Publication Date: August 13, 2019
Publisher: Forge Books
Rating: ★★★★
Four women.
Four secrets.
A weekend that will change them forever…if they survive.Katie Manning was a beloved child star until her mid-teens when her manager attacked and permanently scarred her face, effectively ending her career and sending her on a path of all-too-familiar post-Hollywood self-destruction.
Now twenty-seven, Katie wants a better answer to those clickbait “Where Are They Now?” articles that float around online. An answer she hopes to find when her brother’s too-good-to-be-true fianc�e invites her to a wellness retreat upstate. Together with Katie’s two best friends–one struggling with crippling debt and family obligations, one running away from a failed job and relationship–Katie will try to find the inner peace promised at the tranquil retreat. But finding oneself just might drudge up more memories than Katie is prepared to deal with.
Each woman has come to the retreat for different reasons. Each has her secrets to hide. And at the end of this weekend, only one will be left standing.
Review:
Thank you to Sherri Smith, Forge Books, and NetGalley for a free copy of The Retreat in exchange for an honest review.
This story focuses on four women- Katie, Carmen, Ellie, and Ariel. It goes through describing each of their lives while describing what is currently happening at a “getaway” weekend retreat. From reading this, you see that all four women have starkly different ways of life and the things that they’ve been through. The best part was the secrets that each woman was trying to keep under wraps.
The characters in this book was my favorite part. They were all severely flawed and all had things they wanted kept hidden. They were so easy to hate, but I really enjoyed learning about their stories and why they were at this retreat. I read the end of the book in one straight shot because I needed to know what was going to happen based on the BOMB that is dropped on you in the first chapter.
The unpredictability was out-of-this-world. I loved the twists and turns when they were warranted. The only reason why I didn’t give this book five stars is because it was a lot. It was pretty tiring having something happen every other page.
However, I will say, the ending…PHEW! Totally unexpected and well worth the wait! I actually gasped out loud when I read over the final piece of dialogue. This was one of the endings that I think will stay with me. One word to describe this book: riveting.
Lacey's Library 