I was immediately intrigued by the premise and synopsis of this book. I love stories about writing, reading, publishing, and being an author. It makes me feel instantly connected to the characters.

It was a bit of a slow start for me. It felt like we were meandering through a predictable sequence, but about ten or so chapters in it really started to pick up. I loved the creepy setting, a house with a haunted past. It was so eerie and added another layer of mystery and supernatural feels to the story. The story also speaks on some interesting and relevant topics, and I found the deep dive into the struggles with sexuality and identity to be a highlight.

The ending was just ok for me. Things took some unexpected turns and didn’t feel completely believable to me. It was maybe a little too over the top. I don’t know… things just got a little weird for me but it was still good. Definitely gets points for being dramatic, unique, shocking, and not at all what I thought it would. It is undoubtedly a memorable story if anything.

Even though this particular story itself wasn’t a favorite of mine, I did like the writing style and I would definitely read from this author again. A very good thriller debut and I will be keeping a watch for any new releases from this author. If you love a claustrophobic, suspenseful, and psychological thriller, then you may also enjoy this one. I don’t know that it will be anyone’s favorite read, but it is still a solid four star book and I do see this one being a great starting point for this author to launch with.

Pardon the bad language at the start but once I got past it I found a cleverly written, unique.. dark ATMOSPHERIC tale from an author I plan to read more from. Julia Bartz’s debut is about a nightmarish month-long writer’s retreat gone wrong. The retreat is situated on the secluded estate of feminist horror writer Roza Vallo. Thirty-year-old writer Alex is given the opportunity to attend, accepts the invite, then finds out her ex-best friend, now arch-enemy, will be there. Once there, nothing is as Alex thought it would be. It turns out to be a VERY INTENSIVE workshop where the stakes are unexpectedly set high to win this award they’re all vying for. And if that isn’t bad enough, the Blackbriar estate has quite a lot of questionable history behind it.. from unsolved murders, being haunted.. to giving off bewitching vibes.. you just feel that there’s some type of (possibly evil) mystery surrounding it. This story is intense with an immense dark gothic feel. It’s a nail-biting mystery thriller that will draw you in, with unfortunately, NOT ONE SOUL YOU CAN TRUST. It’s one crazy, wild psychological thriller that completely caught me off guard, not what I was expecting at all. 🖤🙈🙊🙉 4 stars — Pub. 2/21/23

Thanks to the publisher via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

I ended up putting this down at about 16% because I just couldn't get into it or stay into it at all. I found the characters somewhat annoying, and the whole "why aren't they friends anymore" situation was super heavy handed. This one isn't for me, unfortunately.

The beginning of the book (pre-retreat) was a bit hard to get into, but once we met our main characters at the retreat (about 15% into the book) it was a fast paced ride! Loved it!

Alex has always wanted to be a published author, so has Wren, her ex-bestie.
They both received an invitation to attend a month-long writer’s retreat at the home of Alex’s Idol, best selling feminist horror writer, Roza Vallo.

As the attendees arrive, they are told that they will be required to write an entire novel from scratch during the month. The prize is 1 million dollars and Roza will have their book published and they will go on tour together.

The Blackbriar Estate, pouring with secrets from its past. It’s an amazing old gothic mansion that becomes claustrophobic from being secluded during a snowstorm.

For a moment I thought of Narnia, but WOW I was wrong!. It was filled with who done it’s, murder, suspense and a true psychological thriller.

I’m not quite sure how I feel about the final few chapters, because it felt a bit rushed and somewhat unrealistic.

Thank you so much to the publisher, author and Netgalley for this free ARC in exchange for a review. I really did enjoy reading this.
3.5 Stars

Horror writer Roza Vallo invites a group of women to her home for a writing retreat and a storm strands them without phone service and access to the police. I am sorry to say but this book wasn't for me. I was expecting a locked room mystery or a gothic suspense and the book is kind of both BUT it relied too much on over-the-top exploits that frankly I found unbelievable and boring. I also couldn't get past the sex scenes, now I am no prude and I can enjoy the sexy time in stories but I really didn't like the WAY they happened (it really irked me) and I didn't see the point of them at all.

The reader is expected to overlook too many things that seemed impossible to me, and I hate books that expect me to suspend my belief too much. I was really bored at points during the story and started to not care about what was happening to the ladies on this retreat. I kept waiting for something exciting, scary or interesting to happen and when it finally did I shook my head and rolled my eyes. The subplot of Daphine's story was useless and distracted from the main story. It's really unfortunate that I didn't enjoy this more as the premise was intriguing but the execution fell flat. This book has many good reviews and lots of four and five-star ratings so I guess I am just not the right type of person to read it.

