I read His and Hers earlier this year and absolutely loved it. Did Feeney deliver once again??

Yes! What I loved most about this book was the setting: a converted chapel located in a remote part of the Scottish Highlands during a snow storm. Perfectly creepy atmosphere. Oh and the sweet, lovable dog named Bob❤️

Twisty? Yes. And the alternating POVs interspersed with letters written by Adam’s wife on their anniversaries was just enough to keep me guessing and trying to figure out what the hell was going on.

Another interesting aspect of the book is that Adam suffers from prosopagnosia or face blindness. This is a fascinating neurological disorder with life altering consequences; one that I know little about so of course I had to do some internet research after reading the book.

For fans of His and Hers, this book is definitely worth your time. Looking forward to the next one by Feeney!

Alice Feeney has always been a kind of hit or miss author for me. I have loved some of their work and others fell flat. This one was the best one I have read yet! They get better and better as she writes more.

From the creepy atmosphere to the multiple POVs, this book had it all. And the twists! I did not see those coming. The ending gave me all sorts of chills.

I can’t wait to read what Alice Feeney puts out in the future! It will definitely be an auto-buy!

This is a twisting and perfectly paced thriller about a married couple who go on a trip to Scotland that may very well be their last.

Adam and Amelia have been married for 10 years and while he suffers from face blindness, meaning he cannot recognize faces, they have made it work. He still knows her better than anyone by other characteristics. And for so long things were wonderful. We get to see their past through letters that she writes every year for their anniversary that she never gives him. And at times things were great, but now it’s very clear that one of them may not be coming back from this trip to Scotland they won.

Because it isn’t just Adam and Amelia in this story. There is another who means them harm and may or may not have cooked up parts of this romantic getaway for their own dastardly plans. But you will keep guessing until the very end.

Adam is a screenwriter and all he has wanted was to work with this one horror/thriller author and adapt his books to film. When he finally gets the opportunity, he becomes tunnel visioned on this one aspect of his life and things begin to get rocky in his marriage. But absolutely NOTHING is what it seems in this dark and atmospheric thriller. And it was such a fantastic experience.

This is my favorite of Feeney’s novels so far!
I found myself pondering over the twists and turns of the novel when I wasn’t reading it and looking forward to every opportunity I had to sit down with it (which is challenging with a baby)
There are so many delightfully eerie details and the book just whips along, growing more and more compelling and bananas with every page.
I’m choosing this as my bookshop’s book club book for October so I can talk about it with other people!

Rock Paper Scissors was a fun read! Amelia wins a weekend getaway to a remote chapel which had been turned into a rented out home. Her and her husband Adam venture to the grounds in the midst of a snowstorm. The weekend was designed to be a way to bring themselves back together, but neither person is being completely honest with the other about their intentions for the weekend. On top of that, their getaway stay may not be what it seems, and approaching storm and remote location soon leave the couple with few options of escape.

This is a difficult novel to try to describe. There are just too many moving parts that gradually wind together and make connections. I liked the multiple perspectives of characters as well as the secret anniversary letters that were dispersed throughout the novel. As a reader, this afforded an opportunity to try to piece things together and make connections. While I knew there were going to be twists, the unreliable narrations still left me questioning until the end.

From my blog: Always With a Book:

I have been a fan of Alice Feeney since the beginning and fall in love with her writing more and more with each new book! She certainly has one twisted, devious mind and this latest book certainly proves that!

I absolutely loved this book and completely devoured it! It’s crazy and insane, very much in keeping with what I’ve come to expect from this author, but deliciously addicting – once you start reading this one, you are not going to want to put it down. It’s told from multiple points of view and some letters that Adam’s wife writes on their anniversary but keeps to herself. Very early on you get the sense not only that you cannot trust anyone, but also this impending sense of unease. Something bad is going to happen to someone…the question is who?

I loved how each chapter leaves you wanting more. The chapters are short, and while this isn’t necessarily a fast-paced book, it still keeps you flipping the pages because you just need to find out where it is all heading. And let’s not forget the twists. Alice Feeney is queen of the killer twist and she definitely got me here – so much so that I had to reread this section to make sure I had read it correctly because it totally blew my mind! But that wasn’t even the end of the twists…there were still more to come, though on a slightly smaller scale. This is definitely a book I want to reread to see if I can spot the clues now that I know what to look for!

