This book was a slow starter for me. Kelly is on the rocks with her fiancé and gets an offer to hunker down with her old friend Sabrina and Sabrina’s husband Nathan during the pandemic. She discovers they had a previous houseguest, which stirs up some drama and paranoia. It took about 25% for me to get going with the story. The chapters are short, which I like for being able to take breaks, but it also made it easy for me to put down. Things heat up mid-way, and I was honestly shocked at how the events unfolded. But ultimately, I didn’t love the story. Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC.

This was a wild ride that kept getting crazier and crazier with each twist. I really enjoyed this book and couldn’t put it down!

Thank you Netgalley for an arc of this one. This one was just not for me. About 95% of it reads like Fifty Shades of Gray and 5% thriller / suspense. Very disappointed in this one.

Kelly chooses to leave her job and friends to follow her fiancé to Philadelphia where he then tells her he wants to call off the wedding. A rekindled childhood friendship with Sabrina, now a bestselling author, leads to an opportunity to stay in the spare room of their remote Virginia mansion while she figures out what to do. Kelly is instantly enamored by Sabrina and her husband leading to a sexual relationship between the three of them. Kelly is happier than she has ever been until she finds out that she is not their first partner and that woman has gone missing.

The Spare Room is a domestic thriller in which the isolation of the pandemic leads to opportunities for murder. The novel was an interesting concept on the recently growing pandemic thrillers however this one took a long time to really get interesting. The novel focuses primarily on Kelly's life being in disarray and her relationship with her hosts for about 60% of the novel before the thriller/mystery aspect really picks up. Despite being a bit of a slow start the novel was well written and entertaining...the perfect weekend read!

Finished this one in days, and it probably ranks as a second favorite of all the Andrea Bartz novels I've read (following We Were Never Here). Got through this quick as I enjoyed the narrator, her voice and her insecurities and the story line and setting were very interesting. I loved the unusual element of a "throuple" relationship.

The narrator, Kelly Doyle's relationship with fiance / ex-fiance Mike is on the rocks. Their small apartment in Philadelphia starts to feel more and more cramped as they are in the middle of COVID lock down. When childhood acquaintance turned successful author influencer Sabrina Lamont invites her to stay with her and her husband Nathan in their mansion called Tanglewood Estates, Kelly jumps at this opportunity to get some space from Mike and meet her author girl crush. Kelly quickly falls for both Sabrina and Nathan, and realizes the feeling is mutual. Everything is going dreamily well until she discovers some disturbing secrets about the last girl in her position, and is left wondering what happened to her...

A solid 4 for the twists and turns. Thank you Netgalley for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley for a digital ARC of The Spare Room.

I'm conflicted on this one. I very much disliked We Were Never Here, so I wan't really expecting much, but to my surprise, this one was so much better. I enjoyed this and didn't see the twist coming (which I love and appreciate), BUT...there were some things that just kind of ruined it for me. The whole mask thing had me rolling my eyes every time I read it. I don't care to be reminded of the pandemic over and over in literature. I also thought some parts were repetitive and language I didn't care for. Because of those, it wasn't my cup of tea, but if you are a fan of Bartz I'm sure you'll enjoy.

The Spare Room is about a woman named Kelly who realizes that the life she’s living isn’t what she wants anymore. A friend from high school asks her to come stay with her and from there, it’s a wild ride! I love when stories like this have a plot twist at the end and something happens that I definitely didn’t expect. I rated this book 4/5 stars, I really enjoy Andrea Bartz’ work!

Thank you netgalley and RandomHouse for the complimentary ACR.

I've been a fan of Andrea Bartz since her first book and was so excited to receive this book. I give it 3.5 stars.

I read this in a matter of hours so it definitely grabbed me. Kelly stays with an old childhood school mate and husband for a few weeks to deal with her own relationship problems. There are a lot of books about a single woman moving in with a couple and I was worried it would be a similar storyline. This has a few twists and is very different from the other "women upstairs" books.

Andrea did a great job of building intensity - I assumed I knew the direction the book was going, but was surprised by the outcome. It does have some sex scenes- nothing lewd and a few twists at the end.

Overall, I enjoyed it but it wasn't my favorite of hers. 3.5 stars and can't wait to read the next!

