I was so excited for this book! It did no disappoint! I really enjoy the books that discuss how novels are written. Alex is a writer, Roza Valle. She’s been given a once in a lifetime opportunity to attend a writers retreat with the author that inspired her to become a writer. Then she learns that her ex best friend, Wren, is attending the retreat as well. But Alex has writers block, she’s had it for the last year. Will she be able to overcome it and write an amazing novel? Is this retreat what it seems? Some things feels not quite right about the retreat but the woman can’t quite put their fingers on it.

Interesting book with a great concept!

Alex has struggled with her writing ever since her falling out with best friend Wren. Now, she gets the opportunity of a lifetime: the chance to attend an intimate writer’s retreat with her idol. However, Wren will also be in attendance and the retreat is at a secluded and possibly haunted mansion.

The concept of this book was so cool. I loved the idea of seclusion—in winter no less—and the drama of past friendship. I also found the characters interesting, including the past characters whom Alex starts researching for her book. While the book had a lot of twists and turns, I did find the pacing a little off. It was slow at times and then kicked up at the end. Even with that, I do recommend this for thriller lovers!

Thank you to the publisher and author for the ARC!

This is a fantastic winter thriller! At about the halfway point is where it really takes off. It has some minor supernatural elements, and some LGBTQ scenes (FF) which I wasn't expecting, but the main theme throughout the book is really "WTH is going on at this retreat?!"

This book is perfect for anyone looking for a winter thriller, but also anyone interested in the writing process and how authors work.

3.5 ⭐️ This debut locked-room thriller has a great premise, and while I was overall entertained, there were a few components I didn’t love.
The main character, Alex, is invited on a writing retreat in a secluded, gothic mansion, hosted by her literary idol. The author, Roza, is offering to publish the novel of whoever of the five girls writes the most impressive novel during their month-long stay. The girls soon discover this retreat is not quite what they expected, and their situation turns south.
I found the fantastical elements to be a bit over the top, and her sexually explicit dreams / memories added nothing to the story. We were given excerpts from the novel Alex was writing while at the retreat, and I unfortunately had zero interest in that storyline and skimmed through a lot of it.
All in all, this wasn’t bad for a debut novel, and the ending did pick up quite a bit to leave me satisfied.
Thank you to NetGalley and Atria Books for the advanced read copy in exchange for an honest review.

So this was an absolutely suspenseful story.

I was hooked from the very beginning. The Writing Retreat is a twisty, gripping rollercoaster of a story about aspiring author.

This is a must read. I will say though that the first part is slow but picks up rather quickly. Still, I enjoyed this book.

Thanks netgalley and publisher.

All thoughts and opinions are my own and aren't influenced by anyone else

Thank you NetGalley and Atria Books for this free digital book for an honest review. An exclusive writing retreat held at a famous author's possibly haunted mansion with a troubling backstory - a great premise, but sadly, I didn't really enjoy it. But it had enough intrigue and "what the heck is going on" moments that I read all the way to the end. I didn't enjoy the twist and thought some parts were just too crazy. Still, I did feel the need to finish it, because I had to know what happened to Alex, the main character. I had trouble settling on a rating, so I decided 2.5 rounded up to 3.

A very entertaining thriller! This is fast paced with interesting and flawed characters.

We follow Alex as she is invited to attend a month long writing retreat with her idol. I enjoyed being in Alex's head as she is navigating the retreat. Her story arc was well done and I loved the building and changing of her relationships.

While I think that there aren't any surprising twists in here (something I normally love) - i thought this was just such a fun time.

There is some inclusion of Alex's story that felt unnecessary and detracted from the over all novel.

Overall, this was a fun and fast paced read that kept me engaged the whole time.

Thank you to Atria Books and NetGalley for the arc.

Oh how I devoured this book. I absolutely love books, within a book. And this had that, plus lots of book and author talk. Ontop of mystery; thriller, suspense. Broken friendships. Romance. Gah I loved this so much. An absolute must read!

In The Writing Retreat, our main character Alex finds herself accepted to a month long writing retreat hosted by her all time favorite feminist horror author, Roza Vallo. The retreat is held at Roza’s secluded, rumored to be haunted, estate. Alex and 4 other women, including her former best friend turned enemy, are tasked to finish a novel before the retreat is over. Not long into her time at the retreat, the house starts to feel hostile, Rosa becomes erratic, and one of the writers goes missing in a snowstorm. Something is clearly very off at the retreat and the writers are desperate to figure out the truth in order to survive the remaining weeks.

