4⭐️

I thought this was a fantastic debut. It kept me on my toes and at times I was even a bit spooked. The mystery and increasing stakes made me fly through this. My main complaint would be that the ending could have been executed a bit better. There was a lot happening towards the end and aspects seemed over the top but If that’s your thing, you’d love this one from beginning to end!

Thank you to the publisher for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review!

What an impressive debut! And LOVE the cover art! Containing gothic vibes and twisty tension this book reads like a runaway train. Roza Vallo, famous horror author, invites 5 aspiring authors to a month long retreat at her remotely located estate in the Adirondacks. During that month they will be expected to write a full length novel and the winner receives a coveted seven figure publishing deal. But, as can be expected with any “once in a lifetime” opportunity the competition becomes fierce and breeds sinister secrets and hidden agendas causing the participants to struggle between trusting each other through the unconventional process and paranoid suspicion. I think those who enjoyed Lucy Foley’s stories will love this one also. Thank you NetGalley, Atria Books and the author for this eARC in exchange for my honest review. This book will be available February 21, 2023.

This was a debut? Omg I can’t believe it. The writing and the atmosphere was everything. A excellent thriller.

Alex is a writer who's had writer's block for a year - ever since her friendship with Wren, her best friend, came to an abrupt end. When she gets the chance to attend a month-long writing retreat and be mentored by her favourite author, she jumps on it. Things get complicated when she finds out Wren is also one of the lucky five to be invited. After days of writing, editing, and mentoring, bizarre and scary events start happening.

This is quite the psychological thriller. The sense of dread I felt throughout was almost palpable. I was not a huge fan of the denouement, but it was still a very solid read.

Thanks to NetGalley, Atria Books, and Julie Bartz for this advanced copy of this book. I offer my review freely.

*4.5*

This is a debut novel? I repeat, this is a DEBUT NOVEL! Watch out publishing world, there's a new name in the game!

I loved this book! The stakes were high and they just kept getting higher. Which made for such an intense atmosphere. And the isolation of the house really made me feel like I was there as a character; I felt the pressure and the pain. Julia threw me for a loop with some good plot twists. I was so invested in the story and the pace kept things interesting that I wasn't even thinking about possible plot twists. Now I took a 1/2 star away cause I had to be a picky b*** about something. And that's for the ending. Not like the last chapter of the book cause that was AHHHHMAZING. But like the last 1/4 of the book. I think it got a little messy, a little unnecessary, and a little unbelievable but at that point, I was rolling with the punches.

I would recommend this book for anyone who likes books about books with a slight competitive edge as well as a locked room mystery.

Thank you to NetGalley and Atria Books for a free copy in exchange for an honest review.

This felt so original! Often with thrillers and mysteries, I can find them become morphed together and too much like each other. The Writing Retreat felt fresh. I will definitely recommend. Although sometimes I felt that it was a little overboard, overall, the end was satisfying enough for me.

thanks net galley & atria for the arc !

i give this one a good 3 stars. i found it a mostly fun read, in a campy sorta way. there was a bit of a slow build but generally it was fast-paced & had some really good spooky moments. i also enjoyed the setting and plot. love me some isolated settings in spooky tales. also love me a story w/ virtually no male characters :') unfortunately tho, i felt that the bulk of it was very predictable. i also found that the characters were cliche & not particularly likeable. the writing was a bit dull for me, prose was meh.

tl;dr it kinda read like a cheesy movie, but cheesy movies can be fun too, so i'm not totally mad at it.

i think the thriller genre might just not be my cup o tea tbh. it takes a really unique type of thriller to hook me and this just didn't hit hard enough. still, i'm sure fans of similar books in the genre will enjoy this one !!

As a debut, Bartz shows a lot of promise! The book read fast and the pacing was good! I never really felt like I was waiting for something to happen.
However, at the end the story started to fall apart and feel a little discombobulated. It almost felt like Bartz was throwing every plot twist in that she could just for some shock value.
Overall, a nice solid debut, but could definitely have used a bit more vision at the end.
Thank you to NetGalley and Atria Books for an eARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

I absolutely adored the premise of Julia Bartz’s debut novel. Famous author Roza Vallo is holding a month long writng retreat for five selected writers at her uber private estate. One writer will leave the retreat with a finished novel and a publishing deal of a lifetime. The story is narrated by Alex, one of the selected writers and let me tell you…this is one action-packed retreat.

Bartz’s pages cleverly unveil ALL the high stakes, ALL the batty drama, and ALL the wild mind games you could ever imagine. Her writing oozes tension and mystique and I loved every minute of it. The mansion’s atmosphere is bounteous in detail and brimming with gothic vibes. There is an incredible feeling of containment–like the walls were closing in on me and the urgency to beat the clock, make the daily word count, and not get yourself killed made the pages turn without hesitation. Every character is layered in goodness and always kept me guessing. There was also a “story” within the story that gave THE WRITING RETREAT a wicked cool touch. If you are wondering what it takes to get your book published at this retreat….you are in store for quite the adventure.

Put this book on your February TBR and make it happen! It’s a fun one!

Thank you NetGalley and Atria books for the advanced readers copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I’m unsure where to begin, I had so much hope for this book because the summary sounds awesome. And the cover is stellar, but it just came up flat. First, it should be noted that the narrator is an unlikeable character and very immature. There were too many things I felt Bratz was trying to accomplish and it read choppy and confusing. I found myself making a confused face and saying “what” but not in a suspenseful-didn’t see that coming.

I am going to preface with I am completely fine reading sex scenes that are straight or gay/lesbian. However these scenes were so confusing to me and just felt like they did not need to be there. Also the paranormal element with the demoness just didn’t really make sense in the story line.

