I had very high hopes for this book as I loved The Writing Retreat but what a disappointment.

At first, this book has potential but by 50% it just takes a turn that makes it fall down a completely insane rabbit hole that makes no sense at all.

It was a true shitshow that was not entertaining to watch. I just was very annoyed by the characters. I was hoping for a crazy twist and yet it never came. Jonah being found to be part of the cult was not surprising. And the weird callback to Catherine at the end, like why?

I understand the purpose of this novel. It's about childhood trauma and what it can do to your brain. How it shapes you for the rest of your life. I believe this book showed that well but the complete execution was awful 😅

I want so badly to like Julia Bartz’s books, but I think she is an author who just isn’t for me.

Thea is a social worker at a mental health facility. A Jane Doe comes through who seems vaguely familiar, and she discovers that is an actress from one of her favorite movies from her teen years. The actress, Catherine, leaves the facility, but not before dropping clues for Thea to follow her to a retreat. When Thea gets to the retreat and meets the people running it, she knows something isn’t quite right.

Both this one and the author’s previous book turned me off with some of the sexual content that feels unnecessary. In this one, Thea discusses her past experiences and how they have affected her ability to be intimate, but that didn’t feel relative to the overall plot. The cover of the retreat is that it helps attendees uncover their sexual issues, but I still didn’t find this content helpful.

There are also parts of the book that rely heavily on reincarnation and destiny and the universe, themes that don’t resonate with me as a reader.

Overall this one wasn’t for me. I didn’t feel drawn to any of the characters, the themes made the plot less interesting, and I don’t see myself continuing to read any of Bartz’s novels.

Was it just impossible to give Thea more than 1 working brain cell?

I didn't hate this as much as everyone else did. But, it certainly was something. There was a lot happening, a lot of plot points working together (or trying to work together), and was overall just messy.

I had high hopes for this one, but unfortunately it fell flat and I didn’t end up finishing it. I couldn’t get invested in the story or characters.

Thank you Netgalley and Atria books for this ARC.

I enjoyed it until I didn’t. Not certain of what I read and/ or if I actually comprehended anything. Maybe I missed something? Bartz’s The Writing Retreat was much better.

This was a tough one for me to get through. I loved The Writing Retreat, and was unfortunately disappointed with this one. I will still read Julia Bartz's upcoming books in hope that they remind me more of the Writing Retreat!

I hate giving out one star reviews but I did not like this. I was drawn to the premise, but this whole book was a goof. I didn't deliver on the premise. this wasn't a thriller, it was trauma corn. I found it to be very extreme.

the prose were okay, in terms of sentence structure. the overall structure of the book was pretty choppy though, and I kept having "wait, what?" moments where I would have to go back and reread to figure out what was happening.

this wasn't for me.

The Last Session was an okay read for me — I liked the concept and some of the emotional depth, but it didn’t fully land. The pacing felt uneven at times, and I had a hard time staying engaged with the characters. Still, it had some thoughtful moments. Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this ARC!

Have thoroughly enjoyed previous reads by Julia Bartz, so no shocker that I enjoyed this one! Very culty, sexy and mysterious; and felt like I was in the retreat with the characters. Bartz does a good job of detail-oriented writing, making for an immersive read. The character building took a little bit to develop, and build the story, which made the first quarter of the book a little slow to me. I enjoyed it more and more as the book picked up! Will continue to read from this author and recommend this book to friends. I have discussed this read with my book club, and several of us have all greatly enjoyed it! Thanks Net Galley for the ARC to this read.

After really enjoying The Writing Retreat this was a total let down. SO much of this book was unbelievable and hard to follow. Will still look for other titles by this author in the future in the hopes that this was just a fluke.

This was unhinged and weird in a somewhat enjoyable way? The beginning drew me in with the appearance of a celebrity at a psych ward and trying to figure out what happened to her, leading to a weird cult in New Mexico.

The cult aspect was super interesting to me and I was suspicious of everyone there. But I got so frustrated by the main character, Thea, and some of the decisions she made!

This book took some weird turns around 60% and I didn’t love where it went. It got so unrealistic and out there that it took away from the rest of the book.

I do enjoy Bartz’ writing (loved The Writing Retreat!) so I’ll def read her next book even though this one wasn’t my fave.

I really enjoyed this book that felt kind of like a fever dream. Julia Bartz, a therapist herself, leverages her professional expertise to build a thriller that’s as much about psychological deconstruction as it is about solving a mystery. The narrative often feels psychedelic, akin to the atmosphere of Midsommar, blending reality with dreamlike sequences.

Thea, an art therapist, attends a wellness retreat in the desert to confront her past and the mysterious death of a former patient. As she navigates this chaotic environment, the lines between healing and manipulation blur, leading to unexpected twists.

What Works
✅ The book has a unique charm that comes from its surreal and almost psychedelic quality. Thea’s experiences often blur the line between reality and hallucination, creating a dreamlike narrative that draws readers in. This fantastical approach adds depth to her psychological struggles:
✅ The characters are complex and thought out. They are relatable, each grappling with their own fears and traumas.
✅ The exploration of trauma and healing is poignant, making you reflect on your own life choices.

