I was lucky to recieve an ARC of this book. I enjoyed this book, and definitely reccomend Alice Feeney as an author. I enjoy her writing style, as she has a true talent for story telling. I had many questions throughout the book, but everything was tied up very nicely at the end, and all of my questions were answered. She also throws in plenty of fun twists to keep you guessing. I found many of the characters interesting, and they were truly the definition of you never know who you can trust or what a person is truly capable of. The audio book was very well done. I enjoyed the narrator, and it was very interesting to listen to.

Wasn’t sure how to rate this one. The beginning 3/4 of the book was kind of slow paced and repetitive. And was also a bit confusing. I wasn’t quite sure what was going on. The last 1/4 was crazy. I definitely did not see that twist coming! From that point forward it was extremely suspenseful and I couldn’t listen fast enough to find out where the story was going! I tried guessing at several points throughout the story what was going on, but I wasn’t even in the same area code as what actually happened. The part where Kitty came and explained how she was involved got a bit confusing to me also, but by the end she explained everything well. The whole thing with the first words of the chapters I just absolutely loved!! I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who loves thrillers and is annoyed because they always guess the twists.

Thank you to NetGalley, Macmillan Audio and the author for giving me the opportunity to be an early listener!!

First I would like to thank Netgalley and McMillian Audio for the advanced audiobook.

This book gave off all the creepy vibes and the setting felt almost like its own character (which I loved).

I love the unreliable narrator and felt throughout the whole book I couldn’t figure out who to trust. As the story went on I trusted everyone in the book just a little bit less.

I also loved the twist(s) in this book. While I was listening to it I kept trying to guess what was going to happen but I didn’t even come close. I love when that happens in a book.

Finally, I listened to the audiobook and it was so well done. The two narrators did such a good job and I loved the sound effects. It really helped bring the creepy vibes to life.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book. 4.5/5 stars rounded up to 5 for this review.

Good but not as great as I had come to expect from this author.

Creepy isolated atmosphere. Spooky events that cant be confirmed making you question if there is an unreliable narrator.

As typical with Alice Feeney there are several twists. Unfortunately, I found two of the major twist fairly predictable. Which is not always a bad thing but not the way I would have liked the story to go.
Fabulous writing but did not always enjoy following Grady or Abby.

Thank you to NetGalley and MacMillan Audio for an advanced audiobook for review

I have such mixed feelings about this book. There were some great elements to it that should have added up to an amazing read: an author whose wife is missing, and who goes to an island to try to regain his inspiration to write. The missing woman. The quaint, eccentric Islanders.

But then we get caught up in the mind of Grady, his relentless real or imaginary sightings of his missing wife, the cryptic things the islanders say to him. And then the book was bogged down, where you are waiting for some kind of answer.

But....

******SPOILER ALERT********

We have another mystery...AND....an unreliable narrator. Total children of the corn vibes.

I listened to the audio version and the narrators were excellent and I loved that it included sound effects.

I would still read more books by Feeney, because she is an excellent writer, but I would approach them with different expectations. 3.5 rounded up to 4 stars.

Thanks to Macmillan Audio for an advanced reader's audio book.

I have to admit, Feeney is hit or miss for me, so I wasn't sure I wanted to get into this one. I'm happy to say this was one of my favorites by her, though.

Grady Green, a bestselling author, is thrust into an unbearable nightmare when his wife, Abby, disappears under mysterious circumstances after a phone call. A year later, Grady is still haunted by her absence, struggling with both his personal grief and his inability to write. When he retreats to a remote Scottish island to escape, he encounters a woman who looks exactly like Abby, which pulls him deeper into a web of secrets and lies.

Grady’s character is deeply flawed and complex—his grief is palpable, but so is his guilt, and as the story progresses, it becomes clear that the truth about Abby’s disappearance may be far darker than he—or the reader—could have anticipated. The atmosphere of the small Scottish island is perfectly eerie. As the story shifts between past and present, Feeney expertly builds tension, keeping readers on edge as they question who can be trusted and what is real.

Fans of dark thrillers with unexpected twists will find Beautiful Ugly to be another triumph from Alice Feeney. It’s a book that challenges your assumptions, keeps you guessing, and offers a chilling look at the darker side of love and loss. The narration was perfect, and the sound effects throughout the audiobook really made it an immersive experience. I was thoroughly creeped out several times. I'd call that a win.

Wowwwws. This book was insane. It lulled a bit in the middle but man does it hook you right back in with the end and twist. This wasn’t my favorite Alice Feeney but it was still a great thriller I think a lot of people will appreciate.

Beautiful Ugly started so strong for me. I loved the ambiance, the mystery, and ultimately the setting of Amberley. There were horror elements as well as a chilling undercurrent that permeated every page.

Grady Green was an interesting protagonist and I loved that the use of multiple timelines and narrators made me question his reliability. He was a flawed character and felt very authentic, though sometimes perhaps a bit willfully naïve. There were definite red flags that scream at the reader that he either chose to ignore or accepted because it was still better than the alternative.

There were some good twists in this novel - some expected, some not so much. It does morph into a locked room mystery with Grady being essentially trapped on the island, but I appreciated that it didn't read like your typical locked room.

