Love the authors previous book so I was very excited to get my hands on this one! Good twists and turns that I didn't see coming. Plot was unique which can be hard to come by if you read a lot of thrillers. The only thing I didn't appreciate was references to the pandemic, too soon for me to have that be part of a book. Overall an enjoyable read!

I really wanted to enjoy this book but it just wasn't for me. I read it over a period of several days and just didn't feel drawn in to it. I will try other works from this author as I'll freely admit that it may have been my mindset at the time I was reading this novel.

I’m an avid thriller reader, but this book gave me anxiety hahaha So much happened that I could’ve never predicted. While I really liked the plot twists, the main character was extremely annoying and I couldn’t stand some of the choices she made towards the end. This was a quick and super enticing read but some parts just started to feel too crazy and far fetched? I also didn’t realize this was going to take place during the pandemic (which I don’t love reading about) but it started to bother me less as the book went on.

Kelly’s new life in Philadelphia is not what she thought it would be. The man she gave up everything for has just called off the wedding and they’re on lockdown due to the pandemic. The only silver lining is that she’s just rekindled her friendship with her childhood friend Sabrina — now a bestselling author with a handsome, high powered husband. When the two offer Kelly an escape and offer their spare room of their remote mansion, Kelly doesn’t hesitate. She finds herself falling for her hosts and a steamy and unexpected ménage a trois ensues, leading the couple to open their marriage for her. New and exciting for Kelly, she loves this new endeavor until she finds out their past lover is missing.

I enjoyed the slow burn of this book. At first I wasn’t quite sure where it was going but once it started happening, it was happening! Kelly wasn’t likable to me, her inner monologue felt childish however, I can also understand that a polyamorous relationship is new to her and a contributing factor to her already existing insecurities. Obviously my dislike for her didn’t take away from the book because it was GOOD. I didn’t expect the twists! It had me looking one way while beautifully crafting the end the other way. If you like a slow burn and a smoke show, this is it.

Thank you NetGalley for my ARC

Happy reading 📚

This was not for me. I guess it’s considered a suspense romance, but I was expecting a thriller and this one just didn’t deliver what I was hoping for.

Maybe it was a wrong book, wrong time kind of thing, but it just missed the mark. It felt like reading multiple books in one - and not in a good way. It’s a miss for me.

Kelly and her boyfriend Mike are planning to be married but they are in the midst of the pandemic and starting to go stir crazy from being together almost twenty-four hours a day. Kelly then makes a huge mistake in their relationship so they decide to take a break for a week or two with Kelly moving in with an old high school friend and her husband that she's recently reconnected with over the internet.

Unprepared for the lavish life in a magnificent mansion in a severely, secured gated community in rural Virginia, Kelly experiences many mixed feelings plus she really doesn't know Sabrina very well, who was a wallflower in high school and now she is one of the most gorgeous women Kelly has ever seen and her husband Nathan is equally charming and attractive. Before long Kelly is seduced into the lifestyle and wasn't quite prepared to fall for both of her generous hosts. Soon after they begin a threesome, but what about Mike? Everything is wonderful until Kelly finds out that there was another roommate who mysteriously disappeared and that she has been surrounded by many ugly lies and deceit which will drag her down more dark roads that lead to murder and more!

This book was certainly entertaining and I wasn't prepared for the storyline since I went into it blind. The premise of the story was very good although the threesome caught me a little off guard. I must say that the author "Andrea Bartz" handled all the sexuality taking place in a more sensitive way so I wouldn't quite call this erotica yet to be forewarned there was plenty of sexual affections being shared throughout. The book was pretty much a slow-burn for sixty percent and then it got exciting with mysteries and deceit and maybe even murder.

At first I liked Kelly but as I kept reading I didn't care for her at all. I found her unpredictable, needy, demanding and always blaming others for her choices and insecurities. I think this book will have a great appeal to many readers although I did find there was too much repetition and jumping around in the second half off the story. I wish the book had been much shorter. The story taking place during the vivid lockdown was another enjoyable element which offered some realism to the story. With all that said, the novel was very unique, entertaining with several twists and I would definitely read another book from this writer.

A big A+ shoutout to Kelly's cat "Virgo". An adorable addition to the entire story!


I want to thank the publisher "Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine" and Netgalley for the opportunity to read this novel and any thoughts or opinions expressed are unbiased and mine alone!

I have given a rating of 3 KILLER AND DISTURBING 🌟🌟🌟 STARS!!

What a ride! This one started off so weird to me. Why would a woman who is having trouble in her relationship just go away during Covid times and stay with this couple who she doesn’t know well. It was an odd setup. And a lot of red flags throughout once she got there. There were definitely some steamy scenes in this one! I enjoyed that aspect of a little spice in my thriller! The ending was different.. I did not see it coming and felt like it was a weird reveal! Overall it was an enjoyable read, I liked the writing style.

