When lockdown hits and Kelly watches her relationship with her fiance crumble, she makes the impulsive decision to move in with a woman she knew in high school and her husband in their mansion of an estate. Romance and mystery ensue as Kelly discovers who she is and what she wants, and doubt creeps in when she must determine who can be trusted.

I had to keep that description kind of vague because I do think it’s best (and more fun) to go into this one a bit blind!

THE SPARE ROOM by Andrea Bartz is a HOT thriller that started off really strong for me. The characters were intriguing, the estate was f a b u l o u s, and the mystery kept me wanting to read more.

However, our main character Kelly, quickly became a character who was both annoying and lacking intelligence in an eye-roll worthy sort of way, the twists kept piling up in a way that made me wish the author pulled in the reins a bit and just let the story happen in a more natural way (it felt forced at times), and the use of the pandemic as a way to keep these characters together felt unsuccessful to me, as they all still left the house, went to restaurants, and met up with neighbors. (Also, setting this during the time of the pandemic when a racial uproar was happening and not acknowledging it, while focusing on this rich white wealthy bubble made the pandemic setting trite in my opinion.)

Despite all of my dislikes and annoyances, I do think this book had some fun elements that will really appeal to a lot of readers!

Thanks to NetGalley and Random House Ballantine for an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Publication Date: June 20