This audiobook was amazing! The sound engineering was phenomenally done and made you feel fully immersed into the book. The narrators weren’t horrible and made listening a joy.

As for the story itself it was quite good and had great twists although predictable for me at times.

This book had lots of good twists and turns that I absolutely expect from Alice Feeney but the audio fell flat for me. The narrators did well for their specific parts but when voicing the opposite gender, it just wasn’t my favorite. I do enjoy dual narration but I feel like the narrators make the audiobook.

I think I would have enjoyed the audio more if the narrators were different or if it was duet style.

The book was a 4.5 stars but the audio was about 2.5-3.

This was an interesting read. There were points where I found myself losing interest, but it did seem to recapture my attention throughout. I listened to the audio production and they did a really nice job with the tone and cadence of the reading. The story was intriguing with just enough mystery. Would recommend to others

This psychological thriller about an author who is struggling to write his next novel and deal with the mysterious disappearance of his wife started out with a strong, sinister vibe.

It's a locked room ... er, locked island? ... story that was greatly enhanced by the wonderful narration by Richard Armitage and Tuppence Middleton. The addition of auditory embellishments of background noises and music helped to set the eerie mood of the story and setting when author Grady is offered a cabin on a remote island where he believes strange things begin to happen. He questions the intentions of the island residents and whether he has seen glimpses of his missing wife on the island.

This is a slow burn story that leans heavily on the unreliable narrator - a popular and successful trope. We also get chapters about the days leading up to Grady's wife's disappearance and I liked getting both POVs.

I'm not a fan of the slow burn story and this book took quite a while to gain traction with the action not picking up until the last quarter. At this point, the story dives into the deep end of unbelievable that will require readers to suspend disbelief with some of the far-fetched twists that are finally revealed.

An eerie, atmospheric read with lots of red herrings (some of which hit their targets and others not so much), I think this book will appeal to Feeney fans!

Disclaimer: My thanks to Macmillan Audio for the advanced digital audiobook which was provided in exchange for my honest review.

This was my first book by Ms Feeney and I enjoyed it. Told in 2 different alternating narrations, it's a book about what we think we know vs what is true. That's pretty much all I can say. The book is well named and comes up a few times in the story. The twist ending was definitely one you don't see coming. Did not enjoy the needless sex scenes that felt out of place.
The narrator really made you feel like you were in the minds of the characters.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC.

I love Alice Feeney's work, and when I was given the chance to get an audibook copy of "Beautiful Ugly", I was excited. I was not disappointed.

Grady Green is finally a New York Times Best Selling Author. He'd waited for this moment for a long time and everything would be perfect, except his wife, Abby, wasn't home to celebrate with him. When he calls to tell her the news, she's loving and supportive, but suddenly, she sees someone in the road and gets out to help. And then she disappears.

A year later, his life is a mess, and he desperately needs to write another book. So, an offer to spend time at a remote writing cabin in Amberley, Scotland, is an offer he can't pass up. He packs up his stuff and his dog, Columbo (who is not harmed in this book, FYI), and makes the long drive to Scotland. But once there, he keeps seeing a woman who looks exactly like Abby. It can't be her...

One reason I enjoy Alice Feeney's books is that she manages to pull so many emotions and feelings out of me about her characters. Grady's character is not likable. Richard Armitage, the narrator, does an excellent job at bringing Grady Green off the page and I managed to hate him and relate to him at the same time. He spends his time reminiscing about Abby while managing to passive-aggressively take digs at her. As I listened, I decided that it probably sucked to be married to Grady Green.

This story is a slow burn, in my opinion. There is a lot of tension, nervousness, and unease that builds throughout. Grady is an unreliable narrator and it's not hidden: he drinks too much, he doesn't sleep, and he frequently is questioning his own judgement of the events happening around him.

I consider Alice Feeney to be one of the Queens of crazy twists and this story helped maintain that reputation. I don't want to give anything away but the ending was shocking, to say the least. It really made me think about what I had taken as fact and what I had questioned and vice versa.

If you enjoy tension, unease, and locked-room mysteries, you may definitely want to read this.

