Ugh. Where to begin. I had high hopes for this one. The blurb sounded great! But thriller it was not. Kelly, the protagonist, leaves her fiancee in the middle of the pandemic to live in the spare room of a high school acquaintance - weird and out of nowhere. There was so much to this novel that just didn't work - Kelly was dramatic and ridiculous in her decision making at the very least. And the thriller part of the book didn't actually thrill until the very end. Most of the novel was the threesome between Kelly and her married hosts...also weird and out of nowhere. I spent most of the novel sighing and rolling my eyes. Disappointed to say the least.

I am so grateful to Random House - Ballantine Books and to Netgalley for the gift of this advance copy in exchange for my opinions!

Kelly needs a change of scenery when her relationship hits the rocks. The only issue? It's early days of the pandemic and there is nowhere for her to go. But then her recently rekindled friend, Sabrina, offers to host Kelly in her pod at her beautiful home outside of DC Somewhere between healing heartbreak, sparks flying, and the suspense around their enclosed mansion, things take a turn for Kelly.

***

I have to say, I loved the suspense and sexiness of this novel. I know a lot of reviews didn't want to put it in the thriller category, but I actually think it works. Sure there's the suspense of the romance, but there's always something sinister lurking under the surface. There's some great balancing between wanting the romance and being nervous for Kelly.

All that being said, it didn't fully connect for me in the end. I definitely didn't see the ending coming, but not in a good way. In a, OKKK WHATEVER, way. I just didn't feel satisfied.

I'd still recommend just for the first 80% alone.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for my ARC!

The Spare Room has an intriguing story that will draw the reader in to the book. There is some suspense with a steamy storyline mixed together. It is an enjoyable read worth checking out.

Dare I say that this is my FAVE book by Bartz thus far?! YUP! I am saying it 🙌🏻 Thanks so much to the tagged publisher and @netgalley for my gifted eARC in exchange for an honest review🤗



✨𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐝𝐢𝐝 𝐈 𝐞𝐧𝐣𝐨𝐲 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐨𝐨𝐤?

Bartz does it again! This was such a fun, addictive, bingeworthy, unputdownable, juicy and suspenseful read! Once I picked this one up it was hard to put it down, and that is rare for me, but I absolutely felt the need to find out what happened next. I really loved how unique and different this thriller is compared to others, including Bartz’s past thrillers. This one is set during the pandemic, so it may not appeal to all, but it definitely sucked me in with the writing style, the characters, and the claustrophobic feeling that Bartz created with this one. This starts off as a slow burn, but it sucks you in and picks up pace picks up with each chapter. This book is sexy, juicy, and addicting-I loved where Bartz went with this one! One minute I thought I knew where this one was going, only to be thrown a twist that took things in a whole other direction-and I loved every minute of it. 🙌🏻🙌🏻

✨𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐃𝐢𝐝 𝐈 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐨𝐨𝐤?

I won’t say that I disliked this-but I do feel that this was more of a romantic suspense/drama rather than a thriller-either way, it worked for me!

✨𝐖𝐡𝐨 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐞𝐧𝐣𝐨𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐛𝐨𝐨𝐤?

I think many readers will enjoy this one, my only advice is to go in with no expectations when reading this one and know that this is not your typical thriller.



𝐌𝐲 𝐑𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠:
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫4.5/5

Sadly this book wasn't for me, I didn't finish it, I just can't handle how it was written.
Thank for the advance copy.

The Spare Room is a locked room mystery taking place in the early days of the pandemic - when someone is brutally murdered during quarantine, who in the pod could've done it? 👀
Kelly and her fiance decide to take a relationship break mid pandemic, and Kelly leaves to join a childhood friend and her husband's bubble. While staying in their home, she becomes romantically involved with the couple and they become a throuple. After some time, the couples' previous ex joins their bubble and is murdered that same night.
Honestly, this book should probably be shelved as romantic suspense. The Bartz sisters are writing a lot of spice into their thrillers! I found it really readable, and thought it was going to be very predictable - however I was very surprised by the reveal at the end and some of Kelly's choices. This is the first pandemic fiction I've read where it didn't bother me at all! It was more a tool to keep the throuple locked in a house together.
Thank you to NetGalley and Random House for the ARC.
ARC was provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

The setting of this book is the pandemic which is the first book I read with this setting. I feel like this book missed a huge opportunity for a story line. I needed more in the ending. Disappointed because I was looking forward to this book.

