Put this at the top of your TBR}

As a fan of Alice Feeney, I absolutely loved this audio book. The narration was wonderful to listen to as well, featuring well placed background sound effects and an easy to listen to narrator. Beautiful Ugly was full of mystery and suspense and a surprise twist that I never saw coming! A struggling author, a missing wife, a remote island with mysterious things going on., it was fun to find out how everything tied together. I was hooked from beginning to end. Highly recommend!

The audiobook version of this is fantastic and goes the extra mile! Richard Armitage and Tuppence Middleton are phenomenal narrators and the additional sound effects elevate the story.

Bestselling author Grady Green’s life changes forever the night his wife disappears while on the phone with him. A year later he’s plagued with insomnia and writer’s block unable to function without a sense of closure. He gets an offer to travel to a Scottish island with his Labrador and stay in a secluded cabin to focus on his writing. Grady is paranoid and the islanders are over the top weird.

There’s foreshadowing that feels like it should be accompanied by neon signage. Many elements are far fetched and convoluted to the point I went back and retraced events and was giving side eye. The audio was so well done though I kept with it. It was easy to envision the setting especially with the sounds of the waves lapping and the descriptions of the rocks and caves.

This one was a mixed bag for me, but certain moments delivered the hypnotic and creepy vibes.

I felt like this one was more about the journey than the destination.

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for providing an Advance Listening Copy for review. These are my unbiased opinions.

Very engaging story with plenty of spooky ambience and an awesome setting. The twist/ending sadly falls a bit flat - but the rest of the book makes up for it with fascinating characters and a location I now am curious to visit myself!

4.5 stars rounded up to 5 stars.

Alice Feeney delivers another dark and twisty psychological thriller that delves into the complexities of marriage, identity, and the fine line between reality and illusion.

Beautiful Ugly follows Grady Green, a successful author whose life unravels when his wife, Abby, mysteriously disappears. A year after her disappearance, Grady, unable to write and consumed by grief, retreats to a secluded Scottish island at his agent’s suggestion, hoping to find solace and inspiration.

Upon arriving at the island, Grady’s sense of unease deepens when he encounters a woman who resembles his missing wife. Told through alternating perspectives, the story unfolds revealing hidden truths and unexpected twists I didn’t see coming. I was never quite sure who to trust.

Beautiful Ugly blurs the lines between beauty and ugliness, love and revenge. The ending was shocking, yet satisfying and one I will continue to think about.

Thank you to the author, published and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this arc.

Beautiful Ugly is my least favorite of the three Alice Feeney books I've read so far. As with her others, I found it painfully repetitive. Feeney excels at creepiness, which is a plus for dark mystery fans. However, this book also includes whopping servings of gaslighting, unreliable narration, sexual assault, and sexual abuse (including of minors).

If you can get past the sexual violence, positives to the story include an intricately woven storyline across characters and timelines, powerful social/power/gender commentary, a dash of humor, and a loyal dog.

I am not generally a fan of sound effects in audiobooks—they tend to be jarring. The walkie-talkie sounds in this book might be manageable, and they add to the atmosphere productively. Narration is provided by Richard Armitage and Tuppence Middleton, the latter of whom was especially talented at voicing multiple characters.

I rarely—if ever—mention a book's cover. I'm making an exception for this one, which is gorgeous and so utterly perfectly fits the book's feel.

3.5! I love an Alice Feeney thriller!
This book was filled with lots of jumpy moments and was honestly pretty spooky. I loved how atmospheric it was, set on a remote Scottish island. The audio was well done with lots of sound effects. This book had a slow build up with an exciting, twisty ending! Alice Feeney is so good at making the reader question what is true with unreliable narrators and I can always count on her for a fun, quick paced thriller.

Grady Green is a writer dealing with the disappearance and presumed death of his wife as well as severe writer’s block. In an attempt to get Grady’s writing back on track, his agent sends him to a cottage on a Scottish island. But while the island is beautiful and serene, everything is not what it seems. He thinks he spots his wife several times, and someone is leaving him clues that suggests he may be right.

If you read this book, I recommend the audiobook. It’s a fantastic audio production with multiple narrators and sound effects. The plot is decent, but the pacing is suuuuper slow. Not much happens in the first half of the book. Actually not much happens in the first 80% of the book, but the second half at least starts building towards the climax and kept me more engaged. The story isn’t terrible, but it doesn’t feel like a thriller. There are a lot of plot twists thrown in towards the end that felt rushed just for the sake of being a thriller. Thanks to NetGalley, Macmillan Audio, and Alice Feeney for this free ARC in exchange for my honest review.

