Even as a social worker who's dedicated her life to helping others, 33 year-old Thea is feeling more disconnected from herself than ever. Reeling from the abrupt end of a relationship that happened after she finally opened up for the first time, she's keeping her head down and focused on her patients. When Catherine, a catatonic patient whom Thea swear she recognizes from a famous film, arrives on the psychiatric unit, more painful scars from Thea's past are ripped open that lead her far beyond the comforts of her job.

"The Last Session" follows Thea beyond the psychiatric unit where she works and into the New Mexican desert to "The Center," where enigmatic couple Sol and moon host a monthly intimacy retreat that boasts rekindled romances and all-but-guarantees soulmate discoveries. Thea isn't there for intimacy, however, she's there following a mysterious breadcrumb trail left by Catherine when she suddenly vanished from the psychiatric unit.

And at The Center, Thea finds far more than she's bargained for.

Compared to "The Writing Retreat," Julia Bartz' latest unfortunately pales far in comparison. It has a strong, gripping start (especially for someone in the mental health field) that quickly dissipates into a messy-in-more-ways-than-one wellness retreat plot that felt very been there, done that. Overall, the story fell apart about halfway through for me and lacked the propulsive qualities of Bartz' first novel. If you're going to read one of hers, start there!

I was a fan of Julia Bartz's previous novel, The Writing Retreat, and was delighted to receive an advanced copy of her follow-up novel, The Last Session. Like with The Writing Retreat, The Last Session is a psychological thriller and mystery, this time with a bit of action and cultiness thrown into the mix. Would absolutely recommend to thriller and mystery readers. Five stars!!!

I think this book had all the elements that could have added up to a really good thriller, but it just quite missed the mark.

I was excited to get this approved arc—I recognized the author from her debut The Writing Retreat, which had good commercial success (I got about 10% through it and then DNFed). The blurb also reminded me of The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides which I really enjoyed.

The Last Session follows Thea, a social worker in a New York psychiatric ward (The author herself is a practicing therapist). When a catatonic patient (who not only looks exactly like Thea but shocker! also shares her exact birthday and double shocker! is also the child actress Thea was obsessed with growing up) arrives at the unit and then abruptly disappears, Thea tracks her down to a remote compound in New Mexico. Cult shenanigans ensue.

The atmosphere and surreal film connections held my attention enough to keep reading—I did love that the whole cult centered around this weird ass movie, it was giving Scientology—but the ending reveal felt lackluster and clumsy. I did appreciate how dreamlike the story felt, though.

If anything, this book makes me curious enough to go back and try to finish the Writing Retreat, which it seems like people enjoyed a lot more than this one based on the reviews so far.

Thanks to Atria Books, Julia Bartz and Netgalley for this advanced copy.

I was really looking forward to this book as I loved Julia Bartz's first novel, The Writing Retreat. I also love any psychological thrillers involving cults, retreats gone wrong, and locked-room type of vibes. I'm open to the idea of reincarnation, so when it was first hinted at in the book I was very intrigued. The premise and beginning of the story pulled me in and I really wanted to like it.

Unfortunately, it was a bit too bizarre for me. The Writing Retreat had some bizarre elements, but it made sense in the story and the characters made it believable. In The Last Session, however, the characters seemed "out of character" reacting to the events unfolding. The main character, Thea, who is a therapist, does very un-therapist-y things and makes dumb choices for someone undercover (like hearing a noise in a room, going in to investigate, and calling out the name of the missing person she's secretly looking for). The retreat sessions weren't believable either as people divulge their deepest insecurities within 5 minutes of the session and immediately feel comfortable participating in the role-plays. It's explained away as reincarnation but it didn't line up with my understanding of reincarnation, so again, was not believable enough for me.

But the main reason the book wasn't for me was because of all the triggers. I appreciated the content warnings at the beginning and maybe should have realized my own triggers would be activated too.

Overall, not the book for me, but I'm still glad I got a chance to check it out. I did enjoy the writing style and the setting/location.

