Five women are selected for a month-long writing retreat at the remote estate of Roza Vallo, the controversial high priestess of feminist horror. Alex, a struggling writer, is thrilled. While there, they must complete an entire novel from scratch, and the best one will get published. Alex’s dream now seems within reach. But then the women begin to die.

I love books within, such as Home Before Dark, and this book delivered with that. I liked the dynamic between the characters and the twists and turns that came with the story. Some of them I could have guessed at, and others came from nowhere! It was hard to put down once I started, and I had it done in 2 days! I really enjoyed this book and can't wait to see what else this author will write.

I rate this 4🌟!

I'd like to say a huge thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for an ARC of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

I really enjoyed this locked door thriller debut from @juliabartz !! I thought this was such an interesting concept, so I knew I had to pick this one up & I'm so glad I did!

I found that I didn’t know who I could or couldn’t trust throughout the book & it gave me that perfect guessing game up until the end! I’m a huge scaredy cat, so I could only read this one during the day😂If I was put in this situation, I don’t think I would’ve survived…so many twists and turns I didn’t see coming🫣

I still can’t believe this was a debut! Amazing writing style, that vividly painted the setting. I was able to perfectly picture each character & the house where they were staying.

I had to give this book a second try because the first time I wasn’t in the mood. I had better luck round two!
This book really gripped me and I was intrigued by the uniqueness of it. I liked the isolation element, overall it kept me on my toes.
It was a solid thriller but not my favorite. I gave it 3.5 stars.

The Writing Retreat is a campy, spooky, and mostly enjoyable romp. Although the dialogue feels rather cardboard and immature for a group of young women who are supposed to be promising writers, the plot twists are fun and the concept is intriguing.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing an advance reader's copy of this book.

I'm not exactly the right audience for thrillers, but occasionally I like to give them a try because when they're done well they can be fun. This was not fun. This was incredibly silly, and it just got progressively silly as the pages turned. I would love to have back the time that I spent reading this, and I can't believe I actually read the whole thing.

Alex has always wanted to become a writer. When her author idol, Roza, hosts a retreat for a small group of women, she's thrilled to be chosen to attend, though she'll have to deal with a former lover also being in attendance.
From the beginning, the ladies learn there will be rigid expectations, and they'll be finishing a novel in their month at the retreat. The author of the best book will have her book published and will win big money. What they don't learn until a bit later is that Roza will begin to 'enhance' their experiences and pit them against each other in ways far beyond being the better writer.
The characters were a bit flat for most of the first half. It wasn't until some action went down that we could see them as more than just women sitting at laptops. The "action" and the twists were actually fine with me, though very over the top, it was just that there wasn't much tension or suspense, and it was hard to care what happened to any of them.
Thank you to Atria Books, Atria/Emily Bestler Books, and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a copy of The Writing Retreat in exchange for an honest review. This one kept me on my toes. I enjoyed the plot and I appreciated the character development of our narrator. I enjoyed Bartz’s writing style and I look forward to reading her work in the future. Worth a read!

Alex is an aspiring writer. And she, along with 4 other aspiring writers, are given the chance of a lifetime! They are going to spend all of February with their favorite author! She is going to mentor them and help them to become published! Everything seems too good to be true…that’s because it is. Rosa, the mentor, gives out very strict guidelines that they must meet or they are forced to leave. Then she berates them in order to draw out their best on the page. And everything makes a turn for the worst when one of them goes missing. What is really going on??

I thought this book had an interesting premise and I had high hopes for it. Rosa’s character was a disappointment and I definitely didn’t like Alex’s friend Wren! There were lesbian sexual experiences that bordered on assault/rape that were very uncomfortable. And Rosa drugs the group without their consent! I think without these 2 things, the book would have been better. I did enjoy the view of what it is like to be a writer. The process that goes into writing a book for some people. I’m on the fence on if I will read more from this author in the future…

Thank you to Netgalley for allowing me to read this book in exchange for an honest and unbiased opinion.

This popular book had a lot of the pieces I love in a good mystery. Locked room, isolated setting in a blizzard. It had a very Nine Perfect Strangers feel to it, with the character of Roza reminding me of Masha. The characters are arrogant, wannabe writers, brought to a remote location for a "writer's retreat." This is a contest to see who can write the best horror novel and then win money and a publishing contract. The famous author, Roza Vallo, is hosting the contest in her creepy, haunted home called Blackbriar Estate.
It's quite a wild ride and I had read some reviews before going in, so I suspended my belief already expecting some unusual twists.