This book started out SO good for me. It was mysterious and sexy and even a little spooky. A graveyard right next to the massive house?? Yes please! I was getting the romance/thriller vibes that I loved in The Writing Retreat and You Shouldn’t Have Come Here.

A little more than half way in, I started to not enjoy the story as much. The love between the characters felt very surface level and we were told more than shown the so called deep connection between them so I wasn’t buying into it like the story needed me too and it started to feel cheesy and cringey.

There was one decent twist that got me, but all of the other reveals didn’t slap like I would have liked. The fact that this book took place during the pandemic didn’t seem necessary. Yes it played a part, but with a couple tweaks it could have been completely possible to exclude that all together.

Though I enjoyed the first part of The Spare Room, the ending fell flat and overall I didn’t get what I needed out of this thriller. Final rating: 3.5 stars!

I loved the romance aspect to the book. It’s not my go to genre, and I do think if this more as a thriller, but it added a unique element that cut through the typical thriller formula.

Well plotted twists throughout the novel. Great character growth. Overall, a great read I would recommend to friends.

A fun read that is fast past. While I thought I knew what was happening by the end of the book I definitely didn’t expect the outcane that happened.

I don't have a whole lot of words to say about this one. I made the mistake of not reading the description before going into this book= prior to reading this, Andrea Bartz was an automatic must-read for me. This one was so out there that I may think twice about picking up her next one. With that said, it did keep me guessing and turning the pages, and I didn't guess the ending.

Kelly isn’t thrilled with her new jobless and friendless life in Philadelphia or the fact her fiancé wants to put their wedding plans on pause. When she re-connects with an old friend from school, Sabrina, and gets an invitation to go stay with Sabrina and her husband at their remote Virginia mansion for a while - it could be a good thing for Kelly to get some perspective… or a very bad one. Soon, living with the Lamonts, Kelly finds herself in a whirlwind of lust, passion, and deadly obsession.

I tend to go into thrillers/mysteries blind with good authors so I didn’t read the description and the threesome polygamy plot stuff was not at all what I was expecting but it was unique and entertaining. Very slow burn until around 50% but kept my interest the whole time to figure it all out! The ending was not at all what I guessed. Plot twist! I’m just so obsessed with the cover of this book too!

Thank you to PRH/Ballantine Books, Andrea, and NetGalley for the advance reader’s copy!

This is my third Andrea Bartz book, but definitely won’t be my last. She writes with such painful honesty, saying the things most people would leave unsaid. She had a lot to shock the average older woman (me) in this book, and I couldn’t put the book down.
Kelly is bored with her fiance to the point that she walks out when the wedding plans are almost complete. She’s been in touch with a distant friend from school, who invites her to come visit.
Sabrina is no longer the mousy quiet girl Kelly remembers. She’s gorgeous, married to her gorgeous husband Nathan, and they live in a beautiful home located in a secure neighborhood. As their days and nights ease by, Christa becomes more and more sexually attracted to both Sabrina and Nathan. This leads to a very active threesome between them. Christa’s thoughts move away from this home being temporary, instead planning the rest of her life with these two that she loves.
All is “eat, drink, and be merry” for a bit, then Christa starts noticing odd things. There’s a two-way mirror in the bedroom, a video camera is found, and there are polaroids of another girl, badly bruised. Comments by Sabrina and Nathan both catch Christa off guard. Her happy little love nest is quickly falling apart.
Determined to find out what’s going on, Christa goes against the wishes of the other two and begins snooping and asking questions. And what she finds is scary. She soon realizes she’s in danger, but can she stop her feelings from getting in the way?
This is a cat-and-mouse-mouse story that will keep you on your toes. I look forward to Andrea’s next book. She’s a must-read author for mystery thriller fans.
Thanks to Random House Publishing Group- Ballantine, Bantam for an ARC in exchange for my honest review. The publishing date was June 30, 2023.

This wasn’t quite as twisty or provocative as I was expecting. Less a thriller and more a journey with a neurotic person’s internal monologue as they tried something taboo for the first time.

In the midst of the pandemic Kelly’s fiancé tells her he wants to postpone the wedding. They immediately think they both need some space and Kelly heads to the mansion of a school friend she’s recently reconnected with. After all they have a spare room. Once there, Kelly is enamored by both Sabrina and her husband, Nathan. As their relationship turns to something she’s never anticipated, she’s head over heels, but soon things start to bother her. Why are they lying to her? What happened to their last house guest that turned up missing? Why all of a sudden does she feel trapped? As things escalate, Kelly questions everything and think she knows what’s happening, but could she be entirely wrong? This book just took things too far for me and just didn’t ring true throughout. Could anyone miss so many red flags and be that naive?? With a ridiculous plot that goes on and on, insipid characters and the threesome sex angle, this book is one I really didn’t care for and the time I spent reading it was a total waste. Thank you to Ballentine Books and Netgalley for an ARC of this book.

