Author: Julia Bartz
Narrator: Gail Shalan
Genre: Mystery/Thriller, Horror
First published February 21, 2023
Book description: A book deal to die for.
Five attendees are selected for a month-long writing retreat at the remote estate of Roza Vallo, the controversial high priestess of feminist horror. Alex, a struggling writer, is thrilled.
Upon arrival, they discover they must complete an entire novel from scratch, and the best one will receive a seven-figure publishing deal. Alex’s long-extinguished dream now seems within reach.
But then the women begin to die.
Trapped, terrified yet still desperately writing, it is clear there is more than a publishing deal at stake at Blackbriar Estate. Alex must confront her own demons – and finish her novel – to save herself.
Review:
This is a quick and intriguing read. The plot is over the top and it has an overly convenient ending. This is a fantastic debut.
It kicks off with Alex, an aspiring writer who is trapped in a sucking soul-dead-end job. She has not been able to write in over a year. She hates her overbearing boss at a publishing company. The drama starts off slow, she had a falling off with her best friend and roommate, Wren. Alex is an unlikable character, but maybe that's a me thing.
The build-up is intriguing, initially, you get very little information. The friends had a sudden fallout, and after that, the cherry on top is an altercation in a restaurant or something like that, it ended up with a big injury which made all the rest of the friend circle side with Wren and leave Alex on a small corner.
In a huge lucky hit, Alex's one real friend manages to get Alex into a very exclusive writing retreat organized by a reclusive and very famous author. The downside, being friends with both Alrex and Wren, the friend recommended them both for the retreat and on an even more lucky hit, an exception is made and both girls are accepted. That's where it all starts.
The main character Alex and her love interest are the one thing that rubbed me the wrong way. The others were somewhat ok, but we need to get more from them to be able to make a good idea. Alex does start as a huge hot mess and she does come to terms and stop trying to play the victim- she starts to accept responsibility for the consequences of her actions. Taking accountability at least in her own mind is a huge step. The character growth we see is pretty good, still does not make her a favorite character. She still has ways to go, but we can't expect her immature attitude to stay after the traumatic experience she lived through.
The plot is interesting, we have a great reveal some you see coming and some were a bit harder to predict. Also worth mentioning, the book Alex is writing during the retreat is also included here and it follows the plot of what's happening in their "real life" so you will either love it or just have fun rolling your eyes on those sections.
It does mention lesbian couples in different stages, but they are all examples of toxic relationships. I was not rooting for any of them but that might be different for other people. I want to say that the sexual undertones cause me secondhand embarrassment but again that might be simply because that is very easily done.
This was used for the challenges:
Literally dead book club.
2023 Release
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