This book pulls you in from the very first page and keeps you guessing until the final, jaw-dropping twist. It’s a dark, atmospheric thriller with characters so vivid they almost leap off the page.

The story revolves around Anna, whose life is turned upside down after her husband, Henry, leaves her a cryptic confession before his sudden death. Her search for answers leads her to The Sycamores, an eerie, rundown motel-turned-apartment building filled with strange and suspicious residents. At the same time, we meet Cass, the jaded apartment manager whose secrets are just as dangerous as everyone else’s. Their lives intertwine in unexpected and shocking ways as the tension escalates.

The setting is one of the novel’s biggest strengths. The Sycamores feels alive, almost like another character in the story—its grim corridors and shadowy corners adding layers of unease. Every interaction Anna has with the residents is fraught with suspicion, and Cass’s sharp, morally gray personality adds even more intrigue to the narrative.

What I loved most was the pacing. Seraphina Nova Glass knows how to build suspense masterfully, dropping twists and turns that left me reeling. Just when I thought I had everything figured out, another layer would be peeled back, keeping me hooked until the very last page.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for sending a digital ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I enjoyed this book with the quirky apartment people and the mystery behind the death of one. I liked how the POV chapters connected. I just liked reading this book, didn’t have to think too hard and just enjoyed it.

This book hooked me right from the beginning not only with the plot but with the writing as well! I loved how the mysteries all started coming together at the end as well!

Anna’s life takes a wild turn when she receives a phone call from her husband Henry. What he reveals shatters everything she thought she knew about him. And just when she thinks she thinks she might be finding answers, she is shocked and devastated to learn that Henry has been found dead. Now, Anna is on a mission for answers. She’s determined to uncover the truth behind the man she married—the mild-mannered artist she thought she knew.

Artists often rent studios, and that’s where Anna starts her journey. She stays at a place called the Sycamore. It used to be a run-down motel, and the apartments aren’t much better. Anna hopes that the quirky neighbors can help her learn more about her husband, Henry. And guess what? Anna realizes that she really had no idea who the man she married was!

Get ready for a wild ride! This book is packed with secrets, lies, and danger that’ll keep you on the edge of your seat. It’s like a rollercoaster that never stops twisting and turning. You won’t want to put it down until you reach the very end. Trust me, you’ll be hooked from the very first page.

Many thanks to Graydon House and to NetGalley for this ARC for review. This is my honest opinion.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC!

As far as thrillers go, this was up there as one of my favorite of 2024. Kind Henry has admitted a dark secret to his wife over the phone and she's positive she heard him get killed. However, his death is ruled as a suicide . In order to get to the truth of what was happening. She moved into his art studio, which honestly is just a run down shadow of a motel. But, Anna needs answers.

We always have Cass. She's a con artist who is almost uncomfortable with what she does which is blackmail. However, there is something extra about her that has Anna on pause.

Honestly, as I read this book, I couldn't help but think of this hotel/apartment complex looking like a seedy run down hotel that you see in scary movies such as Psycho and Identity.

What is the most memorable to me is the supporting characters of the novel because they are downright hilarious. Were there parts of this story that were sort of out there, yes, but that made it all the more fun to read.

This one was sadly not for me. I will be recommending to others because I believe it was just not for ME. I thought that the set up was great but the delivery was too drawn out and not as promised in my opinion. I think I was comparing this too much to Sun Down Motel by Simone St James and this was not at all the same story and I was expecting it to be..

In the beginning, I was thrown off by the pace. I wasn’t catching on as quickly as I wanted to and I honestly wanted to put in down. I’m sure I actually did a couple of times until I got to about the 50% mark. It was at that point where I started to enjoy what I was reading. For this reason, I give it three stars.

Once I got past the 50% point, I wasn’t sure who I could trust. When I thought I hit the nail on the head, I was wrong! I believe this would make an amazing movie/ tv show. The character’s secrets and the twisty turns made for a good story after a while. I really enjoyed the setting. It gave me creepy vibes from the very beginning. I could imagine myself right at that motel.

In the end, I was very surprised. I did not see that coming AT ALL. I love how the whole thing wrapped up, I just wished it would have grabbed me sooner.

