Reviews

The Writing Retreat by Julia Bartz

saram84's review

dark tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

kimpr0bable's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

ecurry's review

adventurous mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

_vickyharvey's review

adventurous dark tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

lizarr's review against another edition

3.0

Entertaining but I didn't like any of the characters and didn't really care about what would happen to them.

itsmemaj's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.25

vickimcosta's review

3.0

3.5 stars.
I feel thorn about my rating because on one end I had so much fun reading this crazy story, the author took her chances and she did a great job. However I will say, after the 60% mark, when things started getting revealed, the scenes felt a little rushed and I felt like I didn't have the time to feel the emotions I was supposed to feel.

Overall I do recommend this book if you're looking for something fun that you won't be able to put down! Just don't overthink, and let yourself enjoy the story without taking it too seriously.

cherrybomb743's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

bunsoburrito's review

slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.0

I thoroughly disliked this.  

To begin, the book badly needed another round of editing. I'm continuously appalled at how these books get traditionally published. The grammar was poor, some of the descriptions made no sense and at one point, I was convinced the author just used the thesaurus to replace a word. Overall, the entire book felt like the author was trying to make the writing smarter than it actually was, and failing terribly. 

I found Alex insufferable from the beginning and alas, this did not get better throughout the course of the book. The rest of the characters weren't well carved out either. I connected with none of the characters and literally did not care if they lived or died. 

Also I didn't understand the point of Alex having this sexual awakening or the whole commentary with Kiera because it eventually wasn't resolved or really touched on in the end. Some of Alex's thought process at the height of danger was so random and gross- it felt like a poor replication of works like Oteessa Moshfegh. In my opinion, writing the ending in a retrospective manner was a terrible choice.

ryanalawson's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix

3.0