Good storyline, I enjoyed the characters. I do feel like it did drag on at times though. Would have been better as a faster paced book.

This was a spicy book that is thoroughly enjoyable. Kelly tries to find happiness in the middle of the pandemic by escaping her fiance and her city life. Her and her cat, Virgo, temporarily move in with an old friend and her husband. Things turn spicy and then to love while the three navigate their relationship. One night, things turn deadly and that has Kelly questioning her partners and herself. As Kelly attempts to pick up the pieces of her life she learns something shocking but there is not a thing she can do about it.

I wouldn’t really say this is a mystery thriller. It was more of a dark romance but then it became a thriller towards the end. I actually enjoyed this book and the open relationship between the characters. It really had my full attention. I just HATED the FMC so much. She was just so naive and with all the red flags waving at her she still stayed and never questioned her situationship. The ending wasn’t all that great in my opinion. i enjoyed the first 50% of the book but then i really didnt like where the story was headed so thats why i rate it only 3 stars

This is probably going to be a horrible confession…

I couldn’t help but snicker and sigh through this book. I’m sorry. I don’t normally have such a horrible response, but this book was an eye roll and continuing sigh all the way through.

The premise wasn’t to bad, main character is on a downhill slide between work issues, a boyfriend issue, and being in lockdown. As a result, she is invited to stay with friends at their large mansion in a remote area of Virginia. Our protagonist, Kelly, takes the offer without a look back, an opportunity to rebuild a friendship, and a chance to restart her life. Also, this is a romance of sort ?

Sounds really good doesn’t it? It’s so not! For so many reasons! Before I segway into my diatribe, please note, I really loved this author’s book, “We Were Never Here.”

This book was a not a thriller. I need to rephrase that, this book was not a thriller until the last 15% and that is being generous. Our setting is during the pandemic, our protagonist Kelly is the most unlikable, irritating, half-wit, to come along in a long while. I don’t mind unlikable characters, but please, give them depth and intelligence.

I don’t mind a sexual relationship in a book, not in the least but when you advertise this as a thriller the book should be just that, and the romance and/or sexual relationship should be secondary. This book was backward in that regard.

Sadly, for me, I did not find the story the least bit entertaining or suspenseful. I was bored, bewildered, and down right disappointed. The only reason I didn’t give one star to this book, the cat, Virgo. I did finish it, but it was a chore.

Thank you NetGalley and the Publisher for an eARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Wow. This book threw me for a loop! So many unexpected twists and turns. I read it so quickly because I needed answers! Andrea Bartz's books never disappoint. Thanks to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine for the ARC!

This is my third book by Andrea Bartz and I was not disappointed. I liked the premise of the story and how different things were the summer of 2020 with the pandemic in full force. It did give me some anxiety thinking about those days and how things changed but not as much as I was nervous it would. While I liked the initial idea of the story main character is having relationship troubles and wants to get away decides to stay with old high school friend and husband in their mansion for a few weeks. It never totally felt like a thriller to me until maybe the last 25% of the book. It mostly felt like a dramatic suspense and even that is a stretch. My main issue with the book was Kelly the main character you never knew if you could trust her which I didn't really mind I just always felt she seemed really immature and not 34 years old and engaged to someone else. I wasn't crazy about the other characters in the book that didn't really make or break the book for me. I would recommend this book for sure but not really as a suspense/thriller and I know some people will probably be put of by the idea of the throuple relationship which I wasn't crazy about but didn't stop me from reading the book. I rounded up 3.5 to 4 stars because I did enjoy reading it and it definitely made me think about it for a while after. I want to thank Netgalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine for the arc in exchange for an honest review.

The Spare Room was my 4th book by Andrea Bartz. I devoured We Were Never Here and The Lost Night, and liked The Herd. She is the queen of the unreliable narrator, and The Spare Room is no exception...or is it?

The Spare Room begins in May of 2020...remember those days? We were wiping down our groceries, the streets were quiet, and hearing someone cough felt like a gun shot went off.

