The Writing Retreat: A New York Times bestseller

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A young author is invited to an exclusive writer’s retreat that soon descends into a pulse-pounding nightmare—in the vein of The Plot and Please Join Us. A: I decided to become a therapist after the writing didn’t seem to be working out, at least career-wise. I started therapy myself around this time, and I found it so helpful that I became excited at the idea of providing this space for other people. Interestingly, I found that becoming a therapist helped to deepen my writing. It allowed me to more clearly define the dynamics between people (for example, Alex and Wren’s codependent relationship), as well as understand the characters’ motivations, which are affected by their past, their family, and various forms of trauma, including societal and generational trauma. But as Alex focuses on the words taking shape before her, odd happenings begin to occur. From Roza’s volatile and unpredictable behavior to Wren’s mind games, Alex senses that the very house they are in may be contributing to her unease. But then the entire retreat takes a rather ominous turn when one of her fellow writers disappears in the midst of a snowstorm. Determined not to come to the same fate, Alex decides to hunt out the truth. Will she manage to find the answers in time? Or is it already too late? I glanced up, feeling eyes on me. The crew was staring at me, surprised and faintly disgusted, like I was a racoon that had wandered into their living room. Only Craig was looking at someone else—

I loved the blurb and the premise so I was really happy when I received an ARC. I love books-about-books, especially when it's about the writing process. I was hoping The Writing Retreat would meet my expectations, and it did! I was disappointed to put it down each time I had to attend to a Christmas dinner! 😅 Going into The Writing Retreat blind would be my recommendation—I found myself unable to put it down, as it constantly subverted my expectation to where the plot was heading. On the flip-side, I can foresee readers who feel this novel is chaotic and all over the place, which is also a valid observation (the book is divided into parts, and each part is written as if it has stealthily switched genre), but I take it as an intentional creative decision to its overarching message—You gotta do what you gotta do to keep your readers around. Alex and Wren arrive and meet the other retreat attendees. They are all given the daunting assignment of writing a complete novel during the retreat. Will Roza make a bestselling writer out of one of them? As strange events start happening, Alex realizes how isolated the group really is at Roza’s estate. But the biggest disappointment is that The Writing Retreat fails to answer the following questions:I feel like I’ve been ragging on the book a bit. Honestly, it was a good book. Solid premise and a very interesting twist. A bit like one of those closed-door mysteries. Like I said, I think Julia Bartz can do more and has a bright future ahead of her. What could have been exciting is slow and stretched out. I truly cannot recommend THE WRITING RETREAT.

Unfortunately, as I had high hopes we would enter some sort of Narnia (you’ll have to read the book…!!), but sadly we enter la la land. The last 20% is very OTT, you need your disbelief suspenders that’s for sure though I grant you, it’s entertaining. That was the way of the world: if you were a woman, then you had a job to do, and that was to pretend to love everyone else walking all over your body, leaving imprints on your face. You were supposed to crave it, to beg for more.” Pete was waiting for me in the hotel lobby, a mishmash of leather couches, gleaming wood surfaces, and golden chandeliers.

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I really tried to give this book every chance. But it went from bad to worse (IMHO). My eyes rolled throughout. The premise of this thriller is both familiar and unique. A famous author, Roza Vallo, holds a writing contest. If selected, writers will win one of FOUR spots at a retreat located at her isolated old mansion. When a snowstorm ensues, everyone is trapped with no way out. One of the writers soon goes missing, and everyone becomes suspicious. What are Roza’s true intentions? It is up to Alex, Wren, Taylor, Kiera, and Poppy to figure out the true game they are playing before it is too late. Will they publish or will they perish? The beer gurgled in my stomach. I turned and raced towards the bathroom, making it to a stall just in time. Yellow liquid frothed in the bowl. I sat on my knees and wiped my mouth. I was still clutching the books.

However, Bartz does a GREAT job exploring themes of self-discovery and empowerment in her many LGBTQ characters, and there are some decent twists. And yes, that theme stayed the course throughout. This was one of those kitchen sink reads where everything was tossed in. When all I really wanted or expected was a thriller based on a writing retreat. Two months later Wren had asked me to join her writing group, since their third person had dropped out. There I’d met Ursula. She was nearly ten years older than us and had a calm self-confidence that I could only dream of. At this point I’d been blatantly copying Wren—which meant spending whole days at Goodwill, looking for clothes she might admire. But Ursula was her own person. She had her own neon-colored, clashing style and wrote intensely personal pieces about being Chinese American, queer, and a fat activist. She was so different from Wren and yet was the one person Wren ever seemed in awe of. The pacing is fast and furious. Whether one is inside Alex’s head or experiencing the weird dynamics of the retreat, there is always entertainment for the reader. I'm an outlier here. Many people love this novel. I just didn't enjoy the novel beyond the opening premise. While I forced myself to finish it, I should have just left it DNF and kept working through the many novels on my to be read list. 2 stars, one given for the quality of the writing beyond the plot and that I read it.

More books by Julia Bartz

And then comes the grueling writing challenge, with which time grows more intense until we see it all growing out of proportion to unimaginably stressful levels of challenges (can't say more because of spoilers). Alex jumps at the opportunity to attend a month-long writing retreat hosted by lauded feminist horror novelist Roza Vallo. The only downside is that her former best friend, Wren, will also be there. The two parted on less than amicable terms a year ago. These two words are the first sentence of this book. I sh*t you not. If you are still intrigued, keep reading…

Despite the single-setting, it doesn't get monotonous. There's enough twists coming out of the woodwork from the various characters that keep you on the edge of your seat.I was excited to read this debut, and it did not disappoint in the least. If you enjoy dramatic, tension-filled thrillers, I think you’ll have fun with this one.