I'm super disappointed that I didn't like this book. The synopsis made it seem salacious and intriguing but it was honestly slow and a lot of the scandalous details weren't there. The main character was annoying and went from 0 to 100 all too soon... but then the details of the relationships weren't really examined more than surface level. I also really disliked where the book chose to go, both in the third act conflict as well as the official ending. It was stretched out at the beginning and then bouncy and all over the place towards the end. A fun concept I just wish it went a little better.

Thank you to Netgalley and Random House for the opportunity to read this in advance.

Thanks to Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine, the author, and NetGalley for the free gifted copy in exchange for an honest review.

I don’t often read the synopsis for books and usually books don’t shock me too much but this one truly shocked me. I guess I wasn’t expecting more of a dark romance thriller that took some truly wild turns.

This book was absolutely unhinged and had some super chaotic twists and turns but I enjoyed the randomness of it and how interesting the plot was.

These characters were truly unhinged and out of their mind, like legit everyone in this book, but I think that's what made it more interesting and had you reading until the end so you could figure out what the heck was going on.

I did not love her first book it was also super weird but it didn’t have the pace that this one did in order to keep people interested.

Andrea Bartz is quickly becoming one of my top five authors. I cannot recommend her books enough and I cannot wait for the next novel already.
The Spare Room took me for a ride that I did not want to end. Kelly is going through a rough breakup during the troubling times of c-vid and she has struck up an internet friendship with Sabrina, an acquaintance she went to high school with ages ago. Sabrina invites her to stay with her and her husband Nathan in their gated community outside of DC. Sabrina takes up this offer and stays in the guest room of their house. They soon fall into a rhythm of life and are comfortable with each other, though some would say a little too comfortable. Then a twist happens that Kelly was not expecting, and she is left wondering how much she really knows about her new best friends.
WHOA. The twist in this one hits out of nowhere and I was not prepared. I will forever be recommending this one to anyone who needs a fast-paced mystery with a little bit of romance mixed in.
Thank you to Netgalley and Random House for the opportunity to read this in exchange for my honest opinion.

The COVID-19 lockdowns of 2020 have become one of those iconic "where were you" conversation starters that everyone has a personal story for. However, I imagine most people's pandemic days were nothing like Kelly's, the main character of Andrea Bartz' new novel, The Spare Room.

Amidst the pandemic, Kelly's fiancé decides that maybe marriage with her is not what he wants, so he pumps the brakes on their relationship. Looking for an escape and distraction, Kelly reconnects with an old high school acquaintance, Sabrina, who is now the best-selling author of steamy NSFW romances. Kelly devours Sabrina's books, and when Sabrina and her husband invite Kelly to come stay at their place for awhile, Kelly does not hesitate to join them.

And this is where things get interesting. Inhabiting Sabrina and Nathan's spare room, Kelly soon finds herself seduced by this power couple, entangling herself in a "throuple" with the pair. As Kelly becomes more entrenched in her relationship with Sabrina and Nathan, she soon discovers clues left behind about the enigmatic woman who stood in Kelly's shoes not long before. When she uncovers that this woman (who uncannily looks like Kelly) disappeared under mysterious circumstances, Kelly begins to suspect she is sleeping with the enemy ...

The Spare Room caught me completely by surprise. Despite reading the book's synopsis, I did not expect it to be quite so steamy - I kept checking to make sure I hadn't somehow picked up a new adult novel! That being said, a significant portion of this book is focused on the characters' throuple and how they make it work during the pandemic. While it wasn't what I was expecting, I didn't mind it, albeit, I found Kelly to be entirely unbelievable as the third partner in this relationship. Her willingness to take part in these shenanigans comes completely out of left field and goes against her character, so I couldn't help but scoff at how she so readily agreed to be the third wheel in Sabrina and Nathan's marital bed.

That aside, The Spare Room kept me intrigued and even managed to surprise me a few times. The book moved quickly despite not a whole lot happening, and was an entertaining enough read. However, if you are looking for a suspense novel, this may not be it. While the book certainly has dark, atmospheric undertones, much of it focuses on the Kelly, Sabrina, and Nathan's unconventional relationship. It is not until the end of the book that the suspense really kicks in, although I must say, I really hated the reveal for its lack of ingenuity.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.
This was ok. A bit much compared to what I was expecting. Not something I would normally read or enjoy.