It feels slightly weird to now be reading books set during COVID, but The Spare Room deftly uses the backdrop of the pandemic to create the perfect set of circumstances for this domestic thriller. Kelly's once-perfect life is crumbling and she finds herself leaving behind her fiance to stay in rural Virignia with a recently reacquainted friend from high school and her husband. Things soon get complicated as the three become increasingly intertwined and ghosts from the past resurface.

Overall, it's a great premise and I really enjoyed seeing how the story unfolded. Things do fall apart a little towards the end as the author tries to pull off some twists with only a small cast of characters and mixed success. I personally liked some of the choices that were made, which I won't spoil, and think this book would make for excellent book club discussion material. Highly recommend as a fun, diverting summer vacation read.

Thanks to NetGalley and Ballantine Books for providing an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Giving this one a 3.75 (rounding to 4) out of 5 stars. The Spare Room starts out as a slow burn then turns into a raging fire of sex, lies, secrets... and murder.

The story revolves around our main character Kelly who has just called off her wedding from her fiancé during the height of the COVID Pandemic. She reconnects online with with her old high school classmate Sabrina, and ends up leaving Philly to move in with Sabrina and her husband Nathan down in Virginia. They live in an amazing house and live the perfect "hashtag" Instagram life. Kelly soon gets sucked in and falls under their spell. What was just supposed to be her staying in their spare room has turned into a steamy throuple of secrets. When the romance heats up, so do the twists and turns of this novel. I thought this was a great domestic thriller and would definitely recommend to everyone who enjoys this genre. However, my only gripe was the mention of the Pandemic. Everyone has their own idea of when something might be too soon, and this is mine. I honestly think the author could completely erase any and all mention of the Pandemic and quarantining, masks, etc. and this book would be perfectly fine. That is probably the only thing that brought down the rating for me.

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

Kelly’s new life in Philadelphia has turned into a nightmare: She’s friendless and jobless, and the lockdown has her trapped in a tiny apartment with the man who’s just called off their wedding. The only bright spot is her newly rekindled friendship with her childhood friend Sabrina. When Sabrina and Nathan offer Kelly an escape hatch, volunteering the spare room of their remote Virginia mansion, she jumps at the chance to run away from her old life. But what exactly is she running TO?

I'm going to start by saying that I'm a HUGE fan of the Bartz sisters. We Were Never Here was one of my favorites of last summer and I LOVED The Writing Retreat earlier this year.

That being said, I was disappointed by this one. The Spare Room had all the right parts, but I could not get around my hatred for Kelly and what an idiot she was. The plot was confusing (what exactly was Beth's story??) and the end result really didn't make much sense in the larger plot. Despite that, I eagerly await what Andrea Bartz comes up with next.

I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

The Spare Room by Andrea Bartz, was not what I was expecting. I thought this was a suspense/ thriller/mystery. Yes it is partially all of those things, it's also a steamy lust story. I think if that would've been left out, the story would've been fine, and is also why I am sticking with a 3 star review. I enjoyed the twisty plot, the lust just wasn't for me. I really did not see that ending coming. Thank you to NetGalley and Andrea Bartz for the complimentary e-galley.

The beginning is a slow burn, but it starts getting better fast, and you will find yourself drawn to this very tense story.

It’s sexy, steamy, with wild twists that will make you gasp for air.

I enjoyed this book and its story, and kept me holding my breath, I couldn’t put it down.

Thank you NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine for this advanced digital copy in an exchange of my honest review.
Coming out on June 20, 2023.

This was a very different book than I thought it would be! I went in thinking it would be a locked room/domestic thriller and it ended up giving romance, heat, suspense and more twists and turns than I thought possible!

Intriguing characters who kept you slightly suspicious was at the heart of thr book. Kelly as the main narrator managed to gain sympathy and have me eye roll her at least 100 times. Fantastic storytelling!

Thanks to NetGalley and Ballantine publishing for the ARC.

This was definitely a slow burn to a fast-paced finish! It is more of a romantic thriller than a domestic thriller. I think the main character Kelly is somewhat annoying and some of the things she does are naive and unrealistic. I really wanted to like this one but it just wasn’t for me.

Thanks netgalley for the arc in exchange for my honest opinion.

This story didn't disappoint. I loved the premise and the unexpected twists that just kept coming. Fans of her first novel will love this one! only critique I could give is that some of the end of chapters it felt dragged the story a bit and even though I loved all the twists.