Kelly, like so many of us in the Spring of 2020, is not thriving. Months before, she quit her job in Chicago because her fiancé got a new job in Philadelphia, so she moved with him. She couldn't keep her position because the marketing company she worked for did not like the idea of remote work (oh, the pre-pandemic irony). So, she's stuck at home in a new city that is shut down. She has to postpone all of her wedding festivities until things open back up again. Her wedding venue needed a new date from her ASAP or else she forfeits her deposit. When her fiancé says maybe they should pause on the whole wedding thing, she is worried. There are allusions to something happening recently that Kelly did...something bad that may threaten to end their relationship.

Fortunately she reconnects with an old high school friend, Sabrina. Sabrina writes a popular series of spicy action romances and lives with her husband in a mansion in Virginia. When Kelly shares her relationship woes, Sabrina is all, "Hey, girl bring your cat and come stay with us for a couple weeks." Kelly decides this is a great idea and leaves. I mean, it's only been like 18 years since they've seen each other. It's not like they are strangers, right?

Sabrina and her husband are the perfect couple and welcome Kelly and her cat into their pod with open arms. She is at peace in their house and they all get along so well. And soon Kelly wonders, could the three of them be something more? But, also, are they to be trusted?

I think it's interesting that we have been getting some fiction that takes place during the beginning of the pandemic. The way the author described Kelly's days basically being trapped at Sabrina's house (we were allll trapped in our houses) was very descriptive. At one point, Kelly mentions she's only been there two weeks and I thought to myself, "Wait, it's had to have been months there." But that's what 2020 was all about. It was the longest shortest time of times.

For the most part, I enjoyed The Spare Room and the sinister undercurrents of the house and it's owner. I do feel like it could have gone even more bonkers, and the ending didn't land as well as I wanted.

Thank you to Random House Publishing and NetGalley for the ARC for my honest review.

It’s early in the pandemic and Kelly’s relationship is struggling. She reaches out to an old friend and they rekindle their friendship. Kelly hops on a train to head to Deerbrook, a small town outside of DC, from Philadelphia to get some much needed space from her fiancé. She never expects what she’ll endure in the mansion of Sabrina and Nathan.

The Spare Room was not what I was expecting from this book. I felt like there were constant twists that really kept me engaged! The final twist really tied the whole book together. Andrea Bartz really knows how to write suspense and I think this is going to be another hit!

This is the type of book I love, where I kind of dislike everyone and don't know who to trust because they all seem shady in their own way. Pre-warning: if you don't like books involving a lot of sexuality, stay away. It doesn't go into great detail in the many scenes but it's there throughout the entire book. This is another one that gets right into it and drew my attention immediately. While I've been sitting on "We Were Never Here" for a year, this is my first by this author and now I am dying to read that one. Her covers alone are so appealing and once I read that first page, her writing is as well. I definitely recommend this one and will give it Four Stars.

Thank you Netgalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine for this ARC.

Shortly after I started this book, I realized it was not for me. The cover intrigued me but I only got to 20% before throwing in the towel. I did not connect with any of the characters at all. It's supposed to be a mystery/thriller but to me, it's 90% Fifty Shades of Gray and 10% thriller. I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

Thank you Netgalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine for allowing me to read this arc!

Summary: Kelly and her fiance Mike were having issues and needed to separate. Kelly gets invited to stay with her high school friend Sabrina and her husband Nathan. The longer she stays with them, the more the relationship between the three begins to turn more intimate, resulting in an open relationship / throuple. Odd behavior and secrets start to reveal themselves along the way. Kelly discovers there was a missing ex-lover and things are not what they seem.

I liked the premise at the beginning of this story. It started to give me Verity vibes in a way. However, the story dragged, becoming very redundant and boring. Kelly's character was very gullible and naive. She seemed to listen to anything anyone told her and could be swayed easily. In addition, it seemed like she was the type of person that would fall for anyone who gave her a time of day. The majority of the story is spent dealing with the dynamic of the throuple and jealousy. Not too much was added to peak my interest until about halfway through, and even then it dropped off and became redundant and boring again. The ending was the best part; however, it went from being a redundant boring lovers' triangle to a runaway train of everyone being a potential murderer, spiraling into a mess. The plot kept going on and on and changing just like Kelly changes her mind all of the time.

