This book left me perplexed. I love premise of a famous author - Roza Vallo - hosting a once in a lifetime experience of a Writing Retreat for 5 aspiring authors and the competitive aspect of one of them being chosen at the end to be published. This was intriguing and I really enjoyed the locked room feel & dynamics of the characters and their relationships and wondering who could be trusted and who would try to play mind games to sabotage their fellow writers. This is the book I wanted to read - but I felt like I read a different book as it went on.

I did enjoy the cast of characters even though I wasn't super invested in the main character Alex - I liked some of the side players more. I was so intrigued by the character of Roza but felt like the author never really went as far with that character as she could have. Even though I love a book within a book concept, the parts of this novel that with passages from the book Alex was writing kind of took me out of the book and story.

There were also some very odd sexual aspects of this book that also took me out of the story and I felt were just unnecessary to move the plot forward. So I am very torn because I read this book in one day, I didn't want to put it down and wanted to see how it all turned, but on the other hand, I was left feeling very confused and wanting more from this novel. It's worth a read for sure to create your own opinion because what didn't work for me - might totally work for other readers. This is a debut novel so I would be interested to see what this author does next because she definitely did create an intriguing premise and setting for this novel.

Thank you to NetGalley & Atria Books for an advanced copy in exchange for my honest opinion.

This book was not at all what I was expecting, from the first word to the last. When your favorite author, and idol, invites you to her haunted house for a writing retreat, who could say no? Was the house actually ever haunted or is the scariest force in the house one of them? Lots of amazing twists and turns until the very end.

I really enjoyed this book! I like thrillers set in secluded areas so this one was a win in my book! And a debut at that! Great read!!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫
The Writing Retreat - Pub Date: Feb. 2023
NetGalley Publication

The Writing Retreat by debut author Julia Bartz is a wild ride of horror histrionics. Six young women writers are invited to a private retreat led by a leading female author, Roza Vallo, who churns out successful novels for an adoring public. Two girls, former friends and now enemies, are the lead young protagonists in the story; Alex and Wren arrive at the retreat while harboring old grudges and hatred. The challenge was for these girls to spend the month of February in an intensive retreat, writing an original story at warp speed, and having the work critiqued by the other five girls. Then the winner would be guaranteed a million-dollar advance with Rosa Vallo writing the introduction. But here’s the thing, the place they are staying in is Rosa’s estate out in the middle of nowhere with no cell service, the staff is creepy as hell, and the estate itself was the former home of a wealthy man who met a gruesome end with his wife burnt to death. Let me remind you…this is a gory, bloodthirsty, wild-as-hell horror story. It is also a lot of fun to read the backstories (the entries by the writers), relive the perils of a former 8-year friendship that fell apart in an appalling manner, living with a successful author who is a crazy weird, narcissistic and sociopathic. Ms. Bartz writes a well-crafted story with the atmosphere building to the wild and horrific ending that is so good. This story consumed me. I was so wildly enthralled that I had to take antacid walking breaks. Few books get me this wound up, and I couldn’t read it fast enough. #The Writing Retreat @JuliaBartz @AtriaBooks @SimonAndSchuster #gory #scary #mystery #horror #creepy #ghosts #macabre #murder #death #writerretreat #book #books #writing #chills #spooky #bookstagram
💀
I received a complimentary copy of this book. The opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own. Thank you to Atria Books, Simon & Schuster, NetGalley, and the author for the opportunity to read this book.

A 3.5 rounded up to a 4!

THE WRITING RETREAT follows Alex who is more than ready to give up on her dream of becoming a writer. But when renounced author, Roza Vallo invites Alex to an exclusive writing retreat in the Adirondacks, she knows she cannot pass it up; even when Alex learns her ex-best friend Wren, will be in attendance, And as the attendees arrive at the estate they shockingly come to find a set of intense rules in place that they must abide by, including the completion of an entire novel, all in the hopes of winning a six-figure publishing deal. But Alex finds it hard to ignore her host's erratic behaviors and Wren's cruel mind games, And when a writer goes missing, Alex realizes something more sinister is lurking in the house.

This was quite the debut novel from Julia Bartz! I love a locked room mystery and the setting of this one truly elevated the storyline. I love an eerie mansion in the mountains and the snow storm gave me all the secluded/spooky vibes!

I was engaged cover to cover, but I did find myself wanting a little bit more with the twists. Some of them felt predictable, while others were so over the top I was like really?! The ending wrapped up very quickly, but even in the chaos I was still looking forward to uncovering what would happen next.

A famous author invites 5, up and coming young, female novelists to her home for an exclusive writers retreat. What starts as a great psychological thriller quickly went off the rails. I love thrillers, and this one drew me in at first with all the characters, but then the story somehow lost its way.

The added "book within a book" I assume was to show that the novel mimicked what was happening to the women at the retreat. It added nothing to the story itself in my opinion. Additionally, the multiple sexually explicit scenes were very over the top and again added nothing to the story and actually detracted from it. I could have overlooked these things for the overall story line, but the ending was completely ridiculous. This was not the thriller I was expecting.

Thank You NetGalley and Atria Books for the free e-galley. (Expected Publication 2/21/23)

This is Julia Bartz’s debut novel and what a wild ride it is! Alex and 4 other women are chosen for a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to attend a writing retreat at the secluded home of her favorite horror author, Roza Vallo. Once they arrive, Roza tells them they have 30 days to write an entire novel from scratch. The winner gets their book published and a seven figure deal. All of the women are talented writers but they’ve never been published. The prize is definitely appealing but maybe a little too good to be true. Alex is determined to win the contest even though her ex-best friend is one of the attendees. She’s also chosen to ignore the fact that the estate is allegedly haunted. As soon as one of the women goes missing during a snow storm, Alex is no longer able to ignore what’s going on. Determined to find the truth of the disappearance, Alex realizes she and the others may also be in danger.

This one starts off slowly, allowing the reader to get to know each character and become oriented with the gothic setting. Once the action pops off, it never slows down — continuing to get crazier and more anxiety-inducing! There are many suspenseful moments, some paranormal elements, and an ending you won’t see coming! I loved the detailed description of the enormous home they get to stay in, making this an atmospheric suspense. Julia has a knack for giving me the creeps and I’m 100% here for it! I cant wait to see what she has in store for us next!

This is a perfect read when you are wanting something creepy, calculated, and clever.

The Writing Retread is a delicious and disturbing twisted story about a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Our protagonist Alex is attending a month-long writing retreat. Alex is an aspiring writer and associate editor in a publishing company. Alex has been suffering from writer's block for a year after a series of events ends her longtime friendship with Wren. The writing retreat is being held at the famous horror author, Roza Vallo’s home, Blackbriar Estate in the Adirondacks. Among the four other aspiring writers is Wren, Alex’s former best friend with whom her problems remain unresolved. However, this is not an opportunity to be missed and Alex is thrilled to be attending and unwilling to let Wren’s presence ruin this experience for her.

Roza has aspiring writers on a rigorous schedule. Expecting them to have written a full-length novel by the end of the month. Rosa is motivating them with a lucrative publishing deal for the “winner”. With her struggles with writer's block and escalated tensions with Wren, it has been hard for Alex to keep up. Roza’s unorthodox methods of running her retreat, the isolated location, and eerie occurrences in the house. Blackbriar Estates has an unnerving history surrounding its original owners. What follows is a thrilling ride with secrets, lies, manipulation, and hidden agendas that has the group wavering between sticking together and suspicion directed toward each other and mentor Roza. The question that is being asked is, how far would each of them go to fulfill their dreams, and at what cost?

With its atmospheric, isolated setting with Gothic vibes, complicated characters, consistent pacing, and complex plot. This dark and suspenseful psychological thriller will keep you on the edge of your seat from the first page.

I absolutely devoured this story. This is the kind of book that you would want to finish in one sitting! Overall, The Writing Retreat is an impressive debut novel and I look forward to reading more from this talented new author in the future.

All my thanks to Atria/Emily Bestler Books, NetGalley, and the author, Julia Bartz, for the opportunity to read and review an advanced reader’s copy of this book.

The Writing Retreat is available February 21, 2023

I’ve had a hard time getting into books lately, after starting the year guns blazing - and am happy to say this book did not disappoint! Great thriller, solid plot - some super weird stuff in between that made it stand out from similar stories - and a satisfying ending. Would be 4.5 but I couldn’t get past the weird demon sex scene 🥴😬

Thank you to Netgalley, Simon & Schuster, and Julia Bartz for the arc of this book.
A unputdownable book. You will not stop reading until the very end. The main character Alex is a writer who ends up getting invited to horror writer Roza’s house. Her ex best friend Wren is also invited to this retreat as well. Alex and Wren were close for eight years until they end up sleeping together and Wren moves out and Alex ends up hurting Wren at a party. Once at the writing retreat we meet Taylor, Poppy, and Keira the other writers at the retreat. Roza announces that whoever writes the best story will get published. The one catch is that they have to write all new stories and have to write a certain amount each day. Things are going good and the writers are getting to know each other until Roza gets them to play a game where they have to go to the basement and blow out a candle. Wren tells a story that happened to Alex and she gets super upset so they ignore each other. Alex gets closer to the other girls and Poppy ends up revealing that Roza is a phony. Poppy’s real name is Zoe and her aunt wrote the book that turned Alex into a fan of Roza’s. Roza then spikes the girls drink and Zoe disappears. Roza tells the girls that she called the police but the girls find a secret room and discover that the phone doesn’t work. Alex and the girls find out that Roza has been spying on them and so they sneak a peak into the basement and realize that Zoe is alive and in a secret room that the entrance is in Roza’s bedroom. Alex tries to help Zoe but gets knocked out and when the other girls try to help they get stuck in the basement and Taylor is revealed to be helping Roza all along. Taylor has been having an affair with Roza and Roza forces them to write or they won’t get food or drink or anything. Zoe tries to escape and is killed. The cook and maid help Roza but the cook ends up helping Alex and Kiera escape and Kiera goes to get help until she ends up dead. Wren and Alex are the only survivors and when Taylor and Roza give them one last meal after they finish their novels Alex spikes the drinks with wolfsbane to kill Taylor and Roza. Taylor kills the cook and Kiera ends up killing Taylor since she survived her injuries. Roza lets them leave with their books and six months later they end up published and Alex and Wren end whatever relationship they may have had.

A contest. A famous author. A friendship on the rocks. A writing retreat that could mean the start of a burgeoning writing career for Alex. Except… nothing is as it seems.

This story had me guessing the whole way through! I appreciated the depth of each character, and the subtle clues throughout the story. I was constantly second guessing what I thought I knew and I flew through the pages because I needed to know the truth! This was the first book I’ve picked up in a while that I read in less than 24 hours. I would recommend this for fans of locked room mysteries. The horror element was minor enough that it didn’t push this book too far into that genre. Just buckle in and prepare for a wild ride.

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

This is the story of the Writing Retreat from Hell. This was a very wild ride. And I read it super fast, which is a very good thing. It had a "horror" element to it; a gothic vibe and a modern thriller, all rolled up in one. This could have been a five star read for me but for a couple of things. One, this book should come with a warning for sexual explicitness. I read a lot of thrillers and this addition was unusual and quite frankly gratuitous. And not in a good way. Second, the scene near the beginning where the "ladies" were meeting for the first time at the retreat, and began discussing pronouns and racism made it seem like they were in middle school, and was eye roll worthy, and I almost stopped reading right there. So, this was a very mixed bag for me.

Decent thriller, just not what I expected at all. I went in thinking there would be spooky vibes, but it was more of an erotic thriller than anything truly scary

I loved this book! The characters were all surprisingly likable and the setting was great. I enjoyed the weird/creepy atmosphere and visuals, which I don't always love in books but it worked well here. The pacing was good with plenty of action and kept me interested all the way through.

I gave 4 stars instead of 5 mainly because the ending was a bit too unbelievable to me and it became harder for me to get sucked into the story because of that.

