This is a light fun novel of three women which actually has a deeper message about growing up and into your own. It's a good read.

A pleasant story that I read in a day whilst on holiday. I preferred it once the setting had moved to Greece as felt I could associate with it more. Thank you to NetGalley, Jacaranda books and the author for the chance to review.

Fast, fun summer read! I thought it was inspiring! I'd love to be young and have opportunities like this again! Of course, money would be helpful, too... Still, I think it was a fun romp of a chick lit story others will find enjoyable.

A great holiday read. I liked the characters and enjoyed reading the book.

I would recommend this and will read more by the author.

A beautiful look at a group of friends on a writing retreat. I loved it.

I’m not expecting much and it’s a good thing since I really enjoyed the story. It is light and fun and quite entertaining. Amby is the main character and is a very likeable one. The story is focused on her since she is also the narrator. Bobby and Mini are as fun to know as Amby, as well. Their stories are as interesting as Amby and I think I would appreciate it better if the two girls share their own perspective. The setting, of course, is beautiful. Makes you want to pack bags and head off to Greece. I wish. It is also good to read about the Indian culture which is truly fascinating. This book is not only fun and humorous, it is also well-written, plus the cover is lovely. It is an entertaining read about friendship, self-discovery and a bit of romance. Although, I’m not so sold on the romance. I feel like it was just a filler for the book to be a romantic comedy. Despite that, I still enjoyed reading The Writer’s Retreat and I would love to read more from the author.

I hear or read every single day stories about people who left behind sucessful business careers to pursue for long or medium term their dreams of traveling the world, making jewellery or becoming artists. The three girls characters of The Writers' Retreat are the Indian Millenials following an un-traditional path, lookin first for 'a life of creative enrichment' before fishing a husband and a stable business oriented career.
Amby, Bobby and Mini are each of them successful in their world, Mini including as a brilliant writer of children stories. But they want more from themselves and writing seems to be their world of choice. Therefore, they register for a 2-week writing retreat in Greece, where they meet each other and become the best friends. Meanwhile, they are finding their own creative path and creative voice. The three girls are not alone in their pursuit, as Amby's former boss, KayKay, a successful handsome Indian actor is also joining the Millenial path, by giving up his filming caree, for living his dream of being trained as a chef, at the famous French school Le Cordon Bleu. There is also some gentle romance taking place too, which leads to a happy ending deem of a Bollywood movie.
The story is slowly paced, but with some nice twists that keep you awake, even the lecture is easy and non-problematic, the kind of book you would love to read while on a Greek beach. It is told alternatively by Amby, with some insertions of the author's voice, which is an interesting idea, but somehow outlines too much the idea of a pre-set, predictable story.
Overall, it is an enjoyable story, with loveable characters and a bit of both adventure and romance and some Greek islands scent.

This book was very well written and I did love the style of its writing. I do love the characters and how they are able to relate and even can relate to Amby myself with my career choice.

This book was a little difficult to get into. The title drew me in but I found the sentences too lumpy and difficult to digest. The heroine was feisty and the read was fun. However, I couldn't really get into the story. Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for letting me review this book.

Review by Amber for Love Romance Books Blog

Amby, Bobby, and Mini are all looking to change their lives. They are all in different cities, but they are all drawn to a writer’s retreat in Greece. It sounds like a new start, a way to change careers, and each of them is determined to make the most of their time in Greece no matter what their respective families say.

Their Writer’s Workshop ends up being more than they expected. During their time in Greece, these three ladies find themselves and have a wonderful adventure, even adding in a little bit of love.

This was a fun book to read. It seemed like a whole lot of the book was back story, which started to get long but I think was probably necessary for the rest of the book. I would give 3.5 stars. I was asked by the author for an honest review.

The cover of the book shows 3 Indian women at a café that appears to be set in a gorgeous Greek locale. The title of the book along with the location instantly grabbed my attention and managed to set certain expectations.
Full review on my blog; Please follow link below.

I loved the story on Amby Balan on her journey to fulfilment.. Set in Chennai Amby decides to follow her heart after giving up a good job in the bank. After working as a tweet writer for KayKay the famous and good looking Kollywood superstar she sees an advert for a Writers Retreat in Greece and goes for it. She is joined by Bobby and Mini and the three instantly become friends and make the most of their time in Greece. Great fun read and I couldn't put it down.Would make a good holiday read.

A lovely read, fizzing with fun but with a heart and a moral centre that make it more than just a light read. More detail in the review on my blog below.

I got about 50% through this book and found it wasn't really for me. I couldn't connect with the characters and I found it hard to keep up with.

I maybe need to read the synopsis better before picking books for their covers.

I admit that I went into this one thinking that it would be just an okay read. I was curious to see if this would be just another angsty 'what am I going to do with my life' story featuring some whiny privileged young people. The blurb for this one is very vague, and I was not sure what I was getting. But with it's unique setting and different cultural pressures than what many young people face in the West, the story had an interesting take on what defines success and happiness.