This was an amazing debut. It’s a psychological thriller that really doesn’t read like a typical thriller. I was very excited to find that it doesn’t follow the usual thriller algorithm because in all honesty, I’m pretty burnt out from thrillers.

Some fragmented thoughts because I can’t express much without giving too much away:

Lots of locked room vibes
Kept my attention throughout with the drama and twists and turns
It was absolutely crazy after the halfway mark
It’s witchy, dark, & creepy
It felt like a dream where you’re trying to escape a horrible situation and you keep thinking you’ve almost escaped the horror multiple times but end up back at square 1

Would highly recommend

Thank you to the author and publisher for the advance reader copy.

I LOVED this book. I definitely recommend going in as blind as possible, because you're in for a wild ride. I'll recommend it to everyone I know who loves suspense.

I can't believe I forgot to review The Writing Retreat as soon as I finished it! I absolutely loved this novel by Julia Bartz - I was hooked from the very beginning. The Writing Retreat is twisty, gripping story about aspiring author, Alex, finally meeting her idol, acclaimed novelist Roza Vallo. After landing herself a coveted spot of four (or maybe make that five) female authors under 30 (or maybe make that, exactly 30), Alex finds herself in a remote mansion with several strangers and her estranged best friend, now enemy. Not everything is what it seems behind the walls of Roza's mansion and the unorthodox, rigorous, demanding and haunting nature of the retreat gives new meaning to the old adage... never meet your heroes. I loved this tale of friendship, backstabbing and frontstabbing, with a dash of the paranormal. Julia Bartz's writing was well paced and exciting - as a practicing therapist, you can see how she knows the ins and outs of how our emotions play off each other and those of others. All around an outstanding book - great for fans of We Were Never Here, another tale of suspicious friendship, by Andrea Bartz (no relation, I'm assuming?). Five enthusiastic stars!

This is one of those novels that you kind of have to go into with suspended belief. The events that unfold are a wild ride at times. I think it’s best to go in as blind as possible so this review is spoiler free.
I enjoyed the atmosphere of the story. There were definitely times that I felt really creeped out and didn’t want to read at night time. You kind of started to question things and what’s going on right along with the characters.
The characters were fine. We got some backstory and basic info but I wish there was a little more depth to some of the side characters. They were just slightly forgettable.
I wasn’t really into the book within the book. It kind of took me out of the story whenever there was a chapter that was an excerpt.
Overall this was a pretty fun read. I enjoyed how everything wrapped up even if it all isn’t necessarily believable. I would recommend.

Fuck her… the first 2 words of the book. It got my attention but it took my over a week to finish this because I kept stopping and wanted to put on my DNF list. I heard about the book from a BookTuber and the idea for the book sounded so interesting, I was excited to actually get an ARC. But, It was just too much in your face from the first 2 words. Along with the checklist every movie/show/book must have now - gender pronouns✔️ LGTB ✔️ lesbian sex✔️ admitting to yourself your true sexuality✔️ POC✔️ It’s mostly females✔️
Admittedly I could be a millennial’s mother and I’m conservative. I don’t have a problem with LGBT if it’s a good story but it felt forced… like is no longer just “acceptable” but “it’s expected” to be every movie/show/book. The ending could’ve been more and I was surprised Rosa didn’t leave them locked in the attic and set the house on fire and they had to escape that.
Thank you to Simon & Schuster and NetGalley!

I was immediately intrigued by the premise and synopsis of this book. I love stories about writing, reading, publishing, and being an author. It makes me feel instantly connected to the characters.

It was a bit of a slow start for me. It felt like we were meandering through a predictable sequence, but about ten or so chapters in it really started to pick up. I loved the creepy setting, a house with a haunted past. It was so eerie and added another layer of mystery and supernatural feels to the story. The story also speaks on some interesting and relevant topics, and I found the deep dive into the struggles with sexuality and identity to be a highlight.

The ending was just ok for me. Things took some unexpected turns and didn’t feel completely believable to me. It was maybe a little too over the top. I don’t know… things just got a little weird for me but it was still good. Definitely gets points for being dramatic, unique, shocking, and not at all what I thought it would. It is undoubtedly a memorable story if anything.

