Alex and Wren were best friends who had a terrible falling out. One year later they are both invited to participate with three other young female writers at a coveted and secluded writing retreat run by their favorite writer. The wooded setting where the mansion is located and it's ghostly history set the tone for this gothic story. The eccentric mentor offers a contest where the winner will receive a million dollar publishing deal. The only catch is that it needs to be a new work and must be written during the one month stay at the retreat. Unfortunately not all is as it appears. With a snow storm moving in, one of the writers goes missing...

The atmosphere is haunting and the characters are so well written. There is loads of dark academia, drugs, sex and ghosts. Looks like a perfect Valentine's read to me!

Thank you to NetGalley, Atria Books and Julia Bartz for an early copy. This is my unbiased review.
Pub date: February 21, 2023
Pages: 320

This is a debut coming out in 2023 from author Julia Bartz. It’s about a writing retreat at an isolated mansion in the mountains, and the unsettling happenings that take place when our main character wins one of the coveted spots. I liked it a lot! For one thing, you have to look at the cover. It’s SO good! The book itself was a wild ride – mysterious, suspenseful. I love any book having to do with writing, writers, or the publishing industry, so that aspect was great. That’s a trend that I hope continues – there have been so many good ones in the last couple of years (The Plot, Who Is Maud Dixon, The Other Black Girl…so many more). I was totally invested and curious to see what was going to happen, and I found it to be pretty fast-paced. I also enjoyed the fact that it was a thriller but the plot really felt different from many that I’ve read. My only wish was that it would have been creepier/more Gothic. You had the isolated wintery setting, the echoing mansion, the small cast of characters…I wanted that creeping tension and more of an atmosphere. It had a little of that, but not much…I personally wanted more, but that’s just me! It was a well-written thriller and I got completely wrapped up in it. I’m excited for this one to come out and to see what everyone thinks!

I found The Writing Retreat to be a predictable and kind of frustrating journey into the mystery-thriller genre. The sort of locked-room premise was interesting to me, but I found that there was a lot of lazy writing/lack of attention to detail/weird preoccupation that prevented me from having a very pleasurable reading experience. This book feels very “done before” when I was hoping for something with a fresher take.

What a fantastic story! I gobbled it up in one sitting - I just couldn’t put it down for anything. I loved the flawed and unreliable characters. I loved the creepy atmosphere. And I loved the gripping storyline. Such a fun, suspenseful, and thrilling read!

Alex feels like she is in a slump. A life slump, a job slump, hell she has even recently lost her best friend. When she receives a call that she has been chosen to spend a month at a writers retreat with her idol Roza Vallo she drops everything to be there. Roza is a famous horror novelist who happens to live in the renovated home of a previous murder involving a maybe demon spirit. Once there she feels truly inspired but also things feel a bit off. When another writer goes missing Alex has to face her inner demons to learn what is really going on.

This one is so good. So good! This is an add to your TBR right now because I loved it. It is dark and creepy. It is bloody and bleak. It explores self-acceptance and doubt. It discusses women’s power and weakness. This is the perfect feminist thriller for a cold winters day. I cannot believe this was a debut novel and cannot wait to read more from Julia Bartz!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC in exchange for my review.

Thanks to NetGalley for the advanced copy. I enjoyed the writing and storytelling of this book. Highly recommend.

Fantastic dark and twisty thriller that I could not put down! The perfect combination of mystery and drama, I thoroughly enjoyed it. The all-female cast just added to the storyline. READ THIS BOOK!

Thank you NetGalley for this arc in exchange for an honest review!

As someone who's both a writer and has worked in publishing way too long, the premise of THE WRITING RETREAT immediately called out my name as soon as I read about it in Publishers Marketplace. A twisty thriller about a writing retreat that's essentially NaNoWriMo-on-crack set in a snowy murder mansion? Yes, please! Plus such a pretty cover!

