this was a culty type thriller, and I enjoyed that aspect of the story. As for the rest of the story, not so much. I felt like it was just plain weird. A random 4 some was thrown in, and all of the Egyptian type symbolism and past lives was all just strange to me. It definitely had an eerie feeling to the story and you didn’t really know who you could trust or what was actually happening.

The Last Session was my first thriller by Julia Bartz, and I really enjoyed it. The story follows Thea, a social worker who has always felt a deep connection to actress Catherine O'Brien. One day, Catherine is admitted to the psychiatric ward where Thea works, and it doesn't take long for Thea to realize that something is very wrong. Following a series of clues left by Catherine, Thea signs up for a retreat where Catherine is now living. Determined to help her idol, Thea uncovers the disturbing truth: she has stumbled into a cult. Despite the danger, she continues her mission to save Catherine from this bizarre world.

I found The Last Session to be a gripping, fast-paced read. I always enjoy novels that explore cults, and this one delivered with plenty of suspense and unexpected twists. I also really liked Thea as a heroine—she was smart, determined, and relatable—and the supporting characters added a lot to the story. Overall, this was a great page-turner that kept me hooked from start to finish!

*** Thank you to NetGalley and Atria books for this ARC. All thoughts and opinions are always my own.

THE LAST SESSION – by Julia Bartz

‘When a catatonic woman shows up at the psychiatric unit, social worker Thea swears she knows her from somewhere. She’s shocked to discover the patient holds a link to a traumatic time in her past. Upon regaining lucidity, the patient claims she can’t remember the horrific recent events that caused her brain to shut down. Thea’s at a loss—especially when the patient is ripped away from her as suddenly as she appeared.’

A slow burn, THE LAST SESSION was an interesting read, though it did not tick all the boxes for me.

Thank you, NetGalley and Emily Bestler Books, Atria (Simon & Schuster Publishing), for providing me with an eBook of THE LAST SESSION at the request of an honest review.

I loved The Writing Retreat so I was really excited to get to read yet another book by Julia Bartz. However, this one was a very slow burn and I really struggled getting through it. I was really interested in the beginning with the mental hospital being brought in but once Thea ended up at the retreat, that’s when there were some weird elements I struggled getting through.

In The Last Session by Julia Bartz, social worker Thea is jolted when a catatonic woman is admitted to her psychiatric unit—and she’s sure she’s seen her before. As the woman slowly regains awareness, it becomes clear that she's connected to a dark chapter from Thea’s past. But before Thea can get any answers, the woman disappears again. Desperate for the truth, Thea follows a trail to a mysterious retreat in New Mexico, led by a charismatic couple who guide participants through intimate and often unsettling exercises. As Thea digs deeper into the cult-like environment, she must confront disturbing memories and face the possibility that she, too, could unravel—especially if she stays for the final session.

I really wanted to love this book because I enjoyed Bartz’s previous novel, but this one didn’t quite hit the mark for me. While the plot had her signature offbeat twists and psychological tension, much of the story felt slow and meandering. I didn’t connect with the spirituality element, especially given how it unfolded, and although some parts were intriguing, they weren’t enough to carry the rest. Overall, it had potential, but it left me a bit underwhelmed.

Thank you NetGalley and Atria Books for the ARC copy in exchange for an honest review.

I was excited to read The Last Session as I enjoyed Julia's first book, but sadly, this book just didn't work for me. I feel I may be an outlier in my opinion, but it just seemed scattered all over the place. There were no characters I could connect to, and a lot of the characters seemed overly exaggerated, like reading a comic book.

I was unable to suspend the belief required to follow this story, and quite honestly, as the book reached its conclusion, my greatest feeling was confusion. Having said that, it did keep me reading until the end, for which I'll raise my 2.5 stars to 3.

I feel like there definitely is a market for this book. Maybe I'm just too old to identify with it.

Thank you to NetGalley, Julia Bartz, and the publisher for allowing me to read this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Not sure this book or author is for me.

After seeing how viral her other book the writing retreat was I requested this hoping to really enjoy it,

I think the plot of this just didn’t make much sense to me and there were some parents that were just so strange and didn’t really need to be included in the story.

I found this one interesting but it was definitely a slow burn. I never found myself connecting with Thea but I appreciated all the weird elements to this book.

