Julia BartzReseñas

2.75

Bunch of women shack up in a house, hook up and write books whilst slowly getting killed one by one.

I CANNOT with characters who KNOW they are going to die, but when given MULTIPLE chances to kill their captors, do not do so. Ridiculous.

The book has many good aspects...it has an interesting premise- a writing retreat hosted by a well- known, reclusive horror writer, takes a sinister turn when one of the participants goes missing.
This debut novel is well written, combining vivid imagery, interesting characters and plot twists.
It's only fault is that it is told from the point of view of the least interesting character, whiny Alex. I would have enjoyed it more if it was told from the pov of a more flawed character, preferably the elusive Roza.

I picked up this book because I recognized the last name of the author; come to find out, it was her sister I had read previously - The Writing Retreat is Julia Bartz's debut. And, she totally stands on her own without the need for her sister's success in the previous few years. Well done, both of you Bartz ladies.

As for The Writing Retreat - ooh, this is a good one. A lot of good twists and turns in this as we follow five budding authors who have been hand-picked by the renowned author, Roza Vallo, to join her for a month-long retreat at her extremely secluded estate. During the month, the young women will start and finish a new novel and the best one will be published and the author will receive $1M. Easy-peasy. At least until one of the five go missing, a dungeon is found, and things are simply not what they seem to be.

There is a lot to unpack in The Writing Retreat; there is murder, mayhem, lots of emotional baggage, sex, drugs, and deceit - all the elements are there and Julia Bartz weaves them into a believable, fun, and easy-to-read story. I actually carved out additional reading time for this one.

Well done, Julia Bartz!

I don't know why there is so much buzz about this book. I found it a bit of a bore. The plot is telegraphed from the beginning. The supernatural elements are grafted in for no apparent reason. There is no dramatic thrust or pacing. I think there are other books that are better uses of your time.½

Didn't live up to the hype.

A group of young women writers are invited to attend an exclusive writing retreat at the remote estate of a best-selling author, and things slowly begin to go south.

Billed as supernatural (think "The Haunting of Hill House"), it's more a psychological drama, and most of the characters are so unlikeable that it's hard to care about them. Things move from unlikely to oh-come-on - seriously? (I'm still wondering how the Chief Villain managed to plan for the mid-February blizzard that finalizes their isolation.)½

i really enjoyed this despite it going in a totally different direction than i thought. the first half was definitely better, but i was still invested even when it went kinda batshit?

Five writers, four weeks, and a $1 million book deal for the lucky winner. Unless they disappear first! Alex has just had her 30th birthday and has to face up to some hard truths: First of all, she hates her job; second, she’s been miserable ever since breaking up with her best friend...and third and the worst, she’s stuck in writer’s block, which makes it extremely hard, if not impossible, to be discovered and have your book published. Then, out of the blue she receives a call from a writer friend who has somehow gotten Alex a space at an elite writers retreat being held at the estate of none other than the mysterious and glamorous novelist, Roza Vallo. From the very first night she's at Vallo's estate, Blackbriar, it becomes very clear that this is not a warm fuzzy workshop, and Roza Vallo is in no way a soft, or even friendly, mentor. Each of the workshop attendee's is told that they must create a proposal for a full-length novel, then manage to crank out 3,000 words a day to be critiqued....by Roza. Despite the surroundings of luxury...food and wine and a library to die for...there is no ignoring the fact that the writers are trapped there. There is no Wi-Fi or cell service to be found. Alex's sense of disquiet grows as her research deepens, and with Roza’s urging, she has decided to write a novel about the original inhabitants of the house...a wealthy tycoon and his waitress wife who was also happened to be a medium. Both were found dead after the wife had channeled a demon called Lamia. Then one of the other guest writers disappears, and Alex can’t help but wonder if the occult history is repeating itself.... or is there a much more sinister, and possibly human plot behind this writing retreat. Despite Alex’s somewhat whiny disposition, the pacing of the story is slow and filled with dread and horror. I found the first part to be exceptional...but I felt the execution left a something to be desired. The Alex character was underdone. It would have been nice if we had had more about her backstory. The remaining women at the retreated seemed flat as well. It seemed like each of the characters was only partially painted. It was still a decent story, and if that’s all you want this will do it for you. Overall, I didn’t hate it, but I also didn’t really love it either.½

What a wild and twisty ride.

Had heard good things about this and as a writer, the setting at a writers' retreat sounded interesting. However, the idea was let down in the execution. To begin with, the characters seemed extremely shallow and immature - it was a surprise to eventually find out that the viewpoint character was thirty years old and the other writing retreat participants were supposed to be in their twenties. The protagonist, Alex, has had writer's block for a year following a major rift with her former best friend Wren. So when she discovers that another friend, Ursula, has entered a short story of hers for a major competition to participate in a writers' retreat for a whole month at the home of her idol, Roza, and that she is one of those selected, she is at first ecstatic and then panic-stricken, especially when she discovers that Wren will also attend.

