I love Bartz' combination of gonzo-thriller storytelling and interpersonal drama. It is like delicious, delicious candy to me!

Bartz is truly one of the greatest thriller writers of 21st century and I will not accept criticism of that statement. Her latest seductive thriller is provocative, bold, and enthralling. It's propulsive and twisted and it was a struggle to put it down.

The Spare Room’s premise was intriguing to me and I was excited to get into the story. Set during the early pandemic, the story follows Kelly, who postpones her wedding to Mike due to serious issues. Reconnecting with an old high school friend on social media, she stays with them during lockdown.

I have to give Bartz credit for two surprising twists. The first twist is well done and feels believable due to the setup. However, the second twist is so unexpected and lacks any hints that it’s hard to fully appreciate. It seems a bit implausible, making it difficult to fully accept.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for providing an advance digital copy.

Kelly and fiance, Mike, are taking a break, so she goes to stay with a school friend, Sabrina and her husband, Nathan. They have an attraction and become a trouple. It's not Sabrina and Nathan's first time with this dynamic, but their previous lady is now missing....hmm.

Well I'm not too sure about this one, so I'm plopping it in the middle. To each their own with their marriage and what they do in it, but I'm not super big on romance in my thrillers, however it was a slow burn and not really a thriller, but there were some exciting moments after quite a while, though. Kelly made some questionable choices after she makes revelation after revelation after revelation that had me rolling my eyes. I was surprised about the zinger at the end, though.

I absolutely hate pandemic talk in my books and there are many references to it, blah.

I was able to listen to a copy as well.
Narration notes ~ I've listened to Brittany many times and she did a lovely job as usual. She was properly frantic when necessary.

I just....what on Earth did I just read? I don't even want to call this a thriller. I don't know WHAT this book would be considered but I know I was not the target audience for it.

The atmospheric writing creates a sense of unease that lingers throughout the novel. While some plot twists are predictable, the book keeps you hooked with its compelling characters and the unraveling of hidden truths. Overall, *"The Spare Room"* is an unsettling yet captivating read that leaves you questioning everyone's motives.

Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for the ebook. I liked this book. It was a decent thriller, i would recommend it

I went into this one blind, only knowing that I enjoyed a previous book by Ms. Bartz. We Were Never Here was a fantastic, 5 star read for me. I wish I could say the same for The Spare Room. This one is set during the Covid lockdown we all went through. A married couple take a friend into their home, hence the book title. A wild threesome begins (sex scenes don't bother me but I don't really seek them out) but this thriller really wasn't thrilling at all. I would call this a sexy drama at best. Finally, near the end, a death occurs but at this point, it was just too late to save the story. I cannot recommend this to readers looking for an interesting thriller.

Twisty and full of surprises in a fascinating premise. I had a tough time warming up to the main character at first, not because of her sexuality, but because she was too needy for my tastes, but she grew stronger.

Thank you for the chance to review this book. Unfortunately, this book was a DNF for me and I will not be sharing it on social media so as not to take away from those who may enjoy this read.
The reason for DNFing were it hit on personal triggers and caused me to not want to continue reading. It does not reflect on the author or book at all.

This story starts slow, but hooks you in right away. It keeps you turning pages as it builds up tension and makes you wonder about what these characters are hiding! There were times I didn't like the main character for her choices, but I kept reading because I couldn't stop. The author really knows how to keep you submerged in the story!
I really enjoyed it :)

This was my first book to read that took place during lockdown - it's eerie to read a fictional story set in the very real global pandemic we experienced but I thought the author wove it into the story well. It was believable that someone would spontaneously decide to go stay with a friend they may not know very well - it was definitely an unprecedented time of plans going awry.

I found the story to be dark and twisty - I didn't know what would happen next but it was clear the ending would not be warm and fuzzy by any means. Overall I enjoyed it but it did compare to Bartz's previous novel We Were Never Here. Bartz is an author I do plan to keep tabs on- she is a creative storyteller with complex characters and dark themes worth exploring.

I received an ARC copy of The Spare Room by Andrea Bartz, and have just gotten around to reading it.

I must say that this book was just not for me. It was more on the smut/romance side than on the darker side pf psychological thriller for. me.

This took me a while to rate. I just went back and forth on the rating for quite some time. I have to say that a one star rating seemed a bit harsh for me. I didn't absolutely hate this book. That being said I truly do not have a single postive thought about this book. It was just so extremely underwhelming. I still can't wrap my head around it. So I still landed on a one star rating.
I do have to say this started off alright to me. Overall it was an extremely slow read. Almost nothing happened in this book. At the start that was alright, because there was this undercurrent of something's not right here. It kept me engaged enough to start reading. However, with a start like that you really need to stick the landing, and this book didn't do that.
For starters, the actual mystery didn't really come into play until like the 75% mark. It took us so damn long to get there, and the characters themselves weren't engaging enough to keep the book going for me. Kelly in particular was just an exhausting character to be in the POV from. But then we actually get into the thick of it, and it's so incredibly dragged out. There were like 3 different points where I thought this book could perfectly end but it just kept going. This also meant that the reveals just felt extremely lackluster as well. They came out of nowhere, and (in my opinion) just weren't satisfactionary answers to the questions raised through the book. By the end this just became a shore to read.
So yeah, this book just really didn't work for me. I think that's a shame because this book did sound incredibly interesting to me. I just feel like this failed to deliver on every single front. There truly wasn't a single thing I liked.

