I am delighted to share my review today for The Writing Retreat by Julia Bartz. This is a wonderful book and it will make you think twice about going on a retreat!

My huge thanks to Anne at Random Things Tours for my spot on the Blog Tour and for arranging my copy of the book from Magpie Publishers.

There was no radio. No phone. No connection to the outside world. We were completely on our own.

Alex, a struggling young writer, is delighted to join four other hopefuls at a month-long writing retreat with Roza Vallo, the controversial high priestess of feminist horror.

At the remote Blackbriar estate, they discover they must complete an entire novel from scratch, and the best one will receive a seven-figure publishing deal. Alex’s longed-for dream now seems within reach.

But then the women begin to die. Trapped, terrified, yet still desperately writing, it’s clear there is more than a publishing deal at stake. Alex must confront her own demons – and finish her novel – to survive.

It seemed so perfect, but turned out to be every writer’s worst nightmare…

MY REVIEW

This is a very dark read. A writing retreat run by Roza, a renowned author sounds great and it is in her own mansion. The mansion is isolated and becomes more inaccessible as the winter weather develops. The mansion also has a story of its own!

There are five female budding authors at this retreat along with a small staff and of course the author. The idea is that this retreat will give these five women a chance to work on a story, get tips and advice as they go and hopefully come away with a publishing deal.

As I mentioned this is dark, and the history of the mansion gradually emerges in one of the stories. The main focus is on Alex, she knows one of the other women and they have a history that isn’t as friendly or as close as it was. The other women are all unknown, but five women don’t really pair off as there is always going to be an odd one out.

As the author brings her characters out and explains the reasons for the retreat and also shows Roza’s character to be more unexpected than you first realise.

This is a tense thriller that is also full of mystery and intrigue. With the story of the property, of Roza and the other women there is also another story that gradually emerges. It is a busy story but one that is at all times controlled, I do think the author has done a brilliant job with keeping all the threads clear, and each of the characters has their own part, although not always that obvious at the beginning.

I really enjoyed this one and at times it really had me on edge, this does have a twisted mystery element to it as well as being a thriller. A great read for me with this author and it is one I would happily recommend.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Julia Bartz is a Brooklyn-based writer and practicing therapist. Her sister, Andrea Bartz is a New York Times bestselling writer (most recently with We Were Never Here.) She is the author of the popular Psychology Today blog ‘My Pleasure: The New Science of Sex, Dating, and Self-Care’ and previously ran the Brooklyn literary blog BookStalker. Her fiction has been published in the South Dakota Review, FictionDaily and InDigest Magazine and has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize. The Writing Retreat is Julia’s first novel.

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