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.

This story was a bit hard to get into at first. However, once the story got going it was very good. Amby and KayKay    were a couple that was enoyable to get to know and watch the relationship progress.

What a delightful gem of a novel! Three brown women on a picturesque book cover drew me in but relatable characters and believable challenges had me devouring this book.