The Sycamores is a seedy motel-turned-apartment complex on the outskirts of Santa Fe home to a rotating cast of colorful and morally ambiguous characters down on their luck. There are the "pool girls," and "face-tattoo-man," and Babs, an older woman who spends her days chain-smoking. Cass and Anna, the two women whose perspectives the narrative is split between, stick out from the typical complex residents. Cass discovers her husband is cheating on her with a much younger woman he leaves her for, and with no money and nowhere to turn, she finds herself as the new "handy-woman" in The Sycamores in exchange for free rent. She spends her free time black mailing men from the bar across the street who she discovers are cheating on their wives. Anna's world is upended when she receives a phone call from her husband confessing to killing someone shortly before his own body washes up on the banks of the Rio Grande. She moves into The Sycamores where he had a temporary art studio in search of answers about his death. But she soon learns that poking around comes with a price.

While I loved the beginning portion of the novel that set up the setting and various characters, I did find myself losing patience with this book around the halfway point. It was hard to tell where the plot was going, and it felt like there were a lot of loose ends that would not connect. I kept reading simply because I was invested in some of the characters. The ending was almost too intense for me, and I found it hard to suspend my disbelief and believe what was happening. I also found some of the dialogue between characters to be almost caricature. The positives for me were the setting and characters! The last chapter was a wholesome touch, and I liked the addition of a found family trope.

I enjoyed this and the writing style, and the story was compelling. I am very interested in reading this author’s future work and this was a very solid thriller. Would definitely recommend to others.

An entertaining thriller that will have you hooked and trying to guess what would happen next. I would recommend this book. I look forward to more titles by this author.

This was a good, suspenseful read. I really enjoyed the cast of characters. This was my first book by Seraphine Nova Glass, but it will definitely not be my last. I have been recommending this book to our patrons, and they have really enjoyed it as well. Thank you to Net Galley, the publisher and the author for an advanced copy of this book.

This was a fun popcorn thriller that I binged in almost one sitting! I loved the eclectic group of residents and it took me a long while to figure out what was going on. It had an oddly sentimental ending too, which I kind of loved.

The Vacancy in Room 10 is the latest from Seraphina Nova Glass, a Mystery/Thriller writer who has definitely become one of my auto buy authors over the past couple of years. It blew me away. Loved every second

"This Vacancy in Room 10" is told from the viewpoints of two very different women. Both ended up at The Sycamore apartment complex, the dead-end, run-down motel-turned-apartment complex on the outskirts of Santa Fe, New Mexico, because of tragic events in their life which they had no control.

We hear from the alternating POVs of Anna and Cass. Cass is the motel manager, dumped by a successful realtor boyfriend, Reid, who refused to marry her and then traded her in for a younger trophy named Kimmy. She happens to be very handy and has the very unpleasant and depressing job of fixing up the worn-down units for low wages. She lives rent-free. She knows almost everything going on in those apartments behind closed doors.

Anna was married to Henry, an artist with a unit at the Sycamores to use as a studio. She puts her house on the market and moves into his studio to get some answers after he kills himself following a disturbing phone call to her when he confesses to committing a terrible crime. Was he forced to take his life, or is something more sinister happening at the Sycamore Apartments? Neither makes sense or sounds plausible to her. Yes, he was depressed, but Anna knew deep down in her bones that something horrible was going on and didn't believe that her husband would take his own life, much less murder someone. She intends to get to the bottom of what happened to Henry at whatever cost.

Daily life at The Sycamores is no treat, but there are the "pool girls," the kids, the other oddball tenants, and one man with a hair-trigger temper. However, someone there knows what happened to Henry, and soon, Anna finds evidence that she has no idea what Henry has been doing in this place.

I found the pacing of this story so slow I was easily distracted, and my mind wandered. I could not get fully invested and absorbed in this story. The pace was slow; revelations, the climax, and the resolution took this down several notches. It was a female empowerment trope with many repugnant men all around. It didn't ring true, and I found it all wildly unplausable and hard to suspend my belief and buy into the plot. Also, the characters did not feel realistic or believable, and I didn't like any of them, what they did, or how it all ended. The only person I was rooting for was "Sinatra." He was a clever boy, and my heart ached for him.

I listened and paired my e-arc copy with the audio. Brittney Pressley voiced Cass, and Stacey Glemboski narrated Anna. It was my first time listening to Stacey Glemboski, and I found her voice flat and monotone. When she narrated the male voice, it wasn't distinct from Anna. It was my first read by Seraphina Nova Glass. Even though I didn't love this book, I will try another one from her.

I want to thank Harlequin Trade Publishing and NetGalley for providing me with the e-arc in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

When Anna Hartley’s husband, Henry, makes a suicidal call to her confessing to "killing someone" she can't believe what she's hearing. Unable to bear living in their family home she moves into The Sycamores, a rundown apartment complex where he maintained an art studio. While she tries to understand his time there, she also tries to understand what led him to take his life. I found it difficult to imagine the cast of characters actually living in the complex as it's describes yet bonding as they do. That aside, it's a good mystery.

