The Christmas Guest

Holy smokes!!! What did I just read? This book is part lovely Christmas and part twisty thriller. Loved this book! I think o found a new author to read!
The twist? My heart dropped and I had to go back and reread the pages before.
I have questions about the ending but I think that was the point.

I wanted a quick English manor thriller and this was all of that. The twist came halfway through and then we saw the characters go trough an aftermath 30 years later. That added something unexpected in a thriller novella.

3.75

such a fun murder mystery novella! i had such a good time reading this and highly recommend reading in one sitting curled upby a fireplace with a blanket in december. 

I thought this was pretty good! A lot of telling and not showing but it worked for me!

I’m glad I gave this book a chance! It was giving Saltburn to be dragged into a rich British person’s house and then… well.

An American student is invited to spend Christmas in the Cotswold, we get to read her diary of the event and then what happened after.

I listened to this when baking gingerbread cookies and there were no surprises for me. And there were some TSTL action from the diary writer.

This was not for me but it wasn't really bad.

Short and sweet. I really needed something holiday related I could finish in one sitting and this was just perfect for the job.

(3.5)

This book hadn't been on my radar at all but I was in the mood for a short Christmas read and this one sounded intriguing.

Having no place to go for Christmas Ashley is invited to her friend Emma's family home for the holidays. Ashley hopes for a magical trip to the English country and maybe even find some romance. She instantly has eyes for Emma's brother, Adam, and comes to think he might be attracted to her as well. As for the rest of Emma's family, she's put off and intimidated by them.

Choosing to make the best of things, she keeps her focus on Emma and Adam, but things grow tense when people around town start talking about how much she looks like a girl who had been murdered earlier that year. Making matters worse, she finds out that Adam is the prime suspect despite his alibi.

While the plot was intriguing, I couldn't start Ashley, making the section of the book with her journal entries excruciating after a whole. If not for the mystery and short length of the book I might not have continued, but I'm glad I kept reading. The second part of the book picks up immensely and answers a lot of questions. A good mystery to read/listen to in one sitting.

i dnf'd this, i wanted to on page 10 and made it to page 42. i don't understand, i've read a few books by peter swanson and loved them so i'm confused, did i have the wrong expectations or am i stupid?

this is advertised as a ‘classic country house murder for the festive season' - i thought it would be gripping, thriller-ish and most of all interesting?

the whole thing (or the portion i read which was part 1) was a diary of the main character which was just so weirdly written. sometimes it would feel like an actual story and other times it felt just so disingenuous. for a diary, i would have expected personality.

i didn't even remember the characters name (ashley) or what she studied at uni. all i know is that she's american, goes to university in london, and likes boys. she has no personality, she honestly seems like a sheep who is overly excited about men. overly excited in a non believable way. every time something is brought up to develop this character, it ends in two sentences.

the plot (from what i can tell) is ashley is invited to stay at her ‘friends,' emma's(they don't seem like friends i know nothing about their relationship) house for christmas. she meets her brother - which upon meeting him twice, decides she's in love with him. the people around the town think ashley looks like a girl who was murdered recently, and they think emma's brother did it.

which would be an exciting plot, except the writing did just not pull me in at all. the book is only 104 pages, so i thought it would be a little more fast paced. ashley comments a few times she's living in a ‘gothic horror' and i was just saying no you're not, nothing has happened to make you believe that realistically. sure you might have the heebie jeebies at most.

when she meets him for the second time and they share one kiss she says ‘am I in love with him?' and I audibly said what do you mean??? and that's when i decided to dnf it - i was already bored.

i don't know what to say maybe i'm confused, maybe i missed something or was in a bad mood / disinterested? please forgive me mr swanson.

he writes really good stuff; i recommend the kind worth killing & every vow you break :)

Quick Christmas read - murder, guilt, Cotswold

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC!

An unsatisfied, low 3 stars. Or maybe a high 2 stars. I can't really make up my mind.

The first half of this novella sits somewhere between 4 and 5 stars. I loved it. But unfortunately, the second half landed between 1 or 2 stars. It frustrated me to no end. Overall, the two halves just did not successfully work as a book. But I can't ignore how much I enjoyed the beginning! So, I've settled for a rating somewhere in the middle.

The second half was odd and did not fit into this novella, given how it started, with the ending being anticlimactic. It completely lacked impact. There was no punch to it, even though there was so much potential for a juicy or fun conclusion. It just fizzles out! All of it together didn't make sense as a book.

This novella definitely felt more like a thriller than a mystery, in my opinion. And it wasn't really a take on a classic country house mystery either.

I usually don't like Christmas themed stories, but Peter Swanson wrote one of my favorite mysteries so I gave it a shot. It's a fun quick read.Side note: at one point I thought the relationship between the 2 siblings was going to take a rather gothic turn, if you will