Like all of Lucy Foley’s books, this story is so intricately woven I was left reeling from the ending. You’re tossed back 15 years into the past every few chapters as you unravel more about the intriguing cast of characters. The setting is perfectly haunting and the pagan elements throughout leave you curious to discover more. I would highly recommend this book!

I am ALWAYS up for a Lucy foley book! I love The Paris Apartment but this just didn’t hit the same. The Midnight Feast is a slow build and honestly I thought about DNFing multiple times in the first half but I always finish an ARC. I stuck it out and for the last 1/3 of the book, it was worth it. It has the typical Foley finish which was EXCELLENT and kept me guessing. The Midnight Feast has a lot of characters and starts a little muddled but the way it ends makes me recommend this anyway. As always, I’ll be looking forward to her next one!

As always a classic Lucy. She does it again and again. Keeps me on my toes wondering what could possible be next. I couldn’t recommend more!

Was such a honor to get an ARC of The Midnight Feast by Lucy Foley, who wrote The Paris Apartment which I loved and devoured. Thank you NetGalley for this ebook in exchange for my honest review!

This one was a bit slower of a read for me but at around 60% the pace picked up and I had to know the ending!

The book revolves around the opening night of The Manor, an exclusive resort for only the most fortunate of guests. There’s been a fire though, a body has been found and the guests are not right. The locals are not happy and employees of the manor have secrets to keep. 

Multiple POVS, past diary entries and a folklore story about “The Birds” who locals are so scared of they stay out of the woods. This book had a lot to figure out. I was happy with the ending and recommend for mystery and thriller lovers.

This was my first Lucy Foley book, having somehow missed the craze of The Guest List a few years back. After reading this one I will definitely be checking out some of Foley’s backlist books!

The Midnight Feast is told in alternating POVs with flashbacks via old journal entries - sold. I love this style so much and find it incredibly easy to binge. I laid in the hammock one day with a storm brewing and read this one without stopping.

The writing was well done and I enjoyed the setting of The Manor, a luxury resort in the countryside. I felt fully immersed in the experience and couldn’t wait to see what would happen next. I loved all the twists in this one and definitely recommend for fans of thrillers, dinner parties, multiple POVs, and small towns!

**Thank you to NetGalley and William Morrow Books for the eARC of this title!**

Another thrilling and creepy delight from Lucy Foley!
Who is the body found at the bottom of the cliff? And what lead up to the grisly discovery? Who are The Birds - folklore and fantasy or real and terrifying? One act of wickedness fifteen years ago has led to a reckoning the opening weekend of a luxurious, boutique hotel.
There were a lot of characters but I enjoyed how Foley jumped from one point of view to the next, building tension and then moving away at a cliffhanger. It was a rollercoaster to read, the anticipation of what is to come, the fear and adrenaline of the dropped clues and events and then the swirly confusion of the looping storylines. The use of the nursery rhyme was brilliant. It tapped into all my childhood fears.
Thank you Netgalley for the ARC.

At first this book was a bit hard to get into but then it got really good. The twists were shocking and the creepy vibes of the book were really good.

This has been the first novel I read of author Lucy Foley, so I don't really have any other to compare it to. I personally give this book a 4 ⭐⭐⭐⭐ star rating.

I have to say it was very confusing and hard to follow at times. I didn't know what was going on half the time and why it was happening. I almost didn't read all of it but pushed through it. I am glad I did since I liked the twists it had near the end. I also liked the fact that there was always something happening to Francesca "Frankie" and found it humorous when she tried to calm herself down. It did keep me guessing the entire time and made me really dislike Frankie and her brothers.

I would have to say that the last 25% of the novel had the most action. I still wish the author went into depth as to why "Frankie" and her twin brothers were troubled. It seemed like their entire family was very dysfunctional.

I want to thank Netgalley and HarperCollins publishers for the complimentary ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I gave this book a 5-star rating because it blew my mind. What I thought was the answer was totally not the answer. Although the beginning was slow, I kept reading because I just had to find out what led to the story's beginning. The multiple POV was quite good. It gives you a different perspective on each character, and trust me, they all had something to hide, hence the other POV. There was so many twists and turn till the very end. For almost a second, I thought there was a sprinkle of fantasy because of The Birds; maybe there was a bit of supernatural, depending on how it is interpreted. I finished it in less than 24 hrs; that's how good of a read it was. The end was satisfying, of course. Thank you to NetGalley and William Morrow for this opportunity.

