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1.69k reviews for:

The Dilemma

B.A. Paris

3.26 AVERAGE

emotional tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

3.5 STARS.

Thank you so much to St. Martin’s Press for the gifted ARC of THE DILEMMA by B.A. Paris! If you guys are looking for the perfect quick and easy summer read, look no further

I LOVED THIS STORY! I loved the multiple viewpoints, and the different secrets being kept. When it all came bubbling to the surface, I was at the edge of my seat! BA Paris did it again. Almost as good as Behind Closed Doors.

itsmattyfingsmokes's review

0.5
challenging sad tense slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Loveable characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

this sucked ass so bad you guys. i would rather a thriller not make sense and have a million plot holes than it be a boring and depressing drawn out family drama. at least then it's ENTERTAINING. 

god this is horrendous. where to even begin. this has exactly two conflicts that are established pretty early on and then just gets draaaaaawn ouuuuut somehow over like 300 pages. nothing fucking HAPPENS. i was gearing up for a fantastic blow up at the end, and then.... nothing. i cannot express how much i hated this book. 

liv is a 40 year old who is SO OBSESSED with her BIRTHDAY PARTY that her husband decides NOT TO TELL HER THAT HER DAUGHTER IS DEAD so that she can enjoy the party. what the literal hell. this is so fucking dumb. i'm so mad. 

because this is a serious fucking topic. losing a child is one of the hardest things that human beings can go through. and you decide to use that as a plot twist? go fuck yourself.

the entire book is just different conversations that the characters are having with people and their internal debates about the same fucking topic over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over again. god it was unbearable. 

this book could have been a good 10 page short story. if it wasn't marketed as a THRILLER, but a family drama, maybe it could have been good. but then again, i probably wouldn't have read it in that case. but maybe that would have been for the best.

i cant imagine anyone enjoying this. how do i unwaste the time i spent reading this book

I want to preface this review by saying that I'm a big fan of B. A. Paris' previous works.  Behind Closed Doors and Bring Me Back were gripping thrillers from cover to cover (Unfortunately, I haven't had the chance to check out The Breakdown yet).  But I think that categorizing this particular book as a "thriller" or "mystery" does it a great disservice. This is not a thriller.  The Dilemma is a suspenseful family drama. If you go into this book expecting twists and turns in the plot as you often see in mysteries, you're going to be very disappointed.  It is suspenseful, but it is not a thriller.

There are two twists in the novel, and the first is given away by the prologue. I've whined in the past about how every author these days seems to think that their novels have to have a prologue. The prologue in The Dilemma gave away the major plot development of the book, and really provided nothing of value to the story itself.

That said, this novel is incredibly suspenseful. It's clear that Livia's big birthday bash is not going to be the idyllic event that she's planned, and the stress that the main characters are enduring seems to ooze off the pages. I was sweating buckets while reading, genuinely worried about how it would all go down.  The Dilemma made me incredibly uncomfortable, yet I could not seem to put it down.

The depth of the characters is definitely the strength of this novel.  They are so detailed, with such rich backgrounds, that it feels like they could leap off the page.  I felt like I understood Livia and her motivations more than I understand my own mother (Sorry, Mom!).

BA Paris has such a phenomenal writing style that she could write about going to the bathroom and I’d hang on to her every word.  I would have liked to have known that this isn't a true thriller when I started reading, since it would have completely changed my expectations.

dilemma small

I recommend this book to those who enjoy a suspenseful family drama filled with secrets, lies, and uncomfortable birthday parties.

starstarstarstar

* Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the arc to review! *
This review appeared first on https://powerlibrarian.wordpress.com/

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Not the kind of story I expected of this author. It didn't feel like a real thriller, not even a mystery, because you know quiet early in the story who keeps which secret and what repercussions could be. It felt more like a drama...
challenging dark emotional lighthearted mysterious sad tense fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: No
emotional mysterious reflective medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: No
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

Definitely not a thriller! Speed-read it waiting for a twist. Was disappointed. Agree with other reviews that this could have been condensed into a short story.
reflective sad tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: N/A
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes