The Writing Retreat: A New York Times bestseller

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I liked how the author built the tension. I was suspicious of everyone. There were so many different occurrences that quite literally got under my skin, however, over time I began to fall out of love with all that was happening here. How does Alex learn about her queerness through her interactions with other characters in the book, including Wren, Roza, and Taylor? Why might it have taken her until her thirties to realize she’s bisexual? Have you heard of other stories of women coming out after 30? How do you see them framed? Slowly, I stood and flushed the toilet. At the sink a pretty girl washed her hands and avoided looking at me. She must have heard my retches. I wanted to burst into tears but I kept them firmly down. Your favorite author, we're talking a person whose words you have read since childhood, who has had a lasting impact on your life... Um why in the heavens would you invent a story of a Jewish woman falling in love with a n*zi during WWII. It really wasn’t integral to the story whatsoever.

This book is getting some well-deserved hype. I enjoyed Bartz’s writing style, and the novel is filled with tension, drama, and sexual undertones culminating in some serious craziness! Alex and Wren have a complicated history, all of which comes into play when they are forced together at the writing retreat. Were you surprised by any elements of their relationship? How did their relationship change under these extreme circumstances? In the last scene from The Great Commission, Daphne chooses a new name, Elizabeth. “She was leaving her old self behind” (299). Consider who at the writing retreat is trying to leave their old selves behind and why. Does anyone do so successfully? If so, at what cost?

Many thanks to NetGalley and Atria Books/ Emily Bestler Books for sharing this amazing digital reviewer copy with me in exchange my honest opinions. Multiple VERY sexually explicit scenes, including one where a character engages in sexual acts with a DEMON Compare and contrast Roza’s personality with Alex’s. How are they alike? How are they different? Does this change over the course of the novel? There was waaay too much wokeness for me. If you are looking for a far left leaning political agenda, then this might work for you. The sex was gross, weird, and frankly unnecessary. Demons? Nope, run far far away from the evils of this world! Drugs used to spike drinks! Since when is it ok to drug someone !?

This is fantastic debut! It seems like writing gift is genetic and runs in the family! This book introduces us Andrea Bartz’s sister Julia: such a gifted mind! She nailed it with her first work and I’ll look forward to read her future works! However, Bartz does a GREAT job exploring themes of self-discovery and empowerment in her many LGBTQ characters, and there are some decent twists. Since she was young, Alex has always had dreams of being a writer. But now, at thirty years old and still unpublished, she has all but given up on her goal. That is, until she comes face to face with a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to join the exclusive month long writing retreat with the famed horror author, Roza Vallo. There is only one problem. Her former best friend turned enemy, Wren, will be there as well. But surely they can behave as adults and coexist for a single month? I will say that I didn't understand the importance of the WIP novel we got excerpts of. I'm sure there was a deeper meaning behind them but I didn't catch on.Once there she realizes her ex best friend was also invited (cue the angst). But Rosa has more in store for the attendees than a casual getaway of peace, harmony and writing.

Alex and Wren. Wren and Alex. Two peas in a pod who bonded instantly at a shared workplace and continued their friendship for nearly a decade after. However, a year ago, something happened between Alex and Wren that ended their relationship for good. Now Alex is an anxious loner and Wren has poisoned all of their mutual friends against her, so when Alex finds out that both her and Wren have been accepted into a private, prestige-laden writing retreat with the duo's favorite author Roza Vallo, even the prospect of facing Wren in close quarters for a month isn't enough to derail her excitement. Once the group of aspiring authors arrive and settle in, strange things begin happening. Is Wren trying to sabotage Alex's chance at publishing her debut novel? What is Roza Vallo hiding? And how does the fable involving a seance gone wrong in Roza's estate over a century ago tie into everything? You'll have to read the book to find out!

Roza brings all those aspiring young authors together and tells the main purpose of their retreat: in one month they’ll start to write a book from the fresh, at least eighty one thousand words: each of them edit the other’s book and at the end of the retreat, one of their works will be chosen to be published! However, this book had me wanting to personally jump to the OTHER definition of retreat a bit too often. That is, "MAKE a retreat from an earlier commitment or activity"