Foley has a few signatures to her storytelling that always come together beautifully. The first is, of course, a fantastic setting. The second is the use of multiple narrators to piece the mystery together (often including an unknown narrator whose identity is later revealed). The third is a sense of isolation—whether physically, socially, or both. Finally, there is always a bit of lore woven through. All of these elements are used in The Midnight Feast, and the element of lore was arguably the most prominent of any of her books to date.

Described as “folk horror”, this mystery brings together classic genre elements—a rural setting, folklore, isolation, and the darkness of nature. Some may consider this a slow burn, but I found that the rotating narrators kept the story moving forward for me, as I never spent too long on any one character or scene. I thought this kept pace with her other books, though the mystery does pick up steam about halfway through when the past storyline came together with what was happening in the present.

The books revolves around the grand opening of The Manor, a woodland luxury resort owned and managed by a woman named Francesca (aka, The Founder). The Manor is built on what was once Francesca’s coastal family estate. She hired an architect named Owen to do the design work on the resort, and eventually Francesca and Owen married (aka, The Husband). In addition to Francesca and Owen, the narrators include a guest at the grand opening named Bella (aka, The Mystery Guest) and a staff member named Eddie (aka, The Kitchen Help).

The book opens with news of a murder, but then moves back to the opening night (as well as to events that occurred in 2010 told through journal entries). How everything will come together is unknown until later. The grand opening of The Manor had an ominous feel to it, and Bella’s presence was a puzzle. Who exactly was Bella and why is she being so cagey? The reader knows that Bella is spending at the top of her means, but we aren’t sure why she’s there and what her agenda might be.

I found this to be an atmospheric story, full of tension and beautiful but creepy settings. The folklore is subtly but distinctly woven through the book. I didn’t find the story slow at all, but I know some readers (especially who prefer American thrillers) may want a few more shocks and blindsides. That is not Foley’s style and to me this type of well-crafted mystery is even more compelling.

Thank you to William Morrow for my copy. Opinions are my own.

Another great one from Lucy! This is a classic Lucy thriller. We have multiple POVs from people that all have their secrets and you're not quite sure how they're related to one another but you know they are. Francesca was giving me some serious Nicole Kidman in Nine Perfect Strangers vibes. You always know there's something off behind that health/wellness guru facade. Bella is def the mysterious guest and gets far more interesting as the story goes on. Owen and Eddie both seem to be fairly straightforward characters until they're not lol. I love how Lucy takes all of her characters and weaves their stories together in ways you wouldn't expect. There's def some wicker man/midsommar creepy cult vibes with the whole "the birds" lore and I really loved that aspect of the book. Gotta love a small town legend. Overall, while it took me a minute to get into the story I really enjoyed this one!

I have been a fan of Lucy Foley's previous works and found this latest novel to be equally enjoyable. haven't read many (any?) summer solstice books previously and this one being set around a summer solstice and coming out right around this year's solstice definitely added to my enjoyment of this book. The overall setting and backstory was very interesting as well, especially at a time when luxury "glamping" type resorts seem to be increasingly prominent. I found the characters to be well developed and the twists here were mostly unexpected for me. I have seen some other reviewers say that the multiple viewpoints and varying timelines made this novel hard to follow, but I felt that it added to the character build up and back story that ultimately made the ending of this book work so well. I think this is a great summer read that kept me interested throughout, and I would definitely recommend it.

Thank you to William Morrow & Lucy Foley for the copy of this book.

In the beginning, I thought the story was unique and descriptive. However, I didn’t really care for any of the characters as the story dragged on and I think that’s what made the book a bit boring for me. The twists were a bit predictable and I really didn’t care for all of the excessive bird rambling.

My biggest pet peeve is when I’m reading and it starts to feel like it’s a chore to finish it and this did just that.

Great summer read!

Story was very twisty/turny and alternated between past and present and between several characters but was easy to follow and stay on track.

I read many mysteries and I'm not usually surprised but this time I was.

This book has been published so grab your copy for the beach/pool!

Thanks to the publisher, author and NetGalley for the ARC!

Absolutely amazing! The twists and turns had my head spinning. I finished it in one day because I couldn't put it down!

My thanks to William Morrow, Lucy Foley and Netgalley.
I have been wanting to read this author for some time, but her book reviews were so scattered amongst my Goodreads friends that I kept giving her a pass. But then this book came up for review on Netgalley and I decided why not? Why not, indeed!
I put in for this book on Netgalley and much to my surprise was approved. Yay!
To heck with everyone else!
I loved this book!
This damned story was da' bombdiggity!
I was thoroughly surprised by how completely messed up these peeps were. Honestly? I don't think I've really enjoyed a book like this in quite awhile.
I was completely bummed after finishing to realize that I had no Foley books in my Kindle library. Usually I have at least one or two!
Damn, shit and hell!
No worries. I'll be fixing that shortly!

