What I liked best about The Midnight Feast was how easily I could picture every scene. Foley created such distinct images in my head that I can still remember how I imagined the Hutches, the woods, the manor, the farms, and the beach to look. It's not often that I have a very vivid picture of a setting that stays in my mind long-term! I think this would make a great screen adaptation. I can definitely picture Nicole Kidman playing Francesca.

I liked the split timeline of The Midnight Feast--multiple POVs in the present and Bella's diary to fill in the past. There were some dark twists that came together wonderfully, and it was fun to see the past come back to haunt Francesca in more ways than one.

Overall it was a solid read and an interesting thriller. It's quite fast-paced, so I was able to read it quite quickly. It felt like a cross between Midsommar and Nine Perfect Strangers (and maybe The Birds, but I haven't seen that).

This book reminded me of Nine Perfect Strangers for some reason, maybe the retreat all natural atmosphere. I was surprised at the ending of the main female character.

It’s the grand opening for the exclusive getaway known as “The Manor”. Francesca, the owner, has spared no expenses to ensure her guests have an unforgettable experience. The local residents are unhappy about the privatized, wealthy, guests that have invaded their territory. Rumors begin to spread that a local folktale, The Night Birds, has been summoned for justice against this intrusion. Francesca, despite being a local, doesn’t believe in the lore but she does have a feeling one of her guests is out to sabotage her opening night. A Midnight Feast, an avenging folklore, and a dead body will definitely make this a weekend to remember.

The Midnight feast is a deliciously twisty tale in which the past and present collide. Nobody is quite who they appear to be as the tale unfolds and reveals secrets meant to stay buried. The story follows several key characters as opening night, the Midnight Feast, and each of their plans creeps closer to fruition. Despite my dislike of the main antagonist this novel had some surprising fun twists and turns..a must read for 2024.

Thank you NetGalley and William Morrow for access to the ARC for The Midnight Feast! I wasn’t crazy about The Paris Apartment by Lucy Foley, but I absolutely LOVED this one! It was super creepy, and I couldn’t put it down. It had me guessing clear until the last couple of pages! Sooo many twists!

An enjoyable read!

A little disappointing compared to Foley’s other books in that most of the twists were predictable. The characters tell a little flat for me too. Would be a good beach read and entertaining but not truly memorable.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Riveting, a wild thrill ride that I couldn’t get enough of! I love Foley and expect her books to have some twists but couldn’t have predicted how wild and well planned the plot was. Her writing just keeps getting better but this was my absolute favorite!

Although it took me a few chapters to get into this book, once I was fully invested I couldn’t put it down! The journal entries really changed the pace for me and made it so much spookier.

I thought this one started off a little slow, but once I got through the first 50 pages I was hooked, especially as I got to the Solstice! In true Lucy Foley fashion, there are several character points of view and it moves back and forth from the past to the present. It’s the grand opening at The Manor, a luxury vacation spot on the water. The elusive Francesca Meadows and her husband Owen Dacre have not missed a detail. The staff has been trained to perfection and the guests have been carefully checked. But as the story unfolds, you find that many have secrets. The birds brought bad luck back in 2009, the question throughout is are the birds responsible for the fire? Who were the lucky ones to make it out alive? I really enjoyed the after section of the book, which connected all the dots. Some of them might even get the ending they are looking for!
Thank you to NetGalley, HarperCollins Publishers and the author for the copy of this book in exchange for my thoughts.
Publication Date: June 18, 2024
Genre: Mystery-Thriller

Wow wow wow. I wasn’t sure what exactly I was getting myself into after the first few chapters — Lucy blends magical folklore with psychological thriller in this fantastic read. The more I read, the more I couldn’t stop reading. Told from multiple viewpoints and timelines, you’ll find yourself craving justice, rooting for the underdog, and realizing you don’t know near as much as you think you did. This book was genuinely good til the last page.

Thank you Netgalley for the ARC of this book. This was a fantastic read! The storyline is told in multiple POVs/timelines and it really kept me wanting more after each chapter. The characters were well done and not all of them were likeable . Overall a fast and suspenseful read. Highly recommend

I love Lucy Foley and was really looking forward to this book. The premise sounded so good. Opening weekend of a boutique hotel, No expense has been spared. There’s a fire, there’s a body. Everyone has secrets. Unfortunately for me it was a miss. It was an ok story. It started off slow. The journal entries helped the story pick up a bit. However there were so many POVS and timelines it got confusing at times. The Night Birds that right the wrongs of those gone unpunished didn’t work for me. It was fine. Not my favorite of hers

Whew!! This book was intense! It had a lot of twists and turns throughout the story - some predictable and others completely unpredictable and shocking. The premise was unlike anything I’d ever read before, so I was super intrigued the entire time. My only complaints would be that the book started off confusing because I had to sort out not only the different characters, but also the different timelines - the past journal entries, the day before solstice, the day of, and the aftermath. It was just a lot to keep track of in my opinion. I did enjoy the shocking twists, though!

Thank you to Lucy Foley, Harper Collins Publishing, and NetGalley for sending me an e-ARC! I loved getting to read this thrilling novel!

I believe I had high expectations for this story.

I am a fan of Lucy Foley, and I feel that may have tainted my view of this story.

The Midnight Feast was a captivating mystery with a unique setting and characters. I think Lucy knows how to throw twist like no other author and I will say I was completely shocked when they began to appear.

The tension within the community added a sense of foreboding and overall folklore Ish vibe to the story.

I will re-read, via audio, hopefully the VA can outperform my internal monologue.