Wow! This book is an adventure I didn't see coming. I was entertained the whole way through. Mystery, suspense, and a fresh spin on complicated relationships. 

Kelly goes to stay with a high school friend she's recently reconnected with via Instagram (as one does), in a home that seems akin to a glamorous fortress, and begins to fall for both her friend and her friend's husband romantically. The relationship between the three feels very safe, comforting, and thrilling, but over time, doubting thoughts begin entering Kelly's mind. Once she starts to pull on those threads, it leads her down a much different road than she anticipated.

One of the best parts was exploring Kelly’s anxiety/paranoia based on her past hurts and traumas. Revisiting these at different points in the book made her feel more authentic. I thought the novel was well-paced; I easily finished it in two days much like other books by this author. 

It's a story you have to go all in on and let take you where it does. I was a little surprised (and slightly disappointed) by the ending but goodness if this didn't take me for a ride.

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 and risked a 5 year relationship with people she barely even knew.

The pandemic was a crazy time. After losing her job and having difficulties with her fiancé, Kelly was happy to be invited to spend some time with a high school friend who happens to be a best selling author. Sabrina and her husband Nathan Lamont live in a mansion in an exclusive gated community in Virginia. Nathan has a top secret job for the Department of Defense and the couple explain to Kelly that they are very private people. Kelly is delighted at living in the expansive home with the swimming pool and hot tub and enjoys spending evenings drinking wine and hanging out with the glamorous couple. It isn't long before the three of them begin a sexual affair and Kelly falls in love with both Sabrina and Nathan. The only thing that bothers her is when she finds some photographs of another young blond woman and she too appeared to be a partner of the couple.

Sabrina tells Kelly the woman who was named Beth, disappeared from the house and from the life of the couple and hasn't been seen since. Yet Kelly is enjoying the sex and seduction too much to ask too many questions even when she meets some residents of the town and they tell her to steer clear of Sabrina and Nathan. The novel is mostly a romantic tale with some twinges of warning until the last third of the novel when a murder happens and Kelly becomes confused and scared. I found Kelly to be kind of unlikable in that she left behind her fiancé and seemed to think she could just live free of charge with this couple and even insist on a permanent place in their lives. There was a big twist I didn't see coming and I don't think it was needed but I did like the wrap up of the story. Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for a copy of this ARC in exchange for a review.

Andrea Bart’s has put out yet another unputdownable thriller. Kelly finds herself living with a happy couple and getting a little too close. What the reader doesn’t know is if she should trust them. With turns around Avery corner and chapters that keep you reading, readers will love this one. Loved the ending.

this was the most bizarre mish mosh of genres I’ve read in a long time - and I was digging it! (for the most part)

after my letdown of WE WERE NEVER HERE, andrea returns with another cast of completely unlikable idiotic characters that you can’t help but love to hate! for me, however, it was definitely a higher emphasis on hate rather than love 😅😅

kelly has recently separated from her husband and moves in with a husband wife duo in their mansion …. what could go wrong right? 😶 a mystery ensues but not before kelly joins the couple in their romantic relationship, which leads to a dance of sexy scenes?? I kinda liked it

[and for everyone comparing this book to fifty shades or other spicy books, you’ve clearly never read them .. this was not even close to open door]

kelly’s character definitely needed a reality check. the way that she constantly battled herself in her own mind if she was being paranoid or not gave me a headache. like girl, if something feels off, IT PROBABLY IS RUN FOR YOUR LIFE!!!

I do think this one falls victim to the mis-marketed genre - it’s definitely more of a mystery than a thriller 🥴 and I’m sad to say that I stayed up wayyyy too late reading this one!

thank you to netgalley and the publisher for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review!

rating: 3 stars
wine pairing: argentina malbec

This book was amazing! I couldn’t put it down. Absolutely terrifying and thrilling at the same time. One of my favorite books!!

This book just wasn’t for me, I found the narrator, Kelly, to have no depth. She was clingy & desperate & far too eager to please. The entire throuple/pandemic/quarantine angle was not fun reading. Honestly, I felt icky most of the time. And reading about the pandemic & “strict quarantine protocols” three years later is quite frankly exhausting. The final scene between Mike and Kelly was anti-climatic and weak, which led to my final eye roll - Sabrina & Kelly breaking up after Kelly realized Mike was actually the murderer, sparking her to “go find herself,” while Sabrina moved on as a swinger. No thank you.