*It’s giving Midsommar*

The Midnight Feast is Lucy Foley’s newest thriller. This multiple POV/timeline story will have you guessing what will happen next. The first half of this book I thought was very slow and took me awhile to be interested enough to finish through. I’m glad I stuck around till the end though, because it was worth it! My four star rating comes primarily from the second half of the book. I loved when the story finally came together and the twist at the end left me surprised.
Overall, I do recommend checking this one out when it’s published on June 18th, if you can make it through the first half of the story the ending is worth it!

Thank you William Morrow and NetGalley for this ARC!

Solid 3 star, typical Lucy Foley thriller—extra helpings of creepy and weird to the point of droning on and on with it, with plenty of guru/meditation/organic junk thrown in—until the end. The ending was fabulous. Bumped it up for 4 stars for the solid ending that wrapped up loose ends that you didn’t even expect to be explained AND for the last line. The last line was utter perfection.

“What’s with all the old birds in here this evening? Place is overrun with them.”

Lucy foley is one of my favorite authors but this wasn’t my favorite. There was a lot of times her characters said “er…” and it felt a little juvenile on the writing style. There also was a lot of characters to keep track of throughout the story line. I did love the plot line though. There were a lot of twists and turns they kept me interested. I would definitely recommend it!

Starting off as a very eerie read set on an old estate turned upscale resort , The Midnight Feast had a spooky and unsettling plot going back and forth in time from 15 years past to the present, Francesca has achieved her life’s dream to establish a unique hotel near the woods on the property she inherited from her uber wealthy grandfather. On opening day the guests are all upper crust, except for Bella, who received a mysterious invitation to attend.

Huge weird birds permeate the tale, giving it a mythical essence. Murder, fires, falls, secrets, lies and hidden agendas abound. Something awful is going to happen. The beginning held promise and then the story split into too many subplots, too many points of view (5), too many double identities and an old diary which annoyingly is interspersed throughout. Like the kitchen sink, there is just too much thrown in. The plot and cast of characters became disjointed and difficult to follow.

I’ve read other Lucy Foley books. They seem to follow a particular formula. It’s time for a change The author is capable of better. Many people are going to enjoy this book and the looming evil that finally erupts. For me, it was just an okay read with flaws that caused me to speed read through to the end. Three stars for an adequate story. My thanks to NetGalley and William Morrow for allowing me to read and review an advance readers copy. Publication date is June 18, 2024.

Fabulous! My favorite Foley thriller since The Guest List!! While it did take a little while to get into the story, once I did, there was absolutely ZERO looking back! This one sort of gave me end of season two of True Blood vibes IYKYK…

Something happened 15 years ago, something kept secret… until now. Now, the past is coming back to right the wrongs and we get to play party guest to the shenanigans. Francesca is preparing for the opening of her lavish luxury retreat, and there has been no expense spared. With guests arriving, staff hard at work, and locals defiantly crashing the party (so to speak), we learn very quickly that there is something, a presence, lurking in the woods, eager to unleash the horrors that have been covered for over a decade.

Through an incredible cast of characters, good, bad, with secrets and determination, we learn the truth, riveting as it is. Seeing how this unravels, how the characters are connected to each other and the bigger mystery at hand, was masterful. Every singe voice brings something different. And I had the BEST time reading to this book!

Short synopsis: Its the night of the grand opening of an exclusive luxury hotel, end in flames. Secrets from the past are buried deep, but how do these guests histories intertwine.

My thoughts: Going into a thriller I’m always hoping that I get some unexpected twists, because I’m notoriously good at catching them early. This one did not disappoint! So many unexpected moments!

I loved how the different POV ended up entwining with each other both past and present. Glimpses of money and power, and the lengths someone would go to to protect a mistake.

The folklore of the birds added such a fun element to the story and completely added to the ambiance of the atmosphere making things feel so spooky.

With multiple POV and timelines I feel like the audio version may be difficult to follow. I personally read the physical copy and would suggest reading that way too.

Read if you love:
- Locked room thrillers
- Dual timelines
- Teenage Friendships
- Luxury
- Atmospheric reads
- Folklore

Thank you to William Morrow and NetGalley for an e-ARC copy of The Midnight Feast by Lucy Foley in exchange for an honest review.