3.75 stars

Thank you to NetGalley and William Morrow for an advanced reader's copy of this title for an opportunity to review. All opinions are my own.

The book starts with the opening night of the Manor, a new luxury hotel in the forest. On the Sunday morning of the opening weekend, the police are called. There has been a fire. A body has been discovered. The story uncovers what happened on opening weekend.

While it took me a bit to get into the story, and to no longer be confused, it was worth it. The book is told from 4 different profiles, and as the story progresses, the profiles connect and everything falls into place. The ending was one I didn't see coming, and Lucy Foley truly had me guessing at every moment. The writing was really good and made me feel like I was emerged into the world. It reminded me of the show White Lotus, with a murder at a luxury hotel.

I am giving this book 4 stars. It starts off slow, but once got to the 30 percent mark, I couldn't put it down. I didn't necessarily like the characters, but I was invested in knowing what happened to the Manor, and how these people were all connected. It was a mysterious thriller that was suspenseful, filled with folklore and stories from the past, and twists at every turn.

The Midnight Feast by Lucy Foley comes out on June 18.

Big Thanks to NetGalley, Harper Collins and Lucy Foley for Advanced Copy for Honest Review

Huge fan of Lucy Foley, an auto-buy author and let me say, The Midnight Feast did not disappoint!

Francesca's summer house sounds like a thing of beauty. She'd summer there with her grandparents since she was a teenager. The thing is they took this land from the locals and they were none to happy. One summer Francesca makes friends with a local girl, Sparrow, and they spend the rest of the summer inseparable. (Going between two storylines of summers before and opening day). Present day (Summer Solstice) her grandparents left this compound to her and she has taken it upon herself to make it into the most beautiful, relaxing, sacred resort with the help of new husband Owen, a architect. As remote as this resort is, the only possible way to open on time is to hire the locals. Everything seems to start off well but everyone wants what has been owed to them over the years. With no spoilers, the twists and mind blowing ending Lucy Foley takes us on, you will not work out this ending! 5 stars, highly recommend!

The Midnight Feast definitely gave me the creeps in many areas. I love a thriller with an unbelievable narrator, and that's what this book had in spades. I didn't trust ANYONE, and didn't know how was ultimately responsible. It was heavy in the pagan/witchcraft/paranormal type feeling, which I'm not a fan of. The multi-timeline sometimes was a little confusing, as it was hard to figure out when things were happening. Overall, I was kept engaged the whole time and wanted to figure out what the ending was going to be.

The story is set in England at the newly renovated hotel, The Manor. There is a strange group of individuals, wearing costumes that resemble giant birds, that appear from time to time. When they appear, there seems to be a horrific death that occurs. Francesca wishes nothing more than to have her new hotel be a success.

While the blurb drew me immediately, I can’t say the same for the actual story. I really struggled with the pacing from the very beginning. There were parts like the hidden/double identities that I enjoyed. I enjoyed the local urban legends and the local folklore. It added to the mysterious and eerie setting of the overall story. The characters were superficial and one dimensional to me. The dual timeline didn’t seem to flow seamlessly. I could have done without so many points of views. Some of the events thrown in the story went nowhere and it felt like fluff. For me the twist and turns were a bit predictable. However, there was a few that I didn’t see coming.

Midnight Feast by Lucy Foley is set at a newly renovated luxury resort for the ultra rich, on opening weekend during summer solstice. Instantly, I liked the vibe. Rugs on the ground in the woods with lanterns hanging in the trees? Yes, please!
However, things quickly start feeling a little eerie. Ominous black feathers appearing, unwanted locals intruding on the party, guests feeling on edge in their suites among the trees, and a warning: “don’t upset the birds!”
The book splits between multiple points of view, with some characters less likeable than others, but each narrative was necessary and just as gripping as the next. The timeline jumps back and forth as well- opening weekend, the solstice party, then also the next day and the aftermath of all that happens. Sprinkled in are journal entries from the past revealing more and more of how certain characters are connected and major secrets come to light.
Right at the end, as everything was coming full circle, I was starting to worry that one last question I had wouldn’t be answered, but it finally was- and the very last paragraph made me chuckle.
In summary, this book had its claws in me the whole way through!

The Midnight Feast by Lucy Clarke has a publishing date of June 18, 2024 by William Morrow Hardcover.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing this ARC in return for my review.

I am going to be honest, this took me half the book to get the characters’ storylines figured out. The author rotated all the main characters and I had difficulty following each characters development til midway. By that point , I no longer had to flip back to the chapter title to figure out who was the first person in that chapter.

Huge resort was built on inherited ground. Differences between the townsfolk and the resort owners starts from the beginning. However, this is filled with the backstory of the owners, the employees and others from 25 years back.

Old resentments from both the haves and the have nots are behind what is happening at the resort on opening weekend. Add some eerie group called The Birds to round out the scary bits that climax on summer solstice. Lots of smaller storylines woven throughout the book culminates after the summer solstice.

Lots of character and storyline development made this book very interesting. As previously stated, the alternating of character chapters impeded my enjoyment of the read in the first half of the book. Flipping back to earlier chapters to keep the characters straight was an impingement. With that said, still a 4/5 star review.

This was a WILD RIDE! I love Lucy Foley and this one was truly an adventure. I do not want to give anything away, but I was gasping at several shocking revelations as the story went on. I had so many questions and was left turning the pages wanting the answers. The perspective shifts and the questionable characters were fantastic. This was a really unique read and I recommend it for anyone who loves a good thriller!