This book- no words!! Engaging, thrilling, so good! I devoured this book in one day. I couldn’t stop reading it. The characters in this story make it all so much more exciting.

Main back story. A famous horror writer, Roza Vallo, is offering a once in lifetime opportunity it’s to young female writers to join her at her mansion in upstate New York. They will stay there for 30 days and write a novel. At the end one person will win a publishing deal and a hefty life changing prize amount.

There are surprises, twists and turns, growing to love various characters and hating others. I can’t believe this is a debut novel by Julia Bartz. It’s beautifully written. You will love it! Many thanks to Atria Books and NetGalley for the digital review copy of this novel. All opinions expressed in this review are my own.

The Writing Retreat was SO GOOD. This one is definitely not for everyone, and honestly, these characters and the situation are absolutely unhinged. I truly had no idea where this was going at any point, and as someone who constantly feels disappointed when I guess the ending, that was just what I needed.

Thank you to Julia Bartz, NetGalley, and Atria for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

My first 5 star read of 2023!

It has the characters you root for, the ones you hate, the ones that frustrate you... It has them all.

I loved all of the twists and turns and non-stop action. I never hit a lull with this book. I just needed to read it all in one sitting!

A fun thriller that touches on so many different niches within the thriller genre. A must read!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publishing team for this free ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Oof. Where to start on this one. It's certainly fast paced which I enjoyed. It didn't take me long to sink into the story and it moved right along. But- it's not going to be for everyone. I don't particularly enjoy a sexual element to go along with my thrillers, so maybe that's a me issue, but there's a fair amount of spice in this book. At times it was a bit all over the place, and in the end it sort of felt like a rush to the finish.

Scary Mansion? Check
Danger and Murder? Check
Horrible Weather? Check

This psychological thriller had all my favorites - including hooking you in from the very start. I could not put this book down. It was fantastic and very fast paced - just my favorite. It was not very predictable - the storyline absolutely kept me guessing. Relatable in the sense of toxic friendships... I loved it.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and the publisher for giving me the chance to read this fantastic thriller.

I am absolutely certain there is an audience out there who would love this book, but unfortunately it wasn't me.

Pros:
Atmospheric writing and setting
The idea of an isolated retreat for writers is a great plot set up
Loved the all female cast

Cons:
The book within the book
Everything was just too over the top for me
You have to suspend you disbelief on just about every aspect,

It started strong and to me became muddled, but I will try this author again.

Wow! This was INSANE!!! I Loved every moment of this book. Such a wild ride. It kept me on the edge of my seat the entire book! Talk about heart racing. If you enjoy a tense, psychological thriller full of twists, set in a remote location, read this, read this now!

This was an awesome debut book for Julia Bartz. Kudos!!!

Thank you NetGalley who provided me with a copy of this book!!

Alex has been an aspiring writer for as long as she can remember. Since having a falling out with her best friend Wren a year ago, she hasn’t been able to write a word. Another friend enters her into a contest to win an exclusive writing retreat with none other than her favorite author - Roza Vallo. When Alex is selected, she is both excited and terrified. Upon arriving at Roza’s manor, she realizes that Wren has also been selected and not only will they be competing for a chance to be published, but they will have to live together for the month. Roza expects a lot out of the women but Alex tries to block it all out and focus on her writing. Sinister stories of the manor inspire her, but then one of the women vanishes during a terrible snow storm. Suddenly, a lot more than a novel is at stake.

The word that keeps coming back to me, as I try to summarize my feelings on this book, is unique. Told initially from Alex’s perspective, at approximately halfway through, we begin to get the perspectives of the characters Alex is developing in her novel. And the path the story takes becomes vastly different than it was in the beginning. It’s hard to explain without giving spoilers, but I will say that I can understand why some people did not care for this book. It had me glued to the pages though, wanting to see what was going to happen next. I love the concept of getting to not only meet but work with your favorite author as well - I mean, how could would that be?! Or wouldn’t it? ;)

This book releases February 21, 2023! Thanks to Netgalley, Atria, and Julia Bartz for the ARC! This review will be shared to my instagram blog (@books_by_the_bottle) shortly.

What a wild book— and shocking to think that this was a debut!

To start, this book included a fun premise: a group of young female writers are invited to an excusing writing retreat at famous author, Roza Vallo’s secluded mansion in upstate New York. Our MC, Alex, is one of these individuals and she is determined to write something great with the help of her most beloved author and finally become published. But things don’t seem to be as grand as she hoped for being that she’s stuck on the retreat with her ex best friend and on top of that, things begin to get strange.

