A year after the mysterious disappearance of his journalist wife, novelist Grady Green travels to a small Scottish island to write his next book. It is a really strange place with very few residents and no visitors most of the year. What's strangest of all is that Grady keeps seeing his wife, but she vanishes every time he tries to approach her. And try as he might, he's having a hard time leaving the island or making contact with the outside world.

This was the twistiest of twisty thrillers, a real slow burn of a mystery. All through the book, Grady wonders if he's losing his mind. And I kind of felt the same way as I listened to the story because I had no idea what to believe. There were a lot of tangents that were hard to follow and all of them tied into the plot, but it was hard to keep up most of the time. Super creepy vibes throughout.

I highly recommend listening to the audiobook. The narrators are very talented, and there are sound effects, which I've never encountered in an audiobook before. The sounds of vehicles, ocean waves, walkie-talkies, bells, phone lines, and a metronome all added to the spooky atmosphere and made me feel like I was on the island with Grady and his faithful dog.

3.5 stars.

What did I just read? A sick twisted story that does not have a single decent sane human in it. It is bizarre, wild, you think you have a clue, only to realize you only have an inkling, but nope, it was a brick wall and you need to rethink things. So so dark, filled with revenge and good luck figuring out who is the good, well meaning and who is, well just full on crazy. The narration added to the creep factor.

This book has the lovely prose we’ve come to expect from this author. While I didn’t see the ending coming, I think it could have had a much more exciting climax with a bit more build up. All the big reveals just…happened.

It’s still well-written, I had just hoped for a bit more from the climax.

In typical Alice Feeney style, she has be guessing from the start with a huge plot twist at the end. I love her writing, and the narrator for this one was spot on! Really enjoyed it!

In Beautiful Ugly we follow author Grady Green, who’s wife has gone missing. It’s been a year since she’s gone, and he can’t seem to accept that she’s probably dead. He can’t write either, the only thing that ever made him happy. He’s also running out of money. So when his publisher offers him a free stay at a home she’s inherited on a quaint little island, he takes her up on the offer. He believes he can get some peace and quiet there and he may finally be able to write his next book. This getaway, though, seems to be a bit more than he bargained for, when he starts seeing his missing wife.

So this was my first Alice Feeney book. I was very intrigued with this book throughout most of it. The imagery of the Island of Amberly is beautiful, and I can imagine it so well the way that Feeney describes. I wanted to keep reading because I was so interested in what the answers could possibly be. Is his wife dead? Missing? Well, you do find out. Honestly, the lead up is great and a slow burn, and I really couldn't tell exactly where this book was going, what direction off the clues it would take, which I liked. However, when I did finally learn the twist, I wasn't very impressed. It just seemed so out of left field to me, without many clues that actually led to it. I did still like the book overall though, and I think others would enjoy it also.

My review will be on Goodreads, Amazon, and Instagram January 22, 2025.

SO GOOD!!!!!! Did not see the MULTIPLE twists at the end! Absolutely love this book and the story! It is a fast and easy read as well as good at keeping you wanting more!

Beautiful Ugly, Alice Feeney's dark story is about spouses who are both writers and celebrities of a sort. It reveals mysterious and consequencial secrets buried in their past. Both writers are struggling with their contrasting careers and the things they have not shared from their families and personal lives . They have long played their individual roles to create the life balance they crave (in public and private) as a happily married couple, denying to each other that their marriage feels like a betrayal. Then she is gone, and a spine tingling adventure of twists and turns begins. Like Gone Girl there are episodes where you favor one spouse or mistrust the other. Then you may feel that eventually it will all work out, as it is seeming to. But, remember Feeney is the Queen of gaslighting and unreliable narrators! And then the ending rings true to answering much of what you have been questioning. If you think Stephen King's writer Paul Sheldon had it bad in Misery, - well let's just say celebrity writers may start looking over their shoulders for their SPOUSES, NOT their FANS after reading THIS best seller ! Spoiler: These women who hate men find an author worthy of being their victim, marry him, boost his career to be publishable, kidnap him and force him to support them, then gaslight him into committing suicide as his. only way out that is also revenge by leaving the island without support, and the ladies laugh all the way to the cemetery as they dream of their next victim. When you read the book you may see it a different way. I loved it!
I listened to this McMillan audiobook, which I highly recommend. It is impeccably narrated by Richard Armitage ( The Hobbit film trilogy), and actress Tuppence Middleton, (Downton Abbey). Sound elements of howling winds and breaking waves added another chilling layer to the haunting Brit theatre of their voices.. Perfect for the isolated offshore island setting.

When I first encountered the island in this book - with it's precious Redwoods, I was immediately skeptical. These Redwoods were stated to be introduced to the island, meaning they're an invasive non-native species, why are they being "protected", why is a biologist there just to study and "take care" of them? AND these trees drove out all of the birds???

