Beautiful Ugly | 
pickThis book is on my TBR for a long time. Finally, I reached it. It's a mystery and revenge story with lots of twists and confusion. As a reader, you get confused many times. A writer whose wife went missing can't write anymore. After one year, his agent, out of pity, offers him a secluded place to write — a cabin on an island with only 25 people. No Wi-Fi, no mobile, even the payphone is dead. I really enjoyed it. 🎧
pick5-18-25: My 34th finished book of 2025! Grady Green, an author who is waiting for the biggest news of his life, has lost his wife under mysterious circumstances. After a year of lamenting and not being able to write, his publisher suggests he move out to a special writer‘s cabin on the Isle of Amberly. It is there that he starts to lose his sense of reality but also starts to find his writing voice again. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️📖#️⃣3️⃣4️⃣
pickCame to San Antonio by myself for the Book Festival (today!)! #SABF 👏🏼♥️🍷📖 And getting some pre-festival reading in… of course. ☺️
Also finished the tagged (audio - 2 readers) on the plane. Loved it. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
And finished Wild Dark Shore for #RealLifeBookGroup (also audio - 3/4 readers). Brutal & brilliant. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ too!
Reading Desert Places next on audio!
so-soLoved how the book started. Intriguing premise. Once author Grady gets to the island, though, the plot introduces these wonky details that descend into a giant convoluted hot mess. Didn‘t really care for any character except the dog Columbo, who thankfully remained unharmed even though Grady really needed to leash him or watch out for him in several precarious situations. Audiobook performance was good.
pickUnlikeable characters and a slow-moving story made this less compelling than AF‘s other books. While the ending was great, the journey felt drawn out, and I struggled to stay engaged. That said, I always enjoy a good unreliable narrator! Book #23 in 2025
pickThis book was so good! There were so many layers to this story that it was wild! It had me yelling out loud while reading! This just may be one of my favorites. I don‘t want to give a single thing away but i definitely recommend this one!
pick3½✨
There's a lot of conflicting reviews about this one. But I quite enjoyed it.
Even with the slow start and Grady being a sulky, self-absorbed man-child.
The suspense and mystery of the Isle of Amberley kept me intrigued. It felt like a character on its own, with the residents being its moving parts.
And the twists.
I did not see it coming... at all.
so-soI'm torn about this one. The main character does nothing but feel sorry for himself, which gets really repetitive. That being said, it was a page turner with a creepy atmosphere and I was hooked. I'm also not sure how I feel about the ending.
so-so2.5 ⭐️ While this book was a bit boring at times, I was still intrigued by the story and the islanders. The story took a completely different turn than I predicted. To be honest, I was anticipating this book for a while and I am disappointed.
so-soIt romped along at a good pace hence the so so as I didn‘t suffer too long. And I had hopes as it sped along but the characters are all so unlikeable I didn‘t really care about them. And how long did it take him to realise the island had only women? 🤦🏻♀️ I feared for the dog also so that gave me anxiety. The ending was horrendous. For a time I thought it might have ended with a supernatural twist around the buried sets of clothes.
so-soThis was on track to be Feeney‘s best yet. And then she just destroyed it with a lazy ending. I have no patience for a plot that wraps up the way this one did.
so-soOk, I really didn‘t like this book. I didn‘t like any of the characters & maybe bc I was so frustrated with them that when one of the big twists came, I was just confused & didn‘t really care what happened.I also am annoyed with books taking place on islands 🤷🏼♀️ I feel like it‘s been overdone. This is the 2nd of Feeney‘s that I‘ve read that I‘ve been so-so about, so I‘m not sure her books are for me. The audiobook actors were great though!
panUgh. This book started out so well. Great atmosphere and interesting premise. Loved the set up. Then the ending jumped the shark. Such a convoluted mess. I'm also pretty over the men-are-evil-and-women-would-run-the-world-in-harmony silliness. One paragraph legit made me stop and roll my eyes. Come on.
panI really wanted to like this and the premise sounded great but sadly it failed to deliver. It was a long read and the pace never seemed to pick up. I read onto the end to see how it would finally all play out and there was a couple of interesting twists but it didnt make up for the rest of the book. I struggle with the unreliable narrator style stories as they can feel disjointed and you don't connect with the lead. #Netgalley 2*
so-soAll I can say is it was just okay. The reveal kind of fell flat.
pick⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2. A slow building story and then that ending…. What???
so-so**spoiler alert** This book had a lot going on. Maybe too much? It was very convoluted, especially towards the end. The map at the beginning of the book gave it a fantasy feel, when it was in fact a thriller. The horrible deed that the protagonist did didn‘t seem believable for his character. It came out of nowhere. This book was a quick read, and it kept me interested until the end.
so-soWell that was something else. What an odd ending…a crazy, twisty thriller. The parts of this I didn‘t like were the parts I perceived as man hating. I just don‘t like when one sex or the other is villainized or generalized...it‘s derivative. #botm
Book 5 of 2025
pickThis has all the trademark Feeney vagueness, twists, and misdirection that I, personally, have come to love. I never truly know what is happening when reading her books and just love going along for the ride until all the pennies drop. This isn‘t my favorite of her books (Rock, Paper, Scissors holds that spot) but I did enjoy the ride. 🌟🌟🌟🌟
pickFinished Beautiful Ugly while I was at the emergency vet with this baby last night.
