I really enjoyed Andrea Bartz’s We Were Never Here, so I was very excited for the opportunity to read this book. I love a fast paced, dark and twisty thriller, and The Spare Room did not disappoint. None of the characters were particularly likable, yet I found myself invested in what happened to them. And while I sort of predicted one of the twists, there was one that I absolutely did not see coming. This was a very entertaining read.

Thanks to NetGalley, the author and the publisher for a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Yes, it is a domestic thriller...

Yes - it evolves into a dangerous threesome...

No - It did not really ruffle my feathers , and it was a long, slow burn for me.

To be honest:
I felt like I read this book or watched the movie before.

I will start by saying this book will be for some people, but it also won't be everyone's cup of tea. I love the author's previous book We Were Never Here. When I saw this one by the same author, I immediately added it to my TBR list without reading the synopsis. That was my mistake, as if I had read the details I probably would have skipped this book.

The author went out on a limb here and wrote something very different than her previous books. This book is more a messed up romance book until about 65% when it actually becomes a thriller. However, the storyline in the beginning seems to be more thought out and the ending rushed and tacked on.

Kelly gives up everything to move with her fiancé to a new city when the pandemic hits and he decides he wants to postpone their wedding...indefinitely. She reconnects with her childhood friend Sabrina and decides to ride out the rest of quarantine with Sabrina and her husband, Nathan, in their gorgeous mansion. Kelly finds herself falling for both of them which leads to a wild threesome and the couple opening up their marriage to her. Kelly discovers that the last woman they invited into their marriage has gone missing. She begins to uncover more about the couple and questions what she really wants.

Kelly is cringe worthy. She is suspicious all the time and doesn't trust anyone, yet continues to stick around. She appears to be very desperate...to the point of putting her own life in danger. There were red flags going up everywhere that she recognized but kept choosing to ignore. She was a frustrating character. I didn't love the pandemic setting and multiple references to the pandemic. While I can appreciate that the author did a fine job tying the pandemic into the storyline (and she did it well) I just don't want to hear anymore about the pandemic. Perhaps it's because I am in healthcare and we are all burned out from it. Maybe it's just too soon for me and this might just be more a personal issue.

If you're looking for a page turning thriller, skip this one. If you want to read about a threesome (with spice) and a female questioning her sexuality and on a journey to discover it (with a side of thriller) then this is the book for you!

Thanks to Netgalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine, Ballantine Books for a digital ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Kelly is heartbroken and alone. Her relationship with her fiance is coming to an end, right as Covid quarantine is ramping up. Looking for solace, Kelly reconnects with Sabrina, a childhood friend. Kelly is elated when Sabrina invites her to quarantine at her sprawling estate in the DC suburbs. Kelly takes Sabrina up on her offer, hoping to relax and figure out her life and future. Upon arriving at Sabrina's house, Kelly becomes enthralled with Sabrina and her husband, Nathan. When their friendship slowly evolves into something steamier between the three of them, Kelly is all in. The sensuous relationship continues to develop as Kelly falls deeper in lust with her hosts.

Until Kelly finds a photograph. Another girl from the past. Also invited into Sabrina and Nathan's life and bed. Until the girl disappears and Kelly begins to wonder if Nathan and Sabrina had something to do with her disappearance. Are Nathan and Sabrina her soulmates....or do they have more nefarious intentions?

Interesting book and concept with a fair bit of sex to keep things spicy. Just an FYI if that's not your thing. There was a definite twist at the end that I did NOT see coming. While I would not characterize this novel as a must read, it checked off the boxes of a fun and thrilling ride. Check out for a great beach read!

While this didn’t live up to Bartz’s last novel for me, I still really enjoyed this. The atmosphere was so tense, and I appreciate how the author veered toward more of a romantic thriller as opposed to her previous books. This was on pace to be my favorite of her books, until I got to the last 15-20%. I really didn’t care for the final big twist, but this is still a book I will be recommending.

I was really not a fan of this book. It took me a long time to read because I was just not motivated to pick it up. It is a thriller, but it didn’t start getting thrilling until the 70% mark. Before then, it was just an insufferable main character, pandemic clichés, and super spicy romance. If that’s what you enjoy, then you’ll probably like this book. I just wasn’t a big fan. I kept waiting for something to happen! I was looking for clues that didn’t amount to anything and there were some scenes that I felt were totally unnecessary (i.e. hot tub). I didn’t like the main character, Kelly, at all, and I don’t think that was the author’s intention. I’ve never heard of a 34 year old woman crying so much! She cried on a coffee date, cried at a brewery, cried while talking about mundane things… it was very weird to me. Overall, I thought it was really a 2 star book, but I added a half star for the twist.

