Reviews tagging 'Grief'

The Writing Retreat by Julia Bartz

20 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

vj_thompson's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

Very interesting book. I preferred the story within the story. Would recommend the audiobook. The narrator truly embodied the characters.

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Drug use, Gun violence, Racism, Bullying, Gaslighting, Grief, Cursing, Vomit, and Violence

Minor: Fire/Fire injury, Suicide, Racism, Antisemitism, Excrement, and Child abuse

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

leanne_miron's review

dark mysterious tense medium-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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Injury/Injury detail, Drug abuse, Gaslighting, Kidnapping, Murder, Sexual content, Confinement, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Lesbophobia and Grief

kshertz's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional medium-paced

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

4.0

There were a lot of twists and turns. At some point it becomes almost too much, too unbelievable. A little scary! But besides some plot holes, I was totally engrossed in the book. It’s a thriller for sure and I was so curious to see how it was all going to turn out. The ending was satisfying for me!

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Blood, Body horror, Drug use, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Gore, Murder, Racism, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Death, and Gaslighting

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

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

ecn's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

• 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

4.75

I can definitely say this book got me out of a reading slump!

It’s a thriller so the writing isn’t as flowery/deep as I usually like to read, but this one was still 😘👌🏻 chefs kiss

There were so many twists and so many different factors that actually kept me entertained and hooked into what would happen. So aspects were predictable (how different can you possibly make a thriller?) but still fun to watch it play out and keep guessing

I’m a HUGE sucker for anything involving writers retreats/trapped bc of a blizzard/mirrored symbols/suspense/paranormal and this one had almost all of that!

Perfect amazing brilliant choice for either a cabin retreat (duh) OR a beach read imo

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Death, Drug abuse, Toxic relationship, Torture, Gun violence, Grief, Violence, Lesbophobia, Murder, Homophobia, Gaslighting, Confinement, Toxic friendship, Injury/Injury detail, Racism, Outing, Kidnapping, Excrement, Emotional abuse, Drug use, Body horror, Blood, and Abandonment

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