While this thriller isn't quite as twisty or intense as We Were Never Here imo--this one's more of a slower burn--it was really addicting to read and impossible to put down. I was basically zoom reading into the late hours of the night to get to the end. Like Andrea Bartz's other books, the final act is quite a ride and you're never really sure where the end actually will be. Definitely 5 stars for that third act!

I will say parts of the story felt a bit shallow at times. The pandemic setting was a good choice and added some tension to the plot but def could've been used to ratchet tension and feelings of isolation up even further. I also felt like much of the 3 main characters' relationships developed deeply off page and more time was devoted to the internal angst of the narrator. Which did work really well in keeping the suspense and suspicions high. The narrator was a very well done unreliable point of view character. Maybe it's just me, but I would've liked to see more of the positives of the relationship on page, though, again, I get why the author didn't and how that made much of the relationship feel like a fever dream (definitely fitting for the pandemic setting where time feels soupy and unreal!)

Overall, a super addicting read. The clues and little hints of what the narrator didn't know but wanted to find out were so well placed and timely that I couldn't stop reading. I loved all the switcheroos the characters pulled and not knowing who was telling the truth about who. And maybe we'll never know the truth about some people, right? I do love the author's explorations of who people are vs who they show the world they are. (And it's never just the main characters in Bartz's books but ALL the characters and I love that!!)

I have mixed feelings about the Colleen Hoover Verity style epilogue and whether it adds to the story or feels like a justification for the earlier actions of the characters. But...it will be living in my head rent free for awhile so kudos to the author for that too, lol.

I read this book in one day if that tells you anything!

Kelly is having a rough go of it. Her fiancee and her are having issues, they just moved to a city where she knows no one, she has no job, and on top of that, a global pandemic has just started. After exchanging DMs with an old acquaintance from high school, her rekindled bff invites her to come stay with her and her husband for a change of scenery. Kelly takes them up on the offer and packs her bags.

Behind the gates of the private community, Kelly's life is forever changed in many ways. Norms are challenged. Taboos are faced. Kelly finds herself in the middle of a mystery that she never wanted to solve, with lust, trust, and intuition clouding her thoughts.

The Spare Room was really fun, and if you liked Bartz's other books you'll like this one too. It has a little 🌶 in it, which is a great addition. Bartz tends to write like people actually talk, which I love. Her characters are always multidimensional, never just "good" or "bad".

As a reader, there were many times I related to Kelly even though she's slightly unhinged, and I think that speaks to Bartz's strength as a writer.

This book is going to be a fantastic summer read.

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/5377151371

Tiktok: @pittelsbookclub (forthcoming)

Instagram: @pittelsbookclub (forthcoming)

Thank you to Netgalley and Ballantine publishing for the chance to read and review this book. So if I could describe this book using only an emoji it would be the eye roll emoji 🙄the amount of times I rolled my eyes was comical. Now I read the author’s previous novel “we were never here” and really enjoyed it but this was not a hit for me. I feel like the author maybe watched too much reality dating shows during lockdown and the contestants are who she based her characters on. They fell in and out of love so easily and quickly based on the most ridiculous reasons. There were so many instances in the book where literally one sentence was “I’m so in love and happy” and the next is can I trust them? What are they capable of? It was so ridiculous and far fetched. I did enjoy it enough to finish though and I kind of feel like I do after binging Love is blind, slightly dirty but would do it again.

This is my first Andrea Bartz book and while I enjoyed this, there were moments where I was taken out of the story. However, I definitely was hooked and wanted to keep reading to find out what happens next. I loved reading about the polyamorous relationships and Kelly's sexual exploration as a "throuple." I didn't trust Sabrina and Nathan one bit but it's probably because Kelly was so paranoid and suspicious throughout the book. She seemed to see-saw between uber suspicious and naive so much so that it was a little jarring. There were a few plot points and a-ha moments that seemed convoluted but it didn't take away my overall enjoyment of the story. The big twist in the end was something I did not see coming at all. I'll definitely pick up another Andrea Bartz book.

3.75 rounded up to 4. This book was a lot different than I was expecting, it’s quite heavy on the spice in the first half. The mystery that develops in the second half was a lot better and kept me reading to figure out what was going on. The pandemic is mentioned, as the plot does take place in summer of 2020. Overall a decent read if you can stick with it.

The Spare Room opens with Kelly temporarily leaving her fiancé after a particularly bad argument in Philadelphia to stay with some friends in a DC suburb during the pandemic. Being cooped up together leads Kelly to develop feelings for both Sabrina and her husband, Nathan. They eventually open up their marriage to Kelly and she struggles to come to terms with her new lifestyle. In the midst of all this, Kelly discovers that Sabrina and Nathan have opened up their marriage before and that woman is missing...