I’m not sure why this book is marketed as a thriller. The “thrilling” part didn’t even happen until the last 20% of the book and by then I just wanted the book to be over. I usually don’t read books about the pandemic, but this one really didn’t go into depth about covid which I did like. Kelly the protagonist was annoying and clingy. The twist at the end was actually good but the book dragged on until the very end.

Kelly is friendless and jobless in Philadelphia, a city she only moved to for her fiancée. Her fiancée that just called off their wedding. When Sabrina offers Kelly a chance to stay in her spare room in a mansion in Virginia, Kelly can’t wait to leave her old life behind. At the mansion, Kelly finds herself falling for both Kelly and her husband Nathan. Kelly loves being part of this exciting new world until she finds out their last partner went missing. What happened to their last partner?

This one starts as a slow burn, but it will lure you in and leave you wanting more. At first, you may think you are reading an erotic romance but don’t worry, the book's second half will thrill you. That is when the slow burn heats up. The trapped in a remote mansion theme will keep you wondering what is going to happen next. There are many twists and turns, ones I did not see coming at all, that will leave you with your mouth wide open. I highly recommend it to anyone that enjoys thrillers! 4/5 stars.

I could not read this book fast enough! It has been a while since I've read a good thriller that wasn't predictable. This novel glows green with jealousy emanating off every page. Kelly, our protagonist, is a slave to her jealousy and I couldn't help feeling like I could relate to some of her urges to know the truth, or prove that her assumptions were wrong. If you haven't yet preordered this book or put it on hold at the library, do it now!

This is listed as being a thriller but that part didn't really happen until the book was almost over. There was so much going on and happening in this book and very little of it was exciting. I feel like the author was struggling with what genre she wanted to write. Normally I like when books span genres but it just didn't work here. When we go to one of the big reveals I was like "oh great this is great! I didn't see this coming.... this might turn the book around for me" then it went in a different direction. There was so much potential but it all feel way short for me.

I really wanted to love this one, but unfortunately it fell flat for me! I have to say, there were a few pieces that I didn’t see coming though! I will continue to pick up Andrea Bartz’s books and hope that next one sucks me in! Thank you NetGalley and Random House for the ARC!

The plot of this one sounded a lot better than the execution. It was a slow start (and not steamy like many reviews say). the ending was out of left field, and I felt it could have been better, Still, not a bad thriller - different from the formulaic thrillers so often released.

Thanks to NetGalley and publisher for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

The Spare Room is a thriller that is also an off-beat romance (in a strange way). I love how unique this book is, especially how the pandemic fits into the plot. I also like that it's not just a thriller, it's so much more. I wasn't a fan of Kelly's decisions and failure to accept logical conclusions. Things get outlandish and strange towards the end. Overall, not a bad book. I look forward to reading other books by this author. Thanks for the advance review copy.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me an advanced copy of The Spare Room by Andrea Bartz.

The Spare Room is the first book I've read set in the early day of the Covid-19 pandemic. Kelly is facing lockdown with a fiancé who is distancing himself from their wedding plans, and a fruitless job search. After reconnecting with a high school friend, she decides to enter a pod with Sabrina and her husband, Nathan, in the Virginia countryside. The safety of their small group turns sexual, and soon their pod is a threesome.

But the secrets of Sabrina and Nathan's past relationship lead Kelly to believe she's not as safe as it seems. Separated from the world and with the threat closing in, she's fighting the shadows and their dangers.

I've read all of Andrea Bartz's books, and The Spare Room has her signature take on toxic relationships and girlboss energy. The dynamics between Kelly, Sabrina, and Nathan was both hot and creepy. It kept me turning pages, but with a bit of struggle at believing Kelly could make so many bad decisions. Several plot points stretched my suspicion of disbelief, but didn't stop me from reading. I did like this book, but caution readers in case some of the content is too disturbing.

CW: On-page depictions of the Covid-19 pandemic, limited/dubious consent, on-page descriptions of sexual assault

I loved Andrea Bartz's last book We Were Never Here so I was eagerly awaiting this one. I didn't get as invested in this book as with her last. It was good about keeping me guessing and had some twists and turns but ultimately it just wasn't my favorite. It was interesting seeing behind the scenes in the marriage of Sabrina and Nathan and their seemingly perfect life. The writing was great and the plot felt fresh; I just didn't like the main character Kelly-which may have been the point :) Andrea Bartz is an amazing writer so I'll be looking forward to her next book and I am thankful for the chance to read this one early.