Overall, I felt like this story needed more work. It was all over the place. It had a lot of potential but I felt like there were too many ideas thrown in together, and it ended up damaging the plot. I give this story 2 stars. It was hard to get through.

Whoa, whoa, whoa. What did I stay up till 5 am reading? This book was totally bonkers and not what I expected at all.

Kelly is on the cusp of 35 and her dream life is slipping out of her fingers. Her fiancé and her agree to take time apart to figure out things. Kelly is heart broken, and decides to quarantine with her high school friend Sabrina and her husband Nathan. But there is an unspeakable chemistry between all three of them. Feelings and actions between their friendships star to escalates. Before Kelly knows it she is in a blissful and sex fueled throuple with Sabrina and Nathan. But things start to not add up and have Kelly questioning everything. Are they really the loving couple they show to the world? Or are they hiding a dark secret?

What I enjoyed :
- the pacing was fast! I stayed up till 5 am to finish the book. I could not put it down
- Our NC Kelly was so naive at times that I just want to reach through the pages and shake her awake. She isn't necessarily dislike able. But I was shocked over how naive and dumb she was at moments. I kept wanting to scream girl, wake up!
- I had a lot of wtf is happening moments. I did not know who to even trust at any point
- The Frickin twists! I didn't see any of that wildness happening


This wasn't your typical thriller. But I liked that about it. We definitely get creeped out and it has its typical thriller tropes. But we also get insight on Kelly's journey and development. I enjoyed that a lot! This book makes me definitely want to check out the authors other books. 4 stars out of 5. Thank you Netgalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Kelly and her fiancé, Mike, postpone their wedding and have decided to take a break to rethink about their future. Kelly rekindles a relationship during this time, with her old friend Sabrina from school, and is offered a spare room to stay at her mansion with her and her husband, Nathan. Kelly jumps at the opportunity to stay with them for just a few weeks. Everything is fine in the beginning and she misses Mike. Then she starts to have feelings for both Sabrina and Nathan. She begins a romance with the couple but learns that their last girlfriend Elizabeth has gone missing. Will she stay with them or go back to her fiancé, Mike?

THE SPARE ROOM was unlike any book I've read and I applaud Andrea Bartz for that. I didn't, however, like any of the characters and I think Kelly was just very stupid!! I honestly, didn't understand her at all. The story was engaging and held my interest the entire time. Although this is a slow burn, I really didn't mind it at all since I was just so interested to see what the big reveal would be. Overall, I recommend it if you like mystery/thrillers involving some romance.

Many thanks to Netgalley and Random House Publishing Group-Ballantine for my ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This review will be shared to my Instagram (@coffee.break.book.reviews) closer to the pub date.

4.5 Stars
At first this novel feels like it's going to be a fairly predictable mystery with a dash of the uncommonness that still comes with exploring the idea of a throuple in earnest. While I by no means want to imply that there's anything "handy" about the global pandemic that killed thousands of people, the pandemic setting is helpful for this story because the required isolation makes a lot of what happens feel more plausible. As a Bi person I'm game for Bi representation that isn't a big deal, and as someone who is extremely pro-therapy, I was happy to see that some of the more problematic relationship dynamics from the first two thirds of the book are looked at with a different lens in the last part- something that is always a surprising joy in a murder mystery and helps to set it apart from other mysteries. And then there's the final reveals. The ultimate who in the whodunnit comes with a shocking emotional weight that left me feeling both satisfied and deeply unsettled at the same time. If you're on the fence about continuing this books because it feels a little too familiar and a little too "Girl, why are you doing this stupid thing?" I implore you to keep reading to get to the very end.

Kelly moves from Philadelphia down to a suburb of DC toward the beginning of the pandemic. The story starts as she is on the train, moving out of her townhome with her fiancé Mike to her recently reunited friend Sabrina’s house that she shares with her husband Nathan.