There were a few flags when the writers began to gather -it was obvious that one in particular was not who she appeared to be, given a particular slip - and I anticipated an Agatha Christie style 'And Then There Were None' homage. However, nothing much happened until about halfway when one character disappeared following an incident where the, at first eccentric, then sociopathic Roza spiked their drinks. After that, the story becomes more and more over the top and unbelievable.

It's not helped by the gratuitous explicit sex scenes - it didn't bother me that they were lesbian, but the dubious consent and sex-with-a-demon theme was out of left field and not needed. This supposed 'shock' element was perhaps meant to make up for the otherwise lacklustre plot development and irritating characters. The only one at all likeable was Kiera, the black woman, the only one to show common sense and maturity, though the book itself points out that she is there as a token.

The book becomes increasingly bonkers towards the end - the reader is meant to accept that someone shot in the back and suffering from frostbite is able to run around the house tackling villains. It's also pretty risible that Alex at one point shows some maturity and character growth in going back to help Wren, but then is so incompetent that the two of them are soon recaptured. The motive behind the various shenanigans is also thin to say the least though I don't want to introduce spoilers. But the final scene is just wrong on so many levels. Given the implications about same-sex relationships in this book, with sadomasochism et al, I would think LGBT readers might find it all rather insulting. Anyway, given the issues, the most I can rate this is as an OK 2 stars, chiefly for the character of Kiera.

Don’t usually read this genre, but pretty wild and entertaining.

4 / 5 ⭐️‘s

"The Writing Retreat" by Julia Bartz @juliabartz

I really enjoyed this one. The story follows a group of writers who have gathered at a remote retreat to overcome their creative blocks and complete their books but little do they know something much more sinister is planned for them.

I found the characters to be well-developed and relatable. The setting was vividly described, and I could easily imagine myself in the idyllic countryside setting.

One aspect of the book that surprised me was the representation of LGBTQ characters and relationships that provided a few surprising twist and turns!

I found the overall story to be engaging and well-written. I would definitely recommend!

Available on Amazon TODAY: https://amzn.to/3IecCP7

(Pub Date: 02/21/23)
This ARC (audiobook) was provided by the publisher via @Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

At the end you are just sitting there in your chair thinking "What the heck did I just read?", that was one messed up story. It was a little slow at the beginning but then it picked up and didn't stop. Looking forward to reading more of Julia's work in the future.

I saw somewhere that this book had been described as a mix of Squid Games, Misery and The Hunting Party, and now that I've finished reading it I can fully see why!
A writing retreat with your favourite author, in her own house. Of course any up and coming unpublished writers would die to be chosen, to be one of the five lucky people to actually attend, and not only meet the famous author, Rosa Vallo, but to walk away with a publishing contract for their own book.
So when Alex finds out that not only has one of her best friends entered the competition for her, but that she is actually one of the five selected few to be granted an invitation she can't believe her luck.
On the other hand, she also finds out her best friend come enemy, Wren will also be at the retreat, taking a little bit of sparkle off the excitement and replacing it with dread.
But not even having to face Wren could keep her away from this once in a life time experience.
As the other writers all arrive at Rosa's gothic mansion, Blackbriar, everyone is in high spirits, eagerly awaiting to meet their idol, Rosa does not disappoint.
Their challenge is to write an entirely new, fresh novel by the end of the retreat and whoevers book was deemed the best would win the life changing, seven figure publishing deal. And they only have a month to do so!
With every one wanting to win, it is a race to the finishing line.

But of course, there are plenty of surprises to come, nothing is as straightforward as it seems and things begin to take a dark twist.

Snowed in, miles away from anywhere, with no way out, no internet, no mobile phone signal, they are trapped and at the mercy of their hostess who's behaviour and mind games spiral out of control and one of the women go missing.

From there it gets worse and there is nothing they can do, that is, except write!

There are plot twists that are as shocking as they are unexpected, and plenty of them making it inpossible to put this book down, each page drawing you deeper into the madness right along with it.

Julia Bartzs debut novel is surly going to propel her to the top of the charts, making a name to look out for.

In equal parts horror, physiological thriller, suspense and thriller, there really is something in this book for everyone and I cannot recommend it highly enough, now I'm eagerly awaiting for her next book already!

