4.5 ⭐️
You can always count on Alice Feeney to bring you the creepy WTF moments and I love it! This book was very close to perfect for me, the twist was twisting for sure! I audibly said WTF like 3 times! lol. The deduction for 1/2 ⭐️ was only because the buildup through the middle of the book was such a slow burn! Otherwise a great read! We love Alice Feeney around here and this book is right on par for her!

Story: ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Audio: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Grady is on the phone with his wife when she goes missing. Abby stops the car on her way home for work to a woman lying in the road. Her husband begs her not to get out of the car but all the sudden the line goes dead. She’s disappeared and now he’s struggling to write and losing all he’s worked for. His agent, Abby’s godmother, offers him the chance to write at her inherited cabin on an island. But everywhere he looks he thinks he’s seen his missing wife. The island is also not what it appears and he is starting to question it all.
I love Alice Feeney’s twists! And this was another great twist. But I struggled a lot through this book, but more to personal preferences. The trope of this one was not my favorite, Im just not a fan of the psychological aspect of the mind tricks and sanity versus alcohol aspect. Other than that it was very well written and the audio narrator did great!

I have mixed feelings about this one. There was a ton of characters, I didn’t really love the premise and storyline and in the end it was definitely weird and creepy….just not my fav of hers.

Author Grady Green is having the Best Day of His Life! Unfortunately, it also turns into the Worst Day of His Life right after…

He’s on the phone with his wife as she’s driving home. He just got the news. His latest book has hit the Bestseller List!!
He hears her jam on the brakes…There’s a body on the road. He urges her to NOT get out of the car, but of course she doesn’t listen…
And then, there’s nothing…

He rushes to the scene to find her car, bag, phone…but no Abby….

He goes into a downward spiral from here, and finds he cannot write. (Or do much of anything it seems…)
His agent offers him a cabin in a remote area of Scotland. He’s about to decline, but realizes he has NOTHING left to give, or lose …and so he agrees.

This is when the story takes on a whole new persona…

It’s a VERY SMALL town…. Everyone knows everyone else… and their business.

You have to take a ferry to get there. No cars. No cell service on the island…

And so the shenanigans begin…

And Grady starts to see things that CANNOT be real. He sees his wife Abby… over and over again.

What a complete mind boggle this is! Just when you think you MAY have a grasp on what happened, you find out… Nope. That’s not it!

Oh, and there’s a dog! 🐶 ❤️ 🐕

4 1/2 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫 for me, happily rounded up to 5!

#BeautifulUgly by #AliceFeeney and narrated beautifully by #RichardArmitage.

Thanks so much to #NetGalley and #MacmillanAudio for an ARC of the Audiobook
. ***** PLEASE NOTE THE RELEASE DATE IS 1/14/25 *****
So about a month away! Please look 👀 for it then!

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3.5 stars rounded up.

This book was fun and interesting to read all the way to the end when it gets weird and unbelievable and then the very end which is even weirder and hard to understand.

But aside from that, it's super fast paced and all you're trying to understand the whole time is what happened, who took Grady's wife? What's up with the island he's visiting? Is that his wife? What do all the people seem to know besides the reader?

It's creepy but not too much, it's intense but not too much, the characters are unlikeable but not too much (until the end) so you just keep turning those pages (or listening in my case) just to find out what is going on.

The audio narration was excellent and kept me on my toes the whole time. I loved the sound effects too!

with gratitude to netgalley and Macmillan Audio for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review

Yesssssss!!! Just finished “Beautiful Ugly” and my mind is BLOWN! Alice Feeney hit a home run with this one! <3

It is no secret that I’m a huge FEENatic at this point. I will pre-order anything she writes without question. However, #NetGalley and #MacmillanAudio were kind enough to let me listen to this on audio early in exchange for an honest review.

I am so glad that I listened to this one on audio. The narrators were brilliant and they completely enhanced my reading experience. When I started listening to Alice Feeney’s work, I even changed my Amazon Alexa to a British accent :)

The Amberly island setting was stunning—dark, mysterious, and somehow alive with the power of feminine persuasion. That energy was palpable, and it weighed on me while I read, almost like the island itself was a character. My emotions were heavy, but in the best possible way.

Here’s the thing: I never trusted any of these characters. Not one. And honestly, that’s what made the reading experience so unforgettable. I was constantly questioning everyone and everything, which forced me to process the story in so many unique ways.

Alice Feeney never misses, and this book was no exception. She’s one of my absolute favorites for a reason. If you haven’t read it yet, do yourself a favor and dive in! You’ll love every twisted minute.

I haven't read Alice Feeney in awhile, but now I have to go back and see what I've missed! This intriguing story had me hooked from the start. The description of the island where this takes place was so well done but not overdone. The narration made it all the better, as i love accents, and it added authenticity to the story.