As I read more of the story (audio), I found myself struggling with the unreliable narrators - yes both of them. By the middle to end of the book, my patience was wearing thin, and I had to speed up the pace out of frustration. Then I hit the Abby/Abby chapter that required multiple re-reads, and even then, I struggled to grasp what was unearthed due to the forgettable nature of the island characters names.

If a book is going to feature numerous twists and intricate plot developments, they need to be plausible and engaging enough to allow for understanding and reader investment - Beautiful Ugly was not.

And finally, the constant anxiety over the fate of the dog added an extra layer of stress throughout the reading experience.

Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC of Beautiful Ugly by Alice Feeney in exchange for my true thoughts.

I received this as an ARC and was so excited to read this highly anticipated book. As I was reading it I felt like I was in a fog and trying to wade through it to figure out what was going on. At the end it all became clear but just seemed so unrealistic. I couldn’t fall in love with this book like I had hoped and was so excited to do.

It focuses on Abby who goes missing at the beginning of the book and her husband who has difficulty going on without her and, as an author, can’t find the inner strength and creativity to write. When his agent suggests that he go to a remote island for a while to focus on his writing, he encounters strange situations, women, and hallucinations that make him believe he sees his missing wife…but is it really her? Is she still alive? And what is going on at this island that makes him feel this way?

I think if it had been wrapped up a bit sooner than the very end and if the conclusion were a little more realistic, I may have liked it more. Thanks for the ARC, but I wouldn’t recommend this as highly as I’d hoped.

I was clearly on an Alice Feeny binge this month, and I received the ARC physical copy and audio and decided I loved the accents enough just to listen to it.

I will say this is a bit more on the slower side for a mystery to be built up and it does not really leave you in suspense like her other books. I will say there is a little plot twist that I didn’t see coming and that was probably the most exciting part of the story but it’s not my favorite. I also felt like the ending was strange? It didn't explain why? And kind of just felt off but I did enjoy the woman in black snippets the visuals that the audio provided and that's all I will say.

But overall, the audio narrators were really good! So kudos to them.

3.5⭐️

Author Grady Green’s life is turned upside down when his wife, Abby, disappears mysteriously one night after a phone call. A year later he retreats to a remote Scottish island to try write and rebuild his life. But when he sees a woman who looks just like Abby, everything changes. This is one of those stories where the less you know going in, the better.
I took an unplanned break from posting, but I couldn’t miss the chance to celebrate the release of Beautiful Ugly, the latest book by Alice Feeney.
This is my 7th book by Feeney, and she continues to amaze me. Beautiful Ugly was mysterious, atmospheric, and packed with suspense. I absolutely loved the characters, and the big twist completely took me by surprise! Feeney has an incredible way of keeping you guessing and fully immersed in the story until the final page.
The audiobook narration by Richard Armitage and Tuppence Middleton was phenomenal—their performances brought the story to life with so much depth and emotion. The added sound effects made the experience even more immersive, and I can’t recommend it enough for audiobook lovers.
The book was released today, and I already can’t wait to read her next one. Thank you to Macmillan Audio for the gifted copy!

This mystery took its time to unfold. The audio really kept me hooked, and I was curious the whole way through, but I wasn't completely wowed by the story. The twist caught me off guard, which was cool, but the ending felt a bit flat for me. I liked it overall, just not one of my favorites.

Thanks Netgalley for the ALC but this was definitely a miss for me!!

I usually support women’s wrongs if the book makes it work but this really didn’t for me. The twist was lame, the characters were laughable, and everyone was so mustache-twirling evil that I just didn’t believe anyone. Like it was all so obvious from maybe 20% in.

Quick question, are the women in the UK doing alright? I'm starting to sense a Theme from their fiction writers and am getting concerned. Maybe someone should check in on them.

Grady Green is a writer who finally reached his dream of being a nyt bestseller. Unfortunately, his journalist wife Abby went missing on that very same night. Since then, Grady has been plagued by insomnia and writers block from the stress and trauma, so when his agent offers him to stay at a cabin in a remote Scottish island, he agrees.

The island and cabin are beautiful, but on the first night Grady discovers some mysterious and spooky items under the floorboards, along with the secret manuscript of the cabin's previous resident. The manuscript is incredible, and reignites Grady's writing spark. All he has to do is make it his own, and survive the strange residents and mysterious newspaper clippings that keep popping up in the cabin...

The thing about this book is that it was a good thriller. The pacing was well structured, with a slower beginning rocketing into a landslide of discoveries. I enjoyed the tone, and there were scenes that were genuinely frightening, with the suspense racketeering to a point that I genuinely thought it would turn into a scifi/fantasy setting, but I am glad it didn't.

We get to see Grady's character, both how he sees himself and how his wife saw him, and the way his personality is a reflection of that of the previous cabin resident. There is a fun cast of characters, and their quirkiness from being on such a small isolated community was a lot of fun to read. The unreliability of Grady as a narrator, especially as he suffers from stress and insomnia is entertaining but only to a point.

