OMG THIS BOOK!!! IT SCARED ME!!! BUTTTT I LOVED THE PLOT TWIST SO SO SO MUCH!
FIVE STARS DEFINITELY

Wonderful as ever
Well written intrigue
Good concept dark themes and nothing is as it appears
A tale of a desperate husband , a wife supposed dead he sees everywhere and a community who have alot in common and united against a common danger

I’ve only ever read one of her books but this one was so much better I enjoyed everything about it the way she describes the Island I felt I was there. It starts when the author Grady Green receives a phone call with amazing news then his wife rings him while he’s talking to her it sounds like she has had a crash when he goes looking for her she has disappeared that’s when the nightmare begins. It’s beautifully written and can’t wait to read the next one.

Thank you to Netgalley and Pan MacMillan for an ARC

This is the first of books by Alice Feeney’s books. I really was into this book at the beginning, but about a third of the way in I felt it lost its way.

The story at that stage became a little farcical and the more it went on especially on the Isle Amberley. Was Grady ever meant to escape the Island or was it his disappeared wife and agent that set him up?

I felt this could have been wound up 10% sooner quite a lot of waffle.

This is an intriguing book guaranteed to keep you reading. Grady is a writer about to have the success of a lifetime and when he phones his wife to give her the news on her way home, something goes wrong. She has disappeared. No hody is found and she does not make contact. Grady is devastated and his world falls apart. His literary agent is his wife’s godmother, Kitty, and she arranges what sounds like respite care in a cabin she owns in a remote Scottish island where actually only women are welcome. A previous occupant of the cabin was also a writer who committed suicide leaving behind an unfinished manuscript. That gives Grady avfresh start. Once on the island,he discovers he cannot leave. Then events unravel to a point where he is resigned to stay. All that happens then is a surprise for him and undoubtedly for the readers of this book. It is a well conceived story and I recommend it.

Loved this! Very twisty and kept me guessing until the end. Eerie setting on the remote, tiny island of Amberley in the Scottish Highlands with only 25 inhabitants, Grady Green is sent there by his agent to write a new book. A year after his wife went missing whilst he was on the phone to her, he decides to take this opportunity to get a change of scenery and get back on track. However, things aren’t quite what they seem.

This book started so well. I settled down for a good read and it certainly kept me enthralled for many hours. This is the first of Alice Feeney’s books I have read and even though I wasn’t bowled over by this particular book, I will definitely try some of her others. Her writing style is really engaging and I enjoyed the mystery created around the residents of Amberley.

Ok, so what didn’t work for me and why only two stars? Well, the first half of the book was great - I was fascinated by the characters and wanted to find out what happened to them, but the last part - the reveal- lacked credibility for me. I just didn’t believe it. The well-publicised twist felt forced and was just too bizarre. However, this book has some terrific reviews so I would certainly recommend it as it may work for you.

I love Alice Feeney's books. They're great psychological, domestic thrillers with a twisty twist at the end. You could say Alice is the queen of the twisty twist. She has outdone herself with this one.
On the day he discovers he is a New York Times bestselling author, Grady Green's wife, Abby, disappears. One year later, Abby is still missing, and Grady has been unable to write another book. His agent offers him the use of a cabin she owns on a remote island off the coast of Scotland. With his dog, Columbo, for company, Grady sets off for the island of Amberley.
Cue strange goings on that Grady attributes to his insomnia.
I'm not going to give away any more of the plot, except to say that all is not as it seems on the island.

Beautiful Ugly is compulsive reading. It's edge-of-your-seat stuff, and when that final twist comes it takes you by surprise. Nope, didn't see that one coming. 👀
Thanks to Pan Macmillan and Netgalley for the digital ARC.

I've enjoyed other books by this author but this one didn't gel for me. I'm a literal person and the description of the island didn't work for me. I've been to Scottish islands. They are windswept and bare. Few trees and definitely not forests. A village of 25 people would not be able to sustain a butcher, a baker, a shop and a pub - they would likely be one enterprise, But more likely a community business. There wouldn't be picket fences, there would be stone walls. Things like that made it unbelievable for me. It all got a little weird and I lost interest at the half way point.

I really enjoyed this. The plot was interesting and I loved the way it played out towards the end. I wasn't prepared for the revelation but it made sense.
I enjoyed getting to know the community's characters. Maybe more could've been made of them, particularly as they're so important.
A deliciously dark and ominous novel.

Really loved the atmosphere of this book and the way you don't know what's real. Page turner for sure

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC of this book.

Beautiful Ugly is my first Alice Feeney novel, and while it kept me reading, I didn’t find it as gripping as I’d hoped. The story follows Grady Green, a writer whose life falls apart after his wife, Abby, mysteriously disappears. It all begins when Grady calls Abby to share exciting news, but instead hears her car screech to a halt and then nothing. When he finds her car abandoned at a cliff’s edge, the mystery deepens, and a year later, still searching for answers, Grady travels to a remote Scottish island hoping to move on. But when he sees a woman who looks just like Abby, his world is thrown into further chaos.

