Thank you Netgalley & Atria Books for an eARC of the Writing Retreat by Julia Bartz! I love a strong suspenseful debut, and I couldn’t wait to read this one knowing that Julia is the sister of thriller author Andrea Bartz. Although this book is set in the winter and has a snowy cover, don’t let it fool you - I read this one during my honeymoon, on the beach in the Caribbean and was blown away by Bartz’s atmospheric writing style, making me feel like I’m in the setting myself.

What’s it about?
Alex is close to completely giving up on her dreams of being a published writer when she receives the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to attend an exclusive writer’s retreat at her favorite author’s home. Sounds great, right? The famous author, Roza Vallo, writes horror stories and lives in an estate that seriously would give anyone the creeps. Also, Alex’s former best friend and now rival, Wren, is also attending. None of this dampens Alex’s excitement, though - What kind of a young author wouldn’t want this opportunity? When the writers arrive, Roza drops the bombshell that each person must write a full novel from scratch over the next month, the best book receiving a 7-figure publishing deal.

I’ll stop there with the synopsis as I don’t want to give anything away. The prize, and making Roza happy, is enough to at first allow Alex to ignore the strange happenings at the estate. Erratic behavior, mind games, haunted happenings and vanished writers - What could possibly go wrong?

Bartz does a great job exploring the dark sides of friendship and fame, and the betrayal that can come from both. Majorly gothic mystery and claustrophobic feels, Bartz nailed it with her first book that gave me total American Horror Story “Murder House” vibes. If you’re a fan of (or want to try) the book-within-a-book-within-a-crazy-house novel, this one’s for you.

Oh, dear! Sorry, this wasn’t for me.

I was pulled in by the cover and the premise! I loved the idea of a remote location, novelists and a competition. The writing was fine, I loved the dark, twisty thriller, but I struggled with the content (sex scenes and blurred reality), dialogue between characters (immature at times) and the nosedive into silliness.

Thank you for giving me the opportunity to read and review this book. Just because it wasn’t what I expected, don’t let that influence your choice or the book’s worth. There are plenty of raving reviews out there.

I was gifted this copy by Atria Books and NetGalley and was under no obligation to provide a review.

I tries to give this an honest shot, but I truly do not care about the characters. The book sounds really interesting and it starts with a nice hook. My problem is that the conflict between the main character are her former friend is just too over the tip and high school level drama. Not only that but the book sets up what happened between them as a sub plot that your trying to figure and it was just not my cup of tea.

There was an interesting concept and I loved the idea of a writing retreat, but the book was a disappointment for me. This was a well-written, dark thriller with a few twists, but the second half got a little strange in the middle. It is a good first novel for a debut author

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with this arc in exchange for an honest review.

The Writing Retreat is an intriguing and suspenseful read. It is centred on 5 female writers who get the chance of a lifetime to participate in a retreat with their favourite author. What follows is a closed room mystery with lot of drama, some supernatural elements, and a few good twists and turns.

I found the premise for this novel intriguing and unique. Where I struggled was with the characters themselves and their interactions with one another. Somehow they fell a bit flat for me and a lot of the dialogue felt very YA-ish to me. This meant it took me awhile to get invested, but around the 60% mark I had a hard time putting it down. I enjoyed the supernatural elements that were woven in, but did find the end dragged a bit as well.

Overall, a satisfying suspenseful read that I would recommend!

Thank you Netgally and Atria books for a free digital copy in exchange for a fair review.

3.5 stars.

This book wasn't quite what I expected based on the premise.

The Writing Retreat is the story of a writer, Alex, who is working in publishing and having a hard time after a friendship breakup. When the opportunity of a lifetime pops up (an exclusive writing retreat at the secluded home of her favorite author), how can she say no? Even with the knowledge that her former best friend (Wren, a complicated relationship) will also be there?

But what happens when the stakes are raised? When everyone at the retreat must write a whole novel, including a word count of 3,000 words per day and daily peer workshopping, before the end of the month-long retreat? When the grand prize at the end is a huge publishing deal just for one writer? And what happens when things take a dark turn? Will everyone make it out alive?

I enjoyed getting to read how Alex's book was impacted by the events happening while the book was being written. I also enjoyed several of the twists along the way. There were also a couple of twists (and two specific plot points regarding Roza, the famous author) that I didn't love, however, and things wrapped up a little too quickly for me.

This is definitely a gothic horror book. It touches on the supernatural, dreams, and the present's relationship to the past. If that sounds like it might be of interest to you, give it a read!

Thank you to Julia Bartz, Netgalley, and Atria Books for my ARC of The Writing Retreat.

The premise of the book sounded very intriguing to me. I love a good isolated location trope. The first half of the book I did like, even though I did not connect that well to the MC. The second half of the book is where it took a turn for the worse. There were too many sex scenes and supernatural twists, that did not make me feel like I was reading a true suspense/thriller. I do appreciate the author for thinking outside of the box and trying something new within the genre, however I do not think it was executed as well as hoped. The dialogue between characters also read flat and almost immature, so it was hard to really like any of them. I am sorry to say but overall I did not like this book, and it was not what I was anticipating reading, and would not be recommending it.

