Review: The Writing Retreat by Julia Bartz

The Writing Retreat by Julia Bartz
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I was provided an ARC via Edelweiss+, all opinions are my own.  This book will be published February 21, 2023.

This had a really interesting premise, and I don't want to spoil anything for you since this is a thriller/mystery.  This follows Alex an aspiring writer who has been deep in the throws of depression after a fight with her now former best friend.  She has had writer's block since the incident, but luck shines on her and she gets invited to an exclusive retreat at the mysterious estate of her favorite author.  The catch is the ex-best friend will also be there with three other talented writers.  Alex loves the attention she is getting from her idol Roza as the retreat progresses, and her book is coming along nicely until Roza literally starts playing games with the women at the retreat.  Roza's tactics are a bit insane, and the women start to question their well being after one of the women goes missing.

Overall this was just OK for me.  I actually really enjoyed the snippets of Alex's book that she was writing for the retreat.  I didn't connect with Alex as the main character, she gave the impression of an unreliable narrator.  That isn't one of my favorite character traits, so I found it hard to invest in her.  Honestly I didn't connect with any of the characters.  There are alot of plot elements to keep track of and I would have preferred if the author had picked a few to really focus on and develop really well instead of throwing them all in here.  I never really got that suspenseful feeling, perhaps because it all seemed a bit farfetched.

I think this is going to appeal to alot of readers.

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