Both Joanna and Leah get into dangerous situations in the book, some due to their own making which ramped up the anxiety on their behalf. Some were due to their natural curiosity and helpful natures. Each of them acted in a way to endanger themselves on occasion. This reader enjoyed the anxiety for their safety in those scenes. The author did an excellent job crafting the suspenseful parts of the tale. The way she tied the diverse elements together was very satisfying. After Leah’s twenty-one year old niece drowns in a lake near their family Italian resort she is devastated. One year later her loss still feels fresh. She decides to return to her family’s resort and is dumbfounded when her family seems to have removed all traces of her niece. Leah suspects something is fishy and is determined to figure out they are covering up. This was a great, slow burn of a mystery. I liked the way that the author alternated between each day of the holiday to the day that the body was found, so that we could slowly begin to make our minds up on what had happened. I flitted from theory to theory but I did not suspect the ending at all! I found it so hard to know who we could trust, which is a credit to the author’s writing for making it so gripping and twisty! Loved the setting of Greece - reading it in the sunshine made me feel like I was actually there! Although I’m glad I wasn’t! I can’t even begin to imagine how it would feel to be caught up in something like that! Leah arrives in Il Mandrino, a luxury holiday village on Lake Garda owned by her sister and brother in law. A year ago Leah’s much loved niece Amy tragically drowns and she is astonished to find that all traces of Amy seem to have been airbrushed out but why?? In addition to this strangeness the dynamics in her sisters family are also odd seeming both strained and distant. Leah’s scepticism over Amy’s death is now amplified. Meanwhile in Derby, Joanna is trying to recover from a very sudden break up of a long-term relationship. She has no desire to be alone one evening and so calls in at a pub where she meets a kind and friendly barman, nothing out of the ordinary there except that a week or two later she finds herself drawn into something most unexpectedly .

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. Leah Hannell is visiting her sister’s family at their luxury resort in Lake Garda, Italy for the first time since the death of her niece, Amy, after a forced temporary leave of absence from her job. When she learns that the circumstances surrounding Amy’s death are anything but clear, Leah decides to investigate what really happened despite active attempts to dissuade her. One Sentence Summary: In Italy, Leah secretly tries to unravel the mystery surrounding her niece’s death less than a year ago and, in Derby, Joanna ends up hosting a man she barely knows, but who seems to have been studying her. In this captivating slow-burner, dark secrets lurk beneath a luxurious lakeside resort in Italy with mysterious connections to a handsome bartender in England. Helen Cooper deftly navigates between what seems like two completely separate narratives bundled in The Other Guest: One involves a murder hushed up by the victim’s own family, and the other involves a blossoming romance. You’ll be hooked on trying to solve this puzzle!”– Reader’s Digest The writing by the author is captivating though I would have loved to feel more of a ‘gripping and thrilling’ effect in the untangling of the mystery. Surely, I am looking forward to reading other works by the author.The womanizing asshole’s offense was some groping but someone dies over it and then a massive coverup ensues? I mean, not that I am wishing someone got the full monty from this loser but come on. The Other Guest had several characters each of them having a fair amount of growing up to do and I loved how Il Mandrino, the resort becomes an integral element of the story. The setting of the resort was good, and it provided a claustrophobic experience. The grief and trauma of losing a loved one were conveyed in excellent fashion, each one of them suffering in private unable to share the pain that haunts all of them in equal measures.

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. Many thanks to Net Galley, Hodder & Stoughton, and the author for a chance to read and review this book. All opinions are expressed voluntarily. Sinister and beautifully atmospheric, The Other Guest lures you with the promise of a luxury island before revealing its darker, claustrophobic side. I loved it.”– L V Matthews, author of The TwinsTo say it's categorised as a thriller, I didn't find it very thrilling - excuse the pun. It's a bit mysterious maybe but honestly, all that build up for, in my opinion, not a fantastic ending. I was really waiting for some big plot twist or a seriously dramatic turn of events. Sadly, it never came. It’s a book that speaks to us about why judgement of others can often be incredibly wrong. Who can you trust? What if you get a person all wrong? The characters are all really interesting and there was a great amount of reveals and twists right to the end. I did not guess the final reveal but I was close if that counts!

Pure, thrilling escapism. Whip-smart twists make this summer sizzler impossible to put down. The Other Guest is unforgettable' Chris Whitaker

Christmas Gifts

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. I don’t know how I feel about this. I went into it excited and ended disappointed. I didn’t like the characters and the story was all over the place. It read like one of those Lifetime movies. This was one cat and mouse game no one won. Olivia’s dad never actually has any discussion with his daughter but he assumes one killed the other because of a tiff on a camera.