The Writing Retreat by Julia Bartz

Hello everyone.  I hope your day is going well.

Hubby and I are house people. We bought our first home, a townhouse, a month before we got married. Then we bought our haunted Victorian that had been divided into apartments, which we restored to single family. Next, we built a house, having fun getting the lot then picking the floor plan and finishes. We decided to do one more restoration, so we bought our current masterpiece, which is a classic craftsman. I think our next one will be a one story, it's the only thing we haven't done yet.  Anyway, I am frequently looking at real estate listings.  A couple of years ago, I saw the neatest house, well, estate in the mountains of New York.  This mansion had been empty for a long time and was in poor condition.  My husband was unimpressed with the dirty, but elaborate, woodwork, the large stable and garage both with living areas on top.  To be fair the old black slimy pool was terrifying and straight out of the movie Poltergeist.  I almost had him convinced that it would be a fun project until he saw the pictures with floating sheer white mists.  I argued it was the photographer's breath, but he refused to believe it.  He branded the house rambling with ghosts, surely hiding the worst of the Scooby Doo villains, and refused to look at it further.  To be honest, it was out of our price range, but a girl can dream. 

I recently read The Writing Retreat by Julia Bartz.  This is the author's debut novel.  This is the story of several women who go on a writing retreat.  Told from the perspective of Alex, a writer who has just about given up on her dream of becoming a published author.  The retreat is sponsored by Roza Vallo, a world-famous author.  Roza has restored a huge spooky, Manderley (Rebecca) type house.  Several young women are invited but only one will be given a million-dollar publishing deal.  They must write their novel, from start to finish, during this month-long retreat.  As the young story tellers try to keep up with the pace set by Roza, tempers flare.  The stress builds and the history of the old mansion and its connection to a demon becomes front and center.  The generous host becomes even odder, making the girls play bizarre games.  Happenings start to reach a frenzied pitch and one of the girls goes missing, making everyone wonder what is really going on at the retreat.

I enjoyed this entire story idea.  The plot moved along at a nice pace, keeping me interested.  The characters were well defined but not too much, they are all possible suspects for the odd occurrences.  The writing was interesting.  Words and sentence structure was more sophisticated than is often seen in thrillers.  I loved the atmospheric setting, which became enhanced as it becomes even more isolated.  The only thing that bothered me a bit, was that the story seemed to slow slightly at the end.  Usually, the end on a high note but this story seemed to peak a bit early using more of the end to get out of predicaments and a wrap up.  Honestly, although the slow down bothered me a smidge, I cannot think of any other way it could be written.  Really, a fun read.  I can't wait to see what the future holds for this talented author.

One thing is for sure, I won't be buying any house previously owned by an author!

**I uploaded this review just a few minutes ago.  Wondering what became of that house I liked, but hubby thought was Casper's dream, I googled it.  It's being investigated by multiple paranormal teams.... darn it.  I will never hear the end of how he was right!