The truth is definitely stranger than fiction.

Beautiful Ugly is a haunting thriller that had me hooked right away.

I really enjoyed this audiobook. The plot, narration and sound effects were great. Alice Feeney is a gifted author, and I look forward to her next book.

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

Thank youuu NetGalley & Macmillan Audio for an advanced copy of this amazing audiobook. Beautiful Ugly by Alice Feeney publishes January 14, 2025. Five stars!!!

Beautiful Ugly is about an author, Grady Green, who is having what he thought to be a great day, with exciting news, until his wife disappears, seemingly out of thin air. I think I loved this so much because it takes place on a remote island in Scotland and I'm obsessed with Scotland. The atmosphere was SO creepy. I really want to say more but I fear that I will spoil it. What I'll say is - I typically don't like thrillers that have a certain trope that this one does have... but I still liked it. A LOT. I think it really worked for Feeney. Also, I was happy to read a thriller with a MMC first person POV instead of an FMC. Women get fucked over in thrillers too much. This was FANTASTIC.

This was my third Alice Feeney. I really did not care for the other two by her I read: Rock Paper Scissors & Daisy Darker. I rated them 2 and 3 stars, respectively. But this one??? This sucked me in immediately and was so fun and exciting to listen to. I highly recommend this on audio as it contains sound effects like walkie-talkie crackling, ocean sounds, phones ringing, and more. The narrator has a great voice - it went along perfectly with his character. The narrator is British but did the Scottish accent very well. LOVE!

Any fan of mystery/thrillers from the UK knows the cardinal rule: Never Stay Alone in a Cottage in Scotland. Especially one on an island. But you can't resist falling for Beautiful Ugly, a clever, twisty, fascinating thriller from the brilliant mind of Alice Feeney and the pitch perfect narration team of Richard Armitage and Tuppence Middleton. In Beautiful Ugly, a writer flees to an isolated cabin to mourn his wife and finish his book. But nothing is as it seem in Beautiful Ugly and that's the fun and the fiction of the story. Entertaining, high concept, fierce females and sexy narrators.

"I hope you die in your sleep is how we said I loved you"
I believe this is my first Alice Feeney read and I thought it was ok.
The premise was great, the setting was bold and looming, and the ending was good. The island was so descriptive, I felt as though I could clearly see it and follow Grady as he went to and fro. I could also visually see the people and feel the weirdness in most every interaction. It felt as though I was reading/listening to the story sitting by a crackling fire. So, what didn't work for me?
The pacing. It was an extremely slow moving story. I thought the different POVs would make things more interesting, but the FMC's sections were completely underwhelming IMO.
The narration was great, I really enjoyed hearing some new voices. The male narrator had a great voice for storytelling and captivating the audience. He kept me engaged. I also liked the added sound effects throughout.

Husband-wife relationships are complicated, but Beautiful Ugly takes that to a different level. Grady is not a likeable character though and I kept waiting for him to make the most obvious realization about the island as days go on, but he just did not make the connections till almost the end. Also, the backstories for some of the characters did not quite sit well, but all in all, I enjoyed listening to this highly atmospheric and gripping thriller and felt that both narrators did an excellent job with the voices and accents.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for gifting me an audio ARC of the latest thriller by Alice Feeney. All opinions expressed in this review are my own – 5 stars!

Author Grady Green calls his wife to share some exciting news as she’s driving home. But as they are talking Abby gets out of the car and is never seen from again. One year later, Grady is still devastated and desperate to know what happened. He can no longer write and is not taking care of himself. His agent gives him an opportunity to stay on a small Scottish island in a writer’s previous cottage to try and regroup. But as soon as he arrives, he sees a woman who looks just like his missing wife.

Wives think their husbands will change but they don’t.
Husbands think their wives won’t change but they do.

I loved this one – Alice Feeney at her best. A locked room-type mystery, taking place on a small Scottish island with only 25 year-round inhabitants. The setting is almost another character, because you can feel the isolation, feel the weather coming off the sea, the cold damp feeling settling in your bones. Plus, there is a group of characters that left you wondering who you could trust and what was real. The audiobook was fantastic, complete with sound effects at the beginning of each chapter, immersing the reader even further. I couldn’t stop listening to this one and loved every twist and turn along the way!

