OMG Alice Feeney does it again! Absolutely awesome cover and written well!

Alice Feeney never disappoints! This book is filled with twists turns and just is an awesome read! The audiobook was fantastic and i will be buying a copy for my shelves.

Amazing again!

Thanks NetGalley for letting me read and review.

Grady, a best-selling horror author, gets to live his own personal horror when his beloved wife, Abby, an investigative journalist, calls Grady from a cliff side highway to say there’s a body in the road, gets out of her car, and disappears….

One year later, Abby is still missing and presumed dead, Grady has lost almost everything, including maybe his mind, and Grady’s editor (also Abby’s godmother), Kitty, wants him to start writing again. As an inducement, Kitty has procured a cabin, previously owned by a deceased author, on a sparsely populated Scottish island for 3 months, thinking that the broken Grady might find the will to write again in the isolation. However, as soon as he arrives, he starts seeing fleeting hallucinations of his missing wife, and we start to wonder how reliable a narrator he is. Actor Richard Armitage is the empathetic voice of Grady and he brings a complicated character to a point where we sympathize with the confused widower.

A second POV is Abby’s, prior to her disappearance (voiced by a no-nonsense Tuppence Middleton). Once Abby’s narration is introduced, I definitely got “Gone Girl” vibes. I still felt a bit more sympathetic towards Grady, since he cares about his dog Colombo and the dog apparently trusts him. Trust the dogs.

The insular atmosphere of the isle, where everyone knows everyone, adds to Grady’s paranoid tendencies. There are twists and turns as he discovers more about the relationships between the locals, and “Beautiful Ugly” becomes a thriller to remember. The narration by Armitage and Middleton elevates author Feeney’s incredible novel. I’ve loved her previous works and she doesn’t disappoint. 5 stars for both plot and narration!

Thank you to Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for an advanced reader copy!

Oh man this book gripped me from the first chapter! This one had me devouring it and finished it in one day. Alice did such a good job with the pacing of this novel and it kept you wanting to uncover the secret of what happened to Grady’s wife. This one kept me guessing and trying to figure out what actually happened and let’s just say i definitely didn’t get it right hehehhehe. I loved the creepy elements this book had and it did a great job making you feel like you were on that small island experiencing it all as if you were there. If you want a fast paced twisty novel this is the book for you! Now to go back and read some of her old novels while I wait on her next one! Also that ending!!!! Thanks NetGalley and Macmillan for giving me an arc of this book :)

TW: SA

I thoroughly enjoyed Alice Feeney's most recent hit. This was one of my favorites from her! I don't want to say too much for fear of spoiling something, but it was certainly a hit.

While I didn't exactly like the main character Grady, I was absolutely hooked and had to figure out what was going on with him. Was he really seeing Abby, or was the island playing tricks on him?

The setting couldn't be beat - I love a remote island, which gives a locked room feel without being a literal room. The other characters on the island only add to the eeriness.

I loved it, definitely add Beautiful Ugly to your TBR. The oxymoronic chapter titles all the way through were also a fun touch!

The audiobook production was so fun. I loved the sound effects--although a few times they startled me! I thought I was hearing things beyond my headphones while listening, which was creepy alone in my house at night. It certainly added to the atmosphere of the story.

*Thank you to Macmillan Audio for the gifted audio*

HOLY WOW. I'm still processing all of the twists and turns from this book. I don't want to compare it to any other media, lest I spoil something, but it is also somehow incomparable so that works out nicely. Also Columbo is the goodest boy and nothing bad happens to him. (Just FYI)

Grady Green is desperate to write again after the disappearance of his wife Abby. So when the opportunity presents itself to go to a remote Scottish isle on a writing retreat of sorts, he jumps at the chance. The isle of Amberley provides so much ambiance to the story with its mists and legends. Quickly I found myself questioning Grady's narration, as what he was seeing couldn't possibly be true... Right?

The narration switches on audio were seamless and I loved the walkie talkie effects. Alternating between Grady and Abby's PoVs made the story so interesting, especially as we crept closer to each twisty reveal. A standing ovation for Alice Feeney y'all.

Alice Feenet keeps getting better with each release and this book was pure magic. Twisty, spooky, toxic magic. The ending will haunt me for a looooong time.

