Member Reviews

Ok this was so weird but I found myself obsessed with needing to finish the story. Something about Julia’s writing makes me not able to put her books down. I felt the same way with THE WRITING RETREAT last year.

I don’t want to even talk about the plot of the story because it’s better to go in blind. I will say I didn’t enjoy the first part of the book. I thought some descriptions were unnecessary but once I got to part 2 and beyond it made sense with where Julia was building the story.

I think this is going to be a controversial read, similar to her first book so I’m really excited to see everyone else’s thoughts. Just know going in….this is weird lol

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When a catatonic woman is found wandering near New York City, she is taken into a nearby, psychiatric hospital, where Thea, a social worker feels a distinct pull toward her. Identifying the woman as an actress from a significant time in her life, Thea is distraught when the woman disappears suddenly one day. Using clues left by the actress, Thea traces her to an isolated relationship and wellness retreat in the New Mexico desert. Once there, Thea begins to suspect that there is more going on than just some “wellness“ sessions.

This book is quite a wild ride from beginning to end, but so was Julia Bartz‘s last book, The Writing Retreat, so I went in knowing that anything could happen. And trust me in this one anything and everything did.

And I really don’t think that was a bad thing. Sometimes, books do have you suspend belief and go on some wacko colt retreats that are mind-bendingly insane, and I am here for that. Not every book has to be necessarily “by the book,” pardon of my pun, and once in a while, taking a fun journey can be the perfect escape.

So back to the book, I don’t want to give away too much of the plot, but this one is all about atmosphere and the creepy feeling you get as things unfold and Thea discovers more and more about what’s going on at the retreat. There’s definitely times when it feels like she’s the girl in a horror movie about to explore the dark basement in your shouting at her to just run in the other direction, but she doesn’t, leading to chaos, of course. And with each new revelation, you’re just sucked more into this world of cult craziness where you’re not sure which end is up.

Thea’s backstory is also really interesting because she’s also dealing with trauma throughout the book in that colors her perception of things. It adds that extra layer of stress and anxiety to the character and makes the plot evolve. Obviously her choices are a part of her past in some way, and it was interesting to see how she ends up dealing with everything.

Overall, I really liked this book and will continue to look for more of Julia Bartz’s books in the future. If you’re interested in an original thriller, I would highly recommend this book.

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After "The Writing Retreat" I absolutely HAD to read this book. I am a psychologist so the author being a therapist is appealing to me.

I thoroughly enjoyed the storyline given the draw of cults, spirituality and wellness in the news the last few years (and historically). The characters were interesting, as were the settings. I loved the descriptions of New Mexico and the mosaic art.

What felt disappointing was the ethical violations the main character (the social worker) made. We don't have great examples of therapy in the mainstream, and mental health is still stigmatized, so I wonder why the author made this choice. I think the story could've been just as good without them.

Overall, it was a good read and I look forward to her future work!

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It was too slow for me. Ultimately I struggled to get into it and finish it. This is my first read by the author but I would be willing to give her another chance.

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Thank you to Julia Bartz, Atria Books, and Netgalley for the arc copy of The Last Session! 3.5 ⭐️ Started off strong then got slow in the middle but still kept my interest. Cult/trauma/thriller! Kept me guessing! This book publishes on 4/1/25! In the meantime check previous book by author, The Writing Retreat!

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📖 Book Review 📖 For anyone newer to my reviews, I will disclose my bias toward books with social workers. My favorite job ever was as a psychiatric social worker so I absolutely adore any book that features this profession and Julia Bartz delivers one twisty read in this realm! When a catatonic woman arrives on Thea’s unit, she looks similar to Thea and sparks a familiarity that shakes her to the core and really pushes her to discover Jane Doe’s true identity. The Last Session unravels delightfully, a fast-paced page turner that is just gripping! Bartz’s psychological thriller reminds me of one of the most important lessons we learned while getting our masters; sometimes treating others unlocks our own trauma and it is important to stay ahead of our own baggage we bring to the treatment room.

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This book was a kind of polarizing experience for me; there were parts of it I absolutely loved and other parts I felt could have been skipped over. Which is why I am giving it a rating right in the middle.

The core of the story, which centers around a cult set in the desert of New Mexico, is a really fun, thrilling, and suspenseful plot that I bought into and was excited about right from the opening prologue. Unfortunately, the following nearly 100 pages after the prologue pulled us completely away from the spooky, dark setting of the prologue and into a psychiatric inpatient center which I found to be quite tedious to get through. Yes, a lot of what happens in this part of the book helps to set up what is later to come in the cult setting, but I felt like this section could have easily been shortened to a few quick chapters and we would have gotten the same effect. Truthfully, if I hadn't been committed to reading it as an ARC I might have stopped reading during this section.

