This was a book that I found myself not wanting to put down…until it did. This was the first book I think I’ve read that was set during Covid and I think it was presented well. I did not expect the premise to be what it was when I originally requested it from NetGalley. However, I have never read a book with a throuple so I was intrigued, but then it got weird. I don’t mind how sexual it was until the hot tub scene. I think that was when I lost interest. Kelly was not my favorite character and she seemed to be super heartbroken to super infatuated with being in this throuple in the blink of an eye. I think readers will enjoy this as a mindless sexy thriller, but be prepared to be surprised.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC. All the opinions above are my own.

I was so shocked by parts of this book, but in a good way. This page turner will have you on the edge of your seat. You will devour it! Such a great read. Highly recommend

Another one that you won't be able to put down. The Spare Room dares to peek inside the life of a couple who open their room for a guest. Beware the twists and turns will keep you reading long into the night!

I couldn’t put it down! The characters were complicated and interesting, and the twists, turns, and surprises were compelling and fun. The ending was a little confounding but you know what? People do confounding things! It’s a fun ride, recommend.

Thank you so much to Andrea Bartz, Ballantine Books, and NetGalley for the eARC of The Spare Room!

Kelly and her fiancée, Mike, have decided to take a break from their relationship. Kelly decides to move in with Sabrina, someone she hasn’t seen since high school, and her husband Nathan. Things get steamy, and tensions get high…

This book was so different than your typical thriller, which I loved! I enjoyed the romance aspect while also having some mystery involved. Overall, would recommend!

This book sounded really good & I was excited to start it but, unfortunately that was short lived. It wasn’t what I expected at all. I think it could have been a good story line but the characters in this book were not interesting at all. The setting was during the pandemic & I think people are over that. I wouldn’t call this book a thriller, 90% of the book were erotica & the ending was not thrilling at all, there weren’t really any twists or turns. I was bored with it most of the time. I love reading a good book & getting to post a raving review,; that was my hope with this book. I hate writing a bad review but I just did not connect with this book at all.

The Spare Room is a thriller full of twists and turns that will leave you guessing until the final page.

This book was okay. It was kind of extreme in terms of believability but it's a thriller so I'm willing to suspend disbelief. I felt like the writing wasn't really fully formed and I had to use my imagination to fill in a lot of the gaps. The characters weren't particularly interesting or likeable, but I was curious to know how the story would end.

I was given this book in exchange for my honest opinion. Thank you to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for the ARC.

I was surprised by this spicy thriller, but in the best way possible. An auto buy author of mine, I was far from disappointed.
Taking place during lock down, down on her luck Kelly accepts her friend’s offer to hunker down in her spare room with her and her husband. Kelly finds herself attracted to both her friend and her friend’s husband. The attractions are mutual and Kelly embraces her new relationships, until she finds that their last partner recently went missing. Could she be next?

The Spare Room is a spicy thriller that kept me turning pages. I enjoyed the chemistry between all of the characters. I never saw the end coming but do think things ended up a little too tidy considering the situation. But most definitely worth the read.

Andrea Bartz is a new author to me, one I found on Netgalley. Oddly enough, I chose her book and her sister's book at the same time. They also have heavy, deep lesbian tones, which is totally find, but surprised me given they were released relatively close to one another. Andrea focuses on the break-up of a couple that sends the almost-married female half to stay with two friends (okay, they knew each other nearly two decades ago) during the pandemic. She finds subtle hints of them wanting a threesome, then she learns their formal thrupple partner has gone missing. Girl, get out now... what is wrong with you for staying? That said... I enjoyed the book but definitely felt there was too many moments of disbelief. I get that our heroine was upset about her break-up and kinda had a hidden attraction to women but she received too many warning to ignore. Nonetheless, the ending brings everything together, with a shocker, of course. I was around 4 stars but felt the whole thing was too contrived with not enough explanations and history to really grip a reader... so I ended up with 3 stars. Will read more from the author, and I think it's a good thriller - just not necessarily well-rounded enough for me to recommend to others yet. I see the possibility of her getting bigger tho!

I admit, sometimes I request books on NetGalley that I shouldn't. I rated the author's previous book, We Were Never Here 2 stars, so why I requested this galley is a mystery, but perhaps I wanted to give the author another try. That said, this one is honestly only a smidge better for me.

In The Spare Room, we are told it will be a locked room mystery, but the mystery is a back seat to a domestic drama. Kelly is 34 and on a break with her fiancé of 4 years, during the first summer of the covid pandemic in 2020. Looking to give space to the relationship, Kelly takes her friend Sabrina up on her invitation to come isolate with her and her husband, Nathan, in the suburbs of DC, in their gated mansion. From the beginning, Kelly is irritating and obnoxious, and I was honestly left wondering when the "mystery" would begin.

