Thanks to NetGallley and the publisher for an e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

I found this book a bit slow to start but saying that I was invested enough to keep reading and then I NEEDED to know what was going on and what had happened to Grady’s wife!! So many strange goings on had me baffled and looking for answers and I did not guess the twist which shocked me!!!

Alice Feeney can be hit or miss for me but this one was definitely a hit!!!

This was a rollercoaster ride I DID NOT want to get off! Twists, turns and gasps! What more do you want?!

Beautiful Ugly by Alice Feeney is an absolute page-turner. I stayed up into the wee hours reading to finish the book because I just had to know how the story would end. I didn’t think I’d be able to sleep not knowing.

The story unfolds from the point of view of a married couple. Grady Green is an acclaimed author who is navigating the disappearance of his wife Abby in one strand of the story. It also unfolds from the point of view of Abby, but in the months leading up to her disappearance.

Grady is devastated by the disappearance of Abby and is struggling. He’s overdue on delivering a new book and is running out of money. His agent, Kitty, is concerned about him and in a bid to help him provides him with access to a holiday cottage she has on the Scottish island of Amberly and also loans him some money to tide him over. Overcome by her generosity, he packs up his belongings and drives up to Scotland to catch the ferry to Amberly with his trusted dog Columbo. On the ferry over he is convinced he sees his wife Abby.

I got sucked into the narrative and felt great sympathy toward Grady. He clearly is a man grieving his wife and finds himself seeing her everywhere. I thought that was so believably. I also thought the book portrayed really well how two individuals can be in a relationship, but feeling entirely different things and have different goals. It is entirely possible that a couple can in fact actually be like two separate islands.

Islands do attract creative types and Amberly felt no different. The island residents were creative and eccentric and it was interesting reading how Grady was settling into life on the island and fitting in with the locals.

The atmosphere of the book builds and shifts gear becoming quite dark. There are so many twists and turns and I found myself gasping at points surprised by what I was reading. It’s an atmospheric, tense, suspenseful page-turner.

Huge thanks to NetGalley and the publishers, Pan Macmillan, for making this e-ARC available to me in exchange for a fair and honest review.

I struggled to get into this book then it suddenly came alive.

It begins with the archetypal professional couple. Grady, a writer and Abby, an investigative journalist. They are both having problems within the marriage but neither seems to realise the same is happening with the other.

Just as Grady gets some wonderful news Abby disappears in suspicious circumstances..

As time passes with no answers Grady's life falls apart. His agent sends him to a remote Scottish island to get him writing again.

I have never read Alice Feeney before. This is where I woke up.

This book a psychological scare fest with heavily forested areas, steep cliffs, roaring seas and enough weird women to form a coven - but they don't.

It took me a while to notice the obvious. Then I really got scared. I could see only one ending. Luckily the author had another...and hers is a terror I have had since childhood. No sleep for me tonight.

Another great thriller from Alice Feeney.

Where has Grady Green's wife, Abby, disappeared too? Since she's disappeared Grady has been unable to write, has no income and has lost his house, but his publisher has a solution - Grady can use a remote lodge on a Scottish island, the perfect spot to write Grady's next book. But something about the island seems a little odd to Grady, he keeps imagining seeing his wife, and he has no idea when the ferry to leave the island will next depart.

One of those books which feels a little disturbing/unsettling, but is neatly tied up by the end. A great read and I am hugely grateful to NetGalley for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

My mind is reeling - 4*

I love Alice Feeney; Daisy Darker was the book of the year for me in 2022. I feel I knew what I was expecting from this book: I knew there'd be twists, I knew there would be a dark history and I knew there'd be secrets...but I didn't expect that.

The book is very Harlan Coben so if you love his books or his Netflix dramas, then this book would definitely be for you. This book is filled with twists and turns that still have my mind reeling. When I finished the book, I just sat for a moment to process. I think I'm going to be thinking about this book for a while. The final chapters were truly something.

If you need to get out of a book slump, pick this up because you'll be reading to find out what the twist and what on earth happened to Abby.

Amazing book I finished in two days.
Set on Scottish Island, the story is something new and j enjoyed it from the beginning.
As always I like to read Thriller without reading the blurb and I did that for this and worked well.
Yes if you have read her works before you will get some idea of what is going on but still you will enjoy it well enough
And
You cannot guess the twist 🤌
As always
So an amazing book to start my Year
I am happy I read this after my exam finished
It was amazing
You cannot go wrong with Feeney

*thank you to net galley for providing me with an e-arc in return for an honest review*

You know when you read a book and think you know what’s happening? You feel like it’s following a plot you’ve seen a thousand times and here comes the ‘twist’? Well im not going to lie for the first 30-40% of this book I thought I had it alllllll figured out. Joke is absolutely on me, because I didn’t. Not one little bit. The twists were twisting and if you do guess it, I would like to take a trip inside your brain!!!