This is the type of book where you may think you know where things are heading but I would be surprised if you did. It’s such a fun, thrilling read and also extremely atmospheric. Set in the Scottish Highlands in an old church just added to an already tense, creepy situation.

If you love dark, twisted thrillers, I highly recommend picking this one up…you won’t be disappointed!

Thank you so much to Claire McLaughlin from Flatiron Books for sending me an ARC of Rock Paper Scissors by Alice Feeney and for asking me to take part in the blog tour this month! TODAY IS MY DAY to take part and I couldn’t be more excited!

This book publishes next week on September 7, 2021.

It’s official! I have a new favourite Alice Feeney book! Rock Paper Scissors is Feeney’s newest domestic thriller following a married couple who are hoping to revamp their marriage on a weekend getaway (that they won) to a remote chapel located in the Scottish Highlands.

I have always thoroughly enjoyed Feeney’s books—Sometimes I Lie has been a longstanding favourite of mine, with His & Hers (you can read my review here) coming in as a close second—but there is just something about the creepy setting in Rock Paper Scissors that put this book right at the top for me.

Rock Paper Scissors is told primarily through three alternating points of view: Adam, a workaholic screenwriter; his wife, Amelia; and letters that are written to Adam, from his wife, each year on their anniversary. Each point of view is equally captivating and is written so well, but as always, there is something about letters and diary entries that completely captures my attention and immerses me right into the writing of any book. So, the perfectly creepy setting paired with equally creepy omniscient letters is what made this book absolute perfection in my eyes.

NOW, Feeney has also come to be known as the queen of the killer twist—and this book did not disappoint in that regard either. Rock Paper Scissors features the big twist, which thriller readers have come to expect in any thriller these days, but it also features incredible twists AFTER the big twist that completely took me by surprise.

I don’t usually review books based on the surprise element of the twist alone—I really try to rate and review books on the entire reading experience from the very first page. With that being said, this book delivers on all fronts.

I won’t say any more about this book because I would hate to ruin the reading experience for anyone, BUT if you are looking for a captivating and twisty thriller that takes place in a creepy remote location WITH diary-like letter chapters, then this is seriously THE BOOK for you.

I will be recommending this book for years to come.

My favorite of Alice Feeney's books!

"Life is all about choices, and learning how to put ourselves back together when we fall apart. Which we all do. Even the people who pretend they don’t."

Adam and Amelia have won a trip to a Scotland hideaway, which Amelia hopes will help repair their troubled marriage. Not only does Adam suffer from a condition called prosopagnosia (which I had never heard of), he is also a workaholic, and for his part, he doesn't fully trust Amelia. Something seems off but he can't put his finger on it.

"Three years and so many secrets. Are there things that you keep from me too?"

Adam's condition is also known as facial blindness which means he can't see or remember people's faces, including his wife's. Right from the start, the author disorients the reader in the best way, and I never quite recovered my balance!

Adam is a well-known writer and Amelia has supported his workaholic tendencies throughout their marriage. She hopes that just for this short holiday, that he can focus on her and on their marriage. Adam's wife has written him a letter each year on their anniversary, so the point of view switches back and forth between Amelia, Adam and the person who might or might not be the host of the Scottish cottage where they are staying with their rescue dog, Bob.

"People are careless with their words nowadays. They throw them away in a text or a tweet, they write them, pretend to read them, twist them, misquote them, lie with, without, and about them. They steal them, then they give them away. Worst of all, they forget them."

I loved the mention of the British rescue organization Battersea Dogs & Cats Home throughout the book. The animal rescue group is near and dear to Amelia's heart and she is a long-time volunteer there. The remote Scottish setting is perfectly creepy and I always love a book about writers and the writing process. And of course give me a book about a troubled marriage and I'm all in: "It feels like the terms and conditions of our relationship have either been forgotten, or were never properly read in the first place."

There is an incredibly clever twist which I did not see coming. I had to re-read certain parts of the book to make sure that I had not missed any clues. A wonderful domestic thriller which will make for great end-of-summer reading.

(Thank you to the publisher for providing an electronic copy via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.)