I will say, it definitely kept me guessing. It reminded me of how I went back and forth trying to decide which reality was the real world when I read Shutter Island or the Wayward Pines trilogy. I didn‘t guess the ending before I arrived there! I loved all the twists and turns, it was such a fun read.
pickThis is twisty dark thriller that I could not stop listening to. I did have a guess at the ending, but there were additional twists that very much surprised me. It is best to go in knowing nothing. 5⭐️
pickUsually an Alice Feeney novel grabs me from page 1. This one took me at least 60 pages to get into it. But when I did, I was in. It was a mind meld for sure and I there were a lot of moving parts that were still a puzzle to solve at the end.
pickI seem to be a heat-seeking missile toward sketchy author plots. (In fact, I should pull my index cards to see which ranks as my favorite!). This one was giving my SK Misery vibes then went in a direction I surely didn‘t see coming. I found it very entertaining. I did have to do a quick review of the first 14 chapters🤣
I received an audio from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. I loved this audio. Both narrators were so good. Both portrayed the characters supremely. Both gave me exactly what I expected in a great audio.
I loved it. This was my BOTM choice and I'm very happy with it.
Full review: https://lsmoore49.blogspot.com/2025/01/beautiful-ugly-by-alice-feeney.html
pickBeautiful Ugly was a very good thriller. I understand why others thought the ending was a little rushed, but it worked for me. This was a pretty dark tale about an author dealing with his wife's disappearance. He goes to an isolated island to write. Then he sees her on the island. There is a lot to look into, including the island's history. A strong thriller. 4.5 stars.
pickWow! Did not see that twist coming!
#bookspinbingo
#pop25 - book with silver on the cover or in the title
#LitsyAtoZ #LetterF
#jumpstart2025
#read2025
so-soAlice Feeney‘s latest mystery is true to her style . . . with mixed results. Read my full review here: https://debbybrauer.org/#beautiful-ugly
Publication is expected January 14.
#NetGalley #MacmillanAudio #BeautifulUgly
Still chugging along through my tattoo appointment.
First thriller and first paczki of the year! 🥳🎉
I‘m about 55 pages in and I‘m already glad I picked this for my next read (should be studying but shhh). Short enough that I‘m going to breeze through this because I can already tell I‘m not going to be able to put it down. We have ghosts of the past, creepy gift boxes, moral dilemmas, oddities and a beautiful forest with old deep soul vibes. And The Edge of the World is described as my perfect escape from people (so far).
pickWhile Feeney‘s 7th novel isn‘t my favorite, I still found myself listening to this at every opportunity! With dual perspectives, this one hooked me from the start. Author Grady Green‘s whole life has crumbled in the wake of his wife‘s mysterious disappearance. But his agent (and wife‘s godmother) throws him an opportunity to write in the isolated cabin she inherited on a remote Scottish island. It‘s quickly clear that the island harbors secrets!
Author Grady Green is having the worst best day of his life. Grady calls his wife to share some exciting news as she is driving home. He hears Abby slam on the brakes, get out of the car, then nothing. When he eventually finds her car by the cliff edge the headlights are on, the driver door is open, her phone is still there. . . but his wife has disappeared.
so-so3⭐️
I went into this expecting to love it. I have read the authors previous work and enjoyed it. This book left me feeling unconnected to the characters. I couldn't find a single character that I enjoyed. I do think to make the story work it had to be that way.
pickSurprisingly, this is my first Alice Feeney book and it was a gooood one! First 5⭐️ read of the year!
This was a twisty good psychological thriller with a lot of beautiful ugly and I loved every bit of it!
“Sadness can consume a person if it is allowed to linger too long. It takes root and buries itself inside a person's soul, until every thought is too heavy, too painful to think.”
These two books helped me meet my #20in4 goal of 20 chapters. With a husband who works crazy hours, a son who is sick, a daughter who wants to do everything but clean her room, it was a struggle. I met the goal around 9pm CST and didn't get a chance to post until now. Hopefully, 2025 reading isn't all like this first batch.
pickWow. This is a dark, dark read. Starts out pretty tamely, but we end up in a place that I could never have foreseen. Obsession, disappearance, obfuscation, abduction, cult(?), murder, bombastic gaslighting, Scottish island. This book is one helluva ride. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
pickA gorgeous setting, a twist I NEVER saw coming, a creepy ending.
Beautiful Ugly did not disappoint.
pick⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5
I always love a dark and twisted thriller by Alice Feeney!😱
panI am beyond disappointed. I usually love Alice Feeney, but this was not it. The build-up is painfully slow, but I was okay with it because it was still creepy from time to time, just enough to keep me reading. The ending killed it for me. I literally said out loud, Oh great, it's a I hate all men book.I fully support women getting revenge and taking back their life from messed up men. But I can't get behind hating all men for one man's actions 2/5