I personally didn’t really connect to any of the characters, but I got through it in one sitting so still a good read ☺️

WIVES THINK THEIR HUSBANDS WILL CHANGE BUT THEY DON’T. HUSBANDS THINK THEIR WIVES WON’T CHANGE BUT THEY DO.

✍🏻 The story follows Grady, a best selling author whose wife has disappeared. A year later he is still trying to cope up and moves to an isolated island to get his life back on track. But then he see the impossible: a woman who looks qexactly like his missing wife.

✍🏻 Pick this up if you like/don’t mind:
📌 psychological thriller
📌 slow paced
📌 locked room/ missing person mystery
📌 dual POVs
📌 unreliable narrator
📌 unlikeable characters
📌 sinister vibes/ unsettling atmosphere
📌 MMC suffering from insomnia
📌 unputdownable/ binge worthy
📌 unpredictable plot twists

✍🏻 This one was a slow burn thriller filled with suspense, thrill, unsettling atmosphere, dark vibes and sinister characters. I was literally glued to the book as it was 100% unputdownable. I finished 3/4 of the book in one sitting.( thanks to the power outrage and my kindle paperback) Now coming to the multiple plot twists that everyone’s is talking about: yup most of them were unpredictable, far fetched and came as a total surprise. The only issue I had was that Alice Feeney has set the bar too high with her novel “Rock paper scissors”, that the twists failed to WOW me. But having said that I am still gonna recommend this one. ( I may sound biased but I can’t help it. Alice Feeney is an auto buy author for me)

✍🏻 Thanks to NetGalley and panmacmillan for the ARC.

On the night Grady Green hears he’s become a New York Times Bestseller, his wife Abby mysteriously disappears.
A year later she is still missing and Grady is unable to move on with his life.
His agent Kitty has been left a cabin on the Isle of Amberly and suggests Grady goes there for a while to see if he can start writing again.
On his arrival, strange things start to happen and there’s more to the islanders than meets the eye.
I loved the suspense at the beginning and the middle of this book, but found the twists at the end a bit unbelievable and confusing. This left me feeling slightly disappointed and is reflected in my rating.
With thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for this arc in exchange for an honest review.

This is certainly a pacy book - Grady Green's wife Abby is on the phone to him on her way home, only for her to stop and say there was a woman in the road. He never hears from her again, she has vanished without trace. Grady's life as a successful author then spirals down as he cannot write, so loses his house and friends. His agent, Kitty, offers him a lifeline - to go to a remote Scottish island and stay in a cabin gifted to her by another author, where he can have the peace to try once more to write and rebuild his life.

The book very much concentrates on what Grady is going through, his thoughts, his belief his wife is still alive and his excessive drinking. Apart from Grady we don't really see the characters in any depth, and much of what we are told turns out to be incorrect, a wrong perception of events, or relevant to someone else entirely.

It is a complex plot, not altogether believable, but it makes for an interesting read. Thank you to NetGalley and Pan Macmillan for allowing me access to the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Beautiful Ugly is a fitting name for this novel, being both great and, well, less so. It embodied strong, atmospheric, beautiful writing throughout. I loved it and hated putting it down. I was addicted to this story and halfway through I would have happily said this was a five star book and praised it heavily. Beautiful Ugly suited my mood, the weather and was a joy to cuddle with fireside and in bed at night. Hooked, absolutely hooked. I was even looking through Alice Feeney's backlist of books to see what I might read next.

Then the twists occurred and ugly raised its less than glorious head. One of the twists was smart and left me interrogating the knowledge gained from what I had read. A nice surprise I did not see coming, I was excited by this. One was wholly implausible. I read it a couple times to make certain I understood it correctly. It just did not sit well with the story and what we knew of the main characters. It felt like panto, jumping the shark in its unlikeliness. Another twist or two later and we seemed back on track though the damage was done and I felt this was the only way it could go. It seemed fitting but I wasn't as invested by the end as I might have otherwise been.

I know it sounds awful and, to me, it feels awful as I was entirely onboard and loving the journey to who knows where then the opportunity for a great finale was lost. But a fun read, nonetheless.

4 of 5 stars
https://lynns-books.com/2025/01/09/review-beautiful-ugly-by-alice-feeney/
My Five Word TL:DR Review: Twisted mystery packed with atmosphere

Alice Feeney is an author I’m loving. For me, her books are the perfect combination of beautiful writing and strangely atmospheric settings that have an odd feeling of ‘not quite right’ that is fascinating to dive into. Her books are unputdownable and so whilst this might not be my favourite (a spot still held by Daisy Darker) I find her work quite captivating.

