Review: The Writing Retreat - Julia Bartz

Review: The Writing Retreat - Julia Bartz- February 2023

This particular book has been sitting on my Kindle and staring me in the face, I wanted to read it but you know how sometimes you are scared to read a book as you hear so many great things about it, that you worry as a reader it might disappoint the excitement you have built up in your head. That's how I felt about this book, except once I finished it - it didn't disappoint as it was amazing and despite the writing retreat ending up the way it did in this book, it has inspired me to go back on one as I had been on a few in past years before Covid and enjoyed the weekends away and writing and spending time with like-minded people. This book starts with friends now enemies Alex and Wren and us learning a bit about their past and how this argument and friend break-up caused Alex not to write for a whole year. When one of their mutual friends learns that their favourite author's writers retreat has had a couple of dropouts, she puts Alex and Wren's names forward. The two get accepted and head to horror writer Roza Zallo's estate for a chance to spend a week with her and learn some great writing tips. When they arrive, they meet the other writers Poppy, Taylor, and Kiera. This week will be one that the five of them will never forget. However, strange things happen during the week and soon they realise, they have been pulled into a strange twisted game where they are the children and Roza is the Wicked Witch. One by one, we watch as the participants fall away but who will be left as the survivor or winner of Roza's writing prize? Imagine if Charlie and the Chocolate Factory with Gene Wilder was a horror film and every time one of the Golden ticket winners disappeared, they were gone for good - then you would have The Writing Retreat by Julia Bartz.  If you love horror stories, murder mysteries, thrillers, and writing - then The Writing Retreat is the book for you and one that everyone should add to their 2023 reading lists as it does not disappoint as one of my top reads for this year. 

Amazon: https://amzn.to/3UMJ8hd