I tore through this book so I could find out what happened. However, I did not enjoy the characters and the unreliable narrator. Maybe that was intentional. I still think it’s worth reading if you’re looking for a compulsive read.

Thank you to Andrea Bartz, Random House Publishing Group, Ballantine Books, and NetGalley for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to the publisher and net galley for this ARC!

I was entertained at times reading this book, but I lacked a connection to the characters. It got a little wild and crazy which I don't mind, but overall the story and pacing was just off. It was also heavy on the pandemic which can work out just fine, but didn't for me in this case.

The Spare Room was a pandemic suspense story. Are you saying, "what?" Don't worry; the pandemic is just a backdrop to some steamy goings-on.

After Kelly's fiancé breaks their engagement, and old friend invites her to move in to her spare room. This friend has an attractive husband. In this situation, three is company, not a crowd. "What?" Yes, if you are looking for thrillers with steamy thrills, definitely check this one out.

My only criticism is that the characters and their motivations could have been better developed, as some things just weren't super-plausible. Blame it on pandemic insanity!

Loved this twisty sexy thriller! The lockdown setting seemed a little too soon at first but Andrea did an amazing job capturing the right essence to make it fit the plot! Inviting a somewhat stranger into your home during and already questionable time made for a riveting story. I also loved the exploration of the main character and her self growth. I was surprised but the twist and the way things came together. It almost seemed to drag at the end with no real answers then bam it gets crazy again.

booksoldenburg Thank you to @netgalley for providing me with an eARC for this book that was out just vesterday!
I read this book but it just wasn't for me! I saw @bookaddictonw s snack food comparison yesterday and since it made me chuckle I'll try to put it in those terms - this wasn't a fun popcorn thriller IMHO (entertainment / watching from the sidelines/ snacking on popcorn to calm your nerves) and it wasn't a Chips thriller either ... Flamin' Hot Cheetos ... maybe - it was spicy but the main character had cotton candy for brains and that combination didn't do it for me ... since I am a completist I did finish but now I need to read something else.

Well this was disappointing…..not really a thriller until the very end. Kelly the main character will have you wondering if she even has a brain in her head, leaves her husband after she has a mini mental breakdown on him that is somehow his fault to go stay with Sabrina and her husband, a friend from high school that she hasn’t seen in 15 years and has only been talking to again for the past 3 weeks. 🙄 Then it somehow turns into a threesome sex party, skimmed a ton of that. Then to add even more weirdness there’s an ex to the married couple who has went missing. The last chapter…..best in the whole book.

Thanks to Netgalley for my electronic advanced reader copy in exchange for my honest review.

Well, this was a little spicier than I expected. The story is built around a young woman trying to eascape a life that has collapsed around here during the pandemic. She gave up her life and moved with the man she expected to spend the rest of her life with, only to have the romance splutter out. At this point, she moves inro THE SPARE ROOM of a couple she has met that offers her an out of her misery. When the couple invite her into their bedroom too, the story takes on a completely different kind of thrill. But she finds herself in a situation where she doesn't feel safe and has to wonder if she rushed into something that she can not get out of. Did she? Guess you'll have to read the book to find out!

Kelly and her fiancé, Mike, postpone their wedding and have decided to take a break to rethink about their future. Kelly rekindles a relationship during this time, with her old friend Sabrina from school, and is offered a spare room to stay at her mansion with her and her husband, Nathan. Kelly jumps at the opportunity to stay with them for just a few weeks. Everything is fine in the beginning and she misses Mike. Then she starts to have feelings for both Sabrina and Nathan. She begins a romance with the couple but learns that their last girlfriend Elizabeth has gone missing. Will she stay with them or go back to her fiancé, Mike?

THE SPARE ROOM was unlike any book I've read and I applaud Andrea Bartz for that. I didn't, however, like any of the characters and I think Kelly was just very stupid!! I honestly, didn't understand her at all. The story was engaging and held my interest the entire time. Although this is a slow burn, I really didn't mind it at all since I was just so interested to see what the big reveal would be. Overall, I recommend it if you like mystery/thrillers involving some romance.

Thank you to Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine & NetGalley for allowing me to read this book

When Kelly’s boyfriend Mike wants to put off their wedding, she is distraught, but when an old friend from school invites her to DC to stay with her and her husband, Kelly jumps at the chance. After moving in, Kelly immediately feels a connection with Nate and Sabrina and eventually it turns into a bit of a thruple situation. When she finds out their ex is missing however, Kelly begins to wonder what she has gotten herself into.

3.5 Stars. I listened to a podcast with Andrea Bartz last week before starting this book and it really made me enjoy the book even more! It also made me wonder how much of Andrea’s experience with moving in with friends at the start of the pandemic was similar! I don’t think it was the same situation at all but it did make me laugh! This book definitely kept me turning pages to figure out what was up with this couple! They seemed so shady throughout and always seemed to be hiding something. Overall I found it an enjoyable thriller.

I’m so disappointed I didn’t like this book! I loved this author’s first book. This was so boring I couldn’t get hooked no matter how many times I tried.

This is a book that is so ridiculous, silly and has some smut but was also the summer popcorn thriller I wanted. Bartz must love writing naive women - I struggled with her MC in We Were Never Here and had similar issues with this one in Kelly but ultimately decided this was way more fun. I switched between the audio and ebook and I need to say that I find Brittany Pressley’s voice so soothing. I need to find more audiobooks by her!

This was a such a unique premise for a thriller. After a break up, the main character moves in with a couple she just met during COVID. This was such an interesting taking on a mystery that it felt really fresh.

There was way more spice in this than I’ve ever seen in a mystery. I’m always down for some spice so this add antihero fresh and interesting layer to the story. I also liked how unexpected the twists were. There were several times I thought I had the story figured out and was surprised!