The Writing Retreat had a neat premise whereby five women (why just women?) are selected to stay for a month-long writing retreat hosted by an award-winning author. I anticipated a book about rivalries, exploring book writing, female drama, etc..., but this was not that. Instead, we set foot into something completely different, and while I normally wouldn't have minded, it did not work for me.

First of all, I could not develop any empathy or sympathy for the MC. Alex was constantly whining about everything, complaining about everything, and wouldn't take responsibility for any of her actions, including all the past ones we learned about. And all because she was maybe confused about her sexuality? Sorry, doesn't give one a pass for poor and sulky behaviour. I did like how she was suffering from writer's block and would have liked to have that theme explored a bit more rather than solved the way it did. I just didn't buy into why she started writing again.

And Roza, what's up with her? Why do we always have to treat horror writers as such eerie characters? This bought right into the typical stereotype and I wasn't buying into it. You've got this famous writer who has all of these character quirks (ok, I forgive those as who doesn't have them), but to give your writers LSD and to mock them in a very hurtful way thinking the person will tap into their emotions so they can writer better is not something we want to encourage as a positive thing. And don't even get me started on the hallucinations and sexual encounters, not knowing whether you've actually had sex or if the encounter was a dream.

I was actually hoping for a cut-throat writing competition, but that's not what the plot was about. There were some interesting moments in the first half as I learned about the various contestants and about the house, but all the characters seemed to be full of angst, and the MC was the most annoying one of all, constantly whining about how no one likes her and no one wants to hang around her, talking about how she needs to get the women on her side first, as if they are in freaking high school. The story asks the reader to overlook too many things and I just can't do that when you have to do it all the time throughout the book. So, the story starts to go downhill about halfway through and that's pretty much where you lost me.

Verdict
The Writing Retreat was a more superficial book as both the story line and the characters never really showed any depth. The MC's struggles with both her writing and her sexuality were shallow and mad her character come across as whiny rather than someone who is truly struggling. The other reveals were not that much better, as the author makes use of a lot of stereotypes and a lot of tropes to create drama and angst and it comes across as campy. I wish I could have liked this book better than I did as the premise was interesting, but unfortunately, I just couldn't warm up to the characters or the story line.

Happy Publication Day!

A once-in-a-lifetime opportunity has our protagonist Alex, an aspiring writer and associate editor in a publishing company, attending a month-long writing retreat at the home of famous horror author Roza Vallo at her home, Blackbriar Estate in the Adirondacks. Among the four other aspiring writers is Wren, her former best friend with whom her problems remain unresolved. However, this is not an opportunity to be missed and Alex is thrilled to be attending unwilling to let Wren’s presence ruin this experience for her.

Roza has them following a rigorous schedule as far as the writing goes, expecting them to write a full- length novel by the end of the month, motivating them with a lucrative publishing deal for the “winner”, whose novel would be judged as the best. With her struggles with writer's block, escalated tensions with Wren, Roza’a unorthodox methods of running her retreat, the isolated location and eerie occurrences in the house which has an interesting history (to put it mildly) surrounding its original owners, Alex soon realizes that this retreat is not going to be a cakewalk. What follows is a thrilling ride with secrets, lies, manipulation and hidden agendas that has the group oscillating between sticking together and suspicion directed toward each other and their enigmatic facilitator/mentor Roza. What is to be seen is how far would each of them go to fulfill their dreams and at what cost.

The first-person narrative is shared from Alex’s PoV with excerpts from her book interspersed throughout the novel. With its atmospheric setting and Gothic vibes, complicated characters, consistent pacing and intricate plot, Julia Bartz’s The Writing Retreat is a dark and suspenseful psychological thriller with bold feminist overtones. Though not completely unpredictable, there are enough surprises along the way to keep you hooked. If you can suspend disbelief and don’t mind OTT , this will prove to be an entertaining read! This is the kind of book that you would want to finish in one sitting! Overall, The Writing Retreat is an impressive debut and I look forward to reading more from this talented new author in the future.

Many thanks to the author, Atria Books and NetGalley for the digital review copy. All opinions expressed in this review are my own.

Started with too many characters and I wasn't in the mood to keep track.

The novel started off slow but picked up within the first 75 pages. We follow Alex, an aspiring writer who received a last-minute chance to participate in a writing retreat held by her favorite author, Roza Vallo, at her estate...in the middle of nowhere.

The story was a slow build, but good. I enjoyed the characters and trying to figure out what was actually happening in the background. There were subtle hints and twists that kept me hanging on. The characters were all interesting and unlikeable at the same time. Everyone was a hot mess. I was never really rooting for anyone, not even the FMC, I mostly wanted to know what was going on. The story kept me intrigued, and I enjoyed the ending. I liked that it was an unhappy, happy ending.