Wow, is Rock Paper Scissors an outstanding thriller! It sounded like a standard domestic thriller, which I love, but the (very surprising!) twists in this definitely made this a standout. Alice Feeney is absolutely a thriller author to watch and I will happily be guiding readers to her backlist after they gobble this up! Interest in this is going to be strong and I know this is going to be a standout, high-demand read this fall and winter! Very highly recommended.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Flatiron Books for gifting me a digital ARC of the latest thriller by Alice Feeney - 5 mind-blowing, creepy stars!

Amelia and Adam have been married ten years but have hit a rough patch. Amelia won a weekend getaway to an old house in Scotland and thought it was just what they needed to save their marriage. Adam is a screenwriter who has face blindness, a condition where he doesn't recognize people, even his own wife. Every year of their marriage, they exchange traditional gifts and Amelia writes a letter to Adam that she never gives him, wrapping up the past year. But both are keeping secrets and someone may not survive the weekend.

This has to be the creepiest setting - the house, the storm, every part of their getaway weekend is frightening and written in such a fabulous way to make you feel that you are right there. You really need to go into this book with as little information as possible - this book literally left me gasping through the twists and turns. Whatever you think you know as you are reading, you are wrong.

Highly recommended - fabulous thriller - do not miss this one!

What I Loved
This is one of those stories that I'm going to tread very carefully in this review to avoid giving anything away, so please excuse the brevity. First, I absolutely am crazy for all the twists and turns this story took. The first one caught me by surprise and made me want to go back to the beginning and reread the story knowing this bombshell that was just laid at my feet – it was that shocking. And that was just the first twist. It was quickly followed by many more that each was even more jaw-dropping than the last.

The narration is superb. Three different first-person unreliable narrators are clearly marked at the beginning of the chapter. The narration is interspersed with a letter to the male narrator, Adam Wright, by his wife each year on their anniversary. This makes the timeline a bit erratic, but I didn't have any trouble following along and feeling confident that I knew the when and the who.

The whole book has a very pervasive creepy atmosphere that turns slightly scary at various junctures. The atmosphere kept the suspense level high, and the short chapters kept my focus and the pages flipping rapidly. And considering Adam wrote screenplay adaptations for scary thrillers, it is totally an appropriate setting. It would have been a much different book if it had not been told in just that precise location.

Characters
I can't really say that I had a favorite character though I also did not dislike any of the characters, per se. My feelings changed for each of the three main characters during the story. Adam is a screenplay writer who adapts books for the screen. Amelia is his wife, and she works at a dog shelter. And later in the book, Rachel comes on as a third narrator. She lives near Amelia and Adam's vacation spot. Each character is developed enough that no secrets are given away before their time but not so well that I felt like I knew them. I was good with this very focused development because I understood it was the price for those deliciously wicked twists and turns.

Reminds Me Of
It reminded me of Alice Feeney's last book before this one, His and Hers. Feeney has a very distinctive style that I just love.

To Read or Not to Read
If you love dizzying twists and sharp, angular turns, this latest book by Alice Feeney will have you throwing your hands in the air in unabashed joy.

I really enjoyed this one! Alice Feeney has a way with words that keeps me hooked, and Rock Paper Scissors was no exception.

The book alternates POVs primarily between Adam, his wife Amelia, and letters that are written to Adam each year. We follow Adam and Amelia to Scotland for a weekend getaway that Amelia won, and when they arrive, they start to question whether or not there is more to the stay. In lieu of a fancy resort, they end up at what appears to be an abandoned chapel that has been converted into a home. As strange events start to happen, Adam and Amelia both wonder if they can trust each other. The atmosphere was creepy, and it made me think that this would be a perfect book to read around Halloween!

I really enjoyed the alternating perspectives in this book! I thought it worked really well to give us insight into their marriage, but also into their pasts and the bumps they've hit along the way. Little clues and hints are dropped throughout the novel that all lead to an explosive ending, and I couldn't wait to see how everything tied together! I was able to figure out one part of the story, but there were several others that I hadn't figured out before they were revealed, so I enjoyed that!

Overall, I rated this one 4 stars, largely because there was one plot-line that I didn't love, and I wished that there had been one more chapter, maybe set in the future that resolved everything that happened in the actual last chapter. Overall, those were fairly minor things, and I found myself glued to the pages. I could see this one working great as a mini-series, especially if it was released in the autumn.

