This book was strange. And strangely enough, hard to get through. I love Lucy Foley and have never had a hard time with her writing.
She stays true to her multiple characters, POVs, and interesting settings in the Midnight Feast.
I appreciated the folksy vibes, but also found their part in the story bizarre.
This will be one of those books I will probably change my mind about a hundred times. I wanted to be captivated, but just couldn’t get there. 3.5 ⭐️
Thank you netgalley for the ARC!

The Midnight Feast is full of lies, legends, secrets, and murder. Plus a dose of "rich people behaving badly." Lucy Foley does an excellent locked room mystery and this is no exception. If you've read her other books or if you've never tried one, this will be a great summer pick.

Thank you William Morrow Books and Netgalley for the electronic copy.

I have absolutely no idea how to give a synopsis of this book because it lost me. I was really excited because the title was giving woodsy summer thriller vibes. I thought I was going to get a creepy and intriguing story, but I was so bored.
I didn't care about the characters, I didn't care about where the plot was going or who did what. I kept hoping that it would pick up and get better, but I was just really disappointed.
I've come to the realization that Lucy Foley's writing is just not for me. I know her writing style works for so many others, and I'm sad I didn't enjoy The Midnight Feast.

Thank you to NetGalley & William Morrow for a copy of the E- ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this eARC!

Overall this book didn’t feel as strong as the other Lucy Foley works I’ve read. In style, reveals, dialogue, and pacing, it all felt weaker compared to what I’ve read from her. The plot was interesting enough to keep me engaged through to the end, but this isn’t one that left me feeling gratified and fulfilled once I finished it.

3.5 stars rounded down

I had medium to high hopes for this book as I read The Guest List a couple years back, and still plan to read Foley's Paris Apartment. This one fell a bit flat for me, and I struggled to stay entertained throughout the book. I understand that pacing in a thriller is oftentimes slower and meandering for a reason, and maybe I was reading this at a time where I was not in the mood for this genre, but it did drag a bit.

I enjoyed the atmosphere, and I have with both of Foley's books I've read thus far. I like the picture she creates and I do feel like I'm able to really visualize the setting. Over all I'm giving it 3-3.5 stars.

𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘬 𝘺𝘰𝘶 William Morrow 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘷𝘪𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘣𝘰𝘰𝘬 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘦𝘸 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘷𝘪𝘢 𝘕𝘦𝘵𝘎𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘺. 𝘈𝘭𝘭 𝘰𝘱𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘮𝘺 𝘰𝘸𝘯.

Don’t eat the brownies cause bad things can happen. What starts as a teenage party becomes lifelong issues.

I'm really mixed in my feelings toward this book. It had a lot of elements that I liked: the fancy resort setting that is also nestled into the woods and seaside, teenage drama coming back to haunt everyone, class differences rearing their ugly heads. Plus, this is just a great summertime read overall. It felt different from Lucy Foley's past novels, in a good way, so there was much about it that I really enjoyed. But there were parts that really seemed to drag. I think that for me this was an issue with the book's format. Because it takes on different characters' POVs and two different timelines, it felt like it was just dragging out the obvious and inevitable. It did pick up toward the end with a lot of juicy twists that I didn't see coming, so that was a plus, but overall I wish I hadn't felt so bored in the middle of the novel. I would definitely encourage you to pick this one up for an easy beach or poolside read, because it's interesting enough and has very short chapters, but it did leave me wanting more in some ways.

Oh, the birds. This book has so many birds.

The Midnight Feast is a unique book. It's set in this strange rural community upset by a new yuppie hotel owned by a Gwyneth Paltrow-style lady who inherited the land. The book has multiple POVs from various people and current/past timelines. Here's what I liked:

-The setting: I found this rural community so interesting. It felt insular, and the people in it are superstitious. There's this eerie feeling that the reader has during the entire book.

I found the characters funny. Frankie is dialogical but says lots of out-of-touch things. She thinks she's an enlightened person (she's not), which makes for some internal dialogue that I found hilarious.

-It kept my interest throughout.

I loved this one and am a big fan of Lucy Foley's work.

This was one of my most anticipated books of 2024 but it really was a dud for me.

I got about 42% into the story and decided to put it aside. Nothing had really happened and the characters were lacking depth.

The Midnight Feast by Lucy Foley was something new and twisty that I hadn’t read before. I’ve read several books by this author and had enjoyed them so I knew I wanted to read this one. The anticipation built from chapter to chapter. I was questioning each character and analyzing their motives. The beginning of the novel was a slower pace and took me a while to get invested but once I was half way I was flying through the pages trying to determine exactly what happened in the woods all those years ago. This novel is told with multiple points of view and dual time like. The character changes were very interesting and kept me invested. The big looming question of the age old fable of The Birds is woven throughout the storyline. I was filled with anticipation and anxiety as The Birds started showing up.

