Reviews tagging 'Mental illness'

The Writing Retreat by Julia Bartz

14 reviews

violetvulptex's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement and Sexual content

Moderate: Death, Blood, Drug use, Alcohol, Murder, Gun violence, Toxic relationship, Cursing, Torture, Toxic friendship, Violence, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Misogyny, Antisemitism, Child death, Death of parent, Grief, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Homophobia, Mental illness, Sexism, Transphobia, Bullying, Child abuse, Cultural appropriation, Racism, Religious bigotry, Domestic abuse, Excrement, and Gore

aliciavalenski's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Excrement, Gore, Death, Emotional abuse, Murder, Blood, Body horror, Confinement, Gaslighting, Gun violence, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Toxic friendship, and Toxic relationship

tamara_joy's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Toxic relationship, Drug use, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual content, Emotional abuse, Blood, Confinement, Gun violence, and Death

Moderate: Mental illness, Child abuse, and Grief

Minor: Child death, Cursing, Alcohol, Biphobia, and Lesbophobia

fadeddpages's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Sexual content, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Confinement, Cursing, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Grief, Toxic relationship, Violence, Murder, and Physical abuse

araowl's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Confinement, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Torture, Violence, Kidnapping, Murder, Death, and Sexual content

Moderate: Cursing, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Toxic relationship, Bullying, Physical abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Medical trauma, and Emotional abuse

Minor: Vomit, Sexism, Religious bigotry, Racism, Gun violence, Outing, Gaslighting, Excrement, Misogyny, Mental illness, and Child abuse

addysongilmore's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Mental illness, Murder, and Kidnapping

Moderate: Gaslighting, Sexual content, Torture, Drug use, Alcohol, Emotional abuse, Grief, and Blood

laurafrances's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Bullying, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, Violence, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Murder, Alcohol, Biphobia, Gore, Gun violence, Confinement, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Child death, Domestic abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Body horror, Excrement, Forced institutionalization, and Grief

greatexpectations77's review

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

This kept me interested, and I thought that the plot was written well. I was a little less jazzed about the inner lives of the characters, particularly Alex. Something felt a little too spelled out for me, and then when I read that the author is a therapist, I could nail it down. Sometimes the inner monologue feels too clinical. It's like the author knew what was normal for folks to think and go through and just listed those out. But people are messier than that and usually don't, in the moment, make those connections. It just took me out of the story a little bit.

Also, the sexual encounter that Alex talks about sounds non-consensual. She told her roommate to stop, the roommate didn't, and that's not consent. I was miffed that this wasn't specifically called out. Especially by a therapist?

Oh, also the narrator was too breathy, and I had to turn it up really loud, and I didn't think that was great. I felt like I missed words a lot and had to rewind.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Blood, Death, Toxic relationship, Bullying, Toxic friendship, and Confinement

Moderate: Drug use, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Murder, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, and Sexual assault

Minor: Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Racism, and Gun violence

blackcatkai's review against another edition

challenging dark tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

CW: death, violence (guns and otherwise), ableism, mental illness, emotional manipulation, murder, kidnapping, sexual content, toxic relationships (romantic & otherwise), drug use, torture, gore, alcohol use, body horror, racism, sexism

this was pretty good, especially for a debut, in my opinion. not a huge fan of how some mental illness was handled, especially the use of words like 'psycho' and such, but this was definitely entertaining. a couple twists, one of which I definitely saw coming, complicated characters, weird relationships, drama, and just kept my attention the entire time. I feel the pace was good, and it was well put together. I'd definitely read more from Bartz in the future.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Toxic friendship, Confinement, Body horror, Murder, Blood, Gore, Death, Sexual content, Panic attacks/disorders, Mental illness, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Toxic relationship, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Violence, and Gun violence

Moderate: Racism, Ableism, Sexism, and Grief

morellomel's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Murder, Toxic friendship, Confinement, Sexual content, Blood, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Child abuse and Mental illness