Cleverly written and perfectly executed! Alice Feeney’s characterization is brilliant with complex relationships and a unique, twisty plot. The story unravels to reveal one page-turning revelation after another but nothing prepares readers for the bombshell that Feeney drops. She may have single handedly raised the bar a notch for the genre. Loved it!

Thank you to #NetGalley for the ARC which was read and reviewed voluntarily.

#domesticthriller #unreliablenarrator #tbrstack #flatironbooks #bookfluence #alicefeeney #bookish

Talk about unreliable narrators! We have three in this crazy story about marriage. lies and revenge.

Adam and Amelia Wright travel to the Scottish Highlands for a weekend trip to a converted chapel. Amelia has won it in a raffle at work. Both of them have their own hidden agendas as their marriage falls apart. Things start to go very wrong. Mysterious occurrences, well, occur. Enter Robin. She lives in a little cabin not far from the chapel. She has her own reasons to be so interested in Adam and Amelia. As the story progresses, we hear from each of them as to the whys. We also get to read a letter for every anniversary that Mrs. Wright has written that gives us a lot of details as to how we got where we are.

Alice Feeney is always good at leading you down different paths. She also is great at that little zinger at the end that makes you go "oh boy!" There were times in the middle, that I started to feel a little bored but I knew we were going to get to a climax that I could not put down and I was right! It was like that long, slow, uphill climb on a roller coaster and suddenly SWOOSH! This is another great outing by a wonderful mystery/thriller author.

Thanks to Netgalley and Flatiron Books for an advance copy of this novel.

Ooooo she done did it again! Alice Feeney, Queen of the twists made another WTF just happened book full of unexpected turns and complicated characters.

This book was a slow burn but I just wanted to continuously read it all in one sitting because I was super intrigued on where it would go.

I loved that it took place in the Scottish Highlands (my dream place to visit) and had a married couple attempting a last ditch effort to save their crumbling marriage.

I loved that the tension was so thick it practically seeped off the pages and the lies and manipulation were constant.

Also, prior to reading this, I had never heard of a neurological condition called Prosopagnosia, but I learned today! 👏🏻 -make sure to Google that mindf*ck of a medical condition.

…and I loved that I truly had no idea what was coming.

If you read this and you think you know, I bet you don’t. Just roll with it. There is no guessing. None. It’s something else.

Rock, Paper, Scissors:

“The ability to write a good book doesn’t make someone a good person.”

Why yes, my initial thoughts were simply: Adam, you insufferable twat. As I have finished Rock, Paper, Scissors, I still feel this way. But, I have many many more thoughts.

I will say I was initally hesitant because I didn’t know exactly what to expect from Adam and Amelia. What angle were they playing? What was the deal between Henry? As I dove deeper into the book, I was thoroughly creeped out and had to know what was going on. This is actually my second book with prosopagnosia, and I ended up reading them side by side. It was quite interesting to research this.

The twist got me good. I was slack -jawed at what I just read. This is the second Alice Feeney book I’ve read, and the second one where I was caught completely by surprise. Holy. Cow. Once I got the twist, I tore through the rest of the book to see how it would end.

There are some questions left unanswered, and usually they don’t pick at me like this particular one does. If you’ve read this, DM me and let’s chat about something.

Alice Feeney is a talented writer, there’s no denying this. But I don’t think I’ve ever highlighted so many quotes by an author in quite some time. I’ll leave you with this, “Enjoy the stories of other people’s lives, but don’t forget to live your own.”

Thank you so much Flatiron for the gifted copy! Rock Paper Scissors is out Sept. 7th and I’m giving it 🏃‍♀️🏃‍♀️🏃‍♀️🏃‍♀️.5/5!

When reading a psychological thriller, is it more important for the writing, characters, and plot to have quality, or for an author to be able to pull off one (or more) really massive twist(s)?

This is the age old question, right? I ask this because my thoughts feel up in the air based off of both of these sides, and I know the answer will be different for many people. Sometimes, if a twist is wholly unexpected, it's enough for a reader to give the book high marks simply for blowing their mind. I've definitely done this before, but as I've read more psychological suspense and my tastes have been affected due to this, I've begun to find myself needing more of category one than the big twist.