Many thanks to Netgalley for this arc. I received this book in exchange for my honest review. My thoughts are entirely my own.

This book had me laughing and also questioning some of the characters decisions. In this book we are following Cass and Anna two women who end up in the Sycamore hotel that has been turned into apartments. Cass just ended a six year relationship after her boyfriend cheats on her with a younger women. Anna is a married woman whose husband was an art teacher who recently was let go from his job and had an art studio at the Sycamore and after he dies by suicide(actually murder) Anna decides to stay and find out what happened. Anna and Cass end up getting to know the people who live in Sycamore and befriend a lot of people. Cass gets invited to a gala that she used to go to every year before everyone shunned her after her breakup, she finds out that her ex Reid and his new girlfriend are engaged and expecting a baby and Cass goes off and makes a scene and shoves the younger women who falls to the ground and goes and gets her tools back that she gives to a younger boy that she takes under her wing. Anna finds out that Callum a man who knew her husband killed her husband Henry because he had an affair with Lily who was dying of cancer and Callum killed her with an overdose. I’m glad Anna and Cass got their happy endings and found a family they never knew they needed.

4 solid stars - I liked this one, but I wasn't super blown away or anything by it like many reviewers. But it's a good, solid thriller & I loved the two (three?) very strong female MC's at it's center, the mystery itself was a little weak & I guessed a lot of it, but it was well-plotted & I would definitely read this author again.

4.5⭐️

Intricate, gripping and hilarious? This thriller had a twisty plot told in 2 diff POVs of two women who seemingly have no connection other than that they live at the same motel converted into an apartment complex. The plot comes together quite nicely in the end and the story was enjoyable from beginning to end. The side characters added quite a bit of humor despite the darker theme of the plot. This was my first Seraphina Nova Glass book and it will not be my last!

If you’re searching for a gripping, emotionally charged mystery, look no further than this enthralling novel. When Anna Hartley receives a shocking confession from her husband, Henry, she’s thrown into a whirlwind of disbelief and horror. The discovery of Henry’s body on the banks of the Rio Grande catapults Anna into a world of secrets she never knew existed.
From the very first page, The Vacancy In Room 10 hooks you with its compelling narrative and rich character development. Seraphin Nova Glass masterfully weaves a tale of intrigue and suspense as Anna delves into her husband’s hidden life, uncovering shocking revelations at every turn. The Sycamores, the decrepit motel-turned-art studio, is the perfect backdrop for this tale of deception, adding a haunting yet captivating atmosphere to the story.
Anna’s journey is both heart-wrenching and exhilarating. As she navigates the maze of rumors and lies from the eclectic residents of The Sycamores, you find yourself rooting for her every step of the way. The character of Cass, the enigmatic motel manager, adds an extra layer of tension and mystery, keeping you on edge as Anna’s quest for the truth unfolds.
The blend of psychological suspense with a deeply personal narrative creates a truly immersive reading experience. The author’s attention to detail and skillful plotting ensure that you’re kept guessing until the very end. With its intricate twists and unexpected turns, this novel is a testament to the power of storytelling.
In summary, this book is a must-read for fans of suspense and psychological thrillers. It’s a powerful exploration of trust, identity, and the lengths to which people will go to uncover the truth. Highly recommended for anyone looking to be captivated by a masterful and suspenseful tale.

For the past two years, I’ve significantly cut down on the number of thrillers I read because I felt completely burnt out on them. So when I find myself choosing to pick one up I make sure it’s a good one. And @seraphinanovaglass’s VACANCY IN ROOM 10 was a definite must read. (Swipe right for the synopsis!)

This story had strong female characters that I absolutely adored, despite their annoying choices at times. At various points, both Anna and Cass didn’t seem to know how to read the room and their stubborn persistence made even me impatient lol. However, it worked for the story and I couldn’t stop reading because I needed to know what happened next.

The story took a turn that I didn’t see coming. And I was surprised to find myself laughing at some parts; some side characters were hilarious. Toward the end I did get a warm fuzzy feeling, another surprise for me. This type of found family felt very realistic to me and Cass as a person grew on me immensely.

If you love thrillers, found family stories, and strong female characters then I’d highly recommend this book! Be sure to put it on your TBRs!

Thank you @thrillerbookloverspromotions @graydonhousebooks for this e-arc!