It was slow going, but I made it to the end. What a disappointment this was! I had read so many good reviews of THE WRITING RETREAT, my expectations were high.

This has a good premise. Alex, a writer, is invited to a writing retreat at the secluded home of a famous author who she has greatly admired for many years. So she quits her job, goes on the retreat, and meets the four other female writers who were also invited, one who she has known intimately. Yes, our female Alex is discovering her sexuality throughout the book.

Right away it gets creepy. But Alex and the others are so enamored with their hostess, the famous author, that they accept what I think should be unacceptable. And, of course, they get snowed in, so they can't leave, anyhow.

What could have been exciting is slow and stretched out. I truly cannot recommend THE WRITING RETREAT.

I need to read the description of books better, this was firmly a thriller/suspense book, and I was hoping for a mystery. It starts out slowly, and spirals out of control, but I appreciate that commitment to the insanity. A good time, but not one I'll come back to.

This book is Dark, Demented and Deadly. And oh yeah coming from a debut author, it was every thing a dark thriller reader loves.
Don’t let the mixed reviews scare you away from this book, especially if you enjoy dark atmospheric locked room thriller/ mysteries, which includes sapphic relationships.

Alex has writers block, but she finds herself invited to a writers retreat with four other women. The retreat is hosted by Roza Vallo, a famous horror writer. The women have to produce a novel whilst there and the winner will receive a publishing deal.

This is another hyped book that I wanted to try, but I really didn't get on with it all. The book did start very promising with its premise. The storyline did have promise but as the book progressed it went very thrillerland and really quite ridiculous.

The first half I must say had me invested up to the point of the first twist which I didn't see coming. After that I totally lost interest and didn't much care for the rest of the book. I didn't like the sex scenes or the bad language either. In no prude but this book did make me feel uncomfortable.

Disappointed with this book and I do see it has mixed reviews. You will either love it or hate it.

I'm not sure what I was expecting to read, but this was not it. It was good, but not great - but hell it kept me turning pages so that counts for something. Alex has had writer's block for a year. She hasn't written a single solitary word. But then a golden opportunity lands on her lap. Her big time author friend secured a spot for her at Roza Vallo's exclusive writing retreat, the trip of a lifetime. Roza Vallo is one of the most exclusive and exciting authors of the past few decades and has decided to mentor a few upcoming female authors under the age of 30 for a monthlong writing retreat. When she arrives at the retreat she discovers that her former best friend is also there - what are the odds?! But that's not the only strange thing that's going on. A twisty thriller that is fun - but a bit odd (or flat out unbelievable) at parts.

This book had such great advance reviews, so I was really looking forward to reading it. It started off okay, with a tension between a few of the characters, and the intrigue of a writer's retreat. However, things go quickly off the rails. It is dark and twisted and gory. It is a book I was glad to end.
There are a lot of drug induced dreams, graphic sex scenes, demons, and murder.
My advice? Skip it.

This had a lot of promise, but it just got so over the top that I couldn’t really get into it the second half. First half, on point - invested in the characters, the concept of the writing retreat at the secluded estate of the reclusive author - yesss! But then I found myself not loving the main character as time went on, her self-pity was pretty up there. And then the second half reared its ugly head. Some people will no doubt love the horror aspect of it, how supremely messed up it all is. But that someone was not me.½

When Alex is invited to an exclusive writing workshop with superstar author Roza Vallo she is thrilled. She has worshiped the writer of feminist horror novels since she was a teenager. There are only two catches. The first -- since her best friend Wren ghosted her a year ago, Alex hasn't written a word, and second -- Wren will be there. But this is her last and best chance to chase her dreams and so of course Alex goes to the writing retreat. Awkwardness with an ex-friend turns out to be the smallest of the problems Alex will face at the retreat, because Roza's house is hiding more than nervous writers and Roza has a plan of her own.

This is the kind of thriller that starts strong and then just keeps piling on new elements until it all becomes ridiculous. But if you read the first chapter, in which a feminist woman author of horror novels is a star, complete with covers of fashion magazines and appearances that sell out in a matter of minutes, who is nonetheless described as "reclusive," you've already agreed to suspend all of your critical facilities to this book. Julia Bartz left nothing on the table when she wrote this thing and you've got to appreciate how she manages to keep raising the stakes. Is this a good book? Absolutely not. Is it a good thriller? Not if you need your thrillers to make sense. Is it a fun read? Yes, it is, as long as you keep turning the pages without thinking too deeply about what just happened. And you've got to like a novel in which an author (I imagined Silvia Moreno-Garcia in the role) is a celebrity made unimaginably wealthy through her handful of feminist horror novels.