Overall, yes I finished this book, the writing itself was well done, and flowed well, but the plot of the book was just so odd. At some points I was left feeling like the author was perhaps trying to emulate Coleen Hoover and her oh so obnoxiously popular books (I read one and hated it), but I could be wrong. In the interest of fairness, I decided to bump my rating of this book up to 3 stars, simply because I do not think this book was the book for me. Perhaps those who enjoy this type of book will enjoy this story. :shrug:

Thank you to Random House Ballantine Books and NetGalley for the electronic ARC of this novel for review.

This may be one of the most unique thrillers I've read in a while. As soon as I read the summary for this book, I knew it would be right up my alley. Queer characters toeing the line on societal norms, with a bunch of plot twists and mysteries along the way? Yes, please. I even stayed up until 1 am last night because I couldn't put this down. I ended up devouring it all in 24 hours tops.

I saw a few other reviewers online saying this was more of a romance than a thriller, but what I loved was that it had elements of both – but only the best parts. I'm not a huge romance reader, but the passion and romance that blossoms was beautiful to read about.

The growth we see along the way from our protagonist made me a bit emotional. I found her weak in the beginning and it frustrated me from time to time, so when we start to see that growth, it's truly moving and had me rooting for her until the very last page.

The plot twists were perfectly sprinkled throughout, with a few jaw-dropping ones at the end. While there were a handful of twists that had me actually shocked, I also have to give credit to the overall mysterious vibe of the story as well because you really find yourself questioning who you can trust from start to finish.

Overall, this was an incredible read and I will be recommending this one to all my fellow bookstagram readers and followers!

"The Spare Room" by Andrea Bartz is my second book by her and I enjoyed "We were never here" so I was pretty excited to receive this advance copy to review.

The synopsis definitely raises the intrigue level..... We have Kelly who has just been been dropped by her fiancé during covid. Distraught she ends up being roommates with her roommate Sabrina and her husband in their mansion and soon those three start engaging in some "not so safe for work" escapades. But it soon takes a dangerous turn when something sinister may hay have happened to Sabrina and her husband's last roommate. Just how safe is Kelly living there??

Nope, this book doesn't really do it for me. For one, it's suppose to be a thriller and it's absolutely not. I would go so far as to call it pretty boring actually. The "thriller" part doesn't even happen until late and I was fairly checked out by then. And even if wasn't I can't get past the prose. Especially the dialogue! Every other sentence ends in a exclamation mark! Why are they yelling all the time?!?. lol. And the dialogue itself is really dumb. Like these characters aren't making any sense or making rational decisions. I love my new roommates! But I miss my finance... Oh, you want a three way, let's do it! But I miss my fiancé.

So not sure what this book is but if you like corny dialogue and badly written sex scenes then go for it. This book actually would make a decent beach read if you want to turn off your brain.

I really appreciate Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine, Ballantine Books for giving me advance review copy for my honest review and this one has a publication date of June 20, 2023

I didn't enjoy this book, but I'm grateful to have had the opportunity to have read the arc. Thank you, NetGalley!

This book started out captivating, but it focused too much on the relationships between the characters and not enough on the thriller. I wasn't sure when the "thriller" element would kick in and it didn't until the very end of the book. I didn't like the ultimate resolution and really did not enjoy the focus on relationships.

I read steamy and stabby books, and this was technically both.. but it wasn't enough of either to keep my interest.

My biggest issue with this book was Kelly as the FMC. With many thrillers, we get women narrators who lack confidence and latch on to other people. That normally plays into the storyline at some point and you never really love a FMC in a thriller. Kelly fit that bill. But since this was also part romance, it really irked me that such a weak woman was put in some of the situations that she was. It made the romance part of the book more uncomfortable than anything else.

I struggled through the first 30% of this book but continued to make my way through it hoping that it would get better. I began to enjoy it a bit more as time went on as I began to get more curious about what was going to happen.

Kelly was an annoying character to read from and her back and forth was a lot to deal with. I also have a hard time dealing with cheaters especially when you are meant to be more sympathetic towards the character. It was also randomly smutty and went from zero to a hundred rather quickly. It felt unrealistic in a world that was just affected by COVID and the couple begin to randomly touch Kelly.

Her friend, Sabrina, invites her to move into her house with her husband, Nathan, when Kelly begins to struggle with her fiancé. It begins to build up a sexual tension and eventually the three end up in a relationship with one another. Kelly tries to go about a relationship with the married couple and wants to be equal and she starts to notice that there are a lot of secrets being kept from her.

