A review by reganadd
The Perfect Guests by Emma Rous

adventurous mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.75

Slow slow slow oh wait let’s fit like 4 twists at the very end of the book!

I feel like some of the twists could have been revealed earlier, like

Beth being Sadie’s mother.

That was fairly obvious and rather than making the mystery like “why are we all gathered here today,” make it more “I know why I’m here, why are y’all here?” 

I did like the twist about

Beth being Markus’s daughter, made the bracelet moment so tender.

But somebody just mow down this dusty old house so we can be done with it. Was really hoping for some deeper motivatiln beyond “I just want to keep my house” you know?

Beth’s parts were so much more interesting than Sadie’s - could have been read with Beth’s complete story (including Markus’s death), followed by a time jump to Sadie’s story - chronological rather than dual time line could have hooked me into the story faster. But all in all this was unique and I liked it well enough for a summer-to-fall book! Loved the scenes with Markus’s father visiting - really thought they sould have Beth go with him to the States to live as “Nina” so they’d all be left alone at Raven Hall, but I’m well enough satisfied with the ending. Beth and Jonas<3