Thank you netgalley for the prerelease ebook!

We listen and we don’t judge….

“𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘪𝘴𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘥𝘰𝘦𝘴𝘯’𝘵 𝘫𝘶𝘥𝘨𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶. 𝘐𝘵 𝘥𝘰𝘦𝘴𝘯’𝘵 𝘤𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘦, 𝘰𝘳 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘢𝘳𝘦.”

This book was wild! I’ve only read one other Alice Feeney book but this makes me want to read more.

“𝘞𝘦 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘢 𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘶𝘭𝘪𝘢𝘳 𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘪𝘦𝘴. 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘦𝘦 𝘣𝘢𝘴𝘪𝘤 𝘧𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘢𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘭 𝘧𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘩𝘶𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘴 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘧𝘦𝘢𝘳 𝘰𝘧 𝘥𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘩, 𝘧𝘦𝘢𝘳 𝘰𝘧 𝘢𝘣𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘰𝘯𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵, 𝘧𝘦𝘢𝘳 𝘰𝘧 𝘧𝘢𝘪𝘭𝘶𝘳𝘦.”

A year after the disappearance of his wife, Grady, a now struggling author gets a chance to write in a secluded cabin on the Scottish Amberly Isle. Only when he arrives, he swears he keeps seeing his missing wife and the town folk are acting strange. Is it all in his head or is something more sinister at play here?

Atmospheric, mysterious, eerie, dual POV. This was a dark and twisted tale of marriage, revenge, and the secrets people keep. This book keeps you guessing. 👀👀

Mostly told from Grady’s POV in the present with Abby’s POV from mostly the past. I loved Abby’s POV. Her character background was deep and each time we heard from her we learned a little bit more. Alice gave us crumbles. Bits of pieces of this puzzle. A very enticing read. It’s a slow burn mystery unraveling at a snails pace but it was still such an enjoyable read. Dramatic. Suspenseful not in a scary sense but what’s going to happen next. Multiple times I thought to myself “no way!” She ends her chapters which the perfect one liners that leave you wanting more every damn time so while it’s not a fast-paced, action packed read it’s fully binge-able.

This was a fantastic story because there multiple mysteries to uncover along with two narrations that lead to conflicting behavior between the two. The unreliable narration develops slowly and is done in such a clever way.

The audio which was fantastic. I often struggle when narrators with accents but these two I had no issues with. Richard Armitage and Tuppence Middleton both portrayed the characters and emotions so well and the added intermittent sound effects heightened the atmosphere of the whole story I think. The sound effects are not consistent like in a graphic audio but in between chapters and the occasional ring or so or for instance how they sound talking through a walkie-talkie or phone.

The twists just kept coming! 65% in and my jaw dropped. Just standing there looking into oblivion like “did that just happen?!” The story is a bit improbable, more so as the book progresses, but it was still a highly enjoyable read.

Such.👏🏻 A.👏🏻 Great.👏🏻 Book! 👏🏻

This book had the twists and turns that you would expect from an Alice Feeney novel. Listening to it an audiobook had me questioning the narrator's voice as it related to the characters but I feel they added to the story. It definitely picked up in the second half of the novel and I became more engrossed in the character development. I felt that the first half had Grady repeatedly say "I'm so tired" and "I miss my wife" so much that the redundancy became distracting. But once the story began to evolve I became more engaged.

This was the first book that I’ve read by this author. I will definitely read her back list. This book has a huge twist at the end. I definitely didn’t see it coming. I will definitely suggest this book to my mystery thriller customers.

2.5/5

author grady green is having the best day of his life - until his wife, abby mysteriously vanishes and he finds her car abandoned by a cliff side.

a year has passed since abby went missing and there are no leads on her disappearance. grady, an author with a terrible case of writers block, mixed in with insomnia and a drinking problem, is approached by his agent kitty to live in a cabin on an island out in scotland as a way to get his life, and career back on track.

this novel starts off rather slow and i will be honest that during the first half of the audiobook i did often find myself having to go back and listen to parts of chapters again due to losing interest in the plot. by the second half the book does pick up, and the audiobook has some additional sound effects that do really help you get immersed in the book.

alice feeney does a great job at keeping you on your toes, and wondering what’s going to happen next. the book being set in a tiny scottish island was an excellent choice & learning how the small community remained as tight knit as they were was at times mind boggling, but also kept me wanting to know more about each of the characters and what lead them to this small island.

with that said, i was let down by the book as i felt the build up to the “big reveal” and the twists to follow were hard to believe, as they seemed extremely outlandish.

a huge thank you to NetGalley & MacMillan audio for the arc!