The true mystery of this book didn't come into play until about the last 1/3 of the book. It was twisty and kept my attention once it started, but it was a little unbelievable. There were also times in the middle of the chapter where the narrative was kind of lost, there would just be a jump in time with no explanation that made me feel like I had skipped a page while reading. I have read a couple of Andrea Bartz's other books and this one did not hold up like her others.

That being said I did read the whole thing and did have a decent time doing it, just wouldn't be in my list of recommendations to friends looking for thrillers.

Thank you to Random House Publishing and NetGalley for the advanced e-copy of this book.

Finished ✔️ The Spare Room by Andrea Bartz and it was decently enjoyable.
4 ⭐️’s
Publish Date: June 20th, 2023
Kindle Unlimited: No
Staying with a friend and her husband is sexier and deadlier than anyone could have ever imagined.
Provocative domestic suspense
Sexy, atmospheric, delicious creepy, ingeniously plotted
The best kind of up-all-night page turner
I enjoyed all the characters in this thriller
#DeesReading #DeesRecs #DeesBookRecommendations #BookNerds #BookNerdProblems #BookNerdsUnited #BookProblems #BookProblems101 #BookNerds101 #Bookworms #BookwormProblems #BookwormProblems101 #BooksOfFacebook #DeeTheBookReviewer #DeesReadOfTheDay #DeesBookOfTheDay #DeesBookReviewsOfTheDay #BookReviewer #NewToMeAuthor #AndreaBartz #ReadOfTheDay #BookOfTheDay #TheSpareRoom #NetGalley #MysteriesAndThrillers

Kelly reconnects with her childhood friend Sabrina when she feels completely lost during the pandemic and decides to be Sabrina's houseguest to unwind a bit. Nathan and Sabrina are a completely weird couple and this evolves into a dangerous threesome. But as time goes on and they continue their new relationship, more secrets come out, some character traits of Nathan come out which ruffle their whole arrangement.

Until now Kelly was like a doormat, agreeing to everything people in her life command but she understands things are not as they seem. There is also a missing person connected to this couple and Kelly is out to find out more. At the end, there are more twists which kept me hooked. There were quite a few bedroom scenes that gave a bit of erotic vibe to it and was fairly steamy. This was not an amazing thriller by any way but it was fast paced after a few chapters and it was completely binge worthy!

I had high hopes for The Spare Room because I have loved everything else written by this author, and maybe that's why I was a little disappointed. This is a very slow-build thriller that never became suspenseful to me. It was steamy as the characters explored a relationship with three people, which made up the majority of the book. So much so it often felt that nothing was happening. I was hopeful the book would be more thriller genre, but it was lacking that shocking twist/end that I was expecting. Overall, I thought it was a good book combining two different genres, but just not for me. I think fans of Verity should give this book a try!

Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC of The Spare Room.

The premise was interesting and had potential but the narrative fell flat for me.

First, I couldn't stand Kelly. She was needy, desperate for attention, and a doormat.

She made so many ridiculous choices it was hard to take her seriously.

Second, I didn't mind the polyamorous relationship (I'm no prude), but I didn't feel the relationship between Sabrine and Nathan was genuine.

I enjoy erotica and a sexy Bridgerton love scene as much as the next person, but I felt the author just added the love triangle to heighten the tension.. It rang false.

Third, the narrative was unnecessarily long, and the sudden appearance of Beth was silly. So silly I laughed out loud which I'm sure was not the author's intention.

There was barely any suspense and the story read more as a story about a difficult relationship between a couple and their needy submissive.

I didn't buy that ending, who killed Beth and Kelly's growth and evolvement into a more self sufficient person, but I didn't like her or anyone else.

if you're not comfortable with unconventional relationships or semi-explicit content, you won't enjoy The Spare Room.

Kelly is annoying, naive, and exhausting. For a 35-year-old she seemed clueless about love and relationships. (She loves this couple and thinks they’re equal partners but barely knows them and doesn’t trust them? I kept picturing a character who was a teen or early 20s- someone with less life experience). I didn’t care about any of the characters. This book was so disappointing. I read two of the author’s other books and they were far superior. The writing in this book seemed like the author was trying too hard. This dragged. She uses a lot of descriptive writing which I typically live. However, how it was done takes you out of the story or feels over explained. If it wasn’t for the need to write some type of review I wouldn’t have finished it.

It was ok. I didn't like the twists and the plot was sub-par at best. I wanted to love this, but it just didn't happen. Thanks to Netgalley & Random House for the E-ARC!