My main complaint is how naive and annoying the main character, Kelly is. She came off as a whiny teenager instead of an adult. She had no backbone, didn’t trust her instincts, and made so many bad decisions. I’m all for an unlikable main character, but Kelly was an extreme that read like a bad horror movie heroine at times.

Overall, this was a fast paced and unique story that I would recommend to people looking for something fresh and different.

Real Rating: 3.5 / 5 Stars

Welcome to polyamory done very, very wrong by Andrea Bartz.

I struggled with the rating for this book. It was entertaining enough that I can’t say I wouldn’t recommend it to the right person, so rating it below three stars wasn’t an option. It wasn’t so poorly written that I felt rating it three stars was justifiable, but it wasn’t well-written or enjoyable enough to warrant four stars. So 3.5 it is.

I don’t want to get into the plot. If I did, we’d be here all night. Here’s the thing (and Bartz actually has one of the characters point this out at some point in the book): During the pandemic, when we were all snug in our quarantine pods and being oh-so-careful about everything under the sun, we all went a little crazy. I know I did. I went into COVID a total extrovert who loved to go out and loved crowded places. I came out of COVID a horribly anxious person who tries to avoid leaving the house at all costs and has anxiety and/or panic attacks when too many people are around. So much of the plot of this book is centered around being trapped and about different kinds of isolation and the notion of what it means to escape that I’m afraid I would just end up jibber-jabbering.

We can talk about our main character, Kelly, though. I was continuously disappointed by Kelly at almost every crossroads in this book. She’s not a particularly good person, although she claims to be and other people tell her she is. I didn’t view Kelly as good–I viewed Kelly as self-centered and passive-aggressive. Her constant insecurity and need for reassurance was exhausting, and it was almost like Bartz wrote her to always make the wrong decision or to be an absolute doormat. I like my female characters strong, not willing to be stomped on and willingly gaslit.

I also do not vibe well with Bartz’s writing style. Maybe she needs to read more erotic thrillers to get down the vocabulary of what goes into writing a sexy, summertime suspense novel like this, because the word “gooey” isn’t sexy. Her sentence composition lacks maturity, as does her word choices. She often chooses to make up adverbs that sound horrible when read out loud instead of simply composing a better sentence and a few times even used words that aren’t actually words, which is annoying.

Even though I didn’t guess whodunit, I was very disappointed by who did, because it simply didn’t make any sense to me. It was out of left field with not even the tiniest breadcrumb trail to accompany it. I felt it was simply there for shock factor and not because it did anything for the plot resolution or for the themes in the book.

I hesitantly recommend this if you’re just looking for something diverting to read this summer. It’s not terribly long (it could be shorter) and it’s not terrible. It’s just not great. Oh, do yourself a favor and skip the epilogue. It shouldn’t even be there.

I was provided a copy of this title by NetGalley and the author. All opinions, thoughts, ideas, and views expressed herein are mine and mine alone. Thank you.

File Under: LGBTQ Fiction/Psychological Fiction/Psychological Thriller/Suspense Thriller/Thriller/Women’s Fiction

This was a great thriller. I love that I did not anticipate the ending. Also I loved that it took place during COVID, making it a knot h more believable. Overall the storyline was gripping and made me read this in 36 hours. Highly recommend.

A dark domestic thriller with some spice; a different approach from the author's other books- a genre bending page turner. Sexy, suspenseful, and unnerving. An evenly paced and well written story.

Thank you Netgalley , author Andrea Bartz & Ballantine Books for sharing the ARC in exchange for honest review.
Book is already out now , released 6/20/2023.
This domestic thriller is like a juicy gossip you can’t stop listening / knowing more about . Having plot point like threesome which is taboo for many , it does not shy away from describing the dynamics of such a relationship and is the key plot that drives the remainder of the story . Nearly 60% of the first half , is about the characters, their emotions and slow build up of mystery . The author established how the main character gets into agreement to be in such a relationship and her processing the situation and her past . The remaining 40% of the story is where the missing previous partner of the couple and other action thriller aspect of the story takes place .
While this book reels you in and makes you want to keep reading it , this wasn’t my cup of tea , there was too many unbelievable twists at the very end and the ending did not keep up with the whole build up of the story imo.
It’s a 3/5 star read for me .

This is definitely a steamy, sensual story, and I think it effectively communicates the ways we can lose and learn about ourselves in times of crisis, especially when personal crises overlap with worldwide ones. I will admit that this isn't my favorite book by the author, and I'll chalk that up in part to maybe not being ready to read books that are set fully within the early-ish parts of the pandemic, especially when the characters are making choices that I would have disagreed with at the time. Everyone's personal readiness and experiences mean that mileage may vary on this one.

I loved Andrea Bartz's debut novel We Were Never Here so I was delighted to have received an advanced copy of her follow-up, The Spare Room, for review. Unfortunately this fell flat for me - I think in We Were Never Here, the action and tension was direct between two friends in intense situations. In The Spare Room, I was not engaged in the conflict between the three characters and mostly uninterested in the drama that unfolded. While basing a thriller around not only a COVID lockdown pod, but also a THROUPLE, combined two kind of fun, current tropes, I was bored and skimmed through the last 2/3rds of the book. I will definitely be reading whatever Ms. Bartz puts out next but unfortunately this was just not for me.

2 stars. Some people will like this and I desperately wanted to be one of them. But it felt so insta-lovey and dramatic and little thrilling aspects to it. There wasn't a single point that I genuinely wondered what was going on. It is a quick read, though.

Bartz's latest thriller was my favorite novel from this author to date! A mix of steamy and suspenseful, I enjoyed the way this played out and couldn't stop turning the pages to see what was coming.

Thank you to Random House for an advanced copy. All opinions are my own.