The House Guests by Emilie Richards

Two women. Two families. Two lifetimes' worth of secrets.

In the wake of her husband’s sudden death, Cassie Costas finds her relationship with her teenage stepdaughter unraveling. After their move to historic Tarpon Springs, Florida, Savannah hates her new town, her school and most of all her stepmom, whom she blames for her father’s death. Cassie has enough to contend with as she searches for answers about the man she shared a life with, including why all their savings have disappeared.

When Savannah’s rebellion culminates in an act that leaves single mother Amber Blair and her sixteen-year-old son homeless, Cassie empathizes with the woman’s predicament and invites the strangers to move in. As their lives intertwine, Cassie realizes that Amber is hiding something. She’s evasive about her past, but the fear in her eyes tells a darker story. Cassie wonders what the woman living under her roof is running from… and what will happen if it finally catches up to her.

 

 

Buy Links

Amazon US  ~  Amazon UK  ~  Amazon Au  ~  Amazon Ca
Apple Books  ~  B&N  ~  Google Play  ~  Kobo
Audiobook (US)  ~  Hardcover (US)  ~  Paperback (US)
Harlequin

 

 

Reviews by the Wicked Reads Review Team

Sarah – ☆☆☆
This is an almost painfully slow story about four people sharing a house in Florida. The house belongs to Cassie and her stepdaughter, Savannah. The houseguests are Amber and her son, Will. Cassie invites Amber to live with her after Savannah steals Amber’s savings.

I really struggled with this book. There are a couple of storylines here that should be exciting. Cassie is digging into the mysterious circumstances surrounding the death of her husband, Savannah’s father. Amber is running from something – and for the longest time, readers don’t know what. However, both of these storylines drag along without any building tension. Interspersed between are scenes where Cassie and Savannah struggle with grief, relocating, and being poor(er) than they are accustomed to. Cassie reads as slightly useless, and Savannah as spoilt, so I found it really difficult to have empathy for either of them. Amber and Will are much more likeable, but Amber is too secretive and guarded for readers to ever connect with.

With too many characters and too many narrative perspectives, this book becomes unwieldy. I was unable to keep the additional supporting characters straight. Cassie’s family members, her husband’s previous colleagues, the men Cassie and Amber date, Savannah’s friends… It is all a bit much in a single story. There are a couple of revelations at the end that should have been exciting, but they just weren’t. I’m a fast reader and I read just about everything. It isn’t often that I pick up, put down, and avoid a book as much as I did this one.

 

 

USA Today bestselling author EMILIE RICHARDS has written more than seventy novels. She has appeared on national television and been quoted in Reader’s Digest, right between Oprah and Thomas Jefferson. Born in Bethesda, Maryland, and raised in St. Petersburg, Florida, Richards has been married for more than forty years to her college sweetheart. She splits her time between Florida and Western New York, where she is currently plotting her next novel.

Connect with Emilie

Facebook  ~  Twitter  ~  Instagram  ~  Website  ~  Goodreads

 

 

Reviewers on the Wicked Reads Review Team were provided a free copy of The House Guests by Emilie Richards to read and review.