While Amby does seem to have what many people her age would covet, she wants to walk away from it because she isn't happy and fulfilled in her boring, yet coveted job. Even though Amby's job allows her to earn a living and she is lucky to have it, she doesn't completely come off as whiny and spoiled when she decides to leave it. Amby is definitely likable and I wanted her to find her joy. I was glad to see that Balachandran doesn't just focus on the fact that Amby is unhappy despite all of her good fortune, but approaches Amby's attempt at finding her place in the world with humor rather than angsty melodrama. The people Amby meets in Greece are interesting characters on their own and makes the story that much more interesting, given their different stages in life and their careers.

The Writer's Retreat is a unique twist on what happens after you come of age and are supposed to start fully living your life. It's a fast paced funny read. A great choice to pick up as a summer read.

A lovely, refreshing and entertaining read.

Amby, a sensible, dutiful daughter to her parents & a maths whizz-kid (plus a huge fan of Nora Ephron films) graduated with honours from an Ivy League University. She lands herself a perfectly respectable and safe job in Citibank, in Chennai (formerly Madras) just to quit it after a month. She ends up in PR as the shadow tweet-writer for Kollywood superstar, KayKay - to the wonder and envy of her friends and to the horror of her parents, who think this seriously mars her marriage prospects.
She enjoys the excitement and diversity this new job brings, not to mention the company of the supercool or superhot (have it your own way) Star, Kay to whom she grows very much attached. But then a pop-up advertisement about a beginner writers' course on the Island of Crete makes her think about past and future choices and her secret wish to become a successful Hollywood screenwriter and she can't resist enrolling.

On Crete she meets fellow-aspirants from India. One of them is Minnie, a small woman in stature, but a big name in children's fiction, who wants to switch to a literary genre where size matters. The other is Bobbi, an award winning ad-writer, who craves escape from the world of famous one-liners to travelogues.

It is not only inspiration they find in Greece, but friendship, adventure, fun and a deeper knowledge of themselves.

I liked all the girls and their stories. They are told with a lot of humour, feeling and sympathy. It is clear that the author is an insider in the world of PR, ads & publishing. She writes about it all with ease and gentle (self-)mockery. There is romance in the making for all of them, butit is just one aspect of their story, not all-consuming and I was very happy to go along with that.

And what I appreciated even more are the glimpses I got of "everyday" India, where young people go to cafés, have parties, chat on FB and twitter, fall in love and are pestered by their parents to find the right job/husband/wife, etc. It was a place that is far away, but somehow familiar at the same time. Unfortunately my very limited knowledge of the culture/history could not make me really discern & appreciate the cultural differences/references for a character from Tamil Nadu as opposed to one from Punjab (it made me do some small research, though), but it never gets in the way of enjoyment.

The only slight drawback was the way the switching between storylines - that was done a bit awkwardly.

I hope the author, Indu Balachandran, goes on writing stories like these. I'll sign up for them all.

Loved It!
Ms Balachandran takes us through the world of ollywood...Advertising...book launches annnd Greece in this little cracker of a book.
I loved Amby's voice and her relation with Kay and her gang.
Bobby, Mini and the others they meet in Crete were a delight and AmbyKay's swoonworthy romance was wellll swoooon!
4 stars as gorgeous as the cover and the book!
Thanks Jacaranda and Netgalley for this wonderful happiness package of a book! :)
Kudos!

The Writers’ Retreat is such a fun and entertaining book. I absolutely loved it. Great characters with even better dialogue. The focus of the book is Amby since she’s the narrator, but Bobby and Mini are just as much fun. The setting is wonderful, especially the part in Greece. It felt as if I was there (and now I really want to go to Santorini). But the parts in India are just as good. Amby is a great narrator and I love Balachandran’s writing; it’s funny without being over the top, and I wasn’t surprised to read in the acknowledgements that she has actually worked in advertising and done a writers’ workshop in Greece.
The only thing that let’s down this book a little is the romance. It feels a bit like an afterthought that was resolved a little too quickly. However, I don’t consider this book a romance so it didn’t bother me too much.
For me this is a 4.5-star read, and I’ll definitely be on the lookout for more books by this author.

4 stars

This novel is narrated by Amby Balan who is tired of working for CitiBank in India. She is bored working for the multinational bank and is looking for relief somewhere else. She spots an ad for a writers’ retreat on the island of Greece and it sounds heavenly.

She meets some interesting and exciting people on the journey to Greece and they immediately become friends. One writes children’s books and dreams of publishing an erotic novel. Another aspires to be a travel writer.

They have a rollicking good time in Greece and along the way share laughs and just possibly meet a love interest.

This book has its share of laughs and quirky situations. It is well written and plotted. I liked the characters. They were fun to read about. Well done Ms. Balachandran!

I want to thank Netgalley and Jacaranda Books/Jacaranda for forwarding to me a copy of this fun book to read.