A dark, psychological thriller where up and coming female writers are invited to attend a writing retreat of a famous author. None of them really knows what to expect until they get there, and it's definitely not what they expected. It's fast-paced and keep you guessing with a few creepy twists. It also has some horror/paranormal vibes since the original owners of the mansion were victims of a gruesome murder. Oh, and there's also a huge snowstorm preventing anyone from leaving, or anyone from saving them.

Alex is the main POV throughout the book and she has a lot of issues, so it's hard to tell if she's a reliable narrator or not. It's one of those books where no one is safe, and the killings are a bit gruesome. A very entertaining read!

This book is a great read for someone looking for a suspenseful and intense thriller. I really enjoyed the writing style, and after the first third of the book, I flew through the rest of the book in one sitting wanting to know how it ended. I did not expect some of the twists and turns and it was a wild ride! I was impressed with this being a debut book. and look forward to her future books.

4,5 stars rounded up

Thank you to the author, Atria Books and NetGalley for providing a copy to review!

This book was a great story. I loved the suspense of it. I knew it was going to be a good one when the rules of the t retreat changed once the attendees got to the house. I recommend to everyone who likes a good plot twist

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the Kindle ARC in exchange for an honest review. The Writing Retreat was compared to The Plot by Jean Hanff Korelitz so I was really happy when I was granted an ARC of this book. Alex and Wren are young writers who win an opportunity to spend a month with a famous published author, Roza at her remote home. A few other young women are selected to the retreat and are challenged by Roza to write a book within the 30 days that they are there. Unfortunately, Wren and Alex are at odds with each other due to a past incident, making the situation awkward for them and the others. The contest isn't as straightforward as it seems. The Writing Retreat starts out very strong and stays that way until the last few chapters of the book. I actually had to turn back to previous chapter near the end of the book because the flow wasn't very smooth and I was sure I had missed something. Like many other books in the suspense genre, The Writing Retreat slightly spirals out of control near the end which was unfortunate. It is still an interesting read - it just depends on how much the reader enjoys the suspense/thriller genre.

This was a DNF at 50% for me. Honestly, nothing was really happening, I liked it enough at the beginning, but this marketed as a thriller and it just felt like chic lit.

Alex gazes around at all the people who came to this book signing to meet her friend, Ursula. Lucky Ursula has achieved what all the people in their writing group desire, to publish a book. It’s just not that easy! Alex is happy for Ursula and mad at herself. She knows she has a good story somewhere inside of her but it’s been almost a year since she last wrote a word. Writer’s block, they call it. She calls it pathetic.
Ursula walks over to thank Alex for coming and asks her if she had heard the scoop that Alex’s favorite author, Roza Vallo, has set up a writer’s retreat in January, a couple of months away. Four lucky writers will stay at Roza’s house and learn from her the tricks of how to get your book published. For a whole month, these young writers would live their dream. Alex feels envious but doesn’t feel worthy to submit something of her own. Fortunate for her, Ursula enters a story Alex had written for their writers’ group as an assignment.
One day in her mail, Alex sees an acceptance letter for a spot to the Writer’s Retreat. She is ecstatic. The introductions go well, but Roza has some surprises for them. She explains that she expects them to write every day. She will critique their work and there will be group discussions. Alex is terrified, she’s had writer’s block for a year! By the end of the first week, Alex realizes it’s not one for all and all for one. Its dog eat dog and who will be the leader of the pack! What would you do to achieve your dream?

For a first book, this was a stunner. Wow! It is so well done. It flows beautifully, the characters are complex and believable. As a once want-to-be-writer, I can feel Alex’s hunger. This book was so mesmerizing, I hated to put it down. I gave it to my sister to devour. She said it reminded of her of a B.A. Paris book. Once you get started, who cares about food, sleep, or work!

Thank you to Netgalley, Atria Books, and the author for an ARC of this book.

This book seemed right up my alley. Julia Bartz's debut novel presents an engaging plot and wonderfully atmospheric and claustrophobic setting. Our protagonist "wins" a chance for a month-long writing retreat at the personal (mansion) home of her favorite horror/fantasy author. She's one of five winners, one of them being her best frenemy, with whom she's had no real contact with for the past year. And once they all arrive, the games begin, as the famous author pushes them in increasingly questionable and scandalous ways to write their novels.

