The Spare Room gives the reader a slow burn, domestic thriller that more focuses on relationships. The book starts with Kelly and her fiancé having agreed to take a break. Kelly has recently connected with a high school friend who has graciously offered her a room to stay with her and her husband to get away. Once Kelly gets there, she is taken with the couple and progresses quickly into a polyamorous relationship. However, she learns she is not the only woman they’ve brought into their marriage and now that woman is now missing. This is the thriller part of the book, but Kelly is so wishy washy, one minute she ignores any red flags then the next demands to know all about this woman but gives up quickly. As a result, I wish we had gotten more of a suspense “did they, didn’t they” because I wasn’t at all wondering what happened to the missing girl. I will read more of Andrea Bartz’s novels as I liked the premise of this book and her writing style.

Thank you to NetGalley and Ballantine for this advance copy in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.

Wow, I am speechless! The whole time while reading this I literally couldn’t figure out who was guilty who wasn’t and even til the last page I was stunned. At first the spiciness was throwing me off a little and I was hoping it wasn’t just going to be about that, then about less then halfway through, things started to unravel and it just kept going. My one con was the whole covid talk, it was in the book way too much and there were some extra details that didn’t need to be in there but overall a great read.

Wow this book wasn’t what I expected but in a good way! Kelly escapes from her life in Philadelphia during Covid lockdown once her boyfriend decides to put their engagement on pause. Invited to stay with an old school friend and her husband in a sprawling Virginia mansion. She soon finds herself falling in love with them and it only gets crazier from there. Exciting story and ending, fun read!

THE SPARE ROOM is a thrill ride from start to finish. Readers will love the erotica angle and the characters are twisty and surprising. Some readers will not relate to the unlikable Kelly, who seems immature and can be frustrating at times, but overall the plot moves along nicely and the conclusion is satisfying. A nice addition to Andrea Bartz's catalogue and perfect for this summer's reading.

This was a good and twisty novel. Parts were a little slow but overall I still think this is a worthy read, add it to your list !

This book started off strong, but then I thought it became over the top and didn’t want to finish it. I began to hate some characters and was kind of disappointed on the ending.

This was a novel I both loved and hated.

Loved: it’s fun. It’s surprisingly sexy (I did not expect a major subplot to appear) and it’s punchy. It takes a major event in all of our lives and makes you almost nostalgic for a time when we were all hiding from each other..

Hate: the protagonist, Kelly, is an idiot. While there is reference to a pandemic, there’s no mention of COVID-19 specifically, and it makes me wonder how well this novel is going to age—it’s pulpy fun that’s meant for present consumption only, I guess. Most importantly, Nathan: the man works a super top secret job and yet the house had only ONE camera? I expected multiple across their mansion and their property. The ending was astounding and unbelievable to the point it made no sense. I really thought the big reveal was that Kelly was actually unhinged and she sleepwalks or something, then accidental killed Elizabeth.

It was enjoyable about 75% of the way through before it took a bad turn. In summary, a good beach read that doesn’t demand too much thought.

Thank you to Random House Publishers and NetGalley for the advanced reader’s copy.

This was difficult to rate; some of the twists were surprising, and the polyamory angle was interesting, and yet many of the characters felt vapid and annoying. Sabrina and Nathan both felt much more alive in Kelly's thoughts and musings than in actual scenes in which they appeared, which took away from the overall feel of the story.

I found Kelly to be very frustrating and had the emotional intelligence of a 14 year old. She thinks of herself as the emotional regulator in her relationship with Mike but has little handle on life for being 35. I think she should have been younger in the book or thinking about a divorce and going through a major change. I just didn’t believe it. The twist and suspense bored me. I even feel asleep. I think she should have fully embraced the smut and gone more open door sex scenes with some
Thrills. I read a lot of smut and sure 3 way is exciting but the writing mostly mentions kissing and oh they had sex like pretty vague. Needed more back story for Kelly. Without the cat I would have definitely lost interest in this book. I loved we were never here and have recommended it to 4 people who have also enioyed it. This one was a flop for me.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing for this ARC! WOW, this one was a wild ride. I went into this one completely blind and I’m so glad I did. I had no idea where this book was going at any point in the story, in a good way! There were so many twists I did NOT see coming. I wouldn’t say this is 100% a thriller, it does have romance involved but it will keep you on the edge of your seat!