In the midst of the pandemic, Kelly loses her job then she and her fiancé called off their wedding--so now she's alone and jobless.
Sabrina, a friend from high school, invited Kelly to come stay with her and her husband.
The rest of the book is filled with threesomes, murder and twist after twist.
Just when you *think* you've got it figured out--chefs kiss.

My biggest issue was our MC. It's almost like we were led to feel like it was almost a grooming situation, yet she was 35!!! I'd have believed her situation more if she was super young. she def wins the "stupid decision" award for the year.

It also made these unnecessary political jabs, that I could've done without.

It’s the middle of Covid and everyone is trapped in their houses and all that togetherness was wearing, especially for Kelly and her fiancé. The wedding has been put on pause.
   Kelly needed to get away and a recent rekindling of a high school friend on line induced an invite to come and stay with her and her live-in, giving Kelly the space she needed. She got more than space.    
   This friend, a very successful writer, is gorgeous and her partner is model material and very kind. All this beauty, sucess and sexiness stirs up ideas only ever thought about but eventually acted out: the twosome is now a threesome, in everything.  
   The murder/mystery part of the book finally appeared in the final chapters………after too many bedroom scenes, ongoing deceitfulness and trust issues all played out by three people who seemed impervious to what was happening in the rest of the world. I was wanted more action and less interaction.

Andrea Bartz continues to write pulse-pounding, twisty thrillers that I can’t get enough of. The dazzling prose! The fascinating dynamics between characters! The gorgeous but perhaps sinister setting! With THE SPARE ROOM, she continues to explore complicated female friendships but takes it up a notch with erotic thriller vibes. I couldn’t stop turning the pages and some of these scenes are seared into my brain, even months after reading.

As always, I've gotta write my review before I read other reviews because I know I'll be ~swayed~ by what everybody else is saying if I don't. Y'all, I'm not a critical reader. I'm just here for the ride, to have fun and be entertained, and Andrea's previous books have done that for me so I knew this one would do the same. I think if you dislike an unreliable narrator or red herrings or general confusion over what the fuck is going on, this probably isn't for you, but I really love when I feel like I can't trust even the person that's telling us the story. It's FUN and that's what I'm looking for when I'm reading!

So this story is centered around Kelly and set during the pandemic. Kelly is definitely annoying, of course, but she (like all of us, no?) finds someone on Instagram that she deep dives and then starts talking to (someone she knew in high school), and then ends up going to stay with her and her husband when things in her relationship go south. Nothing can ever be that easy though, so weird shit starts happening. My suggestion is always to just be along for the ride, and this was definitely a one sitting read for me.

Spoilers coming here – I kind of hated the way that her ex was the perpetrator who set all of the killing in motion, because that didn't feel super authentic to me? It would've made more sense for it to be one of them, like the call is coming from inside the house. I also didn't love that the story ends with the women kind of going their own ways but amicably, I think I wanted things to be more acrimonious. This doesn't change my recommendation, though!

I love a good story with all sorts of twists and turns. This one did not disappoint. I did not see this one unfolding how it did at all. What did I just finish reading?!

There were so many angles that I was not expecting & definitely adds a whole new perspective to what possibly went on in the darkness that was the pandemic. It messed with everyone’s world in So many ways.

The character development was solid & the plot was dark, twisty and intriguing. For something definitely different, I would recommend this book!

Thanks to NetGalley, the author and publisher for allowing me to read this one early!

The Spare Room by Andrea Bartz had caught my eye because it seemed like an interesting premise. Previously have enjoyed Andrea’s books in the past.

The story follows Kelly who leaves her fiancé, Mike, to go live with her friend from high school, Sabrina and her husband, who writes romance novels. Kelly, Sabrina and Nathan create a pod during Covid.

The characters in The Spare Room are untrustworthy, especially as you get more into the story. While the story takes its twists and turns, it’s hard to look away.

