Kelly has just broken up with her fiancé and is coming to stay with an old high school classmate and her husband. It’s during the height of the pandemic, so being sequestered in their big, fancy house could turn into a lot of fun, or a huge nightmare. But when Kelly keeps coming up with questions that her hosts either can’t or won’t answer, something has to give. This book definitely had me wondering where it was heading and kept me guessing all the way until the very end, which isn’t always easy give all of the suspense fiction I read! Some mild spice is included in this one, so consider yourself warned!
Special Note: Thank you to the publisher and to NetGalley for allowing me to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

I wouldn't say the book was eroctic but it leaned heavily into the sexual part of the storyline. It was a slow burn that didn't actually become a thriller until I was 70% into the book and then the it was twist after twist and the paced picked up. For me the last 30% saved the book. Thank you Netgalley and Random House Publishing Group-Ballantine for the ARC in exchange for my review.

Umm, what a WILD ride! It’s a binge-worthy book (read in less than 24 hours) that will have your jaw dropping. The chapters are super short (big fan) and most are left on a cliffhanger so it’s hard to stop reading! The overall premise is risqué and not everyone will be onboard with it! In that aspect I commend the author for stepping outside of the box!

I’m not fan of the setting (pandemic lock-down). It didn’t make me dislike the book but thought it wasn’t a pivotal part of the book and the suspense could have been the same without it. The ending was a bit too far fetched for me and I thought there were a few loose ends, but overall it’s entertaining!

This book was definitely different from your mainstream thriller. It takes a unique stance and I'm curious as to how other readers will react. The Spare Room has lots of twists that I didn't see coming. I could definitely see this becoming some sort of Lifetime movie...

Anyways, would I recommend this title? If you're adventurous and looking for something different, yes. If you like your typical thrilling thrillers, no. I was on the fence with this one. 3.5 stars rounded up to 4.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC!

I am a big fan of Andrea Bartz’s We Were Never Here and was excited for the opportunity to read an early copy of her newest book- The Spare Room.

I enjoyed the pandemic backdrop (my first pandemic storyline!!!) but the characters, especially Kelly, were unlikable, simple, and a bit predictable. It was bingeable but in the worst way. I wanted to like this so much more.

Thank you to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for the advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

Kelly's life has turned into a nightmare. She's friendless and jobless and the pandemic lockdown has her trapped in a tiny apartment with the man who just called off her wedding. This is the beginning of the blurb for Andrea Bartz's new thriller, The Spare Room. Sounds good, minus the "pandemic" stuff. I am still having PTSD from the pandemic, so when I see a book set during that time, I have to prepare mentally.
Kelly rekindles an old friendship with her friend, Sabrina and her handsome husband. They volunteer to allow her to move in with them and into their relationship. It's all glamour and excitement until she finds out that the last woman who went into their marriage is missing.
So where did this pandemic thriller with a side of spice go exactly? I wondered this as well, as it went in circles. It has an interesting set up and a complex plotline. The characters were not as well developed and I would have liked. Some choices didn't add up. It was a solid 3 star book, may have been better if Kelly herself was a bit more likeable.
Thank you to the publisher, author and netgalley. 3 stars.

This was a definite twist on your standard every day domestic thriller. I loved that it kept me guessing until the very end. and it wasn't one of those stories where the answer had been there all along. I got to go along for the whole ride from beginning to end without searching for the answers along the way.

I didn't love all of the characters, and didn't truly understand the attraction any of them had to each other, which made it a little hard to get into. But it was a fun read!

I'm sorry this was not my favorite book.
I listened to this one on audio and barely made it through.
It sounded interesting in the beginning but quickly took a turn for the bad.
I really wanted to like this one but it was just not for me

A special thank you to NetGalley and Ballantine for this advance copy of The Spare Room by Andrea Bartz in exchange for my honest review.

I’m landing on 2.5 stars rounded up - a lot of this rating revolves around marketing this book as something it definitely was not. It’s a shame because I really enjoyed Andrea Bartz’s first novel, but this one just didn’t do it for me. I would categorize this one as more of a romantic drama with a disappearance/murder thrown in. I also read a good bit of romance, and I’m not sure Kelly’s polyamory was necessarily explored the best - it was kind of written as a power struggle, and while I’m in a monogamous marriage and have never dabbled in a polygamous relationship, it was painted as really negative. I’m also hoping that Kelly was written as making really stupid choices and being super blind to some of the obvious going on in front of her, but it was really hard for me to root for her as a protagonist.

Thank you again to NetGalley and the publishers for this ARC - The Spare Room is out today!

This started a bit slow but definitely picked up towards the middle. I liked the isolated pandemic setting and not knowing who to trust at every turn. I did not see the ending coming, though I’m a bit disappointed by how it ended. Overall, 4/5 stars.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the free digital ARC in exchange for an honest review. This was published on June 30, 2023.