I really enjoyed most of this story. Ultimately, it went a little off the deep end and felt too far fetched for me which lessened my interest, but overall, it was an entertaining read.

I listened to this novel and thought the audio was really well done. I liked the actors and appreciated that multiple narrators were used. The accents were a bit thick so I had to slow the listening speed, but it's a pretty short novel so that didn't make any negative impact.

If you're looking for an atmospheric mystery that will keep you guessing, this will be a great pick!

Thank you to MacMillan Audio for the copy.

Thank you to NetGalley for this advanced audio copy!

This is my second Alice Feeny and I was so looking forward to it after I absolutely LOVED Rock, Paper, Scissors.

The story started strong and I was compelled to keep going and to find out what in the world happened to his wife! Ultimately though everything went kind of off the deep end and went into the realm of the absurd and left me kind of scratching my head by the time we were finished.

I will also say that I really did not like the main male narrator...he felt overly dramatic and the added sound effects were distracting.

I'm still interested in reading a few of her other books, but this one ultimately was a bit of a disappointment!

This has been my favourite Alice Feeney book to date, and as an occasional woman scorned, it was just so satisfying.

The twist was a little.... on the nose. No real imagination there but the rest of the book was stunning. The characters and place were so vivid. A great thriller.

Beautiful Ugly by Alice Feeney; narrated by Richard Armitage and Tuppence Middleton


“Have you ever known something terrible is about to happen? Before it did? Or felt an overwhelming, inexplicable fear that someone you love is in danger?”

This is how Grady feels during his last phone call with his wife when she disappears. What happened to Abby?

After her disappearance, he finds he is unable to write - grief for her loss and lack of closure as her body wasn't found. His agent Kitty, Abby’s godmother, offers him the use of a cabin she inherited at the mysterious Island of Amberley. It should give him the isolation he enjoys while writing, but at the same time, there is no way off the island – especially during the off-season.

This is a psychological thriller and along w/that, I wondered if one or both were unreliable narrators telling their stories of Abby’s disappearance - what happened before and after she disappeared.

The story is told in the points of view of both Grady and Abby – Abby’s starts prior to her disappearance. Both narrators – Armitage and Middleton kept me absorbed in the story. Armitage speaking for Grady; Tuppence for Abby. The modulation of their voices, along w/the sound effects – the shore, radio static added to the suspense. At the 70% mark, I couldn’t stop listening as I wanted to know what was going on at the Island of Amberley. And what happened to Abby.

The only criticism of the narration was with an exchange between Abby, Kitty and Grady. There was a bit of confusion as I wasn’t sure whose voice it was (to be fair, this may have been an issue w/the written story as well).

I’d recommend this book to readers who enjoy Freida McFadden and Gillian Flynn (this book reminded me of Gone Girl).

Thank you to NetGalley, Macmillan Audio, Alice Feeney, Richard Armitage and Tuppence Middleton for an advance copy of this audiobook.

I will start by identifying myself as not a fan of Alice Feeney. This is the fifth book of hers I’ve read, and I’ve more or less felt the same way about all of them. I know lots of readers really enjoy Feeney’s work, and this won’t be a tirade by any means (that’s reserved for my blog).
Like most of Feeney’s books, this had a moody and atmospheric environment, unreliable narrators, and twists every 20 pages or so. We follow Grady, an author, as he deals with the aftermath of his wife, Abby, disappearing. A year after her disappearance, Grady moves to an isolated island to try and regain a grip on his reality. Instead, it feels like he loses the final connections he had to the outside world.
I did truly enjoy the slice of life of the island, with its eerie inhabitants. Unfortunately, that was just about the only part of the book I enjoyed. There’s a lot of mind-blowing twists, in a “this literally doesn’t make sense” way more than a “i never saw this coming” way. And for the amount of twists and turns the story has, the plot’s pacing plods on at an unbearably slow speed.
I liked the plot’s concept, and enjoyed the setting of the book, along with the secondary characters. There weren’t enough redeeming qualities to win me over, but there’s definitely potential if this style of writing is something you like!
Thanks to Netgalley and Macmillan Audio for the free advanced audiobook in exchange for an honest review!

I really enjoyed this book! Thank you so much for the ARC! I love thrillers that keep me guessing on how it's going to end up and this book did just that. Grady, an author, has gone downhill since the disappearance of his wife. It is unknown whether she is dead or alive but she's been missing for a year at this time. Grady's publishing agent offers him some time to spend out in a remote cabin on an island to try and get some rest and hopefully pull the distractions away and allow him to write - as he has been struggling to do so since his wife went missing. The people on this island are strange, and definitely seems like there's something he doesn't know that everyone else knows... but what? His safety soon becomes questionable but there are no ferries that would take him back to the mainland. He is stuck on the island. The discoveries he makes will blow your mind! --- I am trying my best to give a good review without spoilers!

