Reviews tagging 'Toxic friendship'

The Writing Retreat by Julia Bartz

118 reviews

maryconney's review

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Sexual content, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Gore, Fire/Fire injury, and Outing

bsesek's review

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence and Murder

Moderate: Confinement, Sexual content, Blood, Gaslighting, and Toxic friendship

writingbugtop's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional medium-paced

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

4.25

What the actual fuck 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, and Toxic friendship

aformeracceleratedreader's review against another edition

medium-paced

3.0

I liked the atmosphere and the idea of this book, but the execution for me was something left to be desired.
Would be open to reading more from this author but I won't be going out of my way or tracking any new release.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Gun violence, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Murder, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

knitterscasket's review against another edition

dark tense

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Kidnapping, Murder, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Sexual content and Alcohol

Wow, do not go to a writing retreat.

amandinesophie'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

3.0

The writing is not "it" and the excerpts we get from the character's novel are so, so bad, in many ways.

This was batsh*t crazy but entertaining. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Death, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Murder, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

vivisms_82's review against another edition

dark mysterious

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.25

5 wannabe writers win a competition to a writers' retreat with none other than acclaimed author Roza Vallo. Alex is selected to go. Unfortunately so is her ex best friend Wren, whom she hasn't spoken since an incident happened a year ago. Once the true reason for the retreat becomes apparent, the real action begins. This book is like Nine Perfect Strangers, but at a writers' retreat. Ok the last third, it is definitely a page turner however the quality of the writing is a bit inconsistent (the pacing for instance). The explicit sex scenes seemed out of place as did the over the top villains. Also I could not stand Wren and was crossing my fingers she would become a victim, she was so annoying and vile. The baddies were less irritating. Highlight is Keira - I wish she had more air time :)

The ending will definitely not be to everyone's liking.

The ending... Roza sending Alex a text that for some reason makes Alex reflect and give Roza credit for inspiring her and pushing her to write her successful novel was beyond bonkers. Sure every one of Roza's bestsellers were written by someone else that she either killed or manipulated, is an accomplice to 4 murders, not to mention enslavement of 5 people, holding them in a cell, drugging them, depriving them of adequate food and water but aside from these minor things, she got Alex to write a bestseller so all was worth it and is obviously peachy and forgiven.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcoholism, Confinement, Death, Drug use, Sexual content, Slavery, Toxic relationship, Violence, Murder, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol

dsans's review

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Drug use, Gore, Gun violence, Sexual content, Blood, Excrement, Murder, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail

angievansprang's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

This was a fantastic thriller and a stunning debut from Bartz. I was pleasantly surprised at how much of a front-running theme female queerness was in this story. It discusses profanely complicated and fucked up relationships between women, the intrinsic competition we can sometimes seek with one another (especially in academic settings), and the nature to ultimately band together in the end. I loved this. My only notes are that I felt some plot points were a bit predictable, although overall I did not guess the ending. I also felt that the topic of race & discrimination in the publishing space could have been explored more. It felt like a bit of an afterthought tossed into a few scenes. I will be looking to read more of Bartz’s work!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Blood, Kidnapping, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Gun violence, Sexual content, Violence, Lesbophobia, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Excrement, Vomit, Murder, and Fire/Fire injury

matcha_cat's review against another edition

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? It's complicated

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Drug use, Sexual content, Murder, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Confinement, Gun violence, Violence, Blood, and Alcohol

Minor: Racism and Injury/Injury detail