Thank you to Atria Books and Julia Bartz for this ARC.

I really enjoyed the first half of this book. It captured me from the start but then it started to feel too “out there” and unlikely that it took away from the original enjoyment. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the advanced copy of this book!

The Last Session by Julia Bartz releasing April 1st 🌵🏜️

Julia Bartz once again blew me away with her second novel that takes us on an adventure about trauma, healing and definitely a large web of secrets. The cult like atmosphere definitely made this a thrilling ride for me. The storyline is a little out there and at times disbelief but honestly, I was invested and engaged throughout.

Yikes. I had some doubts about picking this one up after not really caring for the Writing Retreat by Julia Bartz. Should have stuck with my instincts.

It made no sense at all. Not sure why it is classified as a lock-room thriller either. It was beyond predictable and I was never surprised or shocked by anything. It was SO over the top and you really have to suspend your beliefs. Nonsensical and boring.

Thea is a social worker at a psychiatric hospital. A catatonic woman shows up one day and she looks really familiar. They she is gone. Can Thea figure out where she knows her from? Will she get hurt in the process? This was a fun one, I was on the edge of my seat the entire time.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

This novel was dark and moody, a closed-door mystery similar to the author’s debut. Instead of a writer, our lead is a therapist who journeys to a remote “retreat” (read: cult) community to attempt to rescue a client she feels an otherworldly connection with. This novel is as much a culty murder mystery as it is about Thea coming to grips with her own dark history. A really thrilling, engaging read.

Julia Bartz is making a niche for herself of writing psychosexual thrillers with unhinged main female characters and sapphic undertones, and I am here for it! Bartz's background as a psychologist showed out in full force, with much explanation of technical terms and ethics in psychotherapy. What sets this apart from her previous book, The Writing Retreat, is the more pronounced transformation and catharsis our main character Thea experiences after the ordeal, which elevates the story from being just a "I survived a dangerous situation" to "this made me confront my toxic traits, unresolved trauma, and whole personality".

I dock a star because around the 60% mark, the main character does something so incredibly illogical and against her usual behavior. I don't like when authors dumb down their character in order to move the plot along ie. "let me walk down a dark alley even though there's a killer on the loose" type shit. However, the ending saved it.

In the authors note, she said she wanted to highlight white supremacy in cults but like...where? If there was, it was super subtle (unless she showed it by only having two POCs in the book?? As in cults rarely recruit POCs - not a fact, just speculating on Bartz's intentions). If anything, this was a critique on organized religion and the bystander effect when it comes to abuse of power, especially when committed by religious leaders.

i thought it was entertaining enough, i do enjoy a cult story. however, it was a little boring at times and all the past lives stuff got a bit convoluted. i did like that the author discussed the cultural appropriation that is present within the “spiritual” community and the psychology of cults.

Thanks to @netgalley for the ARC of The last session by Julia Bartz! This was a super dark & twisty read. It was pretty out there at times, but definitely held my attention until the end.

3/5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️

This will be released on April 1st ☀️

#netgalley #arc #thelastsession #thewritingretreat #juliabartz

Thank you to the author, publishers, and NetGalley, for allowing me to read an advanced copy of The Last Session.

Social worker Thea finds herself investigating a strange (and dangerous?) wellness center after the disappearance of one of her patients. Soon, she doesn’t know who to trust, how to leave, and what her own connection to the mysterious center might be.

This is a solid mystery with an interesting setting and intriguing characters. I read it quickly and really enjoyed the atmospheric vibe. What I didn’t love was the unexpected supernatural element- it’s never fully explored, so the reader can choose what to believe to some extent, but I found it hard to ignore. Other readers may really love this, it just wasn’t for me.

Overall, this is a good read for anyone who loves a tense and creepy thriller with elements of the supernatural and some sexual undertones.

I love Julia bartz writing! I found that the first part of the book was super engaging and I was really intrigued and then during part 3 I found the book took a change in direction that I didn’t really enjoy. Overall I am still excited to have had the opportunity to read this book and really look forward to reading more books in the future by this author.