An interesting premise. A young woman who is about to be married breaks off her engagement [well, he does] and she leaves town to go stay with a long-lost acquaintance from high school during the beginning stages of the pandemic. Very fun book, lots of twists and turns, and definitely not for the faint at heart! I enjoyed the writing, it was a quick read and it was definitely engaging and I enjoyed picking it up each time I reached for it. I would recommend this book if you want something somewhat mindless, but at the same time grabs you and doesn't set you down until the very last pages.

This ebook was provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I was really excited for this book, since I had read the author's previous novel and really enjoy it.
This was definitely not that.
The plot was weird and didn't always make a whole lot of sense. None of the characters were likeable, and at the end of the day I just didn't care about any of them. Kelly, the main character, has to be one of the dumbest protagonists I've encountered in some time. The "twist" at the end made me laugh out loud, which I don't think was the intent.
I would not recommend this to others.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine for the ARC!

I am gooped and gagged by this recent pub!! I wasn’t sure how much I would like it when I got more into it because we just got out of the pandemic. I wasn’t sure I would want to read about it - however that part of this book did not bother me in the slightest!

Without giving too much away, this book was sexy and dove into some complexities when it came to relationships. I was on edge the entire time which is what I want from a thriller. The twists - WOW. Just when I thought we were done with shocking moments they just kept coming. This really was an excellent thriller. Highly recommend!

Wonderful suspenseful book- it kept me engaged and interested and Bartz is a great writer- not a lot of excess language but great descfiptions and characters.

Thank you to Netgalley for this book.
In this book we are introduced to Kelly whose fiancé wants to take a break from planning their wedding. Kelly decides to go and live in the spare room of her high school friend Sabrina’s house who Kelly recently got back in touch with. Kelly instantly hits it off with Sabrina and Nathan, Sabrina’s husband. Kelly meets a woman and instantly becomes friends with her. Kelly enters into a threesome with Sabrina and Nathan after learning they had done a similar thing with a woman named Elizabeth who has gone missing. Kelly discovers a dead raccoon that the neighbors children put outside their home. Sabrina has Kelly read the chapters of her newest book as she writes them. One night when they are having sex, Nathan starts chocking her in the hot tub and Kelly is shocked. On her birthday she decides to stay at a hotel and when she comes back Sabrina and Nathan’s ex, Elizabeth comes back. She apologizes for leaving them to go to Santa Fe to escape her abusive ex, Renee who also is the woman that Kelly has befriended. Elizabeth stays the night in Kelly’s room and the next morning Kelly finds her dead. The Lamont’s are upset and they all agree to not involve the police. Kelly goes snooping around after they all check to see if whoever murdered Elizabeth is still in the house. Kelly goes into Nathan’s study and finds what she believes is the murder weapon. It is also revealed that Elizabeth was pregnant and that may have been why she was there. Nathan comes in and finds her and Sabrina shoots him. Sabrina and Kelly discuss their story and involve the police. After two weeks of investigating the case runs cold and Nathan is implicated. Sabrina and Kelly decide to move to New York after she sells the house. Kelly decides to talk to her ex Mike after ending their engagement and wanting to get the rest of her things. Mike tells Kelly that he is the one that killed Elizabeth believing her to be Kelly. He was upset about Kelly ending things and his life going down hill. Kelly decides to end things with Sabrina and move to New York to start a new life. In the epilogue it is discovered that Elizabeth was planning on using the Lamont’s for their money and then discovered she was pregnant decides to go back to the Lamont’s and believes that Kelly won’t be a problem and goes to Nathan to tell him that she is pregnant. That’s when everything ends. This wasn’t my favorite book, it just wasn’t for me.

THIRSTY. This main character Kelly, the only way I can describe her is thirsty. I did not like her, and I didn’t find anything she did redeeming. This novel was not a thriller in my opinion, I don’t read romance novels so I’m not sure if this can be characterized as that either. I think overall, this book was not for me. I have enjoyed all her other novels so this was a bummer but this happens. I felt like soo much of this novel was centered around their steamy forbidden romance but it wanted to be a thriller at the same time and that aspect was completely lost.

Bleck. Just blah. It’s honestly 75% 50 shades of grey, 25% thriller. And for some people that’s great. For me, it’s not at all what I was anticipating. I feel like a pandemic thriller could’ve been really, really great, and instead this just fell very flat. Kelly’s character is beyond unbearable too - she must’ve spent 80% of the book crying.

This is definitely a more slow-burn character-driven story than I was expecting going into it - it takes about 70% into the book for anything ‘thrilling’ to really happen, and most of it is spent on a romantic plot.

Thank you for the opportunity to read this novel. I'm not reading many thrillers lately so this book was not for me at the moment. But hope to pick it up again one day.

Ok wow! This book took SO many different turns! There were definitely some twists that I was able to see coming, but then there were a handful that I had no idea were coming along.

I do think that maybe there were too many different twists and plot points considering that basically the whole story took place in one setting.

The characters were all a bit unlikable, which I really love in mystery thriller books. I think that this is a solidly ok to good book that was enjoyable but I don't think it's one I'll be raving about.

3.5 stars rounded up for rating