The Writing Retreat

Rating: 3 Stars

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, month-long 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 complete an entire novel from scratch during the next month, and the author of the best one will recieve 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.

This book sounded like it was going to be an amazing, fast paced, shocking thriller. However, it kind of fell flat for me. I will admit it was a fun read and the author is super engaging. Not to mention it's pretty impressive that within the story she develops like 4 other stories. I just struggled because I really could not connect with the main character. Her major personality trait was whiny victim for the most part. I wasn't really a fan of any of the other characters either. I felt like some plot lines were harped on like they would be important and then played a minimal role. I think the book had a lot of potential, and I will admit a couple elements of the big reveal shocked me, but it wasn't mind-blowing and honestly towards the end it just felt like it drug on and was never going to end. I think that it was too quickly wrapped up and didn't resolve anything fundamental. Overall this one was not one that I would read again, although I thought the concept had a lot of potential.