreamed of...?
The Perfect Guest is a psychological thriller set in the UK.
Dinah has not had an easy life and always feels like the odd one out. She wants a better life for herself and thinks that friendship with the Rivers family will make all the difference. But she is lying to them and maybe everything isn't as perfect in their lives as it seems.
Poor Dinah frequently compares herself to others and finds herself lacking. She obviously has serious mental health issues and is an unreliable narrator. The book is written in the first person so we experience her hopes and fears, understand her emotions and actions. Her behaviour is dark and dangerous as her obsession grows. I felt annoyed that she doesn't appreciate what she has and blames others for her unhappiness instead of taking responsibility.
As the plot progressed, I was unclear what Dinah hoped to achieve. She is fully aware that she is lying and that the friendship is built on falsehoods. None of the characters is particularly easy to like, and in fact I actively disliked some of them. The final third of the book takes a more sinister turn as it is revealed that Dinah isn't the only one with secrets.
The Perfect Guest is an enjoyable psychological thriller.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and found it very entertaining. I really felt for Dinah as she tried so hard to fit in. I wouldn't say there was any major twists but certainly a few curve balls.

I really liked this book. I found myself disliking the main character but also feeling sorry for her at times as well I was hooked at the title but then once reading the book I love it even more. I mean a girls weekend where you have only been invited because someone dropped out that’s hard to take but the way the story have twist and turns and was somewhat dark in places and to find out all is not is seems within the characters and they are not a perfect and they portray. I found this a cropping thriller with an explosive twist 4 start read for me.

Thank you the the publisher and author for the opportunity to read and review this digital arc.

'The Perfect Guest' is an okay read however I did find it a bit obvious and at times ridiculous. Especially with how this book begins, i just cannot see people behaving in that way. Anyway, this to one side and for the most part I enjoyed the read The plot is fast-paced and I was not sure what direction it would take at times. There are secrets to be revealed along the way and this adds drama to the book. All of the action happens towards the end of the book and I do think this could have been improved if something occurred a bit earlier too.
The characters are okay but I did not find any of them likeable and as a result I was not invested in them or what was happening to them. The book was okay, I just think it was quite forgettable.
Thank you to NetGalley and Black & White Publishing for an advance copy.

I loved this book from beginning to end. It is deliciously dark! You know from the beginning that things aren’t quite right and you get a real sense of impending doom as you know the story is heading for a disastrous ending. The ending though wasn’t quite the one I expecting! This is honestly a brilliant psychological thriller with great characters which will have your anxiety levels ramped right up to the end.

Tension Fuelled..
A weekend at a luxury holiday home turns sinister in this tension fuelled, gripping suspense. A propulsive and compelling plot populated with well drawn, credible characters, a narrative rippling with tension and deception and twists and turns aplenty make for a one sit, immersive read.

Loved loved loved!!!! What a brilliant read - so well written. Cant wait to read more from Ruth. Edge of the seat thriller but fun too, loved it.

What a wild ride this was. I didn't like Dinah at all to begin with but definitely warmed to her as time went on. I found the story incredibly tense at times and it held me captive to the end with one heck of a twist.