This one was an eagerly awaited release for many. I have to admit that it is the first Lucy Foley book that I have read. It was definitely a slow start and I seriously wondered what all the hype was about. I almost quit but I'm glad I didn't. The shifts in time confused me at first, characters names were not necessarily the same. When I finally realized what she was doing we were off to the races and I didn't want to stop. It was so worth persevering at the begining and I'm glad I did.
Thanks to. #NetGalley#TheMidnightFeast and#HarperCollinsCanada for the EArc.

I’m very fortunate and grateful that I received an advanced reader copy from Netgalley and unfortunately, this one didn’t work for me.

It took me a while to get into The Midnight Feast because of the alternating chapters and characters who were too surface level. I was also a little bored with the story and felt like the pacing was off. Overall, everything felt a little over-the-top with too many perfect coincidences.

I can only suspend belief so much in thrillers.

Lucy Foley is a favorite of mine, so when I received this ARC, I was thrilled. The cover is gorgeous, and I love the vacation-gone-wrong trope, especially with the revolving POV.

Heiress and "influencer" Francesca has returned to her family estate and turned it into an exclusive resort. For opening weekend, she and her husband, architect Owen, have planned a celebration to mirror the old pagan festivals celebrated in the region over Midsummer. Willfully ignoring the growing unease and discontent from the locals, Francesca pushes forward with her usual bravado and intentional obtuseness.

But someone will pay for treading upon what has been considered both hallowed and cursed.

The mood of The Midnight Feast is great (ominous, with building pressure all along), and the individual voices really stood out. As with a lot of the locked-room style stories, there are certainly things that even the most privileged readers would never believe, but everything about this novel is over-the-top. There are a few too many coincidences at the end, as if the author was rushing to tie it up, but otherwise, an absorbing, dark yet seasonal read.

3 stars.

Like other Lucy Foley books, I tend to get bored within the stories and the amount of characters I'm trying to follow. I will say this one felt a little different in a good way but the ending didn't really satisfy me enough to rate this one higher.

Lucy Foley has a way of taking thrillers into unique situations. Written in dual timelines and from many different perspectives, it is a little hard to follow at first. It didn’t take me too long to keep everyone straight. In true Foley fashion, everyone has a secret and you don’t know who to trust. The one kept me guessing until the end.

The Midnight Feast took a day or two to fully get into, but I was hooked once I got the hang of the timelines and points of view! Lucy Foley worked her magic again with this idyllic and luxurious setting turned ominous and haunted by local lore. Highly recommend!

This was unfortunately not really for me. I think ultimately the choppier chapters from various POVs would have lent themselves really well to a thriller-style novel, but I never did feel connected with any of the characters, and I never actually got more than surface level either. And that's not great when you ultimately have to "care" if one or more of them may or may not die.

But I've read other Lucy Foley books and loved them, so this is another case of "it's me, not you" when it comes to this book probably. Give it a go, you might like it!!

The Midnight Feast was published on June 18, 2024. Thank you to William Morrow, NetGalley and the author for the digital advanced copy. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Lucy Foley’s The Midnight Feast is an atmospheric and mysterious read that, while captivating in parts, didn't quite meet the high expectations I had based on her previous work. The novel centers around a group of characters brought together for a lavish and tension-filled dinner party, where long-buried secrets begin to surface.

Foley’s signature style of building suspense is certainly present here. She excels at creating a moody, almost claustrophobic atmosphere that draws you in. The setting is beautifully described, adding layers of intrigue to the story. The characters are complex and well-written, and I appreciated how their motivations were gradually revealed, keeping me guessing.

However, the pacing felt inconsistent, with the first half dragging as the tension slowly simmered. While I love a good slow burn, this one took a bit too long to truly pick up. Once the plot started moving, though, it became more engaging, especially as the twists began to unfold. Some of the twists, though surprising, felt a bit underdeveloped, leaving me wanting more depth or resolution.

Overall, The Midnight Feast is a solid read with a strong sense of atmosphere and tension. While it didn’t completely blow me away, it’s still an enjoyable mystery with some intriguing moments—especially if you’re a fan of Foley’s style.

Thank you NetGalley and William Morrow for granting me access to this book in exchange for my honest review.

The Manor is a new, upscale resort/hotel in the country. The locals are not very happy about the opening of The Manor, and on opening weekend - a body was found.

This was a very typical Lucy Foley setup, but I was not a fan of the execution. We follow multiple perspectives, which is standard for Foley’s books, but this time it was hard to differentiate between some of the characters. I also thought the forest setting was creepy and intriguing but the talk of “birds” became quite repetitive.

I was most interested in the flashback chapters. I couldn’t put the book down when I was reading about the past timeline. Unfortunately it seemed like those chapters were a small portion of the book.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

I was so excited to get this advanced copy of Lucy Foley’s latest book, and it did not disappoint!
Twists and turns kept me on my toes and once I picked it up, I couldn’t put it down! I loved the multiple pov’s and diary entries. Such a great mystery/suspence novel! I can’t wait to read her next book!

📘: The Midnight Feast by Lucy Foley
🗓️: June 18, 2024

Thank you to NetGalley, Lucy Foley, and William Morrow for this ARC!