The stage is set for a perfect opening weekend. The Manor is a exclusive B&B style resort in the countryside of England. Top products have been flown in, a guest list has been meticulously curated, and everything has been checked twice by the owner. Francesca Woodland has spared no expense to make everything perfect. What she did not anticipate was the locals retaliation, guests with false identities, and the whole thing going up in flames. Literally. Plaqued by the threat of local myths, Francesca's perfectly planned weekend spirals out of control and her guests get more than they paid for. One thing is for sure - no matter how much money you spend, the truth will out.


***SPOILERS***

I am going to be brutally honest. This book was her previous book, The Guest List, mixed with The Village. It was like the author took the outline from her last book, tweaked it, and sent it out. Also, the writing was just bad. The story follows several characters and jumps through multiple timelines. I did appreciate that she labeled each chapter to whose POV it was, but the changing of the writing to match the character's dialect just felt bad. Also, not to mention some of the corny lines. At the end of the book, a character that had disappeared comes back 15 years later and is revealed to be one of the POVs you read from. The line is literally "it's me, Jake. Your big brother. I've come back". I was picturing this man cliffside as he whips his hat off in the wind and delivers this line over his shoulder like a telenovela.

There was a slight "twist" where I didn't realize one character was related to another, but there was no reason for anyone to have guessed that in the first place. I think if you're looking for a fluff read or something that you're half paying attention to on vacation, this book would be fine. For me personally, I like the genre enough that I want more out of it.

The thrilling last act made up for the dragged-out buildup, The Midnight Feast started off on shaky ground; while I enjoyed the luxury resort setting, and all the thriller must-haves (multiple POVs, multiple timelines, etc.), I found the character voices a little monotonous, and being constantly irritated by a particular writing choice. But in the end it did win me over with a satisfying closure, and the page-turning adrenaline I was seeking in a fun summer read.

The characters were intentionally unlikable—even the ones who turned out to be sympathetic were kept pretty aloof in order to spread suspicion. While this was a valid strategy to generate suspense, in execution Lucy Foley may have withheld some empathetic details for far too long, to the point I was not emotionally invested in the happenings, thereby dampening my desire to return to the novel.

Sadly The Midnight Feast also contained one of my pet peeve in fiction writing—using unrealistically detailed 'diary entries' as a storytelling device. These entries contained publication-worthy prose, documented every critical moment / dialog per verbatim—and supposedly written by a teenager. Intermixed between chapters, these poorly disguised flashbacks were the least successful aspect; would've preferred just a straightforward first-person or third-person point of view to get the information across.

To my (surprised) delight, the second half of the novel (particularly the last 30%) really ramped up on the action and reveal, and the connections mostly justified the glacier pace beforehand. Even though it wasn't difficult to detect plot holes aplenty (there was definitely a more civilized way to resolve the novel's central conflict), the melodramatic, unhinged chaos created enough dopamine-filled distraction that I was more than willing to disregard the lack of realism.

All in all, The Midnight Feast ended on a high, but preceded by a pretty uneven thriller experience. One's satisfaction will greatly depend on how one rate the payoff, but personally this is a step-up from The Paris Apartment, with better atmosphere, more well-rounded lore, and a better spread of character archetypes. Even though this hasn't quite made me a Lucy Foley convert, but it is moving in the right direction.

Honestly it was really hard to get into. I love Lucy's works but there were just way too many view points and the chapters were so short that it made it jarring bouncing around so much. I do enjoy shorter chapters and multiple view points, but it was too much for me to handle this time.

I really tried to like it, I've heard great things about Foley...but it just didn't work for me. I was bored, and the shifting timelines and characters confused me when I put it down and came back to it.

This really had a strong finish; I couldn’t put it down after about the 70% mark.
I did struggle getting into it in the beginning, though. Of course Francesca’s POV was my least favorite because she is the most fake and delusional person, but I also felt like some wording didn’t make sense. Maybe it was because the author was trying to be “on trend”, but I had no clue what she was talking about during some of Francesca’s chapters.

I liked Eddie’s chapters the most, as he was the most down-to-earth person. When there was one of the big reveals, I was really surprised, while some of the others were more natural conclusions.

I really liked the end, so I give this 3.5 stars.