This was... not really what I expected.

I didn't read the summary of what this book was about and went into it blind. I have read two of Bartz's other works, and I think she is a hit or miss author for me. I really liked The Lost Night, and really didn't care for The Herd. The Spare Room fell in between those two for me.

The premise of this book was great, and I found myself invested in the story. However, the characters were all kind of shady and immoral, and the plot was a bit unbelievable for me. Also, I actively avoid reading things that have to do with/mention the pandemic (been there, done that, tired of it) and so finding out that was a basis for this story kind of turned me off a bit.

Overall I liked the book. It had some risqué moments that I wasn't expecting (because I went into this blind) but I guess they contributed to the plot and overall idea of the story. 4 stars.

I was excited to see another book by Andrea Bartz, as I had really enjoyed her book The Lost Night. Then, I read somewhere that she mentioned this was nothing like her previous books, and I was skeptical.

Overall, I did not enjoy this book. I hated the story line and honestly didn’t like any of the main characters. I didn’t think it read like your typical Thriller and thought it just kept dragging on. Would not recommend.

Thank you to NetGalley and Ballantine Books for sharing this digital copy in exchange for my honest review.

I’d like to start off my review by stating how much I appreciate the author and their representation of the LGBTQ+ community. I’d recommend this book for June which is Pride Month.

The book follows Kelly who is taking some time apart from her fiancée by staying with a married couple. The wife in the relationship, Sabrina, is a childhood friend of Kelly’s. One thing leads to another and Kelly finds herself in a unique situationship and begins to discover secrets about the couple she has come to live with and grown very fond of.

I thought Spare Room was a really great story idea. But I feel like there was quite a bit of filler and inner monologue that could have been trimmed to make this into a better version of what was produced. It’s still a great book! I also found that I did not connect to any of the characters in the book unfortunately and even found Kelly to be quite…annoying.

Even still, I would recommend The Spare Room as a slow-burn, domestic thriller that will keep you guessing and is an entertaining and worth while read! There’s a twist at the end which was pretty surprising.

My thanks to NetGalley, Ballentine Books, and the author for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I initially struggled to get into this story, however, there was something that kept me turning the pages. An interesting premise with unlikeable characters did keep me guessing. The story was a slow burn but a twisty tale at the same time.

The Spare Room by Andrea Bartz was so incredibly twisty. While typically, I don't go for books that take me back to the world of quarantine, I loved how this book touched on it without making it a big deal. Normally I can guess what is going to happen but The Spare Room had me guessing until the very last few chapters. Just when I thought I had it figured out, I was wrong!

The Spare Room
By Andrea Bartz
Review and Rating 3⭐️

I love a good locked room mystery and I was so excited to receive the ARC of The Spare Room by Andrea Bartz. However, I soon found, I would probably not recommend this one to just anyone. Part mystery, part erotic thriller, this is not my usual read.
Set during the Covid pandemic, Kelly and her fiancé are taking a break and to get away Kelly is offered the opportunity to move in with her childhood friend Sabrina and her husband Nathan. They offer up the spare room in their remote Virginia mansion and Kelly jumps in. Once there the three fall into a relationship “throuple” with plenty of incidents and complications. Soon, Kelly discovers there was a women before her invited into Sabrina and Nathan’s marriage and she is now missing and she starts to wonder if she might be in danger.
I really loved the Covid lockdown setting with this one, it makes for a great way to do the the locked room mystery! I was not so much into the whole erotic thriller thing. I know, I know, some people love it. I just usually find it cheesy, as I did here. I also had trouble finding anything to like in any of the characters, even Kelly. No spoilers, but her bad decisions just kept mounting. I do plan to keep reading Andrea Bartz though so I am going to give The Spare Room 3 ⭐️.

I want to thank NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group Ballantine for the eARC. All opinions expressed in this review are my own.


Book Rating Key
⭐️ Not Recommended
⭐️⭐️ Readable Book
⭐️⭐️⭐️ Good Book
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Excellent Book
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️Near Perfect Book
***Note*** I seldom give ⭐️or ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ ratings. If I feel a book is a ⭐️sometimes I just prefer to not finish reading it and not rate it. As for 5 ⭐️books, I think of those as books I would want to take with me to a deserted island 🏝️, and this means I read a whole lot of ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️star books. Happy Reading!