This book is a fine example of "the twist". The writing felt a bit clunky compared to her previous work, the pacing was slow from about 25-75%, and the characters were stale. But the twist! There were a few I called early on, but there is one twist that likely will be hard for most readers to catch, and I'll admit I didn't catch it either. I'm settling at 3 stars, because it's a nice balance to the long winded thought process I shared above. I'll definitely enjoy discussing this one with others who have read it.

OMG - what a FANTASTIC read! Add this one to your "I have to read this!" TBR pile immediately!

Can a weekend save a marriage? Amelia and Adam Wright are going to find out after Amelia wins a work raffle for a long weekend in Scotland. Their marriage has been unravelling for a long time, and they both realize this might be the last chance to fix it.

Adam, a work-aholic screen writer, has prosopagnosia or "face blindness", a condition which prevents him from seeing distinguishing facial features. As a result, Adam cannot recognize anyone's face, including his own and that of his wife. He can walk right by her on the street without recognizing her. The social anxiety this causes in him leads them to spend a lot of time alone. Together, yet apart. Adam admits "I always need to be working on a story or the real world gets too loud."

Amelia feels invisible to her husband in many ways. She has always supported and encouraged his work, but is beginning to question at what cost to herself.

This gripping and unpredictable domestic suspense novel sucked me in right from the start. I love Feeney's writing style and her ability to create complex characters. She is skilled at writing succinct yet perfect phrases that say so much. Some of my favorites from this book are:

"He has always been very good at running away, especially from reality."

"Sometimes I worried that our future was really only about yours."

"... spending more time together isn't always the same as spending less time apart."

"Our marriage was an open audition, and I'm not sure either of us got the parts we deserved."

I hope you enjoy this book as much as I did!

My sincere gratitude to NetGalley and Flatiron Books for allowing me to read an ARC of this novel which is scheduled for publication on 9/7/21. All opinions expressed in this review are freely given and are my own.

“My husband doesn’t cheat on me with other women, or men, he has love affairs with their words.”

Alice Feeney never disappoints me! I know when I pick up one of her books, I will be thoroughly entertained and left thinking about it for days to come.

Rock Paper Scissors (RPS) could be my favorite by her but I tend to say this after all her books but seriously, the plot and the twists are so original and so cleverly done and the ending? Oh my, chefs kiss and a cherry on top! I love to be surprised and I love to be scandalously shocked even more and RPS did this in spades! Shocking twists and characters that I loved to hate made this so hard to put down. The setting of Blackwater Chapel is not only eerie but a character within itself, breathing life into the story one creepy creak at a time.

Dysfunctional relationships, unreliable narrators, secrets and lies made RPS unputdownable for me and the addition of Adam’s prosopagnosia - the inability to distinguish facial features – was the icing on the cake.

I can’t recommend this highly enough!

This is the first book I’ve read by this author but I have heard so many good things about her writing that I was eager to read this one. I enjoyed this book but it is a very hard one to review without giving away spoilers, so I am keeping things general. A husband and wife travel from London to a remote area in Scotland for a weekend getaway to try to salvage their troubled marriage, and it’s clear both have secrets. One thing that makes the story unique and helps set up a few different plot points is Adam, the husband, has face blindness and can’t recognize faces including his wife’s. The story is told from three points of view - Adam, his wife Amelia, and a woman named Robin who is watching the couple who think they’re alone in the area. Interspersed are also letters to Adam, but not shared with him, that are written on each wedding anniversary recapping highlights of the couple’s year.

The book starts out very intriguing, but slows a bit in the middle. Some parts of the story are strange, and Robin’s chapters especially are hard to make sense of until the story progresses. The book is tense and foreboding and often depressing since none of the characters seem happy with their lives. I was trying to make connections between the different points-of-view, but I definitely had things wrong. The twist that comes in the latter part of the book completely shocked me and after that, it was hard to put the book down. It then seemed like things were winding down, but more twists were still coming! You have to suspend disbelief on a few things, but overall this is an entertaining book.

Thank you to NetGalley and Flatiron Books for providing an advance copy of this ebook. The book was provided to me at no cost, but my review is voluntary and unbiased.