Grady Green, a previous New York Times bestselling author, needs to write another bestseller if he wants to continue his life. Living in a cheap hotel is not the dream he had envisioned for himself, but after the mysterious accident that occurred the year before, Grady's life has not been the same. One year ago, Grady's wife, Abby, was driving home while talking on the phone with Grady when she found someone lying on the side of the road. After getting out to investigate, Abby was never seen again. Now, Grady is being offered a remote cabin of a recently deceased renowned author to work at to get his next work ready to hit the shelves.

Thank you Alice Feeney and Macmillan Audio for this audiobook ARC in exchange for a complete and honest review. All thoughts here are mine and mine alone.

This was a book that definitely captured my attention the whole way through. I really liked the remote island and cabin vibes that made the book that much creepier. The plot was also somewhat unusual for a thriller, which I really liked, but I did guess some of the twists, although I don't really think that takes much away from the story.

The narrators of this story were excellent and I definitely recommend this audiobook if you are a lover of Alice Feeney and twisted thrillers. It will definitely hold your attention and creep you out!

Fans of twisty turny thrillers will enjoy this complex story told by an unreliable narrator, interspersed with a second voice and timeline to shed light on the current story

I'm not sure what I just read.

Grady is a struggling author whose wife disappeared a year ago. He decides to go to a remote island to try and get his inspiration back, but when he arrives he thinks he sees his long lost wife.

I'm not sure what I was expecting from this book, but it didn't deliver. The pacing was slow and there wasn't a big pay off. The best part by far was the narration and the sound design. I thought the oxymoron starts to the chapters were interesting, but not sure that they panned out in the end. Overall I just found the twists to be unbelievable.

Tropes:

* Time jumps
* Unreliable narrator
* Missing person
* Remote Island

2.5 stars

Beautiful Ugly by Alice Feeney, narrated by Macmillan Audio, is a haunting and atmospheric thriller that asks a simple yet profound question: If all we need is love, why do we always want more? While this overarching theme lingers throughout the story, Feeney’s trademark twists and darker exploration of marriage and revenge make this book much more than just a straightforward mystery.

The plot’s pacing may divide readers—I noticed some reviewers felt it was too slow, but I disagree. The mysterious nature of the story and its unfolding secrets held my attention. Feeney’s writing thrives on suspense and subtle revelations rather than relentless action, so the slower burn works here. The story centers on Grady Green, whose wife, Abby, disappears under cryptic circumstances. A year later, grief-stricken and unraveling, he stumbles upon a woman who looks just like her on a secluded Scottish island. What follows is a tangled exploration of relationships, trust, and identity. None of the characters are particularly likable, but for me, that only added to the realism. Feeney crafts flawed, often unrelatable characters because that is how life is—messy, imperfect, and sometimes frustrating.

Where this audiobook truly shines, though, is in its production. The narration is impeccable, with Macmillan Audio delivering full production value that feels immersive without being overdone. Sound effects like phone calls, water, and ambient noises enhance the listening experience, giving the book a cinematic quality. These touches elevate the thriller’s eerie tone and kept me glued to the story. While the cast itself is minimal, the narrator’s delivery perfectly distinguishes the characters and suits the novel’s atmosphere. Pacing-wise, the narration strikes the right balance between tension and clarity, ensuring the slower parts still feel engaging. It also helps smooth over any chapter transitions, making the flow of the audiobook easy to follow.

Overall, I rated the book 4 out of 5 stars, and I would absolutely recommend listening to it in audio format. While Beautiful Ugly is compelling on its own, the added production elements and strong narration make this version the ideal way to experience the story. If you enjoy psychological thrillers with a dark edge and layered themes, this one is worth the listen—just prepare for twists that will leave you reeling.

I’ll be honest, I’m not sure I know what really happened in this book!! This is the first Alice Feeney book I have finished and I’m curious about others now. I was extremely invested in finding out what happened from the jump, but began to get frustrated as I realized that the narrator was unreliable. I would suggest checking trigger warnings since there are probably a few more than my normal reads. I believe this is categorized as a psychological thriller, but it’s definitely different than a regular one. I can’t wait to see what others think!

Alice Feeney does it again!!! Beautiful Ugly is a story you will not want to miss, whether you read or listen. I will say, the audio truly added to the story, the sound effects, the narration, the setting, the atmosphere are all perfection. The way Feeney wrote in the different POVs, also added to the overall mystery. Will you think Grady is the good guy or the bad guy? Don't make your decision too quickly, as you might be wrong. Another great listen from Feeney!

#NetGalley #BeautifulUgly

Beautiful Ugly is a story about a writer, his wife, and his inability to continue writing after she suddenly disappears. It is, on the surface, a story about love—the intense love that this couple had for each other. But, it is also a story about contradictions, and how we may both love and hate the same thing; or how we may find the same thing both beautiful and ugly. I loved the chapter titles and other subtle references to contradictory aspects of life. I loved the setting of a remote Scottish island and the extremely quirky habits of the small community living there. I loved the “Gone Girl”-ish plot twists and the suspense. I received the audiobook version of this novel through NetGalley and found the narration very compelling; Richard Armitage voicing the chapters of Grady, the writer/protagonist, was perfect (as were the sound effects!). I appreciate the opportunity to provide an honest review of this book, which I know will be devoured by Feeney’s fans as soon as it is published.