I found this to be an OK read. Bella is finding it difficult to let go of her son as he starts Uni and she embarks on her own adventure, paid for by her sister. I was interested by the premise of this storyline, but, for me it didn't really deliver. I found it repetitive and the lead character of Bella, so obsessed with her son, irritating. However, there are elements of suspense and a good mix of characters.

It's not a bad read, just, not one for me.

Thanks to HQ digital for the opportunity to preview.

This was a very disturbing but good read.

Thoroughly enjoyed from start to finish and could not get enough of.

This is a must read for anyone who enjoys a good thriller!!

Very mixed feelings on this book and unfortunately left me feeling very underwhelmed.
The first 40% of the book had me interested- learning the characters sand getting used to the authors style but after that, it became frustrating slow and very predictable.
There were also random bits in that made no sense to me in relation to the story.
Thus could have progressed well but lacked the intelligence and detail of the story development.
Thank you to the author and Netgalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

The Wilderness Retreat is a phenomenal thriller from start to finish. Filled to the brim with twists and a captivating plot, this one is sure to keep readers hooked. The characters are well-developed. The story is incredibly fast-paced. This is one not to be missed! Highly recommended! Be sure to check out The Wilderness Retreat asap.

With thanks to Netgalley for a free copy for review. Bella's son is off to university and her sister has bought her a holiday at a retreat to take her mind off it, that is kind of the jist of the story. However, Bella finds the retreat creepy.

I am afraid to say that I did not find this book as enjoyable as I had hoped. I found Bella's obsession with her son a little weird, there's missing your child but Bella takes this to the extreme! I didn't find the story very atmospheric. It seemed a long time before something happened and it wasn't until the end of the book when I wanted to keep reading, but mainly just to find out what had actually happened!

When Bella’s son goes off to uni, she heads off for a week in Sweden, at a wilderness retreat, organised by her sister. Instead of the distraction she’s looking for however, it becomes a nightmare. The university lecturer she had a one night stand with 19 years previously turns up with his wife. But does he recognise her?

It appears that Bella is not the only guest with secrets. The first 80% of the book deals with Bella’s paranoia as she becomes convinced that someone is up to no good. The action only gets going towards the end.

There are definitely some odd things going on at the retreat but some of them seem to be thrown in as deliberate subterfuge. There is a large cast of characters but none of them are particularly well rounded. The author throws in a few details about each one to make the reader wonder if they’re under threat themselves or if maybe they’re the one presenting the danger. T’s random fact about his past (dating app developer) is the most random of all!

I didn’t find Bella a particularly likeable character. I wished she would just go back to her room & lock herself in until the end of the week, which is what someone so genuinely scared for their life would do. It also would have got us to the end of the story a bit quicker.

I didn’t find this particularly gripping, which was disappointing because I’ve read the author’s previous book and quite enjoyed it.

I received a free copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I was very excited to read this thriller, but was pretty disappointed. For me it lacked everything I enjoy in a thriller.

SYNOPSIS:

"As Bella drops her son off at university, she’s devastated. It’s been the two of them ever since Asher was born. The only thing helping her through is the upcoming week-long wilderness retreat in Sweden. It’ll be her chance to reconnect and recharge.

At the retreat, Bella basks in the beauty of the modern lodge, with its luxury rooms and picture-perfect views, the glistening lake and lush forest. For the full detox effect, everyone must surrender their phones.

The holiday seems idyllic until the person who ruined Bella’s life years ago arrives, threatening everything she’s worked hard for and will do anything to protect. Suddenly, a terrified Bella is trapped in the wild, knowing someone wants her dead…" Goodreads.


MY THOUGHTS:

- I love a page turner and for me this was not one, it felt very slow and confused.

- It wasn't fast-paced and the protagonist was irritating.

- With so many characters, that didn't feel hugely well defined, I found keeping track of who's who tricky.

- Overall it just wasn't my kinda thriller, it felt drawn out, confused, repetitive and unremarkable at times.

I received an ARC of this book thanks to NetGalley and publisher HQ in exchange for an honest review.

The Wilderness Retreat tells the story of Bella, a woman who goes on a holiday to console herself after her son has just left for college. Once at the retreat, she realises her old college professor is also on the trip. Shortly after, weird things start happening to her and she becomes worried that something isn't quite right.

Unfortunately, this book commits the cardinal thriller sin of just being a bit too boring. Bella is not the most interesting character but I liked her at first. The problem came when I'd reached 60% of the way through the book, no one was dead yet and the same few things kept on happening. Something weird happens to Bella, she tells everyone about it and looks crazy, she begins to wonder if she is crazy. Rinse, repeat.

I felt everything was heading in a quite obvious direction and unfortunately, that made the slow pacing all the more frustrating. It's not a bad book but it is a pretty forgettable one.