This was my first read but this author, but I need more!

I felt like this book was very boring and predictable. I finished it but it took awhile. I just didn’t feel like picking it up and reading because I didn’t feel a connection to the story or any of the characters. Nobody was particularly likeable. The whole plot was kind of cheesy and the writing just fair. I’m not likely to read more by this author in the future. 2.5/5 stars.
Thank you to Random House and NetGalley for the advanced reader copy. I’m leaving my honest review.

I *DEVOURED* this. Tense and sexy with an undercurrent of pandemic paranoia. Andrea Bartz really knows how to write a thriller, and this was no exception.

I enjoy a good mystery or thriller but this one was more erotica than I would have liked. Now I do not mind those type of books but when I'm expecting a thriller and I get more smut than anything else it makes it hard to read for me. The book overall was not horrible but I feel like it missed the mark on what I was expecting from it. Thank you Netgalley for the advance readers copy.

This was a fun, spicy thriller! I was never sure what was going to happen next and I was along for the ride. I enjoyed the authors writing and the pacing of the story. The twists and turns got me towards the end!

Wow! What a twisty book. Every time I thought I knew where it was headed, it swerved the other way. I very much enjoyed reading this because of all the twists. It went from what I thought to be predictable to totally unfathomable!

I love thrillers... I do. This was... not it for me.

There were parts I liked (and if I'm honest, I know I liked them but can't really name why). My problem is that the climax happened at 79% and then it fizzles.

I don't care that it was more of a romantic thriller in a way. I don't even care that it featured a poly relationship (In romances that's a hard no for me, but it's fine in a thriller). Honestly, I see that that bothered a lot of people, but it was fine for me.

But this book had SO MUCH GOING FOR IT and they decided to take the story a different way, which didn't even make much sense at all. It fizzled after the climax to the point where when the reveal happened (AT 92%?!?! There were THREE more chapters after that... leading to an epilogue that felt thrown in to the point where I genuinely did not care, there wasn't even anything we didn't know in it) I didn't care. I felt nothing towards it.

Ii also love an unreliable, unLIKABLE narrator. I know a lot of people have issues with unlikable women especially, but I love them. But this main character was so incredibly obnoxious and the jealousy used as a plot device seemed more annoying and cheap than anything.

I was hoping for more.

I will be the first to admit, I was not a fan of we were never here but decided to try The Spare Room as another chance. I am SO happy I did. I read a ton of thrillers so I am typically predicting the ending. At no point was I correct in this novel when I was guessing what was happening. I devoured this book!

3.5 stars

I would call this a popcorn thriller. It's easy to read, page-turning, a bit sexy, and kind of over the top.

When it starts off, it seems like it'll be a fairly predictable domestic thriller that happens to take place a few months into the pandemic. Kelly is having relationship troubles with her fiance, so decides to go stay with newly reconnected friend and her husband. They happily welcome her into their lives in more ways than one, but then she discovers that the last woman to stay in their spare room went missing.

It becomes very hard to know who can be trusted and where the lies end. It gets very twisty and goes through ups and downs. Lots of fun, but sometimes it felt like it was just a bit too much.

I think this will be a really fun beach/pool side read this summer that can be read in a day or weekend. Just let it be over the top and fun and go along for the ride!

I really enjoyed this book. This book had a good storyline and was set during the pandemic. I am normally not into books set during the pandemic, because who wants to hear about that? But it wasn’t too much talk of it and I was still interested, and always turning the pages to read more. It did drag a little bit sometimes, but I still wanted to get to the end to find out what happens for everything to be pieced together. I would say this is a 3.5 rounded to a 4. For any of you, animal lovers, there is an authors note at the beginning, that nothing happens to the cat. That was a very cute authors note.

I’ve enjoyed other novels set during the pandemic with a “meets stranger in a unprecedented time and lives in close quarters” basic storyline and enjoyed them, but I didn’t fully get that this would lean so heavily into the erotic romance side of things.

Others have compared this to a thriller with a heavy influence of erotica or 50 shades of grey vibes and I agree.

Kelly, the main character was so unlikable and frankly..: clueless throughout the book. It was honestly hard to believe and overly far fetched that someone in her position wouldn’t leave the situation.

Things started getting more “thriller” around halfway through and again around the 70% mark. Not my favorite, but those who love thriller and erotic romance would like this combo!