From the beginning, I was often taken out of the narrative by plot devices that reminded me I was reading a work of fiction. Then, as the story got going, I was alternatively intrigued with where it was heading and dismayed with the increasingly over the top plot complications. Ultimately, I wanted to keep reading to see how this whole thing wrapped up; however, I wanted to like this more and have total buy-in to the characters and the resolution.

I think this author shows a lot of promise. This is a debut novel so I'd be happy to read her again. And a final note: regardless of my issues with the book, I think this one will stay with me for a while, which is often a difficult feat for any writer to achieve.

I enjoyed the first half of this book. the concept is not original at all but it is a guilty pleasure. I felt that the last 70% of the book moved too fast and didn't make sense with the slow burn of the beginning of the book.

Alex and Wren were best friends for almost eight years. Both had dreams of hitting it big in the publishing world and shared all their secrets with one another. Until Wren iced Alex out, moved out of their apartment without an explanation. One night Alex confronts Wren at a bar, wanting to know what happened and Wren tells her to leave. Wren winds up losing her balance and falling, and there are musings that perhaps it was Alex who pushed her.

Now, almost a year later, Alex has writers block. Have her dreams of being a published author gone down the drain along with her friendship with Wren? As fate has it, she gets an exclusive invitation to a writing retreat hosted by famous horror writer Roza Vallo. The retreat is exclusively for women under 30 and held in a remote house with a winter storm on the way. Alex is hesitant to go, especially since Wren will be there. But maybe this is the opportunity she needs to get out of her writing slump and create the next great American novel.

This was a solid 3.5 star read from debut author Julia Bartz. I see The Writing Retreat as The Shining meets The Devil Wears Prada with a sprinkling of the HBO series Girls. It's about the complexity of friendship, creating art, and also wondering if you are trapped in a house of horrors. I would have liked to have seen a bit more depth from the characters, Wren in particular. But the last 20% of the book is a pretty wild ride.

Thank you to Atria Books and NetGalley for the ARC for my honest review.

The Writing Retreat is a locked-room mystery set in a gothic mansion on a writing retreat until one writer goes missing. All the essentials for any great mystery, but unfortunately it didn’t work for me. I almost DNF it. Pacing is a bit slow at the beginning. It also reads like a YA novel which I am not a fan of. I was highly anticipating reading this book, but I was left unsatisfied.

Thank you Netgallery for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Great debut novel! Good writing must run in the family. I loved the premise of the book, and the author definitely did a great job bringing it to life. There were so many twists and turns in this book. I was hooked from the very first page! The last half of the book was even more fast-paced and will have you up all night binge-reading. Overall, great book and I would recommend it.

What a great debut thriller! I thought so much was working in this book— a great setting/premise, a strong and unique villain, and lots of prescient and borderline satirical commentary on the creative process, residencies, and writing. I think Bartz also wove sexuality into this book in a very interesting way, which gave it some texture and made it feel modern. I had my theories on what was happening, some turned out to be true, and other moments really surprised me. Absolutely will read more from this writer in the future—in terms of a critique, I did feel that some of the climactic scenes (including the final one) could have escalated more to meet genre conventions and build tension, and I also wished we could know the protagonist just 10% more. But those are minor compared to how much I enjoyed the narrative thrust and build of this awesome debut!

I am always delighted to read debut authors. The Writing Retreat by Julia Bartz is excellent! The premise is so interesting. Down-on-her-luck author, Alex, receives an invitation to a writing retreat hosted by notable author, Roza. It seems a dream come true. Once arriving at the retreat, Roza lets everyone know they are to write a novel in the month-long retreat. The best-written one will be published. However, Alex immediately begins to notice that things are not what they seem, and danger lurks. Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the advanced e-reader copy.

★ ★ ★ ★ ¼

wowow! what a debut novel!! i have been in a MAJOR reading slump but something was calling me to read this book, and dare i say, slump cured?! i did not want to put this book down!! it has everything that i love in a thriller, and while some of the twists were predictable and the ending sadly dragged a bit, it was still a fantastic read!! i loved all the characters, even during the times i wanted to yell at them for their choices and the writing was so fast paced (for the most part)!
such a great read and i am so thankful for the change to read this ARC!! cannot wait for more from this author!! thank you to Julia Bartz, NetGalley and Atria for the advance copy!