A Middle-of-the-Road Tale

Laura Elliot's "The Marriage Retreat" offers a glimpse into the intricacies of relationships and the challenges faced during a retreat meant to heal and strengthen marriages. While the novel has its merits, it falls into the three-star category for various reasons.

The narrative unfolds with a promising premise, and Elliot skillfully portrays the dynamics between the characters, capturing the nuances of their emotions and struggles. The exploration of the retreat setting adds an interesting backdrop to the story, creating an immersive atmosphere.

However, the pacing tends to lag in certain parts, and the resolution of conflicts feels somewhat predictable. The character development, while present, lacks the depth needed to fully connect with their journeys. As a result, some moments that should have been emotionally resonant felt a bit flat.

"The Marriage Retreat" succeeds in shedding light on the complexities of love and relationships, but it doesn't quite reach the heights of more compelling narratives in the genre. For readers seeking a moderately engaging exploration of marital challenges, Elliot's novel may hit the mark, but those expecting a more profound impact may find it falling short.

Unfortunately, The Marriage Retreat was a miss for me. I found the pace of the novel to be too slow and the main character, Lorraine, to be irredeemable. The concept of the book - a couple owning a marriage retreat having secret marital problems of their own - pulled me in, but the execution was just not there.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

This book was just OK to me. It was hard to connect the characters to me. It was a bit confusing for me but I can see others really enjoying it.

An easy yet slightly confusing read about a marriage retreat and secrets and lies….a bit slow but twists and turns and kept me reading

I thought this book was entertaining. I had a few “ahhh, good one” moments in it. It wasn’t anything jaw dropping or extremely different, but it’s a good “middle tier” thriller.

This book had a great beginning that really hooked me. Victor is a charismatic man who leads people through mindfulness, yoga and meditation in Sedona, Arizona in special 'vortexes' where energy is the most concentrated. Lorraine falls under his spell, even though he is twenty-one years her senior. They build a life together as hosts of a marriage retreat called Rekindle Connections, with Victor as the 'love guru' and face of the program. When he dies suddenly in a car accident, Lorraine's world is rocked to learn there was a young woman in the car with him. This mysterious woman is in a coma and threatens to blow apart their entire reputation as a solid couple and marriage experts.

In my opinion the mystery showed its hand too early. The plot was way too predictable with absolutely no surprises toward the end. Even the desperation of the main character was easy to see coming. Because of that the story seemed to drag on for me.

This was a great book! Full of twists and turns and a main character who at first is sympathetic, but very quickly begins to reveal her villianous ways. I was very glued to this book, and stayed up way too late many nights to finish. Definitely recommend this one!

**A huge thank you to NetGalley, the publsiher, and Laura Elliot for the opportunity to review an ARC of this book**

This is quite the fast paced read, and had me hooked from the first line!
I'm a huge fan of domestic thrillers with secrets, deciet, infidelity, lies and murder, so this was RIGHT up my alley!

Accompanying Lorraine on her journey to uncover who the mystery woman with no name and no memory who was in the car the night of the fatal car crash that killed her husband Victor was everything I expected it to be and more.

loved it! 5 stars

I wanted to love The Marriage Retreat, but I thought it was just okay. I had a really hard time connecting the dots between all the characters. I will try another book by Laura Elliot at some point.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for this ARC. This cover!!!!! Love it! As far as the story..it was just ok. It had some good suspense moments but overall it was predictable and now jaw dropping.

Thoroughly impressed with this one- had to read it in one sitting! Imagery was excellent and the plot was very investable and intriguing- right up until the very end!

I struggled a little through this book. I think I read too many thrillers and end up figuring out what will happen. The plot was interesting but I could not get into it and was struggling to pick it up again. I am glad that I did not DNF it because the story does get better towards the end.

This book had a great beginning that really hooked me. Victor is a charismatic man who leads people through mindfulness, yoga and meditation in Sedona, Arizona in special 'vortexes' where energy is the most concentrated. Lorraine falls under his spell, even though he is twenty-one years her senior. They build a life together as hosts of a marriage retreat called Rekindle Connections, with Victor as the 'love guru' and face of the program. When he dies suddenly in a car accident, Lorraine's world is rocked to learn there was a young woman in the car with him. This mysterious woman is in a coma and threatens to blow apart their entire reputation as a solid couple and marriage experts.

In my opinion the mystery showed its hand too early. The plot was way too predictable with absolutely no surprises toward the end. Even the desperation of the main character was easy to see coming. Because of that the story seemed to drag on for me.

Thank you, NetGalley, for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I didn't really enjoy this book as it was quite slow and predictable. The characters were unlikeable and the twist was not remotely jawdropping.

What a fun, twisty story! This was a fast and easy read but very captivating. I could not put it down.

This book was alright, not one of my favorites. There were twists and turns but I found this book to be a little slow for me especially since I did not enjoy the characters. I also found the story to be slow which caused me to take long breaks while reading the book.
Thank you NetGalley, Laura and Bookouture for the ARC!

A brilliant read it had me hooked from the first page. It's hard to put down once you start so make sure you have the time to read it in one sitting.

This was well written and flowed fairly well, it was a little slow to get into but overall was a good book. I am not sure it's my style of book necessarily but found that it was a book I could recommend to people who felt this fell into their reading preferences. There were some twists I wasn't expecting that surprised me and I would consider trying other books from this author.

3.25ish stars

This book felt pretty mediocre to me, honestly. I was hoping for an exciting domestic thriller with an eerie, isolated setting and intriguing characters, but a lot of those elements fell a bit flat for me. It wasn’t a terrible book or anything, but I’ve read many books in this genre that I prefer. It could be that I just wasn’t in the right mood for this type of story when I read it, but it really didn’t work for me; I hope others will find more enjoyment in it.

Wow this book was twisty and just what a crazy ride this story was! It was a bit unbelievable in some parts, but overall a great read!