Even though this particular story itself wasn’t a favorite of mine, I did like the writing style and I would definitely read from this author again. A very good thriller debut and I will be keeping a watch for any new releases from this author. If you love a claustrophobic, suspenseful, and psychological thriller, then you may also enjoy this one. I don’t know that it will be anyone’s favorite read, but it is still a solid four star book and I do see this one being a great starting point for this author to launch with.

Pardon the bad language at the start but once I got past it I found a cleverly written, unique.. dark ATMOSPHERIC tale from an author I plan to read more from. Julia Bartz’s debut is about a nightmarish month-long writer’s retreat gone wrong. The retreat is situated on the secluded estate of feminist horror writer Roza Vallo. Thirty-year-old writer Alex is given the opportunity to attend, accepts the invite, then finds out her ex-best friend, now arch-enemy, will be there. Once there, nothing is as Alex thought it would be. It turns out to be a VERY INTENSIVE workshop where the stakes are unexpectedly set high to win this award they’re all vying for. And if that isn’t bad enough, the Blackbriar estate has quite a lot of questionable history behind it.. from unsolved murders, being haunted.. to giving off bewitching vibes.. you just feel that there’s some type of (possibly evil) mystery surrounding it. This story is intense with an immense dark gothic feel. It’s a nail-biting mystery thriller that will draw you in, with unfortunately, NOT ONE SOUL YOU CAN TRUST. It’s one crazy, wild psychological thriller that completely caught me off guard, not what I was expecting at all. 🖤🙈🙊🙉 4 stars — Pub. 2/21/23

Thanks to the publisher via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

I ended up putting this down at about 16% because I just couldn't get into it or stay into it at all. I found the characters somewhat annoying, and the whole "why aren't they friends anymore" situation was super heavy handed. This one isn't for me, unfortunately.

The beginning of the book (pre-retreat) was a bit hard to get into, but once we met our main characters at the retreat (about 15% into the book) it was a fast paced ride! Loved it!

Alex has always wanted to be a published author, so has Wren, her ex-bestie.
They both received an invitation to attend a month-long writer’s retreat at the home of Alex’s Idol, best selling feminist horror writer, Roza Vallo.

As the attendees arrive, they are told that they will be required to write an entire novel from scratch during the month. The prize is 1 million dollars and Roza will have their book published and they will go on tour together.

The Blackbriar Estate, pouring with secrets from its past. It’s an amazing old gothic mansion that becomes claustrophobic from being secluded during a snowstorm.

For a moment I thought of Narnia, but WOW I was wrong!. It was filled with who done it’s, murder, suspense and a true psychological thriller.

I’m not quite sure how I feel about the final few chapters, because it felt a bit rushed and somewhat unrealistic.

Thank you so much to the publisher, author and Netgalley for this free ARC in exchange for a review. I really did enjoy reading this.
3.5 Stars

Horror writer Roza Vallo invites a group of women to her home for a writing retreat and a storm strands them without phone service and access to the police. I am sorry to say but this book wasn't for me. I was expecting a locked room mystery or a gothic suspense and the book is kind of both BUT it relied too much on over-the-top exploits that frankly I found unbelievable and boring. I also couldn't get past the sex scenes, now I am no prude and I can enjoy the sexy time in stories but I really didn't like the WAY they happened (it really irked me) and I didn't see the point of them at all.

The reader is expected to overlook too many things that seemed impossible to me, and I hate books that expect me to suspend my belief too much. I was really bored at points during the story and started to not care about what was happening to the ladies on this retreat. I kept waiting for something exciting, scary or interesting to happen and when it finally did I shook my head and rolled my eyes. The subplot of Daphine's story was useless and distracted from the main story. It's really unfortunate that I didn't enjoy this more as the premise was intriguing but the execution fell flat. This book has many good reviews and lots of four and five-star ratings so I guess I am just not the right type of person to read it.

A dark, psychological thriller where up and coming female writers are invited to attend a writing retreat of a famous author. None of them really knows what to expect until they get there, and it's definitely not what they expected. It's fast-paced and keep you guessing with a few creepy twists. It also has some horror/paranormal vibes since the original owners of the mansion were victims of a gruesome murder. Oh, and there's also a huge snowstorm preventing anyone from leaving, or anyone from saving them.

Alex is the main POV throughout the book and she has a lot of issues, so it's hard to tell if she's a reliable narrator or not. It's one of those books where no one is safe, and the killings are a bit gruesome. A very entertaining read!