Fortunately, THE WRITING RETREAT lives up to its bonkers promise: I mainlined it in less than forty-eight hours, unable to put it down. It has a ton of fun as it winks at the reader while it plays with tropes and genre expectations. Even better, it passes the Bechdel test with flying colors. I look forward to chatting about this one with other reader-writers when it comes out.

Many thanks to Atria Books and NetGalley for the advance reading copy.

So well written so tense drew me in from first pages.The story the twist and turns kept me guessing till the last pages.#netgalley #atriabooks

Unfortunately this one was just not for me. Not a fan of the explicit language right from the get go. Tried to get past that and get into the story but I just couldn't connect with the characters. I seem to be the minority so if the book intrigues you give it a go!! Much thanks to the publisher and to Netgalley for this ARC.

This book turned out to be so different than what I originally thought it to be, but I'm not mad about it. I was expecting some sort of murder mystery, but this story turned out to be far more complicated than that, but in such a good way. How much would we sacrifice in order to achieve our dreams? How far would we actually go? Julia Bartz is a genius when it comes to answering those questions, as her writing is just too good. She set this plot up so well and wrote some great characters that I absolutely loved to read about. The suspense... the psychological aspect... everything just flowed so well together. This book is such a good read and I definitely recommend reading it if you love a good thriller!

Thank you NetGalley and Atria Books for this free arc in exchange for my honest review.

This book was NOT what I expected! I thought it was going to be a pretty classic locked-room murder mystery with a victim and a whodunnit- it was not. It was, however, a very atmospheric and creepy thriller set in an isolated mansion.
Alex, an aspiring writer, is invited to an exclusive retreat with a famous author along with a few other writers (including her ex-best friend). It's an elite opportunity and they will be cut off from the world for a month to write their novels and get valuable feedback from a famous writer. There are excerpts from Alex's manuscript mixed into this book and they create a story within a story effect. At first, everyone is thrilled to be there, but slowly they notice some things that seem strange. The tension escalates slowly and by the end, it is a mess and things are really horrifying. There are some paranormal elements as well as general paranoia and confusion.
You could call this a mystery thriller, but it has a lot of horror elements that are key to the plot. Above all, there is an uneasy and weird feeling.
While there were a lot of things I did like about this book, I don’t feel comfortable recommending it to everyone and I’m not sure how I feel overall. I felt like the manuscript excerpts distracted me from the story and the paranormal aspect was unnecessary. Also, readers going into this book should be aware that there is sexual content. Finally, I don’t know if it was the intention, but some scenes with queer characters felt like they were used for shock value and that made me really uncomfortable.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC!

This one blew me away. The synopsis was intriguing and the writing did not disappoint. I will say my only complaint is that I felt every sex scene felt forced. I do appreciate that this author highlighted exploring your sexuality into your 30's though. The writing was cohesive and flowed really well. This was for sure a book that I couldn't put down, all the way until the end and I loved the last part, so that you know Roza is still out there!

Thanks to Netgalley for the advanced reader copy. The premise is the chance to stay in a "haunted" mansion with a mysterious author and then to be able to write a novel together with a few chosen others. Good plot and I was excited to hear how this was going to end. The storyline went a different, odd direction and I was lost in the mansion with the characters. Good plot just a different storyline than I was imagining to take place.

I originally requested an arc of Julia Bartz's "The Writing Retreat" due to the synopsis and I thought the cover was absolutely gorgeous. I knew nothing about this author nor any previous work from her so I went into this basically blind. This book was UH-MAYZING!!!!

"The Writing Retreat" is a super fast-paced thriller/mystery. I don't want to give away too much of the plot, but I will say that this book is a "locked room mystery" (which just happens to be my FAVORITE type of mystery/thriller trope)!

All of our book's characters are at a retreat with a feminist who also happens to be a writer of horror. The authors are told that they have exactly ONE MONTH to write AN ENTIRE BOOK in order to compete for an incredibly lucrative publishing contract. This book gave me serious "Kill Creek" vibes as it has a very similar premise with multiple authors being brought together into an isolated area and I LOVED that book.

