The Spare Room by Andrea Bartz is a very spicy read! Although I did not agree with most of the choices the main character made, her bad decisions made for a very fun story! The beginning was a little slow for me, but about a quarter of the way in the plot picked up and I couldn’t read it fast enough. I enjoyed the twists and turns and red herrings the author threw in to the plot. If you’re easily offended by sex scenes, do not read this book. However, if you’re not, I highly recommend it! Do yourself a favor and check into the The Spare Room!

This one was a hard one for me to get into. The first half of the book I wondered when the mystery was going to happen so I kept reading. It was definitely a very sexy first half but I was wanting more mystery and thriller than romance. The last half was when it really took off so I’m glad I stuck through it. The mystery was good. I would definitely give this author another shot even though I struggled with this book.

Dang this book was sexy. While being fairly closed door, it definitely got me hot and bothered a couple times and I was totally there for it!

This book was so entertaining. It really surprised me and kept me guessing. I loved the dynamics among the characters, the fact that I couldn't quite trust anyone, the mystery surrounding EVERYTHING, and all the little clues I didn't think to look for.

If you're ready for a book about COVID and lockdown, this one is perfection. It touched upon so many issues we all faced early on and maybe already blocked from our memories. It was really well done and felt almost liked a locked room thriller with the COVID aspect.

There were times when the book felt a little drawn out and repetitive, but overall, I was completely hooked and definitely recommend.

Andrea Bartz has quickly become an auto read author for me and I can't wait to see what she puts out next!

The Spare Room is a racy thriller by Andrea Bartz. Released 20th June 2023 by Penguin Random House on their Ballantine imprint, it's 352 pages and is available in hardcover, audio, and ebook formats. It's worth noting that the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links and references throughout.

This is a "beach read" with lots of scandalously racy scenes and an over-the-top plot. The author has a good grasp of description and setting, and there's a palpable tension throughout which is unsettling and impressive. The book falls a bit flat with stilted characterization and uneven dialogue. Many of the sex scenes felt tacked on gratuitously and the pacing in the first 50(ish)% was distinctly different than the latter parts. That being said, fans of Gone Girl and Pretty Things will find a lot to like here.

Definitely an adult read, much of it NSFW. Three stars due to the uneven pacing and weirdly convoluted denouement and epilogue.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.

3 stars

pandemic setting, so reader beware

Accepting that our silly MC making the “don’t go into that room, goes into that room” type of decisions, this story moves quick! Easy to consume in just a few settings, this is a fun thriller to pick up. Didn’t love the ending too much but the pace and twists were enjoyable!

Calling off the wedding planning and leaving her fiancé to get some space at her old high school friend’s rich mansion, there’s much to learn and let go while living with this couple. Good mix of sexy, suspense, & misdirection!

I’m not exactly sure what didn’t work for me on this one but I had a hard time staying focused throughout. I think part of it had to do with this being set during Covid, I’m just not interested in reading about that in every story.
Overall, I just couldn’t connect with the story.

I initially didn't read this because the quarantine setting just wasn't something I was ready to read about for fun. I have really liked the thrills and twists of this author's other reads, so thought I'd go ahead and give this one a go. This was a far, far slower burn than her other books, and that wasn't so much for me as I was really in search of a solid, fast-page page turner. There were still some good twists that I didn't see with the characters, so there was that. Thanks to NetGalley for the look at this June 2023 release.

While interesting, this book was certainly not at all what I expected! I don't read thrillers that have some spice all that often, so I was very pleasantly surprised to find that in this book. Steamy sex scenes are the perfect way to throw the reader off the scent of the murderer. I also enjoyed that the relationship was poly.

The plot was certainly unique and kept me guessing. I definitely recommend this one if you're stuck in a rut of similar thrillers and are looking for a change!

2.5 stars, rounded up to 3.

Although this was a very fast read for me, it was so frustrating!! This book was 80% spice and romance and just...regular book content, and only the last 20% actually had the thriller aspect! Like don't get me wrong, it was very juicy and fiery at times, but putting the thrilling and creepy energy in throughout would've been nice! I really wanted to enjoy this book, but also adding in the fact that it takes place during the pandemic...I just don't think I was ready to read a pandemic book yet. It needs to feel further away. Honestly, I feel like the author should dive deep into writing just a romance series or something! She'd be great!

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

Where to begin? There’s so much about this that I didn’t like. The main character Kelly is insufferable and beyond irritating. I honestly hated her and had a hard time reading about her. Her thoughts and actions were incongruous in that her character seemed completely inauthentic, which was frustrating for me as a reader. I did not care for the plot. The sex scenes were gratuitous and I wasn’t at all invested in the outcome. Finally, the ending felt contrived and did not make sense. I like Andrea Bartz, but this one fell flat.