The audio was fantastic. The narration fit the atmospheric creepy vibe of the story very well. The accents were perfect. I listened at 1.75x and 2x as the story developed.

This is definitely a slow burn suspense- but the very end had my jaw dropping with all the twists. In typical Alice Feeney fashion - you never really know who to believe and you are probably going to be wrong if you try and guess. I do wish the twists started a bit earlier because they were super fun.

This book was a fantastic read!! Could hardly wait to see what was going to happen next.

Grady Green, a writer, has just released a new novel and was calling his wife to tell her some exciting news about the book. But his wife spots something in the road, and despite him telling her to leave it be, she just had to see what it was. And that was the last he saw of her. What happened to Abby?

Grady struggled writing after that, so his publisher sent him to a small island to hopefully get him writing again. Only that’s not all that was in store for Grady.

Five-Star Review: Beautiful Ugly by Alice Feeney (Audiobook)

The narration of Beautiful Ugly is nothing short of spectacular. The male narrator’s delivery is gripping and perfectly complements the thriller's atmosphere. His voice aligns seamlessly with how I envisioned the protagonist, adding an extra layer of depth to the character's journey. Equally impressive is the female narrator, who masterfully captures the women’s points of view with nuance and authenticity. Their combined performances elevate the audiobook to an unmissable experience. Highly recommend listening to this one!

The story itself is a brilliant, twisting thriller that keeps you guessing until the very end. It follows a writer who is riding high on the success of his latest book hitting the bestseller list—until his wife suddenly vanishes, leaving him devastated and unable to write. A year later, still stuck in creative limbo, his publisher offers him a secluded cottage on a remote island, hoping the isolation will help him regain his inspiration.

But the island is far from a serene retreat. As the writer encounters the peculiar habits of the locals and experiences increasingly bizarre occurrences, he begins to question not just the townspeople but also his own sanity. The atmosphere is haunting, and the tension is palpable.

Alice Feeney’s ability to weave twist after twist is unparalleled. Just when you think you’ve figured it out, the story takes another jaw-dropping turn. I pride myself on solving thrillers early, but this one completely blindsided me in the best way possible. The twists were delightfully "twisty" and utterly satisfying.

Thank you to Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for the review copy. Beautiful Ugly publishes on January 14, 2025, and it’s a must-read (or listen!) for any thriller fan.

I absolutely loved the narration and production of this book! There were mind sound effects to signal switches in time and narrators and I thought it completely brought the story to life.
I did take issue with the plot twist in the story because I felt it was a little lazy and very closely mimicked another of this author’s plot twists, but it didn’t take away from my love of the audiobook.

What a twisty ride this is! After losing his wife and everything else, Grady is given one last chance by his literary agent, Kitty, to stay at the cabin she inherited on the tiny island of Amberley and try to write another book. This ends up being both a dream come true and a nightmare, which fits in this book of opposites and I definitely had fun listening to this audiobook which not only had a couple of great narrators (speaking Grady and Abby's parts) but also really well done sound effects to heighten the surroundings like the sounds of waves, church bells, and telephones and walkie talkies. I loved how it added to the story.

So, yeah, very twisty and not all is as it seems on the island or whether Grady is really experiencing the odd stuff or if he is an unreliable narrator. It was a very good unraveling and the only think I will says is I am glad that nothing happened to Columbo! That ending gave me shivers! I think it would be nice to visit the island though and see all the cool landmarks, but only during tourist season!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for giving me the chance to listen to this audiobook and review it.

Didn’t see the twists coming. I was on the edge of my seat the whole time. The ending was a bit out of left field though. I thought it resolved quite well without that last bit.

Beautiful Ugly by Alice Feeney is a dark thriller that will keep you guessing until the final page! This story is psychological suspense, filled with drama and revenge. The novel follows Grady Green, whose life unravels when his wife Abby disappears. A year later, still consumed by grief and unanswered questions, Grady retreats to a remote Scottish island, only to see a woman who looks exactly like Abby. The story alternates between past and present while exposing secrets. The twists are absolutely incredible and suspenseful, I loved every moment!

Just finished listening to this gem by Alice Feeney. Beautiful Ugly has a plot twist that I didn’t see coming and left me gasping out loud. Good solid read. Entertaining!

Everyone who wants to enjoy this book should consider the audiobook. This is a classic Alice Feeney, with large twist towards the end after somewhat slow paced first 3/4. I found the setting, the characters, and the plot all interesting. The pacing was a little off for me, but not enough to make it unenjoyable. The added sound effects and the narrators on the audiobook were so perfect that it makes it by far the best way to enjoy it. The crinkle of walkie talkies, the foreboding music before Abby’s chapters, the sound of water… I loved it.

Thank you published and NetGalley for the chance to listen to this book.