This book is a bit of a slow burn, BUT is CHOCK FULL of multiple twists and turns that will keep you wanting to turn to the next page and then the next page and then the next. This book had everything I love in a good horror book: haunted house, psychologically unstable characters and a competition. It's like Horror Survivor.

An easy 4.75/5 stars and will be recommending to friends and family!

Julia Bartz has written a debut thriller about writers, writing, and the power of women. It’s a roller coaster of a read, and is totally unpredictable. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me to be an early reader in exchange for my review.

This novel is amazing! Could not put thus down. Each time you think you’ve figured it out, another thrilling layer unfolds. The book is a lens into the life of a writer, contemporary feminism, and how the pressures of finding yourself can often resemble the most horrifying stories. Worth the read. I’ll be looking for other works by this author.

What would you sacrifice to make your dreams come true? Alex thinks that all stars are aligning when she is invited to an exclusive month long writer’s retreat at her idol, Roza Vallo’s, home. Once she arrives at the ominous Blackbriar mansion, something feels off. It doesn’t help that her frenemy Wren was also selected to participate in the retreat. Coincidence or careful planning? It’s a heads down competition as the writers are required to finish a novel in 30 days; writing over 3,000 words a day. The author of the best novel will have their book published with the help of Roza and a massive publishing deal. The strict scheduling and odd ways of Roza seem worth it, until one of the writers goes missing and it quickly turns into a game of survival.

As an aspiring writer, I was so intrigued by this story and excited to read it. We hear how grueling the process can be of writing a novel and when we throw in a little thrill, a little mystery, and some sinister ways we have a very interesting story. The first half of the book was good. I liked the build up to the retreat and the outlining of the different backstories of the characters. We knew the history of Wren and Alex and were provided hints as to Roza’s true character without revealing too much. The second half fell flat for me. We moved too quickly to what I deemed as the turning point in the story. Because of this, I think we missed out on the angst and anticipation of knowing that something bad was on the horizon but having to suffer a little to find out what it was. I like the dance that my brain does of “what’s going to happen? What’s next?” when trying to figure out a plot line and that didn’t happen with this one. That said, if you love thrillers, this will make for a fun read on a snowy day in February.

This was unputdownable!!

The Writing Retreat is like if NaNoWriMo and a reality TV show competition and a thriller had a baby (yes all three). I really really loved the plot of an aspiring writer going off to a secluded writing retreat where things just start spinning TOTALLY out of control. When I say totally I mean totally. Overall the plot was by far my favorite part of this book.

Some interesting side-plots surrounding gender, sexuality, and the writing process add depth and originality to the book that may have been less unique without them.

Some stuff I didn’t totally fall in love with (there were excerpts of the main character’s novel that sometimes bored me, and while the writing was easy to digest, the prose didn’t blow me away), but overall this was a page-turner that got increasingly more chaotic and messy with each chapter.

What a page turner of a book! I was up till 4 am unable to put this one down. But I eventually forced myself to and immediately finished it when I woke up. This is exactly what I look for in a thriller. The all consuming plot, twists, and who can you really trust are just what I needed.

I could indulge further with the synopsis. But I think I would rather focus on what I really loved. I am also at a loss of words after finishing this book. This book was exactly what I needed to cure my slump/book hang over.

What I loved:
- the plot was fast paced, unique and super intriguing. From the beginning I was curious about the reason why the friendship between our MC, Alex, and her best friend, Wren, ended. This book was like an onion that I kept peeling back the layers for more what is really happening moments.
- The twists were fun! Quite a ride too. I had an inkling of what was happening. But it kept getting wilder and wilder
- This really did explore female friendships and relationship dynamics
- Queer representation is always a plus for me!

This book was the perfect read for spooky season! I LOVED it. I can't wait to pre-order this and also get my book club to check it out. I can't wait to read more in the future by this author. 5 stats out of 5! Thank you to Netgalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review!