However, the mix of psychological realism and mystical elements, like reincarnation and the major focus on the movie Stargirl was really disorienting and sort of felt like someone tossed a glitter bomb into a serious therapy session.

Overall, a good book. I love this author's writing.

Thank you to Atria book for the advanced reading copy in exchange for my honest review of this book.

3.5** Man, I was having so much fun with this one, why couldn’t it have just stuck the landing!!!

First, the good: Something about Julia Bartz’s writing is just so captivating to me. With both The Writing Retreat and The Last Session, I was absolutely hooked from the first few chapters. I couldn’t turn the pages fast enough. Bartz absolutely excels in the initial set up of her stories - which is honestly pretty hard to do in an engaging way. Setting the stage, planting the seeds for the mystery, introducing you to the characters, it can very easily turn into a boring info-dump if you don’t have the writing chops.

It honestly doesn’t even bother me how much you have to suspend your disbelief in her thrillers. I couldn’t really care less about that, I’m just here to vibe and escape from life ya know? My issue is mostly that Bartz’s endings very much need work. Or maybe the vision she has for them is just so incongruent with what I want as a reader. But like, why did ALL of the energy fizzle out at the tail end of part three and moving into part four? That’s not the time for introducing new character perspectives for the first time. We don’t need everything spelled out in a perfect villain monologue. I don’t really care about dream sequences ever, but especially not when I’m in the last 15% of a book. We just need to wrap things up and gtfo. And we need to meet somewhere in middle on the scale of unbelievable; surely there is a gray area we can land on between the solutions to their problems being laughably convenient and just over the top outrageous.

It’s so heartbreaking because the entire time I was reading this, I was waffling between a 4-5 star rating, and the ending sucked SO much energy from this reading experience that it can’t really be higher than a 3.5.

All that said I will read from Julia Bartz again for sure! I liked The Writing Retreat better but I wouldn’t say this was a waste of time by any stretch. I do understand the negative reviews though and could easily see how this wouldn’t be for everyone.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC in exchange for an honest review! The Last Session by Julia Bartz is out now!

This was a pretty easy thriller I breezed through. While I didn't love it quite like I loved her debut, I had a good time with it. I love the cult behavior, the trauma, and how dark the entire story was. I didn't LOVE how much I had to suspend reality to read this one though. I felt like there wasn't a lot 'to truly believe', but overall I had a good enough time with it!

Really enjoyed the plot line. Cult, suspense, mystery. I will read anything by this author! Listened to the audiobook and loved the narrator.

Thank you to Net galley for the advanced reader copy.

I did not get too far into this novel before deciding it was not for me, so please do not allow my review to immensely sway you one way or the other! I was a big fan of Julia Bartz's debut novel, so I was pumped for a chance to take on a unique therapy situation with THE LAST SESSION. Ultimately the leaps that the novel had to take from early on made me realize this wasn't going to be a fit for me.

I really had high hopes for this one, and I ended up DNFing around 45%. Everything was incredibly predictable and not even the possibility of there being a great twist at the end was enough to make me hang in to finish. Two very disappointed stars.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the advanced copy of the e-ARC in exchange for a review.

This was extremely formulaic and predictable. There’s so many similar books out there with the same plot. I did not like any of the characters and did not care about the story at all.

This had all the makings of a book made just for me but ultimately it ended up not working for me. I’m not sure what exactly the disconnect was. Our main characters felt a little caricature-esque and some of the “plot twists” felt completely random and discombobulated. At its core, the main plot was intriguing but the way it was executed left me a little underwhelmed. I have yet to read this authors last novel and I will still give a try because the bones were good. The setting was well described and gave the perfect unsettling vibe.

When a woman with amnesia shows up to a New York psychiatric unit, social worker Thea is instantly intrigued by her story. After a few days of no luck getting this mystery woman to speak and identify herself, Thea recognizes her as a child star from her favorite childhood movie. Thea discovers that not only does she look like this patient but they share a birthday, an eery coincidence or something else? When the patient is suddenly kidnapped from the psychiatric unit, Thea is determined to find her and find out what her story is. She follows clues and finds herself at a new age retreat in New Mexico. The retreat turns out to be far more nefarious than she could ever believe and Thea finds herself trying to survive and escape.

I love a good cult story, but this was not it. I found the plot to be clunky and the character development to lack strength. I really struggled to connect with Thea, her inner monologue was incredibly immature and in ways unstable with a lot of unchecked trauma. Thea, a social worker in a psychiatric unit, struggled with her own psychological demons throughout the story but never had the awakening I hoped for her character. All of the characters were unhinged and ping ponged between being relatable and caricatures. The ending was weird and rushed and didn't tie things off the way I had hoped it would.

Thank you to Atria and Netgalley for my copy; all opinions are my own.