I received an ARC of this book from William Morrow via NetGalley in exchange for my honest feedback. Lucy Foley is one of my must-read authors, so I was excited to have early access to her latest. And for me, it is another 5-star book.

There is a lot of "people are not who you think they are" here, but it all makes sense and also made me smile (a few times, gasp, as well). The characterization is skillful and descriptive - no confusion at all about whose chapters are whose.

I enjoyed that we don't find out who the body belongs to until nearly the end. This is just one aspect of the suspense built throughout the whole book. But it is suspense done well, not suspense where I am frustrated that it's taking so long.

I loved all the vivid descriptions of the resort! It sounds like the pinnacle of luxury and I would love to go there (if it was not in the haunted forest with fires and bodies around, obviously).

Absolutely loved the last scene.

I was so disappointed in this. After loving this author's previous books, I was so excited to pick this up. I feel like I was thrown into the story and characters without much introduction, but there wasn't enough intrigue to want me to keep reading. The characters were boring and unlikeable and the story seemed liked one I heard many times before. I will read more in the future, but I would pass on this one.

4.25 stars!

A lot of my thriller reading has unfortunately felt very generic recently and so it was very fun to return to the stories and writing of Lucy Foley. I thought the descriptions of this small English town of Tome with this luxury manor, community secrets, and creepy woods was so eerie and haunting.

Although there were components that I did guess, Lucy Foley did still manage to make me surprised! I read this entire book in basically one sitting because the quick chapters, multiple points of view, moments of suspense, and alternative timelines all made me whip through it. I liked figuring out what was happening slowly and it was extremely satisfying when all of the pieces of the puzzle came together.

Thank you to Netgalley and William Morrow for an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

4-stars!

This book was very engaging from the beginning. The story is structured with each chapter told from each character’s point of view, which I love. It gives multiple insights to each scene which was incredible. Lucy Foley captures the macabre in gothic detail….. think pagan, earthy, mythical, and absolutely thrilling. The author wraps up each emotional struggle within each character in a way that was not obvious to the reader, which is a delight in thrillers. Some twists were expected as the author had to knit the characters together, but overall the book contained multiple dark twisty turns not expected. Character development was well fleshed out through various flashbacks that supported the story line. Overall, the book was well written, engaging, and surprising with an Agatha Christie feel; perfect for fans of Alice Feeney!

Lucy Foley is the master of twisty locked room whodunnit style thrillers. The Midnight Feast is no exception. With its slow burn storytelling, you’re introduced to multiple POVs and timelines as you piece together how they’re all inner connected.

I especially enjoyed the diary entries as they were a unique perspective to the story and the short, fast chapters kept me engaged throughout. This book is loaded with eerie suspense, unpredictable twists, and such intricate details that at times it was mesmerizing. It does take a bit to get fully invested in the story, but it’s worth it!

Thank you to NetGalley & William Morrow for the opportunity to read this digital ARC. All opinions expressed are my own.

I loved this book - I thought Lucy's writing was great (as always) and the story was unique and suspenseful.
At first I wasn't sure I was going to love it but by 25% in, I couldn't put it down.
The characters were great and the unexpected who's who at the end was top notch!

The Midnight Feast is my least favorite of Lucy's books so far, however it still kept my attention, and I was thoroughly entertained! I always enjoy the short chapters that alternate POVs. The setting of a cliffside luxury resort was perfect for the spring and summer months and added to the atmosphere of the book. The characters were flawed, but had depth and the reader can understand the actions these characters take based on their past. I felt that a few things in the plot went unexplained and I wish the book would have delved more into the mysterious group at the center of the novel. I definitely recommend trying this book because it’s a quick read that kept me entertained!

Thank you to William Morrow Books and NetGalley for the free copy of The Midnight Feast in Exchange for an honest review!

WOW! 😮

What a suspenseful and interesting mystery! There were some things I was able to guess that were going to happen, but there were a few things that had my jaw dropping!

I love that the chapters were short and easy to read from character to character. It kept it fast paced and the story interesting. I was able to read it within 2 days when I sat down - definitely a quick read.

I really enjoyed the summer journals that gave more a of background to the characters, and like that it takes place in the present/future.

Outstanding! Love everything written by Lucy Foley. This novel is well written with an intriguing plot. Complex characters with some you will love to hate. A book I could not put down and a mind-blowing ending with twists and turns galore!

✨ I really wanted to love this one and was so excited when I was approved for the ARC, but I also have certain expectations for thrillers that might be considered subjective that this book didn’t meet for me. A 4/5 star thriller usually means I can’t put it down but that wasn’t the case here.