Overall a very solid book and I am so grateful to Netgalley, the publisher, and the author for giving me this opportunity to read this book for free in exchange for a review. Looking forward to reading more from Julia Bartz!

Imagine being an aspiring author with dreams of rising to fame, then you get the opportunity of a lifetime. Before this Alex had nearly given up on becoming a published author. But now, She is one of a select few writers invited to attend an exclusive, month-long writing retreat at the estate of the well known feminist horror writer Roza Vallo. Even the knowledge that Wren, her former best friend and current rival, is attending doesn’t dampen her excitement. Then when the attendees arrive at this very isolated and remote mansion, Roza drops a bombshell. They must each complete an entire novel from scratch during the next month, and the author of the best one will receive a life-changing seven-figure publishing deal. Determined to win this seemingly impossible contest, Alex buckles down and tries to ignore the strange happenings at the estate, including Roza’s erratic behavior. Also, her ex friend Wren is playing cruel mind games.

The. Suspense wouldn’t be complete without a couple feet of snow, so now they are even more cut off from the world. No way out, no phone, no cell phone and no internet access whatsoever. Zoe one of the writers vanishes during a snowstorm, anw now the writers realizes that something very sinister is happening . This is not just a writing retreat. The clock running out, and the writers are now desperate to discover the truth and be rescued.

This is a good psychological thriller with very dark moments. There were some unique twists that kept me reading. I didn’t think the story within the story of Daphne added to the plot and found myself skimming through those entries. The ending was pretty much what I figured it would be and the author left it open ended for a possible sequel.

The atmospheric setup and the premise of this story were intriguing to me. However, it fell really short. The author focused way too much on the relationships between the characters and making everything so sexualized. And there were no male characters in the book, so the relationships between all females were a little too much for me. Also, the end was tied up very quickly and unbelievably. I also did not appreciate the heavy politically charged statements made in the book that definitely leaned one way. It was not what I expected and I did not enjoy it, unfortunately.

Excellent novel! I truly enjoyed this rich story intertwining past, present and future events within a cohesive plot. Readers will follow the twisted writing journey of its main character while also reading the chapters of the characters book. This novel entangles friendship, power, sexual orientation, and mysticism in an unputdownable story. Highly recommended!

I thought going into this book that the plot was very intriguing. This was my first by this author and although I did mostly like her writing style I was not a fan of the whole book. There was too much sex for my taste along with the fact that the first half was boring. The second half did speed up in action and suspense but didn’t feel real. Man this one was a struggle I just kept wanting something and it just never happened.

Thank you to netgalley and atria books for this advanced copy in exchange for my honest opinion.

I was eager to read this book for its intriguing (if unrealistic) premise: five promising young writers win the chance to study under their favorite author at a private, month-long retreat in a secluded mansion, and the one who produces the best novel in that time wins a $1mm publishing contract.
Of course there is more to the mansion and the retreat than what they'd imagined. This book was a page-turner, especially in the second half, but believability became more and more stretched, to the point that this began to feel like a farce or a satire, which I don't think was the book's intention (nor how it's marketed). The novel-within-the-novel was rough, and I skimmed those parts.

Thanks to Atria and Netgalley for providing an advance reader's copy in exchange for my honest opinion.

𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑊𝑟𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑅𝑒𝑡𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑡 by author @juliabartz is a fantastic debut thriller with a dark storyline and edgy characters! I found it shocking this was @juliabartz debut novel due to how well written this story was- what a masterpiece for a debut novel!

Absolutely loved the gothic, creepy old mansion, dark atmospheric vibes this book provided us with. This thriller was spot on with its creep factor, untrustworthy characters, and unpredictable twists. 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑊𝑟𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑅𝑒𝑡𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑡 was such a fun and wild ride, and extra points because I LOVE BOOKS ABOUT BOOKS.

The author did such a great job with creating these characters. There are a lot of them but they all seem so real, and have such strong personalities- they all fit perfectly in this crazy mess of a retreat!

Easy 5⭐️ read! Hoping @juliabartz gives us another fun ride soon♡︎