While the first half of the book felt a bit slower, it did a good job of setting the foundation and building up a sense of unease and anticipation because you knew something was bound to happen and it was inevitable for the pin to finally drop. And once it did… it was explosive!

There were so many twists and turns that I truly had a hard time predicting where this story was headed. On top of that, you could never really trust any of the characters so it made everything even more tense and really gave off some of those locked room vibes. But don’t worry, the psychopaths eventually reveal themselves and their end game and oh boy does it get intense!

This book was also much more dark and disturbing than I anticipated where at times it felt very much horror like even with some gothic and paranormal feels to it. I can’t remember the last time I felt this creeped out by a book, but this one definitely did it for me at times!

Aside from the main overarching story in itself, there was also some interesting plot points that came up throughout the course of the story. Some were unexpected and it took a little bit to grow on me, but by the end I felt that it all made sense and helped add an extra layer to the story, specifically regarding self growth and discovery.

If you’re on the hunt for a chilling psychological thriller, be sure to keep an eye out for this when it releases 2/21! Or just snag now through Book of the Month!

Rating: 4/5

2.5 stars, rounded up. One thing is clear to me after reading The Writing Retreat: Julia Bartz has guts. Her debut novel is a bold, audacious, downright uninhibited book.

This just me trying to find a more professional way of saying what I really mean, which honestly is, "WTF did I just read??" I'm still not sure, and I still don't know if loved it or hated it.

The premise is this: A famous horror writer, Roza Vallo, is offering a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to a small group of young female writers, who will attend a month-long writing retreat at her gothic mansion. The idea is that at the end of 30 days, each woman will have completed a novel, and one of them will get a life-changing publishing deal. When Alex is offered the chance to go, she accepts immediately; Roza is her favorite writer, and not even the fact that her former best friend, Wren, will also be attending is enough to curb her excitement. But when a snowstorm cuts off Roza's estate from the outside world and one of the retreat attendees disappears, Alex realizes she can't trust anyone...not the other guests, not Roza, and maybe not even herself.

All evidence pointed to me loving this book, as it includes some of my favorite tropes (books about writers, stories-within-stories, locked room mystery) taking place in one of my favorite settings (creepy isolated gothic mansion). But ultimately, it suffers from lack of focus and tries to tackle way too much, cramming in too many subplots and trying to combine too many genres. It's part ghost story, part horror, part feminist manifesto, part locked room mystery, part domestic drama, and part (suuuper cringeworthy) erotica. It felt to me like Bartz tried too hard to be shocking, and while I can appreciate a good over-the-top book every now and then, this one just took itself too seriously.

I will say this, though: Even with some uneven pacing, The Writing Retreat kept me engaged from start to finish. There were so many fascinating, creative elements to this story that I could appreciate, even though their various threads never really came together. Although some of the dialogue felt cartoonish, the character development was interesting and thoughtful, and I liked how Bartz handled her themes of female empowerment, art and creation, and LGBTQ+ issues. The elements were all there, even if the execution wasn't, and I'll be interested to see how Bartz's writing career unfolds. Thank you to NetGalley and Atria/Emily Bestler Books for the digital ARC.

Well. this one was definitely different than what I usually read. No spoilers, don't want to say what parts. It's best to just dive in. Group of writers invited to a retreat (hence the title) and creepy, crazy hijinks ensue. Very solid debut. My only complaints are it started off a little slow, but turns out it was setting the vibe, and I felt the ending could have gone a little differently, but just my opinion. Overall, really enjoyed this and it kept me guessing. I hope for more from this author!
Thank you to #NetGalley, Julia Bartz and Atria/Emily Bestler Books for this ARC. All opinions are my own.

4.5 stars

This book is insane in the best possible way.

The love child of the any of Lucy Foley's isolated/closed door thrillers and Rebecca, this book starts off creepy and then presses the accelerator all the way down. The narrator, Alex, is the only character you can trust as she leads you through her stay at Roza Vallo's isolated mansion for a writing retreat.

But this is no typical writing retreat, Alex and her fellow 3 writers must all 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. Full of twists that have me saying WTF outloud, you would not believe what happens next.