It's a rare occasion when I read a mystery/suspense book. (I can't even remember the last time I read one). So, to choose this audiobook from NetGalley was a big leap for me, but I wanted something different, and overall I'm glad I picked this one. The narrators were wonderful. Richard Armitage has a deep, sexy voice and Tuppence Middleton's British accent was very soothing. This was also the first time I listened to an audiobook with sound effects, and I really enjoyed it because it made the book feel even more creepy and mysterious. (Especially the bits with walkie-talkies. Not going to give away any spoilers, but if you know, you know). The story itself was okay, but there were some parts that were a little too far-fetched and at times it could be very confusing. I did enjoy the suspense though, and I caught myself gasping and talking out loud several times, trying to warn the characters like they could actually hear me. This genre might not be my cup of tea, but I would still recommend it.

I LOVE Alice Feeney books, and this was no exception. It immediately caught my interest, with a disappearance in the first few chapters of the book. After that, this book was a wild ride! Told from alternating perspectives of husband and wife, this book really was out there, but in the best possible way. I enjoyed reading it, and it was definitely a page turner for me.

Thank you to the author, publisher and Net Galley for an advanced copy of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

Loved this book so much!!! Alice Feeney is the queen of an eerie setting and even eerier story. Loved the characters, the plot, all of it.

This was a GREAT story to listen to! AWESOME narration! Great main characters. The plot was easy to find. The story was engaging and easy to follow. Will be purchasing this book. Shout out to Netgalley and publishing for allowing me to listen and review this story.

4 STARS!

Thriller • Mystery • Suspense • Dual Timeline & POV
Expected Pub • 14 January 2025

🎧 Thank you to @macmillan.audio for the free ALC!

‧₊˚ ☁️⋅♡𓂃 ࣪ ִֶָ☾. “𝑰 𝒉𝒐𝒑𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒅𝒊𝒆 𝒊𝒏 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒔𝒍𝒆𝒆𝒑.” xoxo ・❥・

Do you love an unreliable narrator? What if that narrator is an author, and he’s writing a book, entitled Beautiful Ugly.

Grady Greene is an author, and a husband. His wife Abby disappeared a year ago without a trace, after pulling over to help someone stuck at the side of a cliff road. Ever since that night, Grady has not been quite right in the head.

It’s the not knowing that haunts him. A body was never found; Abby’s phone abandoned at the scene.

Grady really should move on. He’s sent off for a writing retreat of sorts at the atmospheric Scottish isle of Amberly. Perhaps it’s solitude he needs, to combat a severe case of writer’s block.

But once he gets there, he starts seeing Abby everywhere.

🌊 A spooky twist-lovers hallucinogenic dream.
🧐 I kept trying to figure out what was going on.
✍🏽 Some things I got right; most I got wrong.

🎧 Audio is the way to go for ultimate spook factor. Crackling staticky walkie talkies, waves crashing on the shore, sinister ticking metronomes, and creepy music in surround sound is what you’re going to get. I actually jumped out of my seat when my husband walked in while I was listening.

🎙️ Dual narration from Richard Armitage and Tuppence Middleton is on point. Added ⭐ for their performance.

Thank you to for the ARC! I had a fun time with this one! ESPECIALLY the beginning. That first chapter was ICONIC.

I love domestic mysteries/thrillers. However, this had so many noticeable similarities to another one of Alice Feeney’s books: Rock Paper Scissors… AND Gone Girl. I did enjoy the differences that Beautiful Ugly had compared to the latter. I always love unreliable narrators and red herrings, but this one went a BIT too far with trying to throw off the reader and was a little too unrealistic towards the end…

However, I kept getting blindsided at every turn which I loved. This one keeps you guessing until the last page, that’s for sure!

“Marriage is made of a million beautiful and ugly moments stitched together into a shared tapestry of memories all of which are viewed and remembered slightly differently. Like two people staring at the same painting from opposite ends of a room.”