The part that irked me was the ending, after all these mysteries everything gets explained with a big bowtie, but the explanations are just like, the craziest things that the author could come up with. In my opinion, the sign of a great mystery is when you look back on different parts of the book and go "ohh that's why x was mentioned!" but this book made me make the ._. face and also the John Travolta shrugging meme because HELLO? Every time I realize why something happened previously I'm like...bruh. There are entire parts of this book dedicated to misleading you for No reason ahhhh

That being said it was a well written thriller for basically everything but the ending (?) so if you are interested I would say to stop after chapter 50, do not read or pass go once you hit "Tough Love" and you will have a grand old time

Unreliable narrator fans will love this twisty novel about a missing wife, a broken husband, and a mysterious island of women. When Grady's wife Abby goes missing the evening of his novels debut on the NY Times best sellers list, Grady begins a downward spiral that leads him to a remote island to recover and find his voice again. The islands' residents are strange and dodgy. He thinks he sees his presumed dead wife. He hears her name whispered in the wind. The longer he stays on the island the more it becomes clear that he isn't leaving the island.

EVERYONE needs to read this book.

This book was insane. The storyline, the suspense, the psychological twists- the back and forth narration of past and present, husband and wife, is always an interesting read. It truly keeps you guessing and it took all the way until the end for me to understand it all. Usually I can pick up on the plot and guess what’s coming, but not this book.

I'm almost at a loss for words. Alice Feeney's writing is just so beautiful! The isolated and creepy island we spend most of the book on makes for a perfect winter read. While I wasn't on the edge of my seat through the book, I was completely captivated and entranced from the very beginning.

We have author Grady Green who is having the best day of his life, only for it to take a turn when he calls his wife and hears her slam on the breaks before she vanishes. A year later, he is still devasted by her disappearance and heads to a Scottish island to try to get his life back together. But what he doesn't count on is seeing someone there who looks exactly like his wife.

There are so many things happening in this book, yet somehow it's still a slow burn. It is extremely atmospheric and that builds more tension than the storyline at times.

The ending didn't "wow" me, and there were a few things that I might change, but overall this is another hit from Alice Feeney!

I always read every book Alice Feeney releases because she’s a personal favorite of mine. Although this wasn’t my favorite by her I still really enjoyed it! I was surprised by a twist, and was engaged all the way through. I really enjoyed the audiobook narrator as well. Give this one a reason!

Thank you NetGalley for the Advanced Audiobook! Beautiful Ugly by Alice Feeney is a suspense novel of a different kind. Abby and Grady seem to have a wonderful marriage. They both work hard, enjoy relaxing by the fire and sharing fish and chips on special occasions. But are they truly aas happy as they seem. On a fateful night, Grady hears from his wife, who is running late yet again, and then she just disappears. Over the course of a year, Grady becomes more removed from society and a virtual hermit who can no longer find his words. Which, is suicide for a writer. His agent then suggests a trip to a far away island. There, a series of strange occurrences makes Grady think he’s going mad. The imagery Feeney paints is so vivid I can almost imagine the island of Amberly. I listened to this audio not really knowing what to expect but I felt pulled in to the story, all the while trying to understand how the characters all fit together. I was ultimately catapulted into a c completely different turn of events than I was expecting. This novel really had me thrown and i ended up incredibly surprised at the outcome. Overall, a great, slow burn, suspense novel that I would definitely recommend.

In one moment, Grady's life changed forever. He was on the phone with his wife when she slammed on her brakes, got out of the car, and vanished. Years later, he's struggling to move on from her disappearance and write a new novel. He's encouraged to travel to a remote Scottish island to find some inspiration. Almost from the moment he arrives, he spots a woman who looks exactly like his wife. But it couldn't possibly be her, could it?

Thoughts 💭
The narrators did a wonderful job reading the story. I enjoyed listening around a 2.0 speed, and I had no trouble keeping up or understanding the story. Richard Armitage was the main narrator and the voice of Grady, while Tuppence Middleton was the voice of Abby. Their voices were smooth and easy to listen to and went well together. I would definitely check out other books read by either of them in the future. Macmillan Audio does a wonderful job creating audiobooks. They even included some fun music and sound effects to enhance the story.

I loved the setup of the story. The beginning had such an interesting hook, someone vanishing without a trace. I kept listening because I had to find out what would happen. Crazy things kept happening in the story, but you're not sure what is real since Grady doesn't even trust himself. This all culminates into a crazy, shocking ending. Even though parts of the book were a bit of a slow burn, I had no idea where this crazy ride was taking me. The ending took me completely by surprise, and I'm still trying to figure out what exactly happened. I get chills just thinking about it. A creepy remote island, unreliable characters, and shocking plot twists all add up to a fantastic story.

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.