Summary

At one exclusive writer’s retreat, it’s publish and perish…

Alex has all but given up on her dreams of becoming a published author when she receives a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity: attend an exclusive monthlong writing retreat at the estate of feminist horror writer Roza Vallo. Even the knowledge that Wren, her former best friend and current rival, is attending doesn’t dampen her excitement. 

But when the attendees arrive, Roza drops a bombshell – they must all complete an entire novel from scratch during the next month, and the author of the best one will receive a life-changing seven-figure publishing deal. Determined to win this seemingly impossible contest, Alex buckles down and tries to ignore the strange happenings at the estate, including Roza’s erratic behavior, Wren’s cruel mind games, and the alleged haunting of the mansion itself. But when one of the writers vanishes during a snowstorm, Alex realizes that something very sinister is afoot. With the clock running out, she must discover the truth – or suffer the same fate. 

A claustrophobic and propulsive thriller exploring the dark side of female relationships and fame, The Writing Retreat is the unputdownable debut novel from a compelling new talent.

Why I chose to read this book
I’d love to go on a month-long writing retreat myself, escape every-day life and focus solely on writing. Alas, I will escape by living vicariously through this book instead.

Thoughts & Opinions

Oh where do I start with this… I loved the premise and am super envious at the thought of going away for one month on a writing retreat. I would love to be able to concentrate on writing a novel with little to no distraction, what a dream! But The Writing Retreat was more like a nightmare. There was something off right from the beginning, something that bothered me and I couldn’t quite put my finger on it. 

We are introduced to Alex, an aspiring author with obsessive tendencies. We quickly find out that she is not over the end of her friendship with Wren. They somehow both end up at the same writing retreat (of course), hosted by the elusive author Roza Vallo, whom everyone seems to worship. 

We are also introduced to the other retreat participants, all women. I couldn’t quite connect to any of the characters and felt removed from their stories and personalities. The women are told they have to write a brand new book within the next month, for a chance to win a publishing deal. They each have to present their progress to the group on a daily basis and provide constructive criticism, and of course impress Roza Vallo, as she will determine the winner at the end of the retreat. Lots of opportunities here to create a toxic anxiety-inducing competitive environment between the participants but the story didn’t really go in that direction. 

Peppered in throughout the book were excerpts from Alex’s novel-in-progress, which I really didn’t care for – not my type of story at all. For this reason alone, I almost abandoned this book but I wanted to get through it to see if it would get better. 

The twists towards the end were interesting but not enough to make up for the rest of the book. The Writing Retreat was unfortunately not my cup of tea which is surprising because all the elements of a captivating story are there but it somehow just never quite came together and it simply didn’t hit the mark for me. I found myself annoyed by the characters, the outcome, and the ending. Ultimately I felt duped because I thought I was really going to like this book.