The Other Guest: twisty, thrilling and addictive - the perfect holiday read!

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Grace and Charles are on the way of their dream honeymoon but destiny got different plans. Due to the weather, they had to stay in Saltwater. All the guest houses are booked so they have to stay at Anchorage, which is not what Grace had in her mind, she is more than unhappy but Charles is reliving his childhood/teenage visits here. Anchorage is not what it seems, the hosts are also hiding something. The narrative centres around the death of the daughter of a couple who own a beautiful, top class hotel on the stunning Lake Garda in Italy. The daughter, Amy, hates the place and wants to leave. She has tried before to do so but was stopped by her parents and is about to have another bid for freedom when she dies in the lake surrounding the hotel. Was it an accident or was it murder? The unfolding mystery will touch many more than just those surrounding the luxury hotel. The book shows not only how the Milton family changed but how society itself has changed. Again, thought provoking. Slow to start but won me over. This is not a book to speed through, take your time, absorb it, ponder it, think about the issues this book brings up, and maybe examine your own family history. Metcalf, Mitch (December 5, 2018). "Updated: ShowBuzzDaily's Top 150 Tuesday Cable Originals & Network Finals: 12.4.2018". Showbuzz Daily. Archived from the original on December 6, 2018 . Retrieved December 5, 2018.

Look, there are a lot of really beautiful moments and beautiful sentences in this book. I teared up a little when the book finally— finally—got around to the climactic final showdown. Which, predictably, involved a lot of hetero sex on beaches under the moonlight and a lot of coded-queer erasure. Bury your (maybe) gays, unless you live by water; drowning them is easier. Damn, but Blake knows how to quote James Baldwin. And when. It was a great read and left me pondering what would I do in each pair of shoes. You’ll be stunned at times when you think you’ve got the picture and outcome sussed. The only reason is a sold 4 stars not 5 was that the police investigation could of been more realistic. There are things around that which would not happen and things missed that were obvious. Aside from that tiny thing it’s a great book to read on holiday (or maybe not a good idea) or anywhere really but be VERY careful who you get to know on your holiday! I also didn't feel the characters had much depth to them. Therefore, I was unable to connect with them. Wow! I love Heidi Perks novels and IMO this her best one to date! The story focuses on 2 women who have come to White Sands Resort on the island of Ixos in Greece; Laila who has come on holiday for a break with her husband James after their 5th failed attempt at IVF, and EM who has come on holiday with her husband Rob and her two teenage sons. On day 3 of the holiday there is a murder (no spoiler) and you, along with the guests) are left trying to work out whodunnit. A compulsive counter comes to the beach house to admit a secret to his family, but when they cancel, he finds a makeshift family to admit his secret to, only for his real family to arrive.C.L. Pattison's The Guest Book offers the readers to delve into the hidden mysteries of a guest house and how it uncovers the dark realities of human psychology.

The writing was beyond fantastic and it was never something I tripped over. What I loved so much outside of the love story was how thought provoking this was. It really made me look more deeply at myself and I think it raises some very interesting questions. As the book and Milton generations progress, some members of the family begin to evolve and examine the circumstances that they are surrounded by. The older generations did a lot of brushing their emotions under the rug that were unbecoming so as to appear respectable and not to create a fuss. The truth of very consequential events were also hidden and purposely not talked about. The regret this later caused and how this rippled through the family almost 100 years later put a burden on the grandchildren that they (in my opinion) were not willing to confront. Unfortunately, I felt a little bit let down by this book. The cover and the title really caught my eye, but I didn't really get how they tie in with the book itself.The way Heidi has written and described the venue really makes you feel like you are on holiday with the characters, especially as Laila (like me) is a people watcher! It is the rare book which spurs me to write a scathing review, and I don’t know if this is so much scathing as it is confused and a little cloudy on the details. I slept on this review, several times. This is therefore the most mild, calm, and generous take on this novel that I could summon. My first reactions, by comparison, were much more … full of feeling. I think that sort of response is a valid one to chronicle, but this being such a considered book, I felt it deserved a considered reply. Note: Officer Kimberly, Wilfred, Emma, and Frank, joined by Dr. Andrew (on a video call), main characters from Season 1, visit Vivian and Eddie This is one of those books that you start to read and right from the outset it becomes completely addictive.' Great. People whose families poured financial support into the German war machine during WWII should have MANY crises of conscience. That’s definitely a thing that should happen.

Overall, yes it does have twists, yes it does have some atmosphere, yes the Cornish setting is good but no, it doesn’t fulfil its obvious potential and that’s s real shame. Also, wondering about the title as the guest book is only a very small part of the whole???? This book had me on the edge of my seat, flirting with the supernatural. The characters were so well developed, you could feel the emotions Grace was going through and every second you asked yourself if any of the narrators were reliable. The progression, throughout the generations, though startling and inspiring, is still very fragile. Though Len and Reg regarded Moss’s optimism and idealism as naïve and ineffectual, that vision may have been the catalyst for change. However, the two men weren’t wrong in their assessment, and not just about the times they lived in. Their admonishments serve as a reminder that paying lip service, no matter how well-intentioned, is not helpful, and most people offering it, do so without fully understanding what it is truly like to walk in another’s shoes. The first introduces readers to Joanna Greenfield, the Head of Counseling Services at the University of Derby in England. She lives with her cat and is recovering from her breakup with Luke, who she had been with for 16 years. It isn’t long before she meets Callum Foley, a bartender, and they go on a first date. I went into this hoping for a bookish trip to Italy, with a side of mystery, but it turned out to be less Italy and more a resort for incredibly beautiful people owned and operated by an increasingly broken and dysfunctional family. I was fascinated by the family, Charlotte and Gordon and their teenage daughter Olivia. Their polished exteriors hid some incredible secrets, all of which revolved around the death of the older daughter, Amy, which is what Amy’s aunt Leah is trying to unravel. They really stole the show for me, though the resort itself had most of my attention. Then there’s Joanna, who’s story felt more tangentially related than truly intertwined. I liked how some of the characters crossed between the stories told by Joanna and Leah, but I had a hard time getting into Joanna’s story.Heidi Perks has a gift for ratcheting up tension and suspense in her books, leaving this reader gasping for breath with the lights on in the middle of the night. Bravo!' Liz Nugent After several failed IVF attempts Laila and her husband James decided to take a break to a luxury island resort in Ixos in Greece. They use the money saved from their treatment to get away and recharge and rekindle their relationship, as the couple’s relationship is currently strained. As soon as they arrive Grace is already unhappy with the gloomy brooding atmosphere of the place and the owners are not helping. They seem somehow wooden and unwelcoming. Charles is loving it though as he remembers Pamela and Michael Jeffrey fondly. Soon, Grace is hearing and seeing things and things go bump in the night in an effort to ramp up the creepiness. It didn’t work for me. Not much actually happened other than a lot of contrived creepiness. Grace seems haunted and Charles is an odd one, he comes across as a bit of a cipher. The Jeffreys are made out to be creepy and the house haunted. And of course the landline is down and the cell phone tower is too so there not only trapped in the town but incommunicado. Another hard-to-put-down book from [Heidi Perks]. With so many layers and complex characters, the suspense will keep you gripped throughout' Woman's Weekly However, it is an opportunity to break the chain, learn from the past, work diligently to prevent history from repeating itself. It is a lesson we can all learn from. Stay on the forward path, ever alert, never silent, or willfully ignorant. That is the key to releasing the past, where healing begins, where forgiveness takes root, and hope’s seed is planted.