I just didn't enjoy this one at all. I will not be leaving reviews anywhere as I do not like to bring negativity to any author. I tried hard to like this book. I read 70% and finally just gave up.

Thank you NetGalley for the arc.

I enjoyed bartz first novel so I was intrigued by the last session’s premise and it started strong. A young social worker who has past trauma is intrigued when a new patient shows up at her facility. The girl looks familiar but is mute and unable to tell her story. Once it is discovered she is a once famous child actress , Thea, is pulled into her story and tries to uncover what led her here. However, Catherine, the actress/patient, leaves suddenly and Thea feels compelled to follow her. Thea finds herself in a wellness retreat (nine perfect strangers vibes) that suddenly turns dangerous and cult like with each passing minute. Thea needs to get to the bottom of this place for not only Catherine’s sake, but for her own, as she realizes her past is tied to Catherine’s and this cult.

I was into the first 1/3 of the book, but it started to get too far fetched and lost me after that. I actually was looking forward to finishing it, which was a shame because of the strong set up and the strong writing. I am really hoping the next one is similar to the writing retreat and less similar to this one!

Thanks to the publisher for providing the arc via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

* 2.75⭐️ 5🌶️ (not a ton of spice but a VERY taboo scenes)
* Gives seven perfect strangers vibes and the perfect wife. This is the authors second book - the first book was the writing retreat
* By now, all “wellness retreats” are absolutely bonkers.
* These type of books, really any book with a single woman working clinically in a psych unit always are made to seem like they should also be admitted as a patient in the psych unit.
* She was in a relationship with a man named Ryan until she told him her “disgusting shameful secret” and he left her instantly.
* The catatonic mute new patient of hers looks like a younger version of her. She is drawn to the woman and just feels like she’s seen her before or knows her. She starts putting the pieces together when Catherine is discharged from the inpatient unit by two people claiming to be her parents but weren’t. She starts sleuthing into everything Catherine touched while she was in the hospital to see if she left any clues for Thea.
* This leads her to the New Mexico wellness intensive three day retreat in New Mexico that seems very much cult-y and stuff just gets wild from there.
* This book was strange. You think it’s a mystery of who this girl is and then it kind of feels like it is a story inside a story. The second story about this TV show and Catherine and Thea. It just seemed like the story was randomly put into the middle. It was less mystery finding a missing person and more about spiritual journeys. There’s orgies and just weird stuff that happens in this book. I’m trying to figure out wtf is the reasoning
* Thea was just dumb. I’m sorry. You had multiple excuses to not participate in anything and you still did. The thing about this is sol and moon didn’t force anyone to participate in their sessions. It was all voluntary.
* Very predictable. Like I said before. Sex cult meets religion trauma. Kinda unsure about the ending. It wasn’t bad.
* Read this if you like: locked room mystery, culty vibes, reincarnation, everyone’s a suspect

✍️ Therapist
✍️ Celebrity
✍️ Remote Retreat
✍️ Cult Vibes

I read Bartz’s debut The Writing Retreat in 2023. Loved her writing style, but I wasn’t super thrilled with how that book ended. I knew I wanted to read her next release since I found her first book to be so compelling.

With that said, I found the start of The Last Session to be interesting and I wanted to read on. Unfortunately as I got 1/2 way through, it became off-putting for me and just bizarre. I felt more annoyed when it ended than fulfilled after finding out what happens.

This book is a great but confusing thrill ride. It switches through different POV and timelines that make it difficult to follow at times. The story and the way its written will draw you in and not let go until the last second.

*Thank you to Atria and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for my honest review*

I absolutely ADORED The Writing Retreat, but what the actual fuck was this book? It had all of my favorite elements: cults, flashbacks, obsession. And yet, it went nowhere with it. There were too many plotlines going on for any real character development, and most of it ended up being moot.

I'll absolutely still read more of her books because they're absolutely WILD, but this one was just not it.

Working in the mental health field I was excited to get this and see what she did with it and I wasn't mad at it all. It wasn't an accurate portrait of a mental hospital so don't go in think that it's suppose to be. The first part I was hooked but then it started to get culty and weird so I push through.and ended up liking it.



