Rating 3-3.5

The author created wonderful characters in this story and our main character shows growth in her relationship with her sister and personal life.

The title is misleading because I thought the retreat would have been a bigger part of the story. This is where she goes to find the answers. Does she find them? Yes, but this part could have been a bigger part to the story. Most of the story is spent leading up to actually going. To me it is important to try and keep an open mind about cheating and divorce because the character is unsure of what to do and this is a struggle for some people.

I liked the way the author wrapped up the story. I did enjoy the author's writing style and she does a great job telling the story, but it was lacking for me.

TW: This story does have mentions of miscarrage and infedelity.

Thank you Netgalley for the opportunity to read and review this book.

The premise of the story is interesting, but the story didn't move me. The audiobook was well done.

Thank you for the advanced copy.

When Nadia suspects her husband of an affair, she decides to attend a yoga retreat in order to confront the other woman and win back her husband.

I liked this so much I switched from the audiobook to my ARC from NetGalley in order to finish it sooner. The audiobook was great!

The miscommunication trope in this one was strong. It was pretty obvious what was going on with this couple and if they had just TALKED. The leaps made about L were so wild to me.

You know when you have unfathomable TBR pile but then you finally up one and get really mad? Mad because you took soo long to read a good book?!?

Well, this was my feeling when I was reading this one. It is a very easy read with well developed charters and their relationships. The bond of sisters and family is well portrayed here as other relationships are explored,

Definitely pick this one up!

Thank you NetGalley and Wiiliam Morrow Books for giving me the opportunity to read this!

I both enjoyed this book and also thought it tried to do too many things. I really liked the sister relationship and building, rebuilding.

3.75 stars

Nadia knows her marriage is in a rut. She notices how things are stagnant. After a couple of weird incidences, she becomes suspicious of her husband, Aman. His constant long hours at the hospital, the new health conscious lifestyle, the way they don’t really talk. She suspects he’s having an affair, and along with the help of her sister goes about to spy on whom they think he’s having the affair with.

A couple of things I liked - the way this crisis helped to bring her closer to her sister from whom she’d been slightly estranged since their mother passed away. Recalling how her mother led her life after their father walked away from the family allowed Nadia to makes comparisons and notices patterns with new perspective.

I wasn’t a fan of the lack of communication, and the miscommunication tropes which are always iffy. Instead of approaching her husband she resorts to subterfuge to find the answer. And when Aman wants to talk she refuses to. I couldn’t escape the logic that it’d be much easier to talk than go through all that bother to go on a yoga retreat simply to spy on the alleged mistress only to get half answers.

In the end I was taken with the reconciliation between Nadia and her sister, and Nadia coming to terms with the loss of her mother and what she learnt from how her mother dealt when her marriage fell apart. This isn’t a full on romance, but a story about a woman regaining her own spark. The ending felt like a genuine response to Nadia’s life changes - bittersweet, but also a new chapter.


Sincere thanks to @netgalley & @williammorrowbooks for my ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This wasn't for me - AT ALL. Not only did I despise the miscommunication and cheating tropes involved but I wasn't impressed with the plot or writing style. There was little character development and the writing style was simple. The problems throughout were real life, hard, adult problems throughout, but they contained so little depth that I felt no emotional connection, whatsoever. Lastly, the title had very little to do with the actual story. A retreat is mentioned, in passing, at 65% but nothing comes of it until about 75% through.

The redeeming factor to this were the few times that Zeba cooked for her sister and that there was a plot twist at 95% that I wasn't expecting.

I really wanted to like this book more than I did. It was well written and I felt like I was right there with Nadia but it just fell flat for me.

This book was about Nadia’s infertility/marriage struggles but it was funny and heartwarming too. It was lovely to see Nadia and Zeba mend their broken relationship. Honestly, Zeba stole the show in this book. I absolutely loved her! She was a protective, loyal, creative ally that would do anything for her sister.

With the title of this book being “The Retreat”, I expected more of the book to actually take place there. While I did love the sleuthy antics, it was disappointing to see how rushed that part of this book was.

I really dislike Aman with his lying, cheating ways! I would not have been as graceful as Nadia when the truth was revealed. It was great to see her get her own happy ending!

𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐁𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐡𝐚𝐬:
Miscommunication
Cheating
Divorce
Infertility

Thank you to NetGalley and William Morrow for the ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review!

What would you do if you suspected your husband was having an affair? Would you confront him? Would you confront the other woman? Would you try to save your marriage?

These are the questions this sophomore novel by Zara Raheem navigates.

TW: infidelity, parental abandonment, death of parent, grief, infertility, miscarriage

I really enjoyed this book because:

🧘🏻‍♀️ I felt emotionally invested in the story and characters’ lives
🧘🏻‍♀️ The premise was unique and interesting
🧘🏻‍♀️ The writing style was captivating
🧘🏻‍♀️ The ending was unexpected
🧘🏻‍♀️ I appreciated the sisterly bond between Nadia and Zeba
🧘🏻‍♀️ The story portrayed interesting themes as indicated in the TW.

Oh, this book. I really really wanted to love it (women who rediscover themselves and their voices after the unexpected end of a relationship is one of my fave tropes!) but the flimsy main character and uneven story didn't make that possible. Let me explain...

Nadia Abassi is devastated to find text messages and more at her home that make it seem like her husband cheated on her. As she spirals and starts looking for more clues, she reaches out to her estranged sister, Zeba for support. The two sisters have had a tense relationship since Zeba took care of Nadia's ailing mother, while Nadia kept her distance (due to her mother not approving of Nadia's husband). Nadia becomes convinced the her husband is cheating with a gorgeous yoga instructor, so she goes on a yoga retreat to try and get proof.

Nadia spends a large portion of the book obsessing over if her husband is cheating. At least three times she has the chance to flat-out ask him and she doesn't or, worse, things interrupt them just as a talk is about to happen. This manipulation to drive the plot seemed disingenuous at best and annoying at worst.

I wasn't sure if the point of the story was for the sisters to work through their issues or to have Nadia "find herself" or both. In either case, these moments happen at the very end of the novel and feel unearned--especially since most of the novel is Nadia trying to either "find" the answer to a question she can easily ask or making derogatory comments about almost everyone she meets. Her commentary isn't mean, but it is absolutely judgmental and doesn't make her relatable. I appreciate fully fleshed out, flawed-but-human characters, but Nadia's snark and cluelessness about her marriage, her husband, and her sister's concerns make her more off-putting than relatable.

All in all, I felt like this book relegated the "big" emotional growth to the last bit of the novel and spent too much time on Nadia's fumbling around for a truth she could have gotten easily. I wanted more of Zeba, too. The image on the cover makes it seem like she attends the retreat with Nadia, but she doesn't. I wanted more sister-to-sister interaction...I feel like that would have made the reconnection and Nadia's growth more believable.

I will never give any novel less than three stars (you wrote a whole darn book, BRAVO!), but this one just didn't wow me. I loved The Marriage Clock, so I'm hoping Zara's next book is similarly in character and plotting to that one.

When Nadia reconnects with her married sister Zeba to ask advice about an unfaithful husband, Zeba recommends a yoga retreat where Nadia can spy on the woman who might be to blame. I was fascinated by the mental path Nadia takes agonizing over her unfaithful spouse.

The yoga retreat setting in the wilderness, with yurts for rooms and the schedule of events including treks and meditation, was interesting to me.

A memorable moment in the book was Nadia's sense that her deceased mother has been communicating with her through nature, culminating in her confrontation with a bear in the wild.

The ending was somewhat predictable, but not in the way I had expected. An enjoyable read.

The Retreat is centered around Nadia, a woman who finds possible evidence that her husband, Aman, is unfaithful. Nadia uses this turmoil to contact her estranged sister, Zeba, to help find out the truth.

I think this is a better story about Nadia and Zeba’s relationship rather than Nadia and Aman’s. Nadia and Zeba are able talk and hash out why they became estranged and the journey back to being close.

The retreat seemed to be a rushed part of the novel and while it helped with the twist/ reveal, I think it could have been used better. I really enjoyed reading the bits about Muslim American culture.

Thanks to NetGalley and William Morrow for this eARC. The Retreat comes out April 25, 2023.

Nadia’s suspicious of her husband of 10 years Aman having an affair. This woman would do anything to try to save this marriage and stick it out. When it comes to marriage she didn’t have the best example, seeing her mom suffering because her dad up and left, and Nadia refuses for that to be her. But little by little she’s realizing that maybe she is. She finally starts to get closer and close to her sister Zeba and I loved that relationship because even though theirs have been a little distant Zeba was right there for her to support her in anything she needed.
When Nadia, with the encouragement of Zeba, decides to confront things head on Nadia starts reflect on the beginnings of her relationship with Aman, she started to have more clarity on things and even got to understand her mom even more when the true secrets and identities were revealed…. I was so proud of Nadia at that moment how she handled everything, it was so awakening. I went from feeling bad for this woman to rooting for her, I couldn’t stop reading, I had to finish it! Everyone got their happy ending which was something I was not expecting but it was refreshing at the same time.

Thanks NetGalley and the publishers for giving me the opportunity to read this book.

This book started with our main character, Nadia, discovering her husband is having an affair, but after that reveal, the book became a bit difficult to stick with. It took me a really long time to read this book because I just wasn't invested in the characters It was a very slow burn. If that's your thing, awesome, but it just was not for me. By the time I got to the end of the story, I enjoyed the twists and turns and growth, but it just wasn't very enjoyable along the way for me (except for a few scenes).

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a digital ARC of The Retreat in exchange for an honest review.

Nadia's decade-long marriage to Aman is falling apart. When she finds some suspicious photos, she is certain he's having an affair and runs to her estranged sister for advice and help. She eventually ends up at a three-day wellness retreat with the woman she suspects is Aman's secret love. Miscommunication and slow-paced chaos ensues.

The premise of this sounded like it would be funny, but it fell very flat overall. There was an extremely (much too) slow build to finally get to the actual retreat, and then the ending felt super rushed. I think my main issue was with Nadia as a character -- like she was randomly super klutzy in the yoga studio and super crabby and rude to everyone at the retreat when she was fairly normal (if slow on the uptake) everywhere else. She was all over the place and it didn't quite gel. I did really like how the relationship between the sisters and their grief over their mother was explored.

Despite not loving this book, I thought there was a lot of potential with this story and would read another book by Raheem in the future.

2.5 rounded down

While I appreciated the exploration of relationships in their many forms in this book, I thought The Retreat was paced very slowly and relied on sleuthing in order to keep the reader engaged. The title and cover of the book made me think that we were following two sisters during their experience at a retreat, but the actual getaway doesn't happen until at least 80% of the way through the book. The idea of the retreat isn't even brought up until after 70%.

I thought the writing style itself was nice, and this story had a lot of heart. Unfortunately, it just wasn't what I thought it was going to be.

We had a slow buld and miscommunication trope at the heart of this story. Miscommunication tropes seriously are hard for me because I'm like COME ON! Just talk!

However, this was cute and enjoyable and overall a fun read.

See full review: https://www.bellavidastyles.com/book-reviews/the-retreat-by-zara-raheem


I just finished an ARC (Advanced Readers Copy) of “The Retreat” by Zara Raheem. My first thought of this novel is that the title can be a little deceiving as the actual retreat takes place over a few chapters towards the end of the book. There is a lot more content and themes to dive into than just the main character, Nadia, heading to a wellness retreat.

This novel follows Nadia Abbasi, a Muslim American woman, as she finds out her marriage is in turmoil after she finds some suspicious photos of her husband in his home office. This sets her off to find out what is really happening. Is her husband having an affair? And if he is, who is this secret person he’s texting?

She turns to her sister, Zeba, for advice, but at first there’s a challenge—their relationship hasn’t been perfect either. Zeba and Nadia have been estranged for over a year and have had little communication since their mother’s death.

This story is just as much about Nadia and Zeba’s relationship as it about Nadia and her husband Aman’s relationship. It also touches upon undealt grief and the repercussions our childhood circumstances have on adult life. Nadia had a difficult relationship with her mother, and although she has passed, her influence on her and her decisions remains strong.

I really enjoyed the development of the story line between Zeba and Nadia and how they overcame their differences to work together to figure out what was happening with Aman. Their investigation is what leads Nadia to sign up for a wellness retreat at a local yoga studio, which has appeared to be one Aman’s latest hangouts. Aman has also recently starting working out and eating healthy—his morning green juice is a daily staple.

The journey to repair her relationship with Zeba and find out the truth of what’s going on with Aman, leads Nadia to a journey of self-discovery of her own.

One thing I wish this author would’ve done a little more is give the engilsh word or meaning for some of the Indian words used throughout the text. I did a lot of researching while reading, but definitely learned a lot about the culture.

This book comes out April 25, 2023. Get your copy now!

The Retreat follows the journey of Nadia Abbasia after she discovers her husband has been unfaithful. She asks her estranged sister, Zeba, for help discovering what went wrong in her marriage.

This is definitely a slow build kind of book and the miscommunication trope is front and center.

What I loved: The writing is wonderful and I would love to read more from Zara Raheem. I enjoyed the relationship between the two sisters and how they work through the complicated relationship with their mother that passed away.

Issues I had: While the build up is slow, I feel like more character development could have happened during that time. The retreat just kind of happens quickly and then we reach the resolution. However, it doesn't feel earned.

Publication date: April 25, 2023
Thank you to #NetGalley for an early copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.