Read this if you love:
-dark thrillers
-gothic mansions with ghost stories associated with them
-sapphic stories
-final girl vibes
-books about books/writing books

I went into this book thinking it would be a standard locked room mystery. The gist is that an aspiring writer is invited with four other writers to a writing retreat at her idol's secretive manor. A snowstorm hits and someone winds up dead. Simple right? This book ended up being so much more. Alex, the protagonist, is a deeply complex character with some unreliable narrator vibes that makes her all the more interesting. The other aspiring authors are equally interesting as well as Roza, the world famous horror feminist author who is hosting them. Pretty quickly you know that something is not right with Roza but it's hard to pin down. Its it just narcissism or something darker? The mystery is great but there is so much more to the book. Add a subplot of toxic friendship between Alex and her former bestie Wren, and the book is just way more nuanced than I gave it credit for. I really hope readers pick up this book; I feel like the author has a lot to say about idol worship and female relationships and I can't wait to see what she comes up with next.

Alex has hit rock bottom, suffering from writer’s block, and wbeing ostracized from her friend group due to a falling out between her and her best friend Wren, she is at an all time low. That is until an amazing opportunity presents itself: the chance to stay at her all-time favorite author, Roza Vallo’s home for a month-long writing retreat. This could be the spark Alex needs to begin writing again and leave the past behind, even if Wren has also been invited to come along. As all the young authors gather at Roza’s home she reveals to them that this retreat is more so like a contest: whoever writes the best full novel within the next month, will get an incredible publishing deal. This challenges Alex in every way, as she desperately grapples to write the perfect story, butt when one of the writers goes missing during a snowstorm, Alex and the others notice that something much more sinister is at play.

•

“The Writing Retreat” is one wild ride jam packed with suspense, horror, and a touch of the paranormal. In the beginning, I REALLY disliked our MC Alex with a passion but her character development throughout the story was amazing and beautifully written. There was so much going on in this book, is it mystery? Is it thriller? Is it horror? It felt like all these genres wrapped together with one nice big bow. I really enjoyed the premise of this story and how everything gradually unraveled, some things I saw coming, others I did not but everything came together at the end and left me wanting more. This book packs a gory punch so I would be aware before diving in but I loved the creepy haunted isolated in a snowstorm atmosphere and let me tell you, there are some VERY evil characters in this one. I really enjoyed this one, and it kept me on the edge of my seat! Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an eARC of this novel in exchange for my honest review. This title will be released on February 21st, 2023 and is also currently available on Book of the Month!

3.75 rounded up

I actually got through this book really quickly. The pace was kind of slow at the beginning and had me wondering what truly happened between the MC Alex and her ex-best friend Wren.
Once they got to the retreat, it slowly picked up the pace and then it was a roller coaster ride trying to figure out who’s the bad guy and why.
The ending was kind of weird and I questioned a lot of the characters choices once they got the height of the craziness.
Overall, I enjoyed reading the book and I’d recommend it for a quick-paced weekend read.

This book had a really interesting premise. A famous writer hosts a writing retreat and the person with the best book will get published. The main character, Alex, is excited to get this opportunity but also worried because her former best friend, now enemy is attending also. I found Alex to be fairly annoying throughout most of the book.
At first everything at the retreat seems fine but then things take a turn and the attendees are put into an unexpected and terrifying situation.
Overall I enjoyed this book: however, I felt there were a lot of ideas added in that went nowhere but could have been interesting. For example, the attendees each received a necklace on the first day of the retreat. The description and build up makes you think they're going to be very important but by the time we finally got to it they were so irrelevant and minimized that it didn't matter.
I did enjoy this book and would recommend it to others who enjoy a fun thriller/suspense.
Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

As an indie horror author, I loved this book! It was so fun, with lots of twists and turns and relatable commentary in the publishing world.

I loved the sense of desperation, mystery, and feminist elements.

In the Writing Retreat, Julia Bartz delivers just the right amount of all things literary with all things mystery, adding a dash of horror to make this a most unforgettable writing retreat. It's sexy, it's sinister, it's suspenseful, it's full is secrets & surprises from beginning to end. I was expecting a straightforward mystery, was wonderfully surprised by the elements of gothic and horror. A great debut.

A tense, twisty psychological thriller with hints of the modern gothic and some sapphic vibes to boot. This one had me intrigued by the premise and delivered — very atmospheric, with the right amount of intrigue and growing suspense. Even when things became more intense, I felt compelled to find out what would happen next. This debut is a book I was happy to read in a day but sad to put down when it was over. Really looking forward to whatever Julia Bartz might write next.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Wow what a wild ride thank you so much netgalley for the chance to read this book! This book had me guessing the whole time what was going on and I was not expecting that ending at all. Although I feel the book was a bit far fetched it was written really well and I liked the characters and the story a lot.