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

*Reviewed on NetGalley, Amazon, and Goodreads.

The Midnight Feast by Lucy Foley is a decent mystery with an atmospheric setting. The multiple perspectives create a sense of intrigue, but some characters felt underdeveloped. The plot unfolds at a steady pace, with a few twists to keep readers engaged. While it's not Foley's most gripping work, fans of the genre will likely find the book enjoyable.

The isolated setting and eerie atmosphere contribute to the overall suspense, but the resolution could have been more satisfying. Overall, it's a solid read that provides a few hours of entertainment.

Loved, loved, loved this book!! This is Lucy Foley at her very best! The atmosphere was perfect, the twists and turns surprising and thrilling, and the story was so captivating. Definitely one of my favorite thrillers, and my favorite by Lucy Foley!

Short chapters, multiple POV, dual timeframe, and lots of depravity made this an unputdownable thriller. With a creepy atmosphere and unexpected plot twists, this is my favorite Lucy Foley to date!

Thanks for the opportunity to read!

This book was gripping and hard to put down. It didn't feel like everything else you see out there, it felt very fresh. I really enjoyed this book!

I can’t really blame Lucy Foley - this is just not my type of book. I don’t like her characters, I don’t like the deprivation and shallow behavior and the plot didn’t win me over to the light. But she writes well and it is a tight, well constructed story with the most obnoxious, hedonistic people populating the pages. Told in multiple POVs the story builds to a dazzling and devastating crescendo and no less than what is deserved. But maybe that was the point of it all.

Thanks to Lost and Found Books Ltd / HarperCollins and NetGalley for a copy.

Thanks to William Morrow, the author, and NetGalley for the free gifted copy in exchange for an honest review.

This was one of the weirdest thrillers I have ever read, it was almost like a trainwreck I could not look away from. The start is very slow and confusing at the beginning and immediately the birds creeped me out and I truly could not get on board for that kind of plot line.

The last 25% of the book makes up for the beginning in terms of action and gets you hooked on all the twists, so I did enjoy that part.

This book will take you through twists and turns with lots of creepy stories and have your jaw dropped with the drop at the end.

The characters have come together on the first night of the grand opening weekend at The Manor, a luxury retreat on the Dorset coastline created by Francesca Meadows, along with the help of her husband, a designer named Owen.

This is told from a lot of POVs: Francesca, the founder; Owen, the husband; Bella the mystery guest; Detective Walker and Eddie the local kitchen helper. It also includes diary entries from a long time ago that slowly reveal the backstory. Foley does a great job, as usual, unravelling the story with the multiple POVs, although it did seem to take many chapters to finally get into the action, causing the pacing to feel a bit more like a slow-burn domestic thriller versus a typical psychological thriller.

The characters were all incredibly flawed, which made it fun. What I enjoyed most was the tension between the locals who live in the area year-round and the wealthy tourists who are visiting this posh getaway in which everything is curated and manicured to perfection in celebration of the summer solstice, which is rather ironic.

Fans of Lucy Foley and short-chaptered, multiple-POV reads will likely love this. Thank you William Morrow for the ARC!

Thank you to NetGalley, Lucy Foley and William Morrow for access to this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I feel like I should start by saying that I have not read Lucy Foley’s other books and that might be why I had such a hard time with this one. I was unprepared for how slowly this story would roll out. It took me a solid 7 days to read this. If you know me at all, you know it was hard for me to get into.

I almost gave up around 65 pages in but I persisted. Around 100 pages in, something is mentioned and it started to get slightly more intriguing. I continued on. A few of the twists and turns toward the end were very predictable but I can see how someone else might enjoy it more than I did.

I was very fortunate to receive an advanced reader copy from NetGalley but all thoughts are unbiased and my own!

I enjoyed this book, but it took me awhile to get into (I wasn’t hooked until 60%) and honestly it did put me in a bit of a slump. To be fair, I’m not a huge mystery reader and I thought this would be the book to get me into them. Spoiler it was not the book for me to get into mysteries.

It was interesting with the multiple perspectives and timelines happening all at once, but because of that if I found it difficult couldn’t sit down and read the book for a long chunk of time (like 20 minutes or so). At times it felt almost horror/paranormal/ haunting vibes because of the elements of paganism, but the whole birds thing wasn’t really for me (but I think other people may enjoy it!)

I think more seasoned mystery readers will enjoy this as I thought the plot and the writing style was unique. There were also certain parts that did have me at the edge of my seat. Overall I don’t think it was necessarily a great fit for me.

This book was such a ride and the perfect mid-summer read. It gave Fyre festival meets Nine Perfect Strangers vibes and in true Lucy Foley fashion, kept me on the edge of my seat and trusting nobody.

I loved all the twists and turns, then gentrified country, cliff-side ocean retreat setting, and the fact that despite not trusting any of the characters you kind of loved (and hated) them all? I also loved how the lore played into the story - is it real or urban just legend? - and was so well written I was convinced it was regional lore in real life.

Foley had always been a go-to author for me and this book continues to solidify her as a modern day Agatha Christie, a queen of closed circle mysteries.