Love books based around cults so I was really excited when I got this copy and so happy I did! Really had fun reading this one! Thank you NetGalley and publisher.

I found the characters to be flat and the plot to be a bit predictable. I think this book could have used another pass through with a look at character development.

Well - this was a weird one...but in a good way!? I've noticed other peoples' reviews comparing this to Bartz's debut - I think that can be a bit unfair to the author (just my opinion!) so my review is solely based on The Last Session. I give it a solid 3.5, rounding up to 4. I'm a sucker for a good cult-vibe and this book did not disappoint. It really shows how susceptible people can be to brainwashing and wanting to feel part of something larger than themselves. I thought this book was a quick read and I was invested in sticking with it until the end.

Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher, and Julia Bartz for this ARC. I'm looking forward to her next book - I think she's an author to watch!

3.75 Stars

Thalia grows concern when the star of her favourite childhood movie is picked up from the mental hospital she works at by people lying about being her parents. That leads Thalia to a "wellness retreat" in the desert where she unlocks the secrets of the hosts beliefs, and her past trauma. Serious trigger warnings for this book as it delves into different methods of abuse.

I really enjoyed the first half of this book, which focuses on Thalia investigating the retreat while dealing with her re-surfaced memories of events that happened in her childhood. Given her experience as a social worker, she is able to identify and name the methods and techniques used during the retreat to manipulate the member. The second half of the books required a lot more suspension of disbelief as we delve into the beliefs of this cult which were very out there. This lost me at times as I struggled with the blurring between this book being grounded in reality vs. leaning into more mystical elements.

Overall, it is a well written thriller if you like novels that play with your conception of reality, but reader be ware of certain types of content that may be triggering.

Based on Ms. Bartz' first book, I knew going in to this one that it would teeter on the edge of believability. I was ready for that. But it went too far for me this time. I am reasonably confident that Ms. Bartz felt the same was as it felt like embellishments were continually added to the story to try and force it all to work. Way too much time was spent on the backstory, both the connection to an old sci-fi movie and to Thea's childhood traumas. This distracted from the present and threw off the pacing for me. And then at about 80%, it just got weird. Like throw all the cards in the air weird. I don't know, maybe I don't see just how weird cults can get and therefore this wasn't the book for me.

The Last Session is a thought provoking thriller in which Thea, a social worker at a psychiatric facility, becomes entangled with the mysteries surrounding a patient after she is suddenly taken from the facility. Following the clues left to Thea, she ends up at a wellness center in New Mexico trying to track down the former patient. But not all is as it seems at this wellness retreat….
The beginning of this novel started off very strong. I was hooked from the hints sprinkled in about Thea’s traumatic past and wanted to know more and I wanted to know what had happened to the woman who showed up at the facility not seeming to remember a thing. There is a bit of a lull in the middle of the novel where it focuses on “healing sessions” with the people at the weekend retreat and takes a while to focus on what’s really going on behind the scenes. Once an explanation is given for everything, I really felt I was taken out of the novel. The cult’s beliefs are just so far out there and unbelievable it almost felt laughable to me.
Aside from the plot, I do think the author makes some important statements throughout the novel. I also really appreciate that the author obviously did their research on mental health, various forms of therapy, and cults. Mental health is such a touchy subject for some and I do feel the author was respectful when talking about it and did not seem to look down on any of it. It really is such a shame that people take advantage of these vulnerable people and lead them to believe in these insane fantasies and encourage behavior or actions that can sometimes be fatal.
All in all, I was shocked by some plot points, I was somewhat bored at times, and a slight spoiler, but the orgy scene was completely off putting and I was not expecting it whatsoever.
If you’re looking for a slow paced/ slow burn thriller surrounding cults, trauma, spirituality, etc… then I would highly recommend you read this. You would love it! But if you do not like reading about trauma and people in power manipulating vulnerable people, then I would stay away from this because it does get very heavy at some points.
My rating is 3 out of 5 stars. Still enjoyable to me but certain things just didn’t work for me!

The Last Session by Julia Bartz publishes on April 1st! Make sure to pick up a copy if this premise interests you!!

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest review!

This definitely has the ingredients for a popular thriller. I think it is going to do well. It is a page-turner and keeps you guessing.

Thank you Atria Books and NetGalley for the chance to read this arc.

I’ll be honest, this isn’t my favorite book that Julia has written but that doesn’t mean it was a bad book either. It’s a good book. It just started off a little slow but then picked up in part two!

The Last Session by Julia Bartz started with a strong premise, but ultimately failed to live up to its potential.

The story of a social worker searching for a missing patient at a mysterious wellness retreat had all the makings of a tense, psychological thriller, but the execution fell flat.

The first half was engaging, filled with mystery and a creeping sense of unease, but the plot became sluggish and muddled in the second half, leaving too many unanswered questions.

The characters were forgettable, and while the cult aspect had potential, the writing lacked the depth and atmosphere needed to truly convey the psychological tension at play.