I’ve been an Andrea Bartz reader for a while now, but if you enjoy unpredictable stories with crazy twists and turns, The Spare Room is for you.

Thank you to NetGalley and Ballantine Books for an advanced copy in exchange for my honest opinion.

3.5⭐️

As a fan of Andrea Bartz, I was so excited to receive an ARC! I loved her other books but The Spare Room did not live up to my expectations. None of the characters were very relatable and Kelly seemed more like a teenager than a 35 year old woman. I did love the twist near the end though!

I really didn’t enjoy this one. So much so that I can’t really remember much. I did read it in a day so there’s that.

Amazing thriller, I couldn't put it down!

Every book by this author is even better than the last!

Many thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for the advanced copy of the book.

This book was spooking and thrilling at the same time. I loved it. It was creepy and intense and I could not stop turning the pages.

I have very mixed feelings about this one! It didn’t really seem like a thriller til more than halfway through and I didn’t love the sexually charged story lines. But once twists started happening I was enthralled and ended up liking the ending! I didn’t guess “who did it” or the final twisted chapters. So overall, a solid read.

Potential spoilers might be ahead.

A genre bending romantic/mystery. So I know this is supposed to be a thriller but I would say it is more towards the lines of a whodunnit story. Looking at other peoples thoughts I know some people are sick of hearing about the pandemic and the RONA, but Bartz’s idea of the concept of someone going missing when everyone is on lockdown. I will say that this does shed light on the larger cities that most likely had stricter policies regarding the pandemic. So go into this know the pandemic does a play a part in this story and honestly I enjoyed it because the pandemic went on for years, it’s part of history now and I think that Bartz did well including that into her story.

Another note because I think people were eating this book poorly due to the romantic themes in this….. Kelly reaches out to an old friend from school after a huge event in Kelly’s life left her needing a new start, with the pandemic there’s limited options. So therein comes Sabrina and Nathan. On that note I loved how Bartz included this love interest as it is LGBTQ+ representative. I really enjoyed her take on polyamory, although this book does show you that relationships no matter what they look like should still have boundaries and discussions throughout. I really enjoyed getting to see Kelly explore herself and that’s where I think this story does well, because not only is Kelly trying to figure herself out after she’s no longer getting married and on the course of what she had always thought she wanted. She is now given the chance to explore and test the boundaries of who she thought she had to be.

Kelly- I’d say she could be an unreliable character, maybe even a not always likeable character, and personally I think that’s why I liked the story more because it seemed more realistic. There are themes of Kelly having deeply ridden anxiety, and I think Bartz did a good job showing us that and showing us some of the consequences and actions anxiety can lead us to.

Ugh, I really think that you should go in with an open mind with this book and you just might love it. I definitely loved this and would totally read it again. I really don’t want to spoil too much, and I wouldn’t say this is your typical thriller, but I loved the twists and turns this story takes you on made it so worth it to me. I was constantly trying to solve the mystery. I also feel like you’re right there with Kelly going through what she is.

If you’re not used to sex in thrillers this might take you by surprise. On a spice level I’d say it’s still pretty closed doors but fairly steamy. 2/5 in my opinion on the spice level. So if you don’t like sex in books you probably won’t like this.

Also Virgo…. The cat, LOVE. And for those wondering Virgo will be okay. PROMISE!

I reallly hope people take the chance to read this and love it! I cannot wait to see what Andrea will write next. Thank you so much to NetGalley and Random House for the advanced copy of this.

2 stars out of 5.

I really could not get into this book at all. After reading the synopsis, I was impressed and excited to read the book. Boy was I disappointed. This is not a thriller but more of a romance novel. The ending of the book is the only "thriller" part of the book and it felt like an afterthought. The characters were really unlikable and I almost DNF this book a few times. Also, this book takes place during the Pandemic and references that quite a bit.

In The Spare Room, Kelly and her fiancé Mike had a blow out so Kelly goes and visits with an acquaintance of hers from high school named Sabrina. Sabrina, her husband Nathan, and Kelly end up hitting it off and start a relationship. Eventually Kelly learns of their previous partner disappearing and she begins to question who these people really are.

Overall, I think I might have been the wrong audience for the book. I hate ratings book poorly but this book was just not for me.

A big thanks to Netgalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This was fun and so unique from the other thrillers on The market right now. Also a little creepy if you really think about the plot in real world scenarios. I loved this so much!