I enjoyed that this novel added a lot of information to the missing ex-partner of her new friends and sex-mates. Sabrina and Nathan begin to act strange, and Kelly can’t put her finger on why they aren’t telling the truth about their ex-partner and why she is missing. A lot of secrets are playing a role in their relationship and Kelly must decide on what she wants. When she returns after a night escape everything starts to fall apart and she needs to decide on what she is going to do.

The twists of the novel were interesting because there was so much information provided and as the reader you must break it apart yourself and decide on who you think is the guilty party.

This book kept me guessing! I did not see any of the many twists coming. The MC was a little exhausting with how often she changed her mind about things, but overall, I enjoyed this book!

Trigger warning: Lots of Smut and sexual information for those who might be sensitive to it. Andrea Bartz thrilled me with her book Wish You Were Here and so when I saw this book I thought finally another book! I couldn't wait to read it.

Kelly has a new life in Philly but it has gotten ugly and a living nightmare. She unfortunately loses her job and in the midst of lockdown she has a tiny apartment with a man who just called their wedding off. She ends up reconnecting with her friend from childhood Sabrina. Sabrina lives in a beautiful home with an even more beautiful husband. Sabrina offers her an escape from her life and to come stay with them. Initially she gets settled and things seem okay until they arent. She gets pulled into many different weird situations and then into the relationship. She thinks she likes it but then she has started to question if they might be dangerous. Do they really care about her?

Personally I did not enjoy this like I thought I would. When reading about this book I didnt see a whole lot about the smut or sexual things in the book and thought it was just another purely domestic type thriller. But I was wrong. It had tons of smut and lots of sexual tension. I dont read books with these items because they make me uncomfortable due to some personal history. The thrill part of the novel was very well done but by about halfway it became a little too much for me. Again this is purely a personal reason but the novel was very well written. I can respect the author for a well thought out and thrilling plot.

The Spare Room by Andrea Bartz
⭐⭐⭐/5

This book was very different from what I expected jumping in - first off , Id expected more thrills - instead it didn't get thrilling until about 70% . And I'll admit. I ended up skimming ALOT . Instead the book focused on the sexual relationship of the trio and their character building. Which ; in itself isn't an issue .

Secondly- slow burn 🔥. Yes there was lots of graphic sexul encounters between 20% and and 70% but I feel like when I'm hankering for a thrilling read - spice just isn't what does it for me in that moment . Which is a shame because I love me a spicy novel ! .
However - I felt that by the time the story picked up, I was already so disconnected from the story that I no longer cared.

Thirdly . . . Why is the main character Kelly , so absolutely, frustratingly annoying . Like her naivety frustrated me through out the whole book and I just couldn't get behind the thought process behind her emotional driven decisions . .

I wanted to like this book so much . Judging by the synopsis. Maybe I'll have to come back and re- review once my mind has forgotten some things. But knowing its more of a romantic suspense may make me feel differently about this book in the future

Thanks @netgalley & @randomhouse for the early copy of this one . I will definitely ear mark it for a secondary read in the near future!

This was so chaotic and fun. I had a great time reading this popcorn thriller. It was fast paced and kept my attention the whole time. Locked rooms can get a little predictable but I didn’t see some of these twists coming!

I didn’t actually read the full synopsis on this book before requesting it from NetGalley, I just saw the author’s name & knew that I owned other thrillers from her (that I still need to read!). I was a little surprised about how steamy this book ended up being - not my usual read, but a fun addition to the typical thriller elements. This is also only my second book referencing the pandemic, & the way that it played a role in this novel was integral to the plot.

Kelly is still reeling from her fiance saying he wanted to hit pause on wedding plans, so when an old childhood friend invites her to take a break with her & her husband in their mansion, Kelly decides to take her cat, Virgo, & board a train from Philadelphia to Virginia. She’s greeted by her friend Sabrina’s husband, Nathan, & they form a COVID lockdown pod together. Eventually the lines between houseguest & hosts get blurry & Kelly finds herself in a throuple’s paradise - until she realizes that the last woman this couple opened their marriage to is missing.

This novel had a lot of wild romantic plotlines & violent twists & turns, honing in on the isolation, fear, & paranoia that became a daily reality for many people during the pandemic. I did really appreciate the author’s note at the beginning telling me that the cat would always be fine! And the personal growth that Kelly exhibits as she becomes more in tune with herself is an important message. This was a fast-paced, shocking story & I look forward to reading more of Andrea Bartz’s work.

Thank you to NetGalley & Ballantine for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.