I wanted to love this book and I fully expected to after Bartz's page-turner We Were Never Here.

The storyline has so much potential but is rather underwhelming. Set during the early part of the pandemic, readers are meant to fill in the gaps of any emotions and nuances of this setting beyond the main character Kelly's infatuation with her new roommates. Kelly is a bit scattered after a breakup with her fiance but finds a quick diversion by moving in with her old high school friend Sabrina and Sabrina's husband Nathan.

Kelly's suspicions about the couple are too easily swept under the rug as she becomes a partner in their marriage. I just didn't connect with the main character; she fell flat which kept the book from becoming a true psychological thriller or page-turner for me..

*This book was read and reviewed in partnership with NetGalley.*

Like all of Andrea Bartz novels, I devoured this book in one day. I typically stray from romance novels, but the trope of "inviting an old friend to move in" (during the pandemic, no less) was intriguing to me.

Kelly and her fiancé have decided to take a break, and Kelly reconnects with a former high school friend, Sabrina. After sending messages over Instagram for a few weeks, Kelly is invited to stay in Sabrina and Nathan's spare room in their Virginia mansion. At first, Kelly is thrilled to have this quarantine pod - it's a step up from her old apartment, and Sabrina and Nathan are captivating and seem like the perfect couple. After a few weeks, Kelly finds herself in a threesome with the couple. She is falling in love with them and happily accepts the role of this position. Kelly is aware of the girl before her, who shared the same intimacy as her, but who went missing - and was last seen at the mansion.

For me, this story was fast paced, stimulating and scandalous. It took a while for me to remember it was a thriller, but once it picked up, there were some great red herrings.

Thank you to Random House and NetGalley for providing me with this ARC, I can't wait to see what others think about it!

I had high hopes going into this book — a woman looking to escape her life and live with a couple whose past resident mysteriously disappeared. However, this was such a slow burn — to the point where the flame definitely went out and I didn't even care because where was the psychological thriller? Where was the suspense? In true Andrea Bartz fashion, the "big reveal" comes so close to the end of the book you just know there can't be a good resolution. This reveal was so unbelievable (not in a good way) that I almost wanted to put the book down and say that's it I'm done. This one was a pretty big waste of time for sure.

Honestly, “pandemic thrillers” are starting to make me retroactively uneasy. How did we last isolated for almost a year mostly inside worrying about pasta, peanut butter, and toilet paper shortages without something creepy and life-altering incident happening before vaccines? I loved, loved, loved Andrea Bartz’s creepy previous thriller, “We Were Never Here” (also with morally ambiguous characters), but I think the pandemic angle is what kept me starting and stopping “The Spare Room” (which I should have devoured 5 months ago upon receipt). But now I’m buoyed by all the positive reviews and I can add my own praise to this unique growing sub-genre (like “56 Days” by Catherine Ryan Howard, “The Sentence” by Louise Erdrich, and “The Fell” by Sarah Moss).

As a plot device, the COVID-19 lockdown almost automatically creates a locked room or cabin-in-the-woods setup: there’s something evil outside, but there might be something deadly inside, too. Here we have Kelly (she of apparently questionable decision-making), who has fled her own questioning fiancé, Mike, to go on a whim to the “safety pod” of a primarily social media friend, Sabrina, a spicy romance novelist, and her uber-handsome husband, Nathan, who does something mysterious for the Department of Defense. The touchy-feely couple live in a huge house that is semi-isolated within a gated community (and conveniently shares a fence with a cemetery). Kelly really wants Mike back, but she keeps doing things that are not supporting that future. Like getting into a ménage à troi with her hosts. OK, the girl deserves some fun, but she also discovers that possibly a previous woman who was in the same threesome has disappeared.

The narrative is twisty and this turns out to be quite the page turner, but I did have some reservations about Kelly (lots of: “what were you thinking, Kelly?” moments). I never saw a key development coming and — hoo-boy — that changed things. 5 stars!

Thank you to Random House/Ballantine and NetGalley for an advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review!

Literary Pet Peeve Checklist:
Green Eyes (only 2% of the real world, yet it seems like 90% of all fictional females): YES Sabrina has leprechaun green eyes.
Horticultural Faux Pas (plants out of season or growing zones, like daffodils in autumn or bougainvillea in Alaska): NO Just a cemetery designed like a park.