Ultimately, the book felt like a missed opportunity

I think the story started off just a tad slow, but once I’d hit Part 2, things started picking up and my interest was piqued. This story had it all: uneasiness, a mystery, sex, suspense. You never really knew where it was going to go next.
I did see some similarities between this book and Bartz’s first book, The Writing Retreat, which I absolutely loved. So I’m eager to see, if she writes a third, if those similarities continue on in the future.

I was a massive fan of The Writing Retreat. It was entertaining from beginning to end and a solid 4-4.5 stars for me. I was hoping for a repeat with The Last Session. It certainly had an interesting premise: cults and movie stars.

It wasted the premise. The plot moved sluggishly, the characters were forgettable, and there wasn’t any of the salaciousness that was present in The Writing Retreat. I hope this isn’t a new pattern for this author.

3.5 Overall.

What did I just read?! This book was like a fever dream but I’m not sure if that’s a good or bad thing honestly. There were a lot times where the plot felt all over the place, times the pacing felt much too fast, and others where it felt as if it was creeping along. I also didn’t enjoy the unresolved feeling of some of the plot points. Overall, I didn’t dislike the book but ultimately it wasn’t for me.

Thank you to NetGalley for the eARC in exchange for my honest review.

Great premise but seriously fumbled on execution, The Last Session works as a book pitch: a social worker signing up for a peculiar wellness retreat, in pursue of a runaway patient who looks like her, was her childood celebrity crush, and potentially a key individual in unlocking memories from her childhood. Unfortunately, the general plotting is very under-cooked (other than a very good Part 1), with bland characters, out of the blue solutions, and constant simmering without leading to anything exhilarating.

The writing, while streamlined and easy to follow, is extremely hollow and lacking in atmosphere; for a story revolving around cultish brainwashing and grooming, the pedestrian prose doesn't capture the psychological turmoils the protagonist is battling, and further emphasizes the repetitiveness of its setup (lots of character talking in different locations, but barely any real action sequences).

I was impressed with Julia Bartz's debut, The Writing Retreat (gave it 5 stars), but The Last Session feels like going backward: unsure of itself (perhaps sidestepping some sensitive subjects due to the subject matter), and laborious to get through, like the author ran out of steam and was merely finishing this for contractual reason. Perhaps she was overly ambitious with her sophomore effort, and couldn't weave together a page-turning narrative. Curious how would author like Mona Awad or Catriona Ward (who excels at atmospheric writing, and unafraid to be weird and out-there) handle a similar premise.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with the ARC for this story. I will not leave a star rating, as it was a DNF for me. The story features a psychologist by the name of Thea who in the first 2 chapters treats a mute patient and this reminded me too much of The Silent Patient, whose protagonist's name is Theo and I got triggered so I'm not going any further.

While I thought ‘the writing retreat’ was outlandish in a fun way, this one was just annoyingly unbelievable for me. And while I can appreciate the author delving into some more serious trauma related topics, in combination with some of the other content I felt a little like I had whiplash.

I really liked The Writing Retreat, so I was excited to dive into this one. I just could not get into it. I started and stopped it a couple of times until I finally finished. The plot ended up being a little too chaotic and far fetched.

I really enjoyed this book. It was fast paced and suspenseful. The ending I would have never guessed. Overall, this is a winner and I can highly recommend it. Thank you for my gifted copy.

The synopsis for this book sounded so intriguing, but the execution fell a little flat for me.

I think the biggest issue for me was how many times I had to suspend belief while reading. Normally I don’t find that to be an issue (I don’t read something to be believable, I read for entertainment), but at a certain point it just becomes too much. Towards the end it felt like one ridiculous thing was stacked upon another. This paired with unlikable characters and a bit longer of a book for a thriller, I just didn’t love it as much as I wanted.

That said, I do think the craziness of it all kept me reading the whole time. Thea was a hot mess, and a lot of her decisions were questionable; it would’ve been more twisty to find out she was a patient herself. The cult aspect was really interesting, and I liked that there were some deeper issues throughout the plot, although maybe a little overdone/over the top in some cases.

This book didn’t really work for me, but I can see other people liking it.

The book started out very interesting, I was hooked! About 70% through I was confused. All the side quests and back and forth real and not real life was hard to follow.

I was completely hooked for the first half of The Last Session—the tension, the atmosphere, and the mystery pulled me in right away. The setup was compelling, and I was eager to see how everything would unfold. However, as the story progressed, things started to feel a bit muddled. The second half left me feeling confused, with more moments of “What did I just read?” than satisfying reveals.

The cult aspect had so much potential, but it didn’t quite come together. I found myself wanting more clarity and depth in how it all played out. While I appreciated the eerie and unsettling tone, the execution didn’t quite hit the mark for me.

If I had to compare, I definitely preferred The Writing Retreat. While this book had an intriguing start, it ultimately left me wishing for a more cohesive and satisfying conclusion.