Now I devoured Alice Feeney’s books Rock Paper Scissors and Daisy Darker (both five ⭐️) and Good Bad Girl I gave 4 stars. This one just wasn’t quite up to that level for me. The plot was a bit too outlandish and although I was shocked by the twists it was almost like the book was trying to hard to be twisty and great instead of just 𝘣𝘦𝘪𝘯𝘨 twisty and great. It does have atmospheric elements that I enjoyed and it did keep me interested throughout. It was just missing the WOW.

The audiobook has a great narrator and the added bonus of musical scores at the beginning of each chapter. I loved that detail!

Thank you to Netaglley and Macmillan. Audio for the ALC.

This is the first novel I’ve read by Alice Feeney, and it really gave Alex Michaelides vibes! It follows an author trying to get over the devastation of losing his wife, while needing to somehow write another book to appease his publishers. His agent sends him to a remote cabin in order to give him time to focus, but the things happening around him on the island are anything but normal. That’s all the plot I’m giving, but all you have to do is start the first few chapters and you’ll be hooked, especially if you listen to the audiobook version, perfectly narrated from the author’s point of view, with a few glimpses in the past from the wife’s point of view too. This book is a slow, twisty thriller that hooks you and makes you question your sanity. Thank you so much to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the ALC in exchange for my honest review!

This audio is phenomenally produced. There were sound effects, which just doesn't happen in "normal" narration. The story was great too but honestly the production of the audio kept me into it more than the plot.

Beautiful Ugly by Alice Feeney was well worth the listen. Richard Armitage is the narrator of the main character and does a fine job of "playing" the innocent lost and floundering man whose wife has been missing for over a year. You'd never know his role in the story is so much more sinister. I will recommend this book for all the mystery lovers I encounter. Thank you to Net Galley and Macmillan Audio for the opportunity to listen to an ARC Audio of this suspenseful book.

From the very first chapter I was hooked! The narrators were great, and I really enjoyed the sound effects added. Unreliable narrators always win me over, and the premise of writers retreating to a remote cabin to finish a book screams thriller gold. While I found the story line a bit hard to follow toward the end, everything came together at the very end and made up for it. Creepy yet perfect, and made me laugh. Great book!

First of all, before we get into the abysmal review, the audiobook was actually wonderful. The voice acting was great and the added sound effects were wonderful. 5/5 for the audiobook portion of the book. Now onto the content review:

No. The fact that this book relies on the fact that Kitty's real name is Abby, makes me want to scream. This is the most insanely convoluted book that is constantly reaching to make logical sense.

Things I liked:
Our main character going from a seemingly good person to a villain. That was done really well.
Setting. I love the isolated island setting
Creepy sense of dread because of the strange phone calls and walkie talkie conversations

Things I didn't like:
The characters. Not a single character was a good person.
The fact that we're told our MC was on the phone with Abby when she disappears, but that literally makes no sense based on what we are told happens to Abby. She would have heard the feed back on the phone, her car driving past him. And why stay on the phone? Alibi? But, again, that makes no sense because of cell phone tower things. This just had a ton of plot holes relating to it.
Abby being pregnant. This was just so unnecessary.

This book was actually quite enjoyable until that ending. I just don't get it and I can see this being potentially the most controversial book published this year. People are either going to love this or hate it.

What a way to start off the 2025 reading year! Alice Feeney has been a favorite author of mine for years and I am thrilled to say this book absolutely lives up to the hype! I read this as an audiobook, which featured background sound effects to create a truly immersive experience. I love to see more audiobooks coming out with these effects! Beautiful Ugly is told primarily from the perspective of the antihero MMC Grady Green, an author with writer’s block, still reeling from the disappearance of his wife the year prior, who retreats to a very remote island to attempt to write his next book. Grady is the quintessential unreliable narrator, one of my favorite themes for a psychological thriller or mystery.
Some of the final twists and reveals in the book were too far-fetched. One of them was so blindsiding and had no supporting evidence or clues that I couldn’t believe it at first. The more you dig into the facts, the more of the story begins to unravel. Another twist I initially enjoyed, trying to piece together what I thought I knew with what was later revealed, however after finishing and considering the work as a whole, it’s an upcycled version of the plot device in another popular Feeney book. I still loved the book, and I love to be surprised by a thriller or mystery, but I would have loved some original twists and fewer holes in the plot.
Beautiful Ugly gets a strong 4.5 stars from me, and Feeney remains at the top of the list of must-read, must-recommend authors! Thank you so much to MacMillan Audio for the ALC of Beautiful Ugly, which publishes January 14, 2025.