As with her previous novels there is a mystery at the core of the story. A man pines for his wife after she goes missing (presumed dead) a year ago. Grady Green is an author who has hit a block. He can’t write, he can barely sleep, his life has unravelled around him and he’s living in a one star hotel. Grady is haunted by the disappearance of his wife. His publicist eventually reaches out to him and offers him the use of her cabin (literally in the woods) on a remote island off the coast of Scotland. The cabin is the perfect retreat, if a little tricky to get to, and Grady, and his trusty sidekick, a labrador called Colombo, soon settle in, even if, the people on the island seem a little strange or eccentric, there are no telephones, the weather is unpredictable, the ferry off the island seems to have stopped running, it feels quite often as though somebody has been in the cabin and Grady definitely feels like he’s being watched. But, he’s writing again and for the most part totally immersed in his work – the only real issue, he keeps seeing his missing wife.

I don’t want to give away too much because the mystery here definitely kept me glued to the page. So, what did I love about Beautiful Ugly.

The writing is great. I mean, strictly speaking, there isn’t really a lot taking place and yet I was hooked. This is more about watching Grady. Which is perfect because Grady very much feels like he’s being watched. At first I felt sympathetic towards him. His wife was missing and his world has fallen apart – I mean, apart from the mystery surrounding Abby’s disappearance which I was definitely eager to read more about, I was fascinated just reading about Grady. Basically, the Isle of Amberley is a very unusual place. There are only 25 people living there and they all seem to have strange backstories. Every time Grady leaves the local shop, or the butchers or the pub, he has the strange sense of being watched – usually accompanied by the crackle of a walkie talkie. At first this just feeds into the ‘small island mentality’ expectation, everyone knows everyone else’s business, but soon it starts to give off a different vibe. What is really going on. Is it something sinister?

Similarly, Grady also begins to unravel. At first you feel sympathy for him for his overwhelmingly hopeless sadness at the loss of his wife, and the way he seems to see her everywhere but as the story develops, and you learn more about the relationship between Grady and Abby, well, everything doesn’t seem as perfect as it first appeared. On top of this Grady likes to pour himself a good slug of whisky, on top of drinking a homemade herbal tea from the local shop – you begin to slowly sense that he’s perhaps not quite as reliable a narrator as you first thought. I was one part starting to feel creeped out – the bedroom scene in particular gave me the heebies – and the other part starting to wonder just how much we could really trust Grady.

The island is the perfect setting. Unpredictable, beautiful and dangerous. High tides and quickly changeable weather make the island feel like a character in it’s own right. There’s a strange history to the place and an overwhelming sadness due to events from the past. The other inhabitants are also quirky, almost difficult to click with, like, what is their problem. You need to remain patient with this element – things will eventually become clear and in certain ways now I wish I could go back to the beginning and see how this reads now that I have the benefit of KNOWING.

Obviously, I’m trying to prevent spoiling the read for others so I’ll keep this review short and sweet. I was hooked, I read this in just two sittings and regret not taking my time and savouring the read, perhaps taking a little more time to read between the lines. The ending – well, I’m not absolutely convinced about certain elements or the actual logistics BUT I find that it hasn’t affected my feelings for the book overall. This was a really good read, a fascinating mystery packed with atmosphere and a ‘just desserts’ kind of ending.

I received a copy through Netgalley, courtesy of the publisher, for which my thanks. The above is my own opinion.

This book was everything!! I love Alice Feeney, so I was super excited when I received this ARC of her latest book: Beautiful Ugly.

The queen of twists has done it again!

From the moment I read the first page, I was glued! She nailed everything: the atmosphere, the characters, the setting! I was on edge throughout!

It was full of twists and turns, the twists just kept on coming and the ending - talk about mic drop 🫳

Author Grady's life is turned upside down when his wife Abby disappears. When he's given the opportunity to write in solitude on a small Scottish island, he grabs the chance....but he sees Abby everywhere he goes and lots of strange things happen to him.
I found it really hard to put the words down for this review. It's indescribable - in a good way!
It's my first Alice Feeney book and I loved it - wow!

Thriller author Grady Green’s life is turned upside down when his wife, Abby, goes missing. One Year later and still no closer to finding out what happened to her, Grady is forced to move out of their house and live in a rundown hotel after he is no longer able to write.

His agent, Kitty, offers a solution- a secluded cottage on a remote Scottish island. The Island of Amberley is a character in itself and the descriptions of its landscape and weather add to the mystery and intrigue, it is a perfect place for a locked room mystery with sailing times off the island seemingly kept secret.

Grady is a perfect unreliable narrator as he suffers from insomnia and has a drinking problem, so the reader is constantly wondering what is real and what he has imagined.