The audiobook was so well done. It was narrated by Richard Armitage and Tuppence Middleton. I had chills at some parts because of how well they this pulled off.

Book Review: This was a wild, unexpected ride. I feel like we have no idea whats happening through most of the book because the majority of our expense is through the the eyes of a potentially unreliable narrator and it really added to the suspense. Our main character had it all and then lost it. He was a happily married New York Time's Bestselling Author, but now everything has crumbled around him after his wife has gone missing. He's emotionally, financially, and psychologically a wreck and has not been able to write since that day. In an attempt to save her famous author from himself, his agent sends him to stay in a small writing cabin she inherited from a former client. It's a quiet little place tucked away in the woods on a remote Scottish island and might just be the thing he needs to write his next book and get his life back on track. But the longer he's on the island the more paranoid he gets. He's either completing loosing his mind or the island is not what it appears at all.

Audio Review: LOVE Richard Armitage's voice for narration and perfect as his character is really the main source of narration in this novel. I also like the sound effects at the beginning of chapters as we began to switch back in forth with time line and POV - it helped keep me oriented in the storyline.

Grady is on the phone with his wife, when she stops her car and gets out. By the time he gets to her location, she’s vanished into thin air. A writer by trade, Grady thrown into a spiral of speculation and despair. One year later with no sign of his wife, Grady heads to a deserted island to try to finish the novel he’s been working on. And that’s when things start to get very strange. Make sure you leave yourself plenty of time to read or listen to this book, because you aren’t going to want to stop once you start .

This was such a fun listen! I loved the narration and listened to in practically one sitting.

Alice Feeney writes such consumable thrillers. Like, you can’t help but devour them whole. Beautiful Ugly was no different. We are thrown directly into the story as author Grady Green experiences the best and worst day of his life, simultaneously. After some incredible news from his publisher, he calls his wife to share the joy. He then witnesses via the phone call as she stops abruptly and gets out of the car. When he finally gets to her car, he finds it empty. Her phone is still there, but she is nowhere to be found…

A year later, Grady is still reeling from her disappearance. He cannot get past it and his writing career is really suffering. Hoping a change of scenery and some silence is what he needs to write, he embarks to a tiny island where he has secured access to a place he can really get past this block. When he immediately starts seeing his missing wife everywhere on the island, things start to get crazy.

I could see where some of the plot was going, but not to the extent, and it was so entertaining. I went into this one COMPLETELY blind, so I am not giving anything in this review that isn’t in the synopsis. There is truly so so much more to the story though. It’s so worth the read/listen, but the audio was done so well, so I highly recommend.

The audiobook production was fantastic - dual narration and a lot of sound effects made this very immersive and enjoyable to listen to! However… (staying very vague here) there was a thriller plot device used that is not my favorite and felt kind of cheaty. That said, this was addictive and had me guessing and saying “wait - what!?!” a zillion times, and I LOVED the island and would actually quite like to be a resident (IYKYK), so it was fully worth feeling a little bit cheated for a whole lot of excellent listening. (3.5 rounded up)

Holy smokes. This was truly the best who dun it/thriller I have read all year. Alice Feeney is truly the Queen of Twists. I am still in shocked over the twists and the ending!!!

This was an enjoyable mystery—while it may not be the best I’ve ever read, it was certainly entertaining and kept me engaged. Alice Feeney’s writing, as always, is impressive. She has a remarkable ability to create vivid, immersive worlds within her novels, drawing you into the lives of her characters and the twists of the plot. Her technical skill as a storyteller is evident, and her knack for building suspense is something I always appreciate.

That said, while Feeney’s writing is solid, the plot of this particular book didn’t quite hit the mark for me. It had its moments, but overall, it didn’t feel as compelling or surprising as some of her other works. The pacing was a bit uneven, and the central mystery, though intriguing, didn’t pack the punch I was hoping for.

On a positive note, the audio narration was fantastic. The voice actor did an excellent job of bringing the characters to life and adding an extra layer of tension and emotion to the story. The narration definitely enhanced the experience, and I think it helped elevate the book for me overall.

While this wasn’t my favorite book by Alice Feeney, I would still recommend it to fans of her work or anyone who enjoys a good, suspenseful mystery.