If you removed the sex scenes, and the paranormal activity it would have flowed a ton better. Otherwise I kept feeling like it could have been three different stories.

I wanted to love this book, and maybe during a different season of life I would love this book. However, currently it just was not my cup of tea.
A writing retreat where you get snowed in with a horror writer and your ex best friend sounds like a fun time, but being snowed in at my house I just wanted something else.
The writing style is fun and easy to read.

Let me preface by saying I do not read a lot of horror. As such, I don’t possess the best framework for evaluation. In my opinion, though, this book delivered what it promised – a writing retreat, action, suspense, and horror.

Roza Valo is an eccentric and reclusive phenom of an author; both famous and infamous. Surprising her fans, she announces she will host a selective writing retreat at her home in upstate New York. The protagonist, Alex, a writer struggling with a yearlong writing block due to a falling out with her best friend, Wren, is chosen as a last minute replacement. The other contestants are the aforementioned Wren, along with Poppy, Taylor, and Keira. Once the group arrives for the retreat, events devolve rapidly into a month of intrigue and terror.

The Writing Retreat will give you everything you want in a horror/psychological thriller novel, but it will also give you more. There is an embedded storyline about a past murder/suicide at Roza’s historic New York mansion, there are friendship issues, and a storyline about the exploration of sexual identity. This story is clever, raw, edgy, and brutal.

What I enjoyed the most were the elements that dealt with writing. As a writer myself, and a frequent participant in retreats, it felt familiar. It is clear that Julia Bartz is channeling a lot of her own experiences and frustrations as an emerging writer through the writing anecdotes and discussions portrayed in the novel. Subverting those elements, and exploring the darker side of creativity and obsession was very effective.

I did not care for the very middle school behaviors of this group of women. Some of the sex scenes were jarring and disturbing, which I suppose was their point, but I was not a fan.

This next sentence can lead to inferences about the plot, so skip if you have yet to read the book. The vibes felt like a mashup between Hide by Kirsten White, The Return by Rachel Harrison (although there are no undead in this book), and a reverse Misery by Stephen King.

Congratulations, Julia Bartz, on this strong debut.

The writing retreat by Julia Bartz is a dark and twisty tale of 5 women chosen to spend a month with a renowned horror author. The novel contains a dual plot line: one from the point of view of Alex one of the women on the retreat and the second of the book Alex is writing.
I loved this book even though I wasn’t overly fond of any of the characters . There were some twists but mostly just a great thriller with a dark story to tell.

The Writing Retreat took me on a wild and crazy ride, one that kept me on the edge of my seat and frantically flipping pages until I reached the end. This story is fast-paced and constantly surprising, it was atmospheric, suspenseful, and at times completely dark and disturbing. I loved Roza's house it was super creepy with its own haunted history, and I really enjoyed the snippets of The Great Commission throughout the book.
I will definitely be keeping an eye out for more from this author!

Thank you NetGalley and Atria Books for the digital ARC of this book. Initially I was nervous it would be a repeat of a recent book I had read, The Quiet Retreat, by Kiersten Modglin. While there were some similarities at first, I’m pleased to say the plot was very different and exciting in its own way. I appreciated the book within a book concept and the nod to girl power ✌🏻

When the chance of a lifetime comes along, how do you turn it down? That's the main character's issue in this fast-paced thriller - spend a month writing your book at a retreat with a famous author? Can't say no! This story starts out strong and suspenseful - Alex gets the chance of a lifetime - only snafu is she has to spend it with her ex-best buddy, Wren - and that relationship ended bad. Of course throw in some other characters all hiding secrets, a crazy domineering famous author, and the requisite storm that cuts off all access to the outside world, and you have our story. The narrative moves quickly and keeps you vested in the outcome of the group, even though at the end things go a little crazy - enough to make you say, hmmm. All in all, a good suspense story with a slightly rushed ending - but 4 stars overall. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced copy.

This was such a twisty little thriller that kept me up all night to finish! Some parts were more predictable than others, but all in all I was very pleased with the underlying themes of this book and how it all ended up. A great debut!!

Dark and disturbing. This book was very readable and atmospheric but it ended up being a little TOO over the top for me. Definitely have to keep an open mind with this one.

4.5⭐️

Alex has been suffering with writers block for over a year, ever since her big falling out with her former best friend, Wren. But when another writer friend is able to secure Alex a spot at a writing retreat ran by famed horror author, Roza Vallo, Alex feels her luck turning around. Even if Wren is invited, too.

Tucked away at Roza’s secluded upstate mansion, the group must complete a full manuscript in the 28 days they’ll spend on the retreat and the best will be published by Roza’s team. But as the days go on, Alex and the group realize things may not be what they seem.

I surprisingly really enjoyed this. A locked room story in a creepy mansion that was at the center of a gruesome murder years ago is exactly the kind of story I look for. The more you got to know the characters, the more you can see the mask they’re trying to sell to the outside world. Roza especially seemed to curate a cult like following that expects everyone to blindly fall in line.

I felt the pacing of this was great and I couldn’t put it down. My biggest complaint was that some of dialogue comes across as YA and that a lot of the main characters, especially Alex and Wren are just mean girls who make tearing each other down their whole personality. I also feel like Alex’s quest to understand her own sexuality, which was a big part of the book, came across as very disingenuous.

Thank you Netgalley and Simon & Schuster for providing this ARC to me!

My thanks to Atria books, Julia Bartz and Netgalley.
Holy shit! Was this one fantastic story or what? Crikey! Lisa likey!
Honestly? This would be a book that should be read without any hints. No blurbs. No comments. No nothing!
I just enjoyed the crap out of this story.
I'll confess that I did have an idea of how it would go, because maybe I'm a wee bit mad that way!
Also, I'd love to see more of these crazy characters. Yep. I get that it's meant to be a one off, but...