The story is told through a dual timeline and from two different POV’s which work well to reveal the twisty plot.

I was kept guessing through the whole novel and loved the reveal at the end.

Well worth the read!

Beautiful Ugly… wow!

As soon as this was approved to read I KNEW I would love it. Alice Feeney is an auto read author for me and this book does not disappoint. A thrilling and dramatic novel! The characters are so wonderfully created and I was on the edge of my seat the entire read!

While driving home one evening, Abby while on the phone to her husband Grady comes across something in the road and pulls over to investigate… and that is the last time she is heard from.

Grady, unable to let go of his missing wife, finds his life at a stand-still and is given the opportunity to write his new book on quiet solitude. But does he get more than he bargained for?

Alice Feeney delivers another unique thriller. I enjoyed previous books of her before and I love her writing. From page one I was glued to the pages.

Grady Green is at home awaiting the news if his latest book made it on the New York Times bestseller list. He is also waiting for his wife, who is late as usual, to celebrate with her. When he calls her she tells him she is on her way driving home but that there is someone lying in the street and that she will see if they need help. After that he never hears from her again. Abby just vanished into thin air.

One year later he is still grieving and unable to write. When his agent offers him to use a house on a remote Scottish island to write in a quiet and heeling environment he is more than happy to take that offer. But the island is really small and something is off with the residents.

You better go into this book without knowing too much. It is a quick and easy read. The island is eerie and its twenty-five residents are nice but also a bit weird. You can also see that there is also something off with Grady. He thinks he sees his wife all the time and when he discovers something in the house of interest to him he makes a not so smart decision.

I was very invested in the story although it is more of a slow burner. But I was eager to see what was going on. Only the ending is a bit disappointing. There is a lot of telling and explaining and I don’t think it is very believable. The eerie setting and the uncertainty if Grady is hallucinating or being played make for a good and entertaining read.

It was January 2022 when I read my first book by Alice Feeney, Rock, Paper, Scissors, and here I am two years later (2025), starting my year with another Alice Feeney book, Beautiful Ugly.

Beautiful Ugly is the story of Grady, who is on the phone with his wife, sharing the most exciting news of his life—that his new novel is a New York Times bestseller. But everything changes when his wife, Abby, mysteriously goes missing on her way home. A year later, Grady is still consumed with grief and desperate to uncover what happened to his wife. Unable to write since her disappearance, he feels lost and broken. When his agent suggests he travel to the Island of Amberly to find peace and rediscover his creativity, Grady reluctantly agrees. However, when he arrives on the island, he finds himself surrounded by eerie mysteries and a sense that something is deeply wrong with both the place and its people. Then, one day, he sees the impossible—his missing wife.

This is the second book I’ve read by Alice Feeney, and I’ve noticed several similarities in her writing style. Her stories often revolve around a couple whose marriage has soured over time, are set in remote parts of Scotland, and delivers major twists and turns at the end—many of which are hard to see coming. That said, I have to admit that Alice Feeney writes beautifully. Her words and quotes are so captivating that they kept me hooked till the end, regardless of how strong or weak the plot is.

Beautiful Ugly is a slow burner, even though the chapters are short. The book offers a good amount of eerie moments, and, true to Feeney’s style, most of the major twists and turns arrive at the end. However, some of these twists felt quite predictable. The characters weren’t exceptionally compelling, and there were parts of the story that didn’t sit quite right with me—such as the subplot involving the baby and the history of the island’s mystery, which felt disjointed. Even the central plot of Abby’s disappearance seemed unresolved, as if the author wasn’t entirely certain who to pin the blame on.

The conclusion of the book didn’t leave a strong impression on me either. It wasn’t exceptional enough to elevate the mystery, especially having read other books of a similar kind. However, I still give this book 3 stars, mainly for the incredible quotes it contains. Alice Feeney has a way with words that never fails to impress.

The cover of Beautiful Ugly is stunning and could be a good reason to pick up the book on its own.

Thanks to the Netgalley, the Publishers at Pan Macmillan and Author Alice Feeney for this Arc.

🌊 Beautiful Ugly • Alice Feeney 🌊
★★★★

Read if you enjoy:
🌊 Thrillers and mysteries
🌊 A remote island
🌊 Misandrists
🌊 Books with an author MC

Grady Green’s wife disappeared whilst she was driving back to him and they were on the phone. A year later, Grady is given the opportunity to visit a remote island to help him write his next book. But when he gets to the island, he swears he sees his wife.

This had such an interesting concept from start to finish and a worthy execution. The remote island setting combined with the unreliable narrator were fun to experience, making this a really enjoyable and tense read. This gave me Hot Fuzz vibes, if Hot Fuzz hated men.