Thank you to Atria Books for the opportunity to read THE WRITING RETREAT. It was not for me. I could not connect with the writing or the storyline at all.

Thank you so much to Julia Bartz, Netgalley, and Atria Books for my ARC of The Writing Retreat. I went into this book fairly blind to the content, I requested it because I heard it would be a hot read this winter. I will admit, the first few chapters had me fairly bored. It took a long time for the author to build up the story between Alex and Wren which was starting to get tedious for me to read. Finally, the retreat begins and I’m quickly drawn into the almost-paranormal story with Daphne and the goings on in Blackbriar. This book ended up being SO twisty, I really had no idea what was coming next. At about 60% finished I had to sit down and finish the book because I was consumed with what would end up happening with Rosa, Wren, Alex, and all of the other characters. The story was quite elaborate, bordering on impossible but I don’t mind too much as I know I’m reading fiction. This would’ve been a 5-star read for me but I think the exposition setting up the distain between Alex and Wren could’ve been done a little quicker. Still, a very great 4-star read and I look forward to the next by this author.

Thanks to Net Galley and Atria Books EGalley for the opportunity to read the ARC of The Writing Retreat by Julia Barth. An interesting concept and I loved the idea of a writing retreat, but the book was a disappointment. Well written, a little dark with some twists, but the second half got a little strange. The story within a story fell flat. A good effort for a debut novel

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with a free copy of the book in exchange for this honest review.

The Writing Retreat by Julia Bartz follows a young woman named Alex who is invited to participate in an exclusive month-long writing retreat at the home of her favorite author. But the mysterious estate, personal histories and tensions, impending snowstorm, and erratic host begin to take their toll. How far are these women willing to go to complete their novels?

Unfortunately, this book was not for me. I was excited to read it, but the only reason I finished it was that I received my copy in exchange for a review. There were a lot of elements here that intrigued me, but the execution just wasn’t what I was looking for. It started fairly well, with the writing retreat, the mysterious author who planned it, and the tragic estate where it all took place. But everything quickly devolved into a hazy sex-fueled nightmare where it was impossible to tell what was real and what was dreamed or hallucinated. I expected a somewhat grounded mystery/thriller, and this was not that. There were so many dream sequences combined with supernatural elements, that it was hard to know what was actually happening. The characters were unlikable and a little flat. And about fifty percent of the book was primarily about people having sex or sex fantasies, which is not what I expected or wanted. There was also an unnecessary amount of language, in my opinion. I felt the dialogue was a bit stilted at times, and some of the descriptions were disjointed and hard to follow, but overall this was very readable. The narrative keeps you guessing, if only because it’s so insane you wouldn’t logically deduce any of the plot twists.

After some deliberation, I decided to rate this a two out of five. I didn’t like this book at all, but it was very readable and fast-paced. But, if you enjoy dark, vaguely supernatural, and erotic mysteries that go off the rails at break-neck speeds, this might be a good book for you.

Content warnings: graphic sexual content, language, violence, drug and alcohol use, verbal and physical abuse

This story, with a little trimming around the edges, narratively could have followed the structure of ‘Evelyn Hugo,” though with thriller influences and chilling moments. The concept was amazing but there’s two horrifically major ways this novel falls flat for me. So major in fact that I gave it 1.5 rounded up to 2 stars.

Firstly, the pacing of this novel is actively so horrific that it’s hard to work with it. The first 20% of the novel (read on Kindle) is so stop and go that it was hard to remember the genre as I read. Thrillers typically have short, engaging, enthralling and, wouldn’t you know, thrilling chapters that keep you gripped. The narrative exposition was so slow, and not in a productive way, but in a questioning-the-motives-of-the-author way. Was this a book making a critique on feminism and the way woman authors are perceived? A love story? A coming of age novel for the mid twenties person? Pick 2 and go with it and I’m in. Instead, It was going for so much there, and throughout the rest of the novel, that even after the “big reveal” I was confused why we went back to be told in the last 5% about all of the ideas that would’ve been better left unsaid.
Which is a good segue to the second and somehow even more major fundamental issue of the novel: the writing. The writer leaves nothing up to the imagination, and needs to trust us as the reader more. “Show and do not tell.” The dialogue, the narrator, even the cuts to the novel Alex is writing. None of it seems authentic. I’ve seen other reviewers say it doesn’t seem like a 20 something wrote it, and I couldn’t disagree more. It does seem like a 20 something wrote it, but it’s almost…not formal enough for the setting? This is a life or death situation and a lot of the dialogue read like a poorly worded tweet, or not thought out text to an acquaintance you don’t know. Even Alex and Wren, a couple I loved to get into in the first 5% of the novel, felt like they didn’t know each other at all.
Taylor is another example of a character that’s dialogue just fell so totally flat when she heel-turned. I truly groaned when I had to pretend to care for her WWE-level of corniness as she tried to assert her dominance over the girls.
In my opinion the dialogue was so lacking that I wished we could’ve gotten it out of the way so we could go back to the narration, because at least that showed a lot of growth. Roza’s reign of terror over Alex helped her grow. The character of Alex is flawed, which I love but her growth was astounding and I DID root for her despite the narrative structure and writing flaws. I think this is a decent first novel and truly may just not be my cup of tea. But in my opinion this novel was giving ‘The Invitation’ from 2022 more than ‘The Shining’ which I think sums it up in as many as words as needed. Less is truly more in thrillers.