When a catatonic woman shows up at the psychiatric unit, social worker Thea swears she knows her from somewhere. She’s shocked to discover the patient holds a link to a traumatic time in her past. Upon regaining lucidity, the patient claims she can’t remember the horrific recent events that caused her brain to shut down. Thea’s at a loss—especially when the patient is ripped away from her as suddenly as she appeared.

Determined to find her, Thea follows a trail of clues to a remote center in Southwestern New Mexico, where a charismatic couple holds a controversial monthly retreat to uncover attendees’ romantic and sexual issues. Forced to participate in increasingly intimate exercises, Thea finds herself inching closer not only to her missing patient, but also to tantalizing answers about her harrowing past. However, time is running out, and if she stays for the last session, she too might lose her mind…or worse

I thought the premise of The Last Session sounded really interesting. Unfortunately the execution isn’t working for me and I decided to dnf. Thank you to the publisher for the free ebook.

I’m so torn on this book. The concept of this book was very interesting and definitely a bit unhinged. The beginning started out with a bang and I couldn’t put it down. Once the cult shenanigans entered the chat, there was never a dull moment. I was a bit confused for the last quarter of the book and things got super weird. For some, you may like it, but for me I could have done with 75 less pages. This book goes deep into the psyche of cult followers and the mesmerizing atmosphere of the retreat will have you on the edge of your seat. Honestly, I just can’t stop picturing Moon as Lottie from Yellowjackets.

Thank you so much NetGalley and Atria/Emily Bestler Books for this eArc of The Last Session. This was my first book by Julia Bartz and I will definitely be picking up her other book.

The Last Session has an interesting premise.

Overview: Thea is ambling through life when she finds out her best friend is kicking her out of their shared apartment. She's grasping at what to do next when an interesting case stumbles, almost literally, into her work as a therapist. Catherine, a celebrity from a film she's always felt a strange connection with appears at the psychiatric facility where she works as a patient. She's not speaking, she tries to stab Thea with a pen, then when she disappears with people who are not her parents, Thea finds a note she left behind that leaves her to believe she's been kidnapped against her will.

Thea follows a trail of breadcrumbs to a secluded desert retreat that quickly presents itself as a cult. The characters believe they're reincarnations of a story that has played out repeatedly in past lives, and Thea is a part of it. Catherine is telling Thea to run, but Thea is dedicated to figuring out what is going on in this strange desert retreat, no matter the cost.

So, why the 3 star review? I have been trying to read this book for months. The writing isn't bad, it's an interesting plot, but the story keeps falling flat. I don't really care about any of the characters, and with stakes like what's ben created, I want to care. Root for them, against them, get annoyed with them, something. I struggled with this on Julia Bartz last book as well. She's got great premises, but maybe I'm just not her ideal reader.

2.5 stars, rounded up to 3… I expected this one to be a little out there after reading The Writing Retreat, but I think it was a bit TOO out there for me.

Thea is a social worker in NYC. The star from her favorite childhood movie is admitted to the facility she works at in a catatonic state. Before they can find out what happened to her, she leaves the facility, but not without leaving Thea a clue. Thea tracks her down and attends a weekend retreat in at The Center in New Mexico, where she believes her former patient is. But Thea has some traumatic events in her past that come out during her weekend retreat and reveal a possible connection to her former patient…

I don’t generally enjoy books about cults because they tend to be so over the top and this one just got too unrealistic for me to wrap my head around. There was so much focus on this movie from Thea’s childhood, reincarnation and remembering things from past lives of being a Priestess and it was just not my cup of tea. I felt like it was predictable in some senses, but in others there was no way you’d figure out where it was going, but not in a good way.

Thanks to NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

The concept of this was really interesting but something about the execution just didn’t work for me. It jumped around a lot and the ending was kind of lackluster. Full circle moment I guess, but I just didn’t enjoy it too much. There was a lot of emphasis on Thea’s trauma, but also it jumped around to the whole Catherine-Thea mystery too much, so when the ending went back to Thea’s trauma, it felt almost out of place. That sounds horrible to say because this kind of abuse happens to people all the time, but it was just hard to follow. I didn’t think this was bad by any means, just sort of average for me. Definitely can see this being a popular book this year though for sure.

Thank you Netgalley and Atria for the e-ARC!