Feeney does a great job creating a vivid, almost suffocating atmosphere on the island. The isolation of the setting adds to the suspense, and the strange behaviour of the villagers only adds to the intrigue. The twists in the plot were unexpected, but I did feel that some parts of the story, especially around Abby’s disappearance, were a bit too far-fetched to feel entirely believable. It made it hard for me to fully buy into the mystery.

The two main characters, Grady and Abby, are unreliable narrators, but I found both of them hard to connect with. Grady felt a bit flat and uninspiring, while Abby seemed underdeveloped. Their strained, often selfish relationship made it tough to really care about their emotional journey, although I understand this was meant to highlight the darker themes of change and dissatisfaction within relationships.

There are feminist themes woven through the narrative, which I appreciated, but they did feel a little overemphasised towards the end, almost as if the story was trying too hard to make a point.

All in all, Beautiful Ugly was an easy, fast-paced read that kept me turning pages, but it didn’t quite hit the mark for me. With its eerie setting and some surprising twists, it’s still a solid pick for fans of psychological thrillers. However, I couldn’t help but feel that the characters could’ve been more compelling, and the plot could have been a bit more grounded.

I have just finished this book and oh my goodness it is a page turner from the beginning! It's the perfect book for lovers of thrillers. The chapters are short, which I like and there are lots of twists that catch you off guard. It is an interesting story and I wonder if there is any truth to it! I am adding Alice to my list of favourite authors! Definitely worth the read, a five star book in my opinion and will enjoy reading her other books too.

This thriller grips you from the very first page and keeps you guessing until the end, it takes a compelling dive into the complexities of human relationships and the dark secrets we keep.

The book centers around Abby and Grady, whose seemingly perfect lives begin to unravel when a dark past and hidden truths start to come to light. Each character has their own twisted motives and secrets, and they unravel in a way that feels both chilling and deeply real, the storyline is psychologically intense and emotionally haunting.

What makes this book particularly engaging is that it explores themes of beauty and ugliness, not just in a physical sense but within the soul. It challenges you to question what is truly beautiful and what is ugly in our lives, relationships, and society. The writing is sharp and thought-provoking, with Alice’s signature twists and turns.

If you enjoy psychological thrillers that delve into the darker sides of human nature, this one will keep you on the edge of your seat and lingering on every word. It’s an absolute must-read!!!

𝙩𝙧𝙤𝙥𝙚𝙨 :
• psychological thriller
• dark family secrets
• twisted relationships
• the duality of beauty and ugliness

𝙧𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙜 : ★★★★.5

Thank you Alice Feeney, Pan Macmillan & NetGalley for an e-ARC copy.

Thanks to Macmillan and NetGalley for the digital ARC in exchange for an honest review. I don’t think I’ve read anything else by this author, and having read this will do now.
It’s a very good book in terms of mystery and intrigue, easy reading at a good pace. I enjoy wondering what is happening, most of what I guessed was going on was wrong, which I like in a novel. I want to be surprised and it did keep me reading to find out. I was a little disappointed that one element of the plot was quickly obviously but not realised by the main character, surely a person wouldn’t really be that dense!? I did not see the ending coming at all, and it didn’t really gel for me, so for both those points it’s a 4* not a 5.

Beautiful Ugly Alice Feeney 4.5⭐️

Grady Green previous best selling author is struggling badly after his wife has been missing for the past year. He is on the verge of losing everything when his agent offers him a cabin on a remote Scottish island.

This book had a good creepy feel from the get go, but at the same time it feels very surreal, a little weird, and discombobulating. I never felt comfortable during the book, constantly on tenterhooks. I felt knocked off my axis.

It’s very different to her other books, and as such might be a marmite book. It’s also highly original and different which I crave in a book, so I loved it. The jury is out about the ending for me.

Wow! Alice Feeney is back with another twisty book that keeps you on the edge of your seat. I absolutely loved the story line in this book and it truly shocked me at parts. The dual timeline and unreliable narrator really added to the story.

There’s a lot to think and say about this book (won’t say all of it here!) It made for compulsive reading though I had to suspend my disbelief often as, particularly in a modern day setting, it was a little far fetched (I’d have preferred a slightly earlier point in time with the mobile phone scene altered accordingly). There were points where there was real tension and eeriness and I could vividly picture parts of the Isle of Amberley. I really enjoyed the ending (though not the resolution leading to it which frustrated me insofar as it tied things up too neatly). A gripping autumnal read but not a new favourite. Would love to discuss it with other readers.

I love Alice Feeney's writing and this book was no exception! This novel follows Grady after his wife Abby has gone missing and now he's struggling to write his next novel. He ends up on a small island with a very small population, and no obvious way of leaving very easily so he's forced to focus and write. What follows is him making strange discoveries and trying to piece together what is happening. He thinks he sees his wife multiple times but it's never her, and he's missing contact with the mainland. Nothing quite makes sense on this island and I had so many theories about what might be going wrong and I was mostly completely incorrect every time! There are also short sections about Abby interspersed throughout. This novel definitely requires suspension of disbelief, but I don't mind that at all - I love a dark and twisty novel that I just get swept up in and am along for the ride. This novel has twists and turns that are impossible to predict and I loved that. This was such a fun thriller novel and I definitely recommend it!

Awesome thriller that I couldn’t put down. I would never have guessed the ending.
Well worth reading. Alice is a master storyteller.