Love a good female toxic friendship. And this one takes the cake. This novel really dives into the definition of unhinged.

The Spare Room by Andrea Bartz

My rating:
3/5
⭐️⭐️⭐️

Kelly and her Fiancé Mike decide to post pone their wedding and take a break. When Kelly needs somewhere to go, an old friend from high school suggests she stay in her spare room.
When Kelly moves in, she realizes her old life might not be what she wants going forward.

I had no idea what this book was about when I requested it on Netgalley. Overall it was good, but it felt like it was two different books after about 60% of the book. I was so intrigued with what was going to happen but it was not what I expected. I think that it had a lot of promise but the overall vibe of the book changed from the beginning and I felt like there was an extra 100 pages honestly. I don’t know if I would recommend this one, but it was entertaining! If you like a sexy thriller, give this one a read.

Thanks netgalley and Random House Publishing for the ARC! You can read this one now!

I really wanted to like this book, but unfortunately, it just fell flat for me. In part, I think having a book about a pandemic after a real-life pandemic just missed the mark. I found the couples unlikable even though the author tried to hit upon topics that are relevant to today (break ups during a pandemic, throuples, etc.) Maybe read it if you are waiting for something else, however I would pass.

I really wanted to like this book. I will admit that a part of why I struggled to get into it may be that I’m not sure the pandemic is something I need to revisit yet (maybe ever?). I also found all of the characters in this book pretty un-likable and uninteresting. I didn’t find the plot particularly interesting either although I thought the idea was really good and there was potential for a good thriller here. I thought the ending was pretty bizarre and I have to say that these characters are who I would want to know if I murdered someone. Kelly and her fiancé are having problems so when her friend from high school Sabrina offers to let her stay with her and her husband Nathan in their “pod” she jumps on the chance. (This also felt weird. When everything shut down the last thing I would have done is move in with anyone I hadn’t seen since high school). She’s instantly feeling at home but there are secrets in every home and the more she learns about this home the more she fears she needs to know. The writing wasn’t bad and like I said there were good ideas. I just really struggled to get into this one and really had to push myself to get through it.

Do you enjoy a twisty tale?

Do you enjoy a plot that makes you go back and forth with your theory?

Do you enjoy unreliable characters?

Then Andrea Bartz is for you!

I read her debut novel last year (We Were Never Here), and it fit the bill as well.

Our narrator is not necessarily unreliable but does tend to easily go along with what others say and believe them. In this story, the other characters seem to be the unreliable ones. Nothing is as it seems, or is it? You will go back and forth throughout the story, debating with yourself, "Is what they are saying true?", or "Are they just covering their tracks?"

This story will also have you wondering about the extra characters we meet along the way. Are they just thrown in as red herrings, or are they part of the twistiness?

For me, the pandemic setting fell flat. It seemed integral to the explanation of Kelly staying with a newly reconnected high school friend for an extended period of time, but it just didn't work for me.

I was also not into the polyamory aspect. A random threesome, sure, but not an outright relationship. I'm not going to yuck on someone else's yum, but it's not for me.

The twist at the end was pretty elaborate for the story thus far, and it was a nice twist, but I still just felt like I needed a different path for this story.

The mysteries I have read recently just haven't hit that 5 star mark for me. Guess I am in a mystery slump 🤷‍♀️

I enjoyed the juiciness of this book. It’s less thriller than I expected. I had a harder time connecting with the characters, but enjoyed a different type of thriller.

The Spare Room was a bingeable read and I really liked that. It kept my attention from start to finish. The author's previous book was another one I loved. Can't wait to see what she comes with next.

The Must Read Thriller Books of Summer 2023

The Spare Room by Andrea Bartz

I appreciate a thriller that actually acknowledges the COVID-19 pandemic because there’s the built-in universally suspenseful experience of global lockdown, as we waited to find out if and when we’d be able to reenter the world. In Andrea Bartz’s latest, Kelly’s fiancé calls off their wedding after she crosses a line, the break (or is it break-up?) propelling her to reach out to her childhood friend Sabrina, whose lockdown life seems much more glamorous.

When Sabrina offers to have Kelly stay with her and her husband Nathan in their palatial Virginia home until she gets back on her feet, it’s the kind of arrangement that would only have made sense during the uncertain haze of a pandemic. And while Kelly starts out in the spare room, she quickly finds herself getting seduced by Nathan and Sabrina, as well as seeing their remote mansion as less of a temporary arrangement and more of an inspiration to blow up her life. Until she finds out that she’s not the first houseguest-turned-paramour… and that her predecessor is still missing.

This book is one of my all time favorites! I was hooked throughout and the twists were amazing and the story itself was wild!

Andrea Bartz does it again! This is probably one of my favorite books of hers, and yes I’ve read them all. This sexy messy thriller kept me on my toes and was deliciously queer and feminist.