I am so glad that I got to read the newest Lucy Foley book! This books gripped me from page one and although there were multiple story lines happening, I never felt lost. I have read many Lucy Foley books and I feel like each one her writing and story telling ability gets better and better! One thing that I really liked in this story, and I thought felt made the multiple characters work, was how different they all were. Lucy did a great job of making the chapters short and still making them intriguing. I couldn't stop turning the pages on this one. I loved how as we progressed through the story, you slowly watched all of these perspectives come together to tell the story. I'll be reading this one again!!

DNF at 30%

I’m honestly so heartbroken I couldn’t get into this book. Lucy Foley is just a highly rated author I really wish I was more entertained by this story. In my opinion, the characters were unlikeable and I couldn’t connect with them. The flip flop back and forth in the timelines wasn’t making sense, and perhaps if I was more entertained by the story I would’ve understood later on. But truly this book was just not my vibe and what I look for in a mystery thriller. With all that being said it’s extremely important to remember that reading is subjective and you may love this book!

Thank you Net Galley for the arc copy of The Midnight Feast!

This book was really good. I loved getting lost in the atmosphere of the setting and the folklore tie in. The journal entries that helped explain the story of the had me sucked in and I could not stop wondering what was going to happen next. Overall I’d rate this a 4.0/4.5 because I felt there were some explanations that were rushed or missing.

I thought I had The Midnight Feast fully figured out fairly early on but Lucy Foley kept me going, only realizing how wrong I'd been about 80% of the way through. A bit long for the story that it told, though I did appreciate the twist on my expectations, which took a while to build up to. There were a number of characters to keep up with, lots of perspectives, and some flashback perspectives, but altogether it was compelling and easy to follow.

Thank you to both NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with this ARC to read in exchange for my honest review.

I decided to try out this book by Lucy Foley based on all the hype that surrounds this author, so I hate to say that I was immensely disappointed in this book - it was a big let down.
It took me forever to get into the story, and after I was about 35% through I noticed that I was forcing myself to keep going. I didn't really connect with any of the characters and the POVs made the story more confusing than anything. Not only are there a ton of people to keep track of, but the multiple timelines only add to the confusion.

The premise of this story sounded amazing - but it was definitely executed poorly. After reading almost the entire book (at about 75%) it felt like nothing had even happened.

About a 3.5 - Kept me reading, I liked the story idea even though some pieces did not connect

Thanks to Netgalley for a free copy in exchange for an honest review

I give Lucy Foley’s The Midnight Feast a 3.75 ⭐️This was my first Lucy Foley book and I found her writing to be absolutely exquisite! Her writing is very atmospheric which is definitely what I would expect when reading a thriller. While I was not a complete fan of the many POVs (many who also had previous names which at times distracted me from the story), Foley’s writing pulled me back in. I truly felt as though I was along side the characters at this beautiful Manor which is what I look for when I am reading a book; the escapism! For me, the author mastered this effortlessly.

In addition to the multiple POVs I was not a fan of the constant jump in timelines and the Summer Journal entries. I can understand why the journal entries were necessary, however, I have never been a fan of teenage angst in my books. Futhermore, there was only 15 years from when most of the characters last saw each other yet they did not recognize one another and I felt that this was a bit unbelievable (again pulling me out of the story at times). If you like a story full of unlikeable characters, you will enjoy this book. With all that said, the author ties everything nicely up at the end and the ending did not disappoint. I can’t wait to read another book by this author!

Unfortunately I just don’t know if this story is for me. It was a decent read but I just didn’t connect with in so it fell flat for me. There was nothing that stood out or made it better than other thrillers I’ve read. Still good just not my fav

Thank you to NetGalley and William Morrow for this ARC. All opinions are my own.

The Midnight Feast is a collection of POVs sharing their experiences during The Manor's opening weekend. Everyone has secrets to why they are there, and all will be revealed.

I guess it is possible that one woman can piss off so many people by doing one thing. This book was a trip and a half. I liked most of the characters, the ones I hated I guess I was meant to hate. Good mystery. Not like her other books I've read, not a traditional mystery. This reminds me of the one episode of "Nine Perfect Strangers" I never finished: kooky, Goopesque, freaky woman sets up a "spa" retreat expecting everyone to bow down to her. Gag. I need to do some research on Tome where this book takes place because some of these legends seem interesting. I don't imagine I'll be messing with nature for a while now. :)

DNF at 35%. Maybe I'm just not in the mood for this style of writing right now, but I'm having a tough time immersing myself in this storyline. I was very intrigued by the beginning chapters, but overtime I was lost to the characters. Hopefully I'll be able to revisit this story at a later date and articulate my new thoughts with an updated review.