That said, I am glad that I did push through the first part of the book, because I really enjoyed it once we actually made it to the retreat in the desert. I found this setting really creepy and unsettling, and yet really enjoyed how well the author showcased just how easily it could be to get sucked into the orbit of the types of people who become cult leaders. I was often cheering for her to go along with their scheme, rather than wishing she'd run away—because I wanted to know the full extent of what they were scheming! This section of the book was not completely without issues: I found some of the suspension of disbelief to be a bit much for me at times, and I grew tired of time after time of the main character being certain someone was really familiar but being unable to articulate why. Or, certain people just happening to look strikingly similar to other people. It makes sense, in the end, why these things happened, but during the read it felt hard to buy into.

Overall, I did find myself wanting to pick the book back up and continue reading, so I do think it's worth checking out especially if cults are of interest.

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The Writing Retreat will forever live in my mind, so I was very excited to snag an ARC of Julia Bartz's latest book - The Last Session. After I learned what the phrase "drinking the Kool-aid" actually meant, I have had an aversion to books about cults. However, my morbid curiosity usually gets the best of me, as was the case with The Last Session.

Perhaps the most striking part about this book is just how plausible Julia makes the entire scenario. For example, I kept thinking how fantastical certain events were, only to stop myself and remember that I was reading about a cult, where logic and rational thinking go out the window. Needless to say, I could not put this book down -- a MUST read for 2025!

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Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the advance copy in exchange for my honest review.

I’m shocked that this book has such low reviews when it’s not even out, and I feel like I read a different book from everyone else.

I really enjoyed this book. My one and only complaint was just that it seemed too long. I guess I would say that the book also left me with a lot of questions too, but that might be intentional.

I thought this book was so interesting, and it kept me guessing as to what was happening at all times.

My suggestion for reading is to read nothing about it because I think even looking at some reviews to see what I was in for ruined a lot of things for me.

I’m keeping this intentionally vague because I think a lot of the reviews I’m seeing have included some really important elements to the story, and I would argue some spoilers.

I just thought this book was so entertaining, and it was so well done.

I really wasn’t sure what to expect, but I enjoyed it!

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Y’all. What did I just read?! This was by far one of the strangest books that I have ever encountered. Pretty sure this book is what an acid trip would feel like.

The plot was meandering and until the last 15% of the book the story didn’t even read as a thriller. The MC accumulated more traumas and issues by the end of the book, but no real closure was offered for the initial trauma themes. Would have given this title 1 star, but I’m always a fan of vengeance/revenge at the end of a book.

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I really enjoyed the twisted, dark tale of Julia Bartz’s previous novel and this one did not disappoint. Yes, it had moments of insanity but wasn’t that the point? The main character works in a mental health unit and suffers from unresolved trauma. Everyone other character is damaged in some way, looking for salvation, guidance or so far gone and no medical intervention to stop the psychosis. This all leads to a wonderful novel full of imaginative horror and mental closure.
Some parts were a little long winded and too educational for me (hence the four stars). I was more than happy to skim those to get back to the narrative. It does get very dark, sexual and twisty so be warned. If you an handle that then get on a comfy chair and settle in. Can’t wait for the next one.
Thanks to Netgalley and Atria Books for the ARC.

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Only way to describe this - a psychedelic trip. What the heck did I just read? There is so much crazy going on with this unreliable narrator I don’t even know where to begin.

I really thought we were going to get more patient stuff at her job but she just up and leaves and goes on a relation trip to possibly find some famous actress she met for a few days at the psych ward. She was supposed to be moving out too but that’s okay it’s just a $4,000 trip with no WiFi or cellular service. Lol I’m sorry this story definitely needs to leave reality behind because you’d not still have a job or a place to live after that. Also, there is a lot about the abuse she sustained as a child and it goes on the back burner and then magically she’s healed.

I can’t say I enjoyed it or hated it.

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Special thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a free, electronic ARC of this novel received in exchange for an honest review.
Expected publication date: Apr. 1, 2025
Julia Bartz, author of “The Writing Retreat”, has created a tense locked-room thriller about a social worker who goes undercover at a wellness retreat in order to investigate the disappearance of a client, only to find herself facing her worst fears, and the secrets of her past.
Thea is a social worker at a local hospital, where she reaches out to the patients through art therapy. When a woman is brought in in a catatonic state, Thea realizes that she has seen this woman before and immediately sets out to help bring her out of her catatonia. Slowly, the patient begins to reveal small clues as to who she is but, before Thea can investigate further, the woman is discharged from the hospital and Thea fears she won’t see her again. When she finds proof that her patient has been taken to a wellness centre in New Mexico, Thea finds herself on the next plane and is soon caught up in something dark and sinister.
“The Last Session” was multi-layered and not at all what I was expecting. I was captivated by the premise of a social worker and her catatonic patient, and “Session” had that, but it had a lot of other complexities as well. Thea has a dark history of abuse, emotional and sexual, which translates into something that she sees as a sexual fetish. The wellness centre in New Mexico is, of course, a cult, who believes in reincarnation and past lives, which adds a layer of depth. There are emotional, dense themes, but the story itself is interesting and engaging.
Thea narrates, although toward the end of the novel there is one chapter where Catherine (the patient) takes over, which I appreciated as it answers some pretty important plot questions. The novel flows well, even though a lot of the questions aren’t answered until the final pages of the book, which had me curious if they would even be answered at all (such as how Catherine escaped the cave), so I was glad for the detail Bartz provided.
Some of the plot points are tied together pretty loosely (Catherine and Thea being doppelgangers for each other, for example) but I really enjoyed the cult component and the past lives aspect was intriguing. Thea was a great character that I immediately connected with and was hoping that she’d find happiness after battling her own demons. The finale was satisfying and somehow Bartz manages to tie up all of the various loose ends, forming a conclusive and definitive end.
I did not read “The Writing Retreat”, so this novel was my first by Bartz. Overall, I was pulled in by the premise, delighted by the twists and turns throughout the storyline and touched by the emotional themes. Well-written and creative, “The Last Session” is worth checking out.

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The Last Session started out very interesting and mysterious. This book is separated into parts and once I hit part three, I just could not keep finishing this book. The writing is decent but the plot of the story just becomes too confusing. I have been working on reading this book for two months now, which is unlike me, but I have finally given up about 70% through. I don’t think this book is for me.

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Thank you NetGalley, Julia Bartz, and Atria Books for an ARC of The Last Session!

The premise of the book drew me in and I was excited to read The Last Session! If there is a fiction book about cults, I'm going to want to read it. This book drew you in as we meet Thea a social worker who is assigned to a Jane Doe in a psychiatric facility. The Jane Doe is in a catatonic state but looks familiar to Thea. Thea soon realizes that Jane Doe is actually Catherine, who stared in her favorite moving growing up called Stargirl. Catherine's appearance brings up past trauma for Thea and soon she is on the for Catherine who has left the facility and Thea believes has gone to a retreat focusing on helping others find love. Once at the retreat, the story takes a bunch of twist and turns as we find how this group feels Catherine and Thea are connected through reincarnation.

While I love a good cult book, this story got confusing at times and was definitely not what I was expecting. However, I am excited to read other books by Julia Bartz including the Writer's Retreat.

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A Social worker, trauma, a remote center, and a missing patient all come into play in The Last Session. Welp! I really wanted to love this one. I had high hopes but found that I struggled with this one quite a bit. Initially I gave this book 3 stars, but after reflecting on how many times I put this book down to start another book, I moved it down to 2 stars which feels more accurate. This book has some interesting, some odd, and some strange characters. Things venture out into OTT territory in the second half and while I can usually ride the OTT, I found it to be a bit much. Plus, I struggle with slowness and there were parts of this book that were just too slow for me.

This is a bizarre one folks. It initially grabbed my attention and then took a stroll into what-did-I-just-read land. While this one did not work for me, others are enjoying this book so please read their reviews as well.

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Thank you to Netgalley, the publisher, and the author for providing a free e-arc of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This is my first book by Julia Bartz and unfortunately, I am not impressed. The book started out really good. Being a former psych RN it kind of brought me back to working the units (it's really not that bad), and the descriptions of everything going on and behaviors were good.

However, once we got towards the cult aspect of it, which I normally like cult stories, things started taking a major turn. Things became a little over the top with a lot of trauma dumping, strange erotica scenes, and a lot of focus on the famous character with some strange connection between her and the main character which plays into the far-fetched part of this.

I think some will really like this, and I would be willing to give her first book a try, but this one was just middle of the road for me.

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I know I'm behind on my review. I gave birth, then we were in the hospital. Slowly getting back at it.

Anyways onto the book. Although I liked this, I didn't like it as much as her first novel. The setting was good, but about mid way through for me it got weird. I felt it was hard to focus at times, and I don't know if was all the novel or also a mix of first time mom syndrome mixed in. The whole cult thing was creepy, and unsettling as well. I may revisit this in a few years when my mind isn't flooded with as much.
I will continue to read the author as I have enjoyed them in the past. I thank netgalley and the publisher for a copy to read and review. Again apologies for the delay.

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This one was just too far fetched and jumbled to keep my attention. Plus it included a crazy sex scene which didn’t need to be in the book.

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**Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an ARC**

I did not expect to like this book as much as I did. It took a little bit to get the plot going, but once it did, I couldn't put it down. I feel like lately I've been reading a ton of books that are predictable in the direction that they are going to go, but this one had me on the edge of my seat. Lots of unexpected twists and turns while diving into religious trauma & cults. The perfect amount of weird for me!

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