I truly appreciate getting to read this novel ahead of time and I look forward to other’s opinions as the novels is released in February of 2023.

ARC was provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review

*Thank you Atria Books and Netgalley for my eARC for an honest review. Publication date 2/21/23*

5 lucky girls are chosen to go on a writing retreat to famous author Roza Vallo's house for a month.

I was so excited to read this book. The book description sounds awesome and I love books about books. The book started off good and I thought I was going to really enjoy it but the more I kept reading it just kept getting too unbelievable. When a book starts getting unbelievable I start getting bored with it and I am not excited to pick it up and keep reading. That was my problem with this book, it bored me and I basically skimmed the whole second half. The characters were not enjoyable to me, the book within the book was boring, and the book was just kinda weird. Sorry to the author for my bad review it just wasn't for me.

io'u¶en it seems too good to be true, it usually is. When the celebrated cult horror author offers a month long writing retreat to highly selected group of female writers. The process and method by how they were chosen and what they would be expected to do was very mysterious would tend to make many of us suspicious; but our heroine overlooks the red flags.
Once in the isolated mansion with its ghostly history, things begin to go wrong, very wrong. As the story unfolds, things look bleak and frankly, inescapable.
I found myself really looking forward to what happens next - many of the characters weren't necessarily people I liked, but I did want to see what was going to happen.

I was excited to start The Writing Retreat after reading the summary but quickly found that it was more dark than I’d anticipated….This book wasn’t for me.
Thank You Atria / Simon & Schuster Canada and NetGalley for the opportunity to preview this ARC.

A wild ride … over the top at times but entertaining.
Engaging plots, lots of twists & turns.
interesting character dynamics & interactions.
A fine debut!

With thanks to NetGalley & Simon & Schuster/Atria Books for this e-ARC in exchange for an honest review!

The Writing Retreat is one of those thrillers that you must finish before you can sleep. It will keep you up all hours and rock your brain! I'll happily read anything that Julia Bartz writes based on this one experience.

This book was so much fun. The synopsis is just the surface of what this book involves. It centers on 5 young women that have been invited to a secluded writers retreat, from there it goes in a different direction than what you would expect with this trope. I can’t believe this was a debut, I’m excited to see what ms Bartz has in store next.

Thank you to NetGalley and Atria/Emily Bestler Books for providing this advanced digital copy for my consideration!

The Writing Retreat is told from the perspective of thirty year old writer Alex, who is accepted into an extremely exclusive retreat run by her idol. She knows this famous and mysterious writer will probably have some unconventional methods, but she's more concerned about the fact that her former best friend will be there, with all of their drama in tow. Turns out, there's a lot more to be concerned about here!

To start, I'll say that this book is wild. And it's not always in a good way.

From the beginning, there were a lot of things that felt forced or fake that I just didn't love. All of the characters have these cool, unique names, and i think the author is failing to take into account how many Ashleys are out there. Instead, we get Ursula, Wren, Jett, Poppy...can I get a Sara?


When Alex first gets to the retreat, the writers have the most forced conversation upon first meeting. The author is trying to show that they are 2022 women with 2022 sensibilities; which is fine. Introducing themselves with pronouns is great. But then one of the characters mentions her family is from Senegal and another character has to get riled up about slavery, and then the main character is internally patting herself on the back for saying “partner” instead of something gendered. These are tools that people I know use, but no one I know would actually talk in such a ridiculous way. It just isn't natural!

For the actual story....it's a wild plot, and I kept reading because I wanted to know what would happen, but it was a little TOO off the rails. If I actually go back and review everything that happened, it sounds sort of absurd.

There are also excerpts from Alex's novel that she's writing throughout, and I really wasn't very interested in them. I mostly skimmed those.

To organize my thoughts, I'm making a pros and cons list:

Pros:
-Characters aren't pitted against each other the entire time, they actually do work together on many occasions. That trope bugs me sometimes because it just makes me anxious.
-The house makes for a cool character in itself.
-There is an element of mystery when Alex is sneaking around the house trying to find secrets!
-While the beginning was a little slow, I definitely ploughed through the second 2/3 of it. You do want to see wtf is going to happen next!

Cons:
-The ending was so anticlimactic. It felt way too easy.
-There is a some conflict over the main character’s sexuality - it didn't seem like it served any real purpose. But, as a straight person, I can't best judge the value add there.
-The story is just off the rails. I couldn't describe it to someone else without laughing a little, probably.

So, points for keeping me interested, less points for not quite living up to the promise. I’m torn between 2 or 3 stars, so call it a 2.5 rounded up!

A group of aspiring writers have been accepted to the exclusive and highly secretive retreat at Roza’s. After lavish gifts and taste of life in their icon’s reclusive home, the girls are introduced to a competitive game where the prize is more than just having their book published with Roza’s elite backing. It could be everything.Or, it could be something else entirely.