Review: 'The Unwelcome Guest' by Amanda Robson
Pub. Date: 8/19/2021
Publisher: Avon Books UK
SHE HAD THE PERFECT MARRIAGE. UNTIL HER MOTHER-IN-LAW MOVED IN…
Saffron vowed to love Miles no matter what life threw at them both. But when her mother-in-law moves into their happy family home, Saffron’s shiny life begins to tarnish.
Even as Caprice’s barbed comments turn to something more sinister, Saffron hopes the new nanny’s arrival will shield her from the worst of it. She’s starting to feel paranoid in her own home.
Little does she realise that Caprice longs for a new daughter-in-law – and she’ll do anything to make that happen…
Mother-in-laws, that feared stereotype. Ever since reading The Unwelcome Guest I've been wondering whether it is somehow linked to the Evil Step-Mother archetype, the mother who isn't a real mother and therefore can't possibly have your best interest at heart. It is a fascinating stereotype that can absolutely be mined for drama and tension, but that can also give the author a chance to really dig into society's expectations of women and mothers, and into the drastic difference in experience between different generations of women. Addressing these themes doesn't mean your novel has to turn into a Social Commentary Novel. You can still have high-stakes, tension, drama and fun, but you can also add depth and bring something to a story that everyone thinks they know.
Saffron and Miles love each other, they have great careers, lovely children, a stunning house and family money. But there's an issue in the form of Miles' mother, Caprice, who knows that Saffron simply isn't good enough for Miles, with her career and her 21st century feminism and her vegetarianism. So she starts planning. But so does Saffron. The novel's story is split across various narratives. There is Saffron, the suffering wife; Miles, the loving but clueless husband; Caprice, the controlling mother-in-law; and Hayley, the young and vivacious nanny. And that is pretty much who they are. The characterization doesn't go very deep and they move violently between different emotions and motivations. Things happen to them, but nothing seems to quite stick, and they go from one high-stakes situation to the next without anything ever truly, lastingly affecting them. The Unwelcome Guest was a fun read, the kind I would interrupt to tell my housemates 'Guess what she's done now!'. But it is also the kind of read that will fade rather quickly, since it didn't add anything new or unexpected to an old story.
This is my first novel by Amanda Robson and I liked the slight OTT-ness of the story. The Unwelcome Guest is a quick, fun, ridiculous read full of beautiful people against beautiful backdrops doing dumb things. It's shlocky and I would have loved to read this by a beach or a swimming pool. But I would have hoped for a little bit more. An interesting element in the novel was that each first-person narrator often discussed other characters in the second, rather than the third, person. It brings you a little closer into their mindset, tells you that they are indeed constantly mentally rehashing arguments. At times the narrator will change mid-chapter, which is quite confusing, but I think this might be due to the ARC itself. While this review may seem overly negative, I did enjoy reading The Unwelcome Guest although I left it slightly underwhelmed.
I give this book...
2 Universes!
The Unwelcome Guest is a quick, dramatic read full of surprises and twists. While it doesn't go as deep as I would like and is a little confusing here or there, it is a perfectly enjoyable summer read.
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