The Spare Room follows Kelly who is jobless, friendless, and is going through a rough time with her fiancé. The only bright spot is her rekindled friendship with Sabrina. Sabrina offers Kelly to come stay with her and husband for a while. Kelly really loves living with them and ends up falling for both of them. At first everything in the new found relationship is going well. But Kelly starts noticing that things seem a little off. The last women that Sabrina and her husband were with went missing. Now Kelly fears that the same thing might happen to her. 

So I am a little confused why this book is marketed as a thriller. For the most part this book did not seem like a thriller. It took over 80% of the book for the thriller vibes to happen. This was more of an interesting romance book. I did like this book over all. I just felt like it could have been better. However, I am a little unsure if I would suggest this one. If you are looking for a thriller I would skip this one. But if you are looking for a romance book with a dash of thriller vibes I would suggest this one. I have never read anything by this author before and I do like her writing, and I will be reading more by her in the future. 

Thank you Andrea Bartz, Ballantine Books, and NetGalley for this ARC.

Super steamy thriller that I didn’t know I needed! But seriously, I was pleasantly surprised by the twists and turns this one took, all the way until the very end! I do wish it was a little more suspenseful, that is the reason I gave it 4 stars. I kept waiting for the mystery aspect to kick up a notch, but it never did.

Thank you NetGalley for this arc in exchange for an honest review!

ARC review for spare room by Andrea Bartz
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5
I read We We’re Never Here by Andrea and loved it and I love this one also! Her writing style is one of my favorites in thrillers! We follow Kelly in this book and she is on the outs with her current relationship and moves in with her friend Sabrina and her husband Nathan, they spark your a relationship. Everything is fine until she finds out that their last girlfriend went missing and she has to decide is it a coincidence and stay or intentional and leave. This was a slow burn romantic thriller that featured a trouple and it had some spice to it! I loved this book and will be buying a physical copy when they come out!
💓 💓

#booksofig #bookishpost #bookstagram #bookishfriends #bookcommunity #readersofinstagram #bookfriends #bookishfriends #booklovers #bookishcommunity #bookishfollow #bookloversunite #bookrecommendations #bookreviews

The twists and turns in this one! Kept me on turning the pages and on the edge of my seat. Highly recommend. Andrea Bartz does it again!

I cannot hold my e-reader! It's too hot! This book is incredibly steamy!

Poor Kelly, at 35, gets dumped by her long-time fiancé. Luckily, she reconnects with her old friend Sabrina from school, who writes scorching hot erotica and is married to a high-powered and sexy man. Sabrina invites Kelly to stay in the spare room of their beautiful Virginia mansion to nurse her unexpected breakup, leading to a steamy threesome with the gorgeous couple in the middle of a pandemic. Kelly finds her new normal in these life-altering circumstances.

But later, she discovers that she's not the only one sharing intimate moments with the couple. There's another woman, her predecessor, who is missing, and she was last seen at the same mansion where Kelly is now staying. Are you intrigued?

You'll find yourself drawn into this extremely stimulating, naughty, and hyperventilating story. You won't be able to put it down. Your smile will only widen as you keep flipping the pages.

It starts off slow-burning, but don't worry, the early chapters will lure you in, and your anticipation will only increase with each chapter. It gets hotter, and the tension builds. You may think you're reading an erotic thriller, but when you reach the second half, the slow-burn tension reaches a boiling point. The trapped-in-a-mansion theme, intense claustrophobia, and whodunit mystery will keep you on your toes. You'll want to know what's going to happen and who the culprit is.

I don't want to give too much away, but be warned, this is not your average popcorn thriller. The topics are scandalous, the events are derailed, and there are so many triggering subjects, jaw-dropping incidents, shocking, juicy, and mind-blowing twists. I had mixed feelings about some parts of the conclusion, but I still fully enjoyed the brilliant epilogue.

This book is the boldest, sexiest, and most riveting work by the author. I took off half a star after having second thoughts about some characters' situations, but I'm still rounding up to 4.5 stars and giving it a full 5-star rating. Wow, what I just read! Great work, Andrea Bartz!

Special thanks to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group/Ballantine Books for providing this amazing digital review copy in exchange for my honest thoughts.