Thank you to NetGalley and Atria Books for the eARC!

I will always love a mystery/thriller involving cults. I don't know why, it just never gets old for me. At the same time, I feel like I've read so many mystery/thrillers that I saw pretty much every twist and turn this one took before it happened. I felt like the first half of this book was foreshadowing a major twist at the end that would be totally unexpected, but it just never happened. Instead, the ending was fairly predictable. The pacing was good and I flew through the last 40% in a day so it was definitely a strong thriller.

The main character was fairly well written, although I feel like I've met this archetype of female protagonist in almost every mystery/thriller. I think the characters that really made this story memorable were the "antagonists", in this case the charismatic and mysterious couple who own the remote retreat that turns out to be a lot more sinister than just a granola bar yoga getaway in the desert. Another thing I enjoyed was the insights into psychology/therapy theories, which I thought were interesting to read about.

Overall an enjoyable page-turner with a decent ending, but not entirely unique in the realm of mystery/thrillers. A good read to get out of a reading slump!

I LOVED The Writing Retreat, so I wanted to love this one so badly, but it just didn’t quite hit. When I think about it, the things I LOVED about the Writing Retreat just weren’t plot points in this book: the toxic female friendships and the authors/books about books element. This still has the same off-the-rails quality as The Writing Retreat, but I just didn’t care for the characters or the premise. The main character, despite being a therapist, just felt so dull and not self-aware that it got irritating. Julia Bartz has an author’s note saying she is a therapist, so she has way more credibility than I do in this area, so perhaps this is possible, but the character just felt too unrealistic to me that even though I knew it would go off the rails, it was too much for me, and it dragged.

Some “If you liked” style comparisons: Either of the Twin Flames documentaries that came out last year.

Warning: ALL sorts of content warnings on this one. Look them up if you’re a reader who needs them.

Thank you to NetGalley and Atria for the ARC.

2.5 ⭐️ I did not read The Writing Retreat, so I can’t compare it to that. But I was underwhelmed by this book. The first half was good, while the second half just slowly went downhill. It was disjointed and disappointing. I usually love books where the main character is a therapist. I finished the book to see if things came together in the end, but truthfully I could’ve stopped half way through and been happy.

I loved Julia Bartz's debut, The Writing Retreat, so I was confident I would enjoy The Last Session. I almost want to say I love this one even more. But I think it's more like I love them both the same amount for different reasons.

Thea is a social worker who focuses on helping people in a psychiatric unit. She gives them prompts to draw things then they discuss what they drew and why. A new patient is brought in that is catatonic and Thea is sure she recognizes her. Once the patient is able to speak she claims to not remember anything that led to her being there. Then she's suddenly taken out of the place before Thea can figure anything out.

She realizes where she knows the woman from and Thea is convinced she needs to help her. Her investigating leads her to a remote place in New Mexico. She pretends to be there for the retreat this couple hosts. They use very unorthodox methods to help people with their romantic issues. They claim you'll find true love after being there.

Just like with The Writing Retreat, I was taken to some wild unexpected places and I loved every bit of it! All I can say is keep an open mind and enjoy the ride. I love how Julia Bartz covers important topics in such wild but fun to read ways while still taking those topics seriously.

Thank you Atria/Emily Bestler Books and NetGalley for the ARC.

Despite losing interest about halfway through this one I hung on until the end. It started off strong. I was intrigued by the mystery of Catherine’s sudden appearance and disappearance and her ties to Thea. My curiosity even grew because cults fascinate me. However, as the story unfolded, it became more and more strange, and difficult to follow.
Thank you to NetGalley and Atria Books who provided me with an advanced copy of this book in exchange for my honest review

I was a fan of The Writting Retreat last year but I am a little less found of The Last Session. It reminds me a little bit of The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides but in a culty settings. I just found that it was a lot of different plot lines crammed inside the book and I would have prefer that we focus on less avenue.

⭐️⭐️⭐️