I was so excited to see that Lucy Foley was coming out with a new book called The Midnight Feast. Thanks to NetGalley I was able to get an ARC and at first it was good but unfortunately this book turned into a DNF for me. It was just too weird with all the bird stuff for me. I am sure others loved it but it was just not my cup of tea.

Ehhhh this one just was unfortunately not for me. I didn't enjoy the characters. I thought it jumped around too much. I have enjoyed Foley in the past and will keep giving her book a chance, this one in particular was just not for me.

A UNIQUE STORY with BEAUTIFUL AND DESCRIPTIVE WRITING

SUMMARY
June 2025. It’s the opening night of The Manor, an upscale manor house turned into a hotel on the Dorset coast of England. The Manor touts cliffside ocean views, a beautiful infinity pool, and a luxury wellness atmosphere. No expense has been spared, and this boutique hotel caters to the ultra-wealthy.

Bella is staying in one of the expensive Woodland Hutches for the weekend, right on the forest's edge. The guests are there to eat, swim, and have fun, but not Bella; she is there on a mission, but she is not exactly sure what that mission is. Someone anonymously summoned her here. She had been at the manor house over 15 years ago, and she knows the current owner, Francesca Meadows, but they haven't been in touch. She had thought they had been friends for a moment in time, but not really.

Francesca inherited the manor house from her grandparents. Now, Francesca and her new husband, Owen, have transformed it into a beautiful, restorative luxury hotel. The locals are unhappy with what she has done and plans to do to the woodlands on either side of the manor house. The townspeople will stop at nothing to let her know how important the forest is to them. The hotel opening is the perfect opportunity for them to show her just how they feel.


REVIEW
Dorset and The Manor is a perfectly beautiful and atmospheric setting. You couldn’t ask for a better place than this for a book. The book also has some lovely atmospheric writing that envelops you as you read about the harp playing, the lanterns burning, and the mysterious woodland setting. Author Lucy Foley’s writing is immensely descriptive.

The Midnight Feast is told from five points of view: Francesca, Owen, Bella, Eddie, a local and a manor employee, and finally, a detective. The story also includes excerpts from a summer journal dated late July 2009, written by a 16-year-old girl staying at the caravan park in Dorset near the manor house. With six points of view and alternating timelines, the story can, at times, be challenging to follow.

Character development is fairly good, but no one particularly pulled me into or made me care about the story. Francesca, with her arrogance and egotistic nature, was definitely someone you’ll love to hate. Bella tries to draw us into the story but is a little too mysterious, and initially, it is hard to figure out her role. I like the girl’s summer journal and felt it was a very strong and necessary part of the story.

Overall, I thought the story was good; it was unique, and the writing was wonderfully descriptive. Although it was a little difficult to read from multiple points of view and the varying timelines, I particularly appreciated the conclusion.

Thanks to Netgalley for an advance reading copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.


Publisher William Morrow
Published June 18. 2024
Review www.bluestockingreviews.com

Set in present day, with flashbacks and storytelling via diary entries to 15 years ago, this story centers on rich wellness influencer Francesca who is about to open a retreat/spa/glamping space built on the foundations of the estate of her late grandparents. Everything has always worked out for Francesca, so when things start to go wrong on her big weekend, things go REALLY wrong, leading to a huge fire and several bodies…

This was my first Lucy Foley! I’ve heard both glowing, revelatory reviews and disappointed, bummed reviews so I wasn’t quite sure what to expect going into this. I did know that I wanted to go into it not taking it too seriously, which was good because there was a bit of disbelief to suspend. Very timely to have a story centered on the comeuppance of the rich - who can’t appreciate that in this day and age? Similarly, the facade destruction of a “wellness” influencer was particularly satisfying to me, especially as a fat girl who is more and more avoiding the wellness space as a rebranded diet culture space. The exploration of the reinvention and carefully constructed creation of a personality along with the juxtaposition of the small town and the chasm between poor townies and rich interlopers felt surprisingly incisive for a mystery thriller like this. (Though perhaps it shouldn’t have been surprising - some of my favourite mystery thrillers do this, I just didn’t expect it in this kind of book for some reason.) I do think there were moments where the characters, plot, and writing were a bit sacrificed in order to accomplish that commentary. For the most part I think the plotting forecasted the twists, but there were a couple of reveals that genuinely had me mouth agape.

I found the writing a bit unpolished. One of the characters says within the span of one chapter “I don’t like it” about six times, and not in an artfully repetitive way. There were several instances of that which really struck me and I found a bit distracting.

Most especially, as someone who had their formative years in the mid-oughts, I felt personally victimized and attacked by the journal entries from 2009.

Overall, I’m feeling a bit conflicted on this one, but I did find it engrossing and think it’ll probably be more of a hit than not with readers.

I would recommend this to fans of books that are a group of friends reuniiting after years apart and/or revenge stories.

The vibes are everything in this thriller! If you're a Yellowjackets or White Lotus fan, you will like this book. There is a strong overtone of creepy isolation and woodsy spookiness. The characters are teased out slowly, with more and more backstory being revealed. I enjoyed the symbolic clues that add to the dark vibes. Lucy Foley has done it again!

This was slow to start. But I really enjoyed the vibes and atmosphere! This story is told in multiple POVs. I love the way that Lucy Foley is able to weave so many details together and give us an impressive reveal in the end. While I did not enjoy this as much as The Guest List, this was still entertaining enough (especially towards the end) to keep me interested.

This book is for fans of Riverdale for sure. The “Birds” element of this book reminded me very much of something out of that series. A twisted tale told from multiple character’s POVs about the opening of an upscale manor in the middle of a town, of which the locals are not happy about and of which the land holds secrets from decades ago. Score does a really great job dropping various breadcrumbs throughout that all get neatly tied up at the end (thank goodness). I personally wasn’t crazy about the Birds element throughout the book as I was unclear exactly what they were. During the middle I found myself very anxious for the book to end, but that was mainly because I needed answers.

Wonderful psychological mystery set in a wooded retreat! Lucy Foley uses multiple points of view to put us in the minds of the characters without the transitions between characters being jarring. Each character has their own distinct personality, complexities, and needs, which draw you in and keep you guessing. It is an intriguing mystery without being overly scary or gory, which I appreciated. Well done!

I’ve previously DNF’d two books by this author and was really debating whether her writing just wasn’t for me. But some part of me wants to be a Lucy Foley stan like everyone else, so I gave it one more chance. I’m so glad I did because this one really had me hooked! I was surprised by how much I actually enjoyed this one. It started out a bit of a slow-burn, which normally isn’t my thing, but once it got going… wow… I couldn’t put it down. It was so worth the read, and the story has really stuck with me. There’s so much going on in this story and when all the pieces start coming together and the pacing snowballs, I was compulsively turning the pages. The ominous setting and building suspense are well-crafted. The multi-POVs and short chapters worked so well for me. I was completely engaged and invested in the outcome, the conclusion was so satisfying. Highly recommend!

Read this if you love books with:
💀 Cult and paranormal vibes
☢️ Toxic relationships
🔪 Revenge plots
❌ Unlikeable characters
👻 Haunting atmosphere

What a wild and enthralling ride from start to finish! I don’t usually enjoy multiple POV’s but the way this was written was beautiful! Little pieces of the puzzle for me to collect and slowly fit together. The many, many twists at the end have me reeeeeling! I love local legends mixing with the new age. I cannot wait to discover more from this author! Three cheers!

THE MIDNIGHT FEAST, by Lucy Foley, opens at The Manor, a restored old house which now is a wellness hotel run by owner Francesca Meadows. It’s opening weekend, with a test run to make sure everything is running well. I loved the descriptions of the facility and the perks for these first-time guests, including pouches of healing crystals and a special cocktail, the Manor Mule.

The locals aren’t happy about the new establishment, and a group of kids on the beach present the first problems. Then it gets weird, touching on an old wives’ tale that is called ‘the birds,’ reminiscent of Hitchcock to this reader. Before one can whisper “beware,” the murders begin.

The story is told through multiple POVs, so the story stays fresh. But who can I believe? There is also a journal that jumps timelines, so pay attention to that, too. My favorite character is Detective Walker, who begins investigating arson and murder. This one gets scary. You’ll never guess whodunit.

The Midnight Feast had some good twists and turns and kept me guessing in true Lucy Foley fashion! Sometimes I get lost when there are a lot of characters, but Foley does a good job making them memorable and distinguishable!

Lucy Foley is one who has been up and down for me and this book strangely was both of these. In the beginning I had a really hard time getting into this one. I found myself reaching for any and every book and having to force myself back to this one. About the time we discovered the diary of the past I started to get much more interested. It was a little confusing with how many perspectives and the timeline which bounced a lot, but overall it was a fun ride. The Manor has just opened a a hotel and it is the opening weekend. Francesca is determined to have every detail be right and she is working on manifesting the right energy. Eddie is a local determined to escape working as a dishwasher and hoping to be promoted as a bartender. Bella is a new mother staying at the Manor determined she needed to be there. Owen is Francesca’s husband and architect and responsible for the renovations fo the manor, Francesca’s inheritance. These characters swirl together in absolute chaos over the days surrounding the solstice. I really liked the way this one ended and honestly that bumped me from a 3 to a 4. Altogether an enjoyable read.