A review by bookishbabe93
The Writing Retreat by Julia Bartz

challenging dark emotional inspiring mysterious reflective tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

I read a majority of this book during an ice storm. As the wind howled, upended trees, downed power lines and sent my world into a chilly darkness this book kept me warm. It isn’t perfect a diamond in the rough and its story is one that’s not entirely original it’s been perfected over hundreds of novels.

A secluded beautiful home, a storm, a mystery, and the tantalizing struggle to survive.

Yet it felt new to me… felt fresh and ripe and brimming with sweet acidic prose. Like a dark poisonous flower. At its heart this book was an homage to writers so I am well aware that won’t translate to every reader…but it translated to me. This book speaks to me fluently. With its complicated relationships and nuanced female characters… it speaks and speaks and speaks.

I finished this book cocooned in the bubbles of a soothing hot bath a month after the ice melted and the lights turned on again. I spent the final hours deeply engaged as the novel hit its crescendo and entered the final few chapters. The once steamy water had grown tepid the bubbles faded… I didn’t care. I had to finish it…I had to know the end of Alex’s story.

That’s what this book was, a story about stories. A love letter to characters and the manic process of creation…of writing worlds and people and plots. Not only did this book cure my reading slump brought on from an overly prosed 700 page fantasy it also stoked the spark of my muse…coaxing her back to life and igniting that desire once more to write.


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