When a once best-selling author is still grief-stricken from his wife’s assumed death and unable to write anymore a year after his wife disappears, his agent, who is also his wife’s aunt, throws him a lifeline. She gives him permission to go to a cabin she inherited on a very remote island to seek solace and quiet so he can attempt to repair his writing career. But what seems like the perfect retreat may just be his worst nightmare. There is virtually no communication on the island to the mainland, rarely a ferry back, and the 25 residents who live there may just be hiding secrets of their own.
I loved the premise of this tale and was intrigued with the characters from the start. As the history of the characters, motives, relationships all unfolded, I was hyper-engaged in what was to come. The author did a phenomenal job with this one and I look forward to reading more by her, as this is actually my first Alice Feeny book. I’ve already purchased my physical copy too for my personal book shelf, and I only buy physical copies of books that really get to me. Thank you to NetGalley, Flatiron Books, and Alice Feeny for this advanced copy in exchange for an honest review!

"My wife is always trespassing on my thoughts"....Rock Paper Scissors is in the top 5 of my favorite books. I love Alice Feeney books but never listened to one. I wasn't sure what to expect when I got an advanced copy of Beautiful Ugly, the audio book but boy am I glad I got to listen to it. Thank you for putting in sound effects. I never understood why there are no sound effects in audio books. The audio book made this book in my opinion. I could not stop listening to the last hour as I really didn't know where it was going. Then the ending......wow. Loved the story, loved the atmosphere, loved the sound effects. The ending may take me awhile to get over.

This story kept me guessing. It was quite an intriguing story. If you are a fan of Alice Feeney you will not be disappointed in this suspense thriller.

This audio book had me in its clutches from the very beginning. The audio production is excellent, and the narrators really keep you on your toes.

In terms of story, the first 80% was very eerie and left me wondering where the story was going to go and what the twist was going to be. Unfortunately, the twist reveal at the end was lackluster and seemed to be a letdown compared to the lead up of the story. It felt like a rushed response to the storylines that had been set up throughout the rest of the book.

"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."

After getting the best news of his career, author Grady's wife goes missing. It was the worst best day. He hasn't been able to sleep or write since so when he receives the offer of a lifetime from his agent and dear friend, he takes it.

He's now staying on a secluded Scottish island in the cabin of a reclusive author who's recently passed. What starts as a dream quickly turns into a nightmare as it seems the island will not let him leave. On top of that, he keeps seeing his missing wife. Is he hallucinating or has he been brought here for something far different, and more sinister, than finishing up his next book?

This had a lot of good but Feeney has been doing this thing in her last few books that bothers me. She speaks in riddles, parables, metaphors, and quotes. It's distracting and it drives me nuts. I find myself waiting for the next and I'm not left waiting long. Such as: "I think doing the right thing isn't always the right thing to do." Make it stop!

Usually I forgive it because the twist is so moving(Daisy Darker) but this one was not. It felt so bizarre that it was nearly insulting.

It's still well-written and worth reading but I think I might give up on this author. Her older work is still amazing. This just isn't it for me.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the chance to read and review.

I was so excited to get this approval! I really remember enjoying Rock, Paper, Scissors!

Grady is talking with his wife on the phone on his way home, when she stops to help someone in the road. He's listening to make sure she's okay, but then she's just gone. A year later, he's struggling to write, to move on, to understand. His agent suggests time away on a remote island to try to spark his writing again. But when he arrives, he realizes this small community isn't what it seems.

For the first 2/3 of this book, I was absolutely hooked. The premise was incredibly enticing. I loved the back and forth of Abby's perspective intertwining with Grady's (it was giving Gone Girl)!! It was weird and atmospheric. The characters were perfectly strange. The ending was not favorable to me. It seemed kind of out of left field and highly improbable. It was just really unrealistic and it made it hard to continue to connect with the characters after that.

The story was very captivating, but I wish it ended better!! Thank you NetGalley for the chance to review this!

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!!