Overall Rating: 3.5 stars

A great psychological thriller with lots of twists and turns. Thank you for the opportunity to read it.

An intriguing and slightly different psychological thriller set in a claustrophobic Scandinavian retreat. Single mum Bella has been encouraged by her sister and son to head off to holiday in a remote 'wellness' retreat as she struggles letting go as her son starts life at university; this is the starting point as her past life, told in flash backs, appears to be catching up with her.
It is told in a way that gradually grips you as you wonder how reliably we can trust Bella's thoughts and experiences. The beautiful setting, away from the world, is initially enticing but not sure I'll be booking a retreat any time soon.
Thanks to netgalley for the chance to read this great thriller.

There are a lot of books out there with the remote, cut off theme but this is all that and more. A great story with so many twists. A good premise to the story and a great ending.

I love a book about a retreat so i was super excited to read this one, thanks to Netgalley! This book was weird, strange but kept me hooked. There were a few characters to keep up with and at times I did get a little lost along the way however I ended up enjoying this read. Defiantly recommend to my thriller lovers.

I really enjoyed this tense locked-in thriller. I loved the location, the characters (who were let’s say a “different” bunch) and the way Bella’s past tied in with the story.

I found the scratching sounds that Bella heard very eerie and unsettling. Their description was so vivid and my imagination ran so wild that I could swear I heard them in my own bedroom!

I liked the fact that everyone had their secrets and you couldn’t trust anyone. At one stage, I wasn’t even trusting Bella, and she was the main character.

Yo sun up , it is an absolutely gripping read that will leave you shaken long after you finish it.

Bella goes away on a Wilderness retreat in a secluded part of Sweden which her son and sister bought her as a gift. She's experiencing the empty nest syndrome and thought it might also help with her musical compositions she's writing to.
However, she quickly feels very unsettled and has a lot of paranoid episodes there and doesn't know who to trust. Found it a wee bit repetitive but the ending was good

I didn’t really enjoy this book as much as I was hoping - the description sounded good however it was disappointing. It was very slow, and I got bored and there was too many characters to try to keep up with.

Music composer Bella and her son Asher are inseparable. When Asher goes off to university, Bella feels lost. To help her cope, Asher and Bella's sister book her a week long wilderness retreat break in Sweden.

Bella is looking forward to the trip, but has an uneasy feeling once she gets to the forest, the lodge is luxurious yet something doesn't feel right. And then odd things keep happening, keys go missing, mildly threatening notes are left, has someone been in her room? She discovers that the celebrity guest for the week is someone from her past, and just when she can't take it any more, a storm blocks the route to the airport.

This is a twisty thriller, where you as the reader will suspect anyone and everyone. There are lots of red herrings, suspicious behaviour and definitely a sense of... is it just Bella?

This was a slow burn, lots of character details which I enjoyed, and kept me on the edge of my seat. I'm not sure I thoroughly enjoyed it, purely because I was so tense reading it!

The Wilderness Retreat is a bit of a slow burner, with an increasingly chilling atmosphere. When Bella waves her son Asher off to start his university course, she sets off for a holiday retreat in a rural part of Sweden, a gift from her sister. Bella hasn't even set foot on the plane to her destination before she meets and feels slightly annoyed by one of her fellow guests on the retreat, and so the scene is set for a holiday that's more than she bargained for.

Although The Wilderness Retreat has an obviously creepy setting, with woods, a lake and roads that tend to get blocked by fallen trees, for quite a large part of the novel it isn't at all clear that anything substantial is happening. There are things that unsettle Bella, but it's hard to know whether or not she's over-reacting a lot of the time, and she often seems to be acting out of character in her outbursts and drinking. One major provocation for Bella is that having been promised a special mystery guest on the retreat, the guest turns out to be someone from her past that she'd do anything to avoid seeing.

The story does subtly darken as it continues, until in the closing chapters all becomes clearer, and a lot of the early events start to make more sense, It's a bit of a risky strategy for there to be so much uncertainty around the main character for so long, and to have a thriller that initially seems to have only mildly irritating things happening in it, but I am glad I read until the end.

I enjoyed this, but it needed a good edit and was far too long in places. Some of the characterisation was OTT too, particularly the budding writer and Hamar.

I was really looking forward to reading this book after reading the blurb but unfortunately it didn’t live up to my expectations. The story focuses on Bella who has a son Asher, who as I got further into the book I was sick of reading about how much she missed him. I found the story repetitive and I was bored waiting for something to happen to the point where I was seeing what percentage of the book I had left so that it would be over. I’m afraid this book wasn’t for me.

This is such an immersive locked door thriller, the perfect retreat turned terrible nightmare. I started this one evening and found myself flying through the pages unable to stop. I found myself doubting everything were told and the multiple motives of the guests make it feel so claustrophobic and dark. I think this book would be perfect for you if you like isolated thrillers like The Sanatorium and The Guest List.