Kelly is “pliable,” let’s say. She’s questioning herself, her breakup with Mike, and is in a vulnerable place. And then she gets taken in by Sabrina and Nathan. They woo her, and soon they are in threesome and BDSM heaven. (Okay, ample caution here if you aren’t into threesomes and BSDM. I thought this would be a standard domestic thriller, but … ummm … it’s definitely a few notches above the bedpost!

By about 20% in, everyone is looking shady: Kelly (what was the incident that happened right before she left that gets alluded to every once in a while?), her ex-fiance Mike for the same reason, her recently reunited friend Sabrina, her husband Nathan, and Kelly’s new friend Megan that hangs out outside the house. Then Kelly finds out that the couple had a previous person in their threesome who looks a lot like Kelly and who is MISSING. Egads, the indecisive Kelly is thrown into an even bigger tailspin!

The cue BIG HAPPENINGS and more confusion from Kelly.

The plot is a bit over the top, but aren’t most thrillers edging into the crazy territory lately? The characters are fairly one-note, as you know deception lies somewhere with some or all of them. This is definitely a popcorn thriller. Its plot is a little sexier than readers tend to see in this genre, so that might make it more memorable months down the line. This is one of those books that if you’re really into sexier-than-average thrillers, you’ll probably really like. I didn’t have a problem with the sexiness, but I found the plot a bit *much* and the main character Kelly rather frustrating, so hence my lower rating than I hoped for.

Thank you to NetGalley and Ballentine for the Advance Reader Copy in exchange for an honest review.

Well this was quite the departure from what Andrea Bartz usually writes, and it was fun. I had a good time, at least. It was an up and down, twist and turny roller coaster that sometimes didn’t always make sense, but I don’t care, it kept me entertained.

I was given this book by NetGalley for an honest review-
Kelly needs time way fr9m her boyfriend, she connects with an old high school classmate to stay in their spare room. Everything seems fine except for the the feelings she get with lotsa hugs and touching, as things escalate- so does the excitement until she finds pictures that lead to questions. Is she in over her head? What is going on in this house? Is she safe?

Bartz’s last book, We Were Never Here, was addicting. The one before that, The Herd, was pretty intriguing. I’d put this one on a level more similar to The Herd. It was…ok. I hate leaving reviews that aren’t glowing because I know how hard authors work on books. And no matter what reviews say, give the book a read and form your own opinion.

For me, the inner monologue of Kelly was just cringe. I love disliking characters. But this was more like the specific language that turned me off. The asides that interrupted the plot felt young. That admittedly distracted me throughout the book. The plot itself didn’t feel tense like WWNH. Instead, I felt like I was being told it was tense. I think it’s because our narrator and her inner monologue seemed to drive the entire plot, and the other characters didn’t feed into it with their actions. It was one woman’s story. I also didn’t get to know her partners. They felt almost ancillary, which is wild since the book is about the three of them. I agree with others that this did not feel like a thriller beyond Kelly yelling at us that something was happening. From the heavy focus on the relationship to the kind of corny self discovery at the end, it didn’t feel like the same genre as her other books. Nothing wrong with that. Authors can experiment. But if you read for a genre, it can be hard to connect. Also, a wild swing from left field acts as a twist at the end. I like my thriller twists juicy but more plausible.

But again. I am one person with one opinion. Form your own! Bartz is clearly talented. This one just didn’t land for me like The Herd or WWNH.

A slow-burn, character driven story, This is unlike any other thriller I’ve read before, but I was here for it! The characters were fascinating and I often suspected each of them of wrongdoing but never guessed the real culprit. Overall, I enjoyed this book and would recommend to those who appreciate a slow burn thriller with character building and romantic relationships.

Was really looking forward to this book since I lived the last one by this author. Not really sure how I felt about this one. It’s definitely a thriller but there is also a lot of spice in it which isn’t normally my favorite with thrillers. Once again she shocked me with the ending as she did with her last book. Definitely worth the read if you are into thrillers with a decent amount of spice but if that isn’t you thing avoid this one.