Alex, our protagonist, gets a last-minute ticket into the highly publicized retreat of her hero, Roza Vallo. Alex is pretty low on herself and has been struggling with writer's block for a year, ever since the implosion of her friendship with Wren, her ex- bestie. She meets the other contestants, and the retreat begins with our odd ball, feminist horror writer, Roza, making strange choices and talking to the girls with a cutting tongue.
The retreat turns out to be its own horror story as the girls begin to die. Alex must figure out who is behind it all and how can they escape Blackbriar Estate in the middle of a huge blizzard. It was a strange and unusual ride with a satisfying ending. 3 stars.

Received as a free ebook ARC from NetGalley.

I loved this book! I couldn't put it down. It was fast placed, thrilling, and suspenseful. I was pleasant;y surprised by the twists and turns and couldn't wait to see what happened next. The setting of the book is the remote estate of Roza Vallo, a horror novel writer. Alex, a struggling writer, and 4 other female writers have been invited to a month long retreat. What starts as a wonderful, happy, thrilling opportunity to write a novel turns into something else as people are murdered. It explores female relationships, the history of a horror writer, the house, the supernatural,, and it is real life or not. I loved the characters and the author drew you in to each character to find what they;re all about. I also liked the cover. The florescent green writing in the foreground with the black and white forest and retreat in then background which comprise a book with a sneak peek if the writing. It was very creative and unique.

This was such a fun mystery/thriller! Loved the uncertainty of the entire book from start to finish! The characters were super intriguing !

This was so goodI hate that it took me so long to get too. I really enjoyed the writing, especially for a debut novel. This has all the drama of a locked room thriller, and messed up female friendships. I cannot wait to see what else this author comes out with.

This is definitely a slow burn book. I considered DNFing it at about 30% but continued on due to the positive reviews. I struggled to connect with the story or characters but the second half of the book did pick up. In the end I'm glad that I finished the book, it's an average mystery thriller with a twist or two - but don't expect to be on the edge of your seat.

For Alex, things could not be going worse. She's stuck in a dead-end job, has gone through a friend breakup with her bestie, and has writer's block. When she's given the opportunity to attend a writer's retreat at her favorite author's estate, she jumps at the chance and hopes it will be the cure to her writer's block...even if it means being holed up in a house with her ex friend. But this writing retreat is unorthodox to say the least and when things go from creepy to dangerous, will Alex and the other girls make it out?

Glad I finished the book as the end was better than the first half. By the time I got the second half I was so checked out of the characters that I didn’t really care what happened to them. The first half was a bit boring and it dragged to the actual climax of the story.

I have mixed feelings about this book.
It started out in an intriguing way. Alex, a young woman, trying to be a writer, is invited to a writing retreat, at the home of Roza Vallo, an award winning author. Only a select few women are invited, and Alex is thrilled to be in the presence of her favorite author, Roza.
After arriving at the mansion where Roza lives, and meeting the four other attendees, the story begins!
As the book unfolds, it begins to get very strange and creepy.
There are secret rooms in the mansion, food and drinks laced with drugs, hidden cameras, and bad weather that disables all electricity. The participants are completely isolated from the world!
I found the first half of the book interesting, however the second half was scattered with unreality. ( ghosts, deaths, betrayal).
Thank you NetGalley and Atria Books for the Arc, in return for my honest review.
3 stars for some entertainment, but overall disappointment.

After their friendship abruptly and violently ends, two writers, Wren and Alex, find themselves both accepted into their favorite author, Roza’s, writing retreat in her isolated manor house, Blackbrier. Seeing it as an unparalleled opportunity, they both accept, but will their witchy, mysterious benefactor drive them back together or rip them apart. As more and more odd occurrences occur on the estate, and a snowstorm traps them all together, they have to uncover what exactly Roza’s real intentions are. I’m on a roll with thrillers right now, and this one was so entertaining. I love a big spooky house, I love a locked door mystery. And I love queer characters! So obviously this was a big hit for me. I love books that examine how sexual repression can lead to madness, and how harmful to yourself and sometimes others not allowing yourself to accept your sexual identity can be. Which is what I personally think The Haunting of Hill House is about. But anyways, if you like atmospheric thrillers with complex female relationships you’ll love this. Such a solid mystery in this one and the pacing is just *chefs kiss*. I read this in one day, which is a rarity! Big recommend!

This review will be posted on my Instagram @boozehoundbookclub in April.

Without giving any spoilers, Bartz weaves an engrossing tale of writer’s block, meeting your idols (or maybe why you shouldn’t!) and the complexity and pain of the dissolution of friendships—all set it a lush countryside estate. This isolated-house suspense and mystery will be quickly devoured by fans of Lucy Foley and Ruth Ware.

Ended up being too much like nine perfect strangers. It was all over the place. I don't even know what was going on in most of this book because of the same theme going through my brain.

I enjoyed this novel in the sense that I felt like I was reading about teenage girls! I do love a good teenage drama 🍿😂
I thought that it was a fun read. Other than the MC, I felt like everyone else could have been explored more, in order for us to truly connect.