A review by anakaur
The Paying Guests by Sarah Waters

dark mysterious sad slow-paced

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

2.5

 

I was excited for this book because I'm all for a sapphic romance. 

I was also hoping the the first book that I pick up to get back into reading after being out of it since high school would have been more of a thriller. But this is defiantly a slow burn. I felt like the ending wasn't supper satisfying either. 

I will give this book it's flowers were it deserves. I like that our main protagonist is an older woman that knows what she likes. I also like that it does have established lesbian background relationship (Christina/Stevie). It's a historical fiction so it is difficult to keep things accurate but also not just marry everyone off into unsatisfying straight relationships. 

Overall, I would recommend this to someone that just can's get enough of a forbidden lesbian romance and doesn't mind a slow burn. 

I really didn't appreciate the "someone's already in a relationship and cheats in order to find themselves" troupe. I really wished that it started off with two single women. There still could have been an accidental murder. Like if it was an older couple moving in with an unmarried daughter, and Leonard was an older father that caught them.
Also the whole court proceedings part of the story was pretty boring. The neighbor giving the boy an alibi was unsatisfying and felt like an ex Machina.
I stopped caring if the rude kid went to prison or not. Is that bad? I feel like the ending would have been more interesting if the kid was wrongfully convicted and then we got an epilogue of Lilian and Frances living together happily but also dealing with the guilt of putting an innocent boy away for the murder they committed.