✨ I found the first half of this book to be too slow for my expectations - I initially wrote down that the beginning “plodded on”. The story picked up a little as it came together at the end, but the ending didn’t blow my mind either. And some of it felt too convenient.

✨ The Francesca character reminded me a little of Nicole Kidman’s character in the show Nine Perfect Strangers. But, the show told a better story imho.

✨ There were lots of shifting perspectives and PoVs. I typically do like that and am even writing a novel with multiple POVs myself, but in this book, I found them confusing and kind of hard to follow.

✨ I did like the flashbacks to the summer journal of one of the characters. The backstory was interesting.

✨ I’ve seen other reviews where this book was given 5 stars so maybe I’m not with the crowd on this one. You should still give it a read and see what you think!

Not my favorite Lucy foley unfortunately. It was very hard to get into and I had a difficult time liking the characters.

My first and LAST Lucy Foley book I fear.

I really wanted to like this, but from the beginning I could tell it wasn't gonna be for me. The writing felt a bit dry and the pacing was so slow. The story didn’t really pique my interest until the last 30%.

Aside from a few surprises, this wasn’t all that exciting to me. I like my thrillers to consume me; to leave me breathless and questioning everything but this didn’t do that. I didn’t care about the mundane, everyday tasks being described. There were a lot of unnecessary details and I feel that this could’ve been a bit shorter.

There were a few things I did enjoy. I liked the alternating timelines between the present and the past (the past being told in the form of journal entries). I also liked the short chapters and multiple POVs. While I didn’t mind the journal entries, it was weird that they had timestamps and entire conversations included. I feel like it could’ve been written as a normal part of the book as no one writes in a diary like that. My gripe with the short chapters is that some were TOO short. Like someone’s POV would end on a cliffhanger and then the next chapter was a POV in a completely different setting with something unrelated happening.

I’ve seen some positive reviews and I agree with some of the points but good parts were overshadowed by the boringness of it for me.

Thank you NetGalley for this arc in exchange for a review.

Lucy Foley never fails to deliver suspense, betrayals, and twists, and The Midnight Feast is no exception. With locals angry about an unwelcome addition, it’s difficult to tell if it’s sabotage or something even more fearsome - something supernatural. I got engrossed by the twists and turns, and you will too.

2.5
Lucy Foley is a hit or miss for me (loved The Guest List, so-so on The Paris Apartment). Much like The Paris Apartment, The Midnight Feast had quite a slow start and ultimately suffers from major pacing issues.

The Midnight Feast is set at a fancy new resort created by Francesca Meadows- by and for rich people. It feels kinda White Lotus, but much more oriented around alternative medicine/drugs/crystals kinda stuff. The last 20% is where things finally start picking up for me--the mystery both starts appearing and coming together. The thing is, is that the first half doesn't even feel necessary. Like, it feels like it's just characters talking and moping around and then the actual mystery picks up at the very end. The tension felt nonexistent; the first half felt unnecessary. Even then, when we get to the end, I still felt unsatisfied/left with questions with the mystery component of "The Birds" which seem interesting but lack substance.

Anyway, some interesting themes and character ideas, but overall everything felt ... bland.

3.5 stars - I ended up enjoying this more than I thought I would at the start. The beginning was confusing but I liked the short chapters with multiple POVs. It had a decent mystery element that kept me entertained. If you enjoy resort/vacation based thrillers, this one may be for you.

Thank you to NetGalley and William Morrow for providing me with an advance reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

Goodreads review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/6187046359

I really loved other books by Lucy Foley but this one was really hard for me to get through, I’m glad I decided to finish the book because the ending was good.
I feel like there were too many characters and different POVs plus the journal paragraphs and it seems like too much. Overall the story was good especially if you enjoy reading from a lot of different POVs you will probably enjoy this book.
Thank you for providing the ARC for me to review!

I liked the multiple POVs, which Foley is known for. I also enjoyed the premise of people returning to a location in their shared history for a reckoning.

What didn’t work for me was that the character timelines didn’t really match up. The world-renowned architect was meant to be maybe 25? Bella suggests that she’s old enough to be Eddie’s mom when there’s only a 13 year age gap. It seemed unrealistic that all these characters wouldn’t recognize one another after 15 years, especially since they were all so deeply impacted by the events that brought them together.

I would have liked a POV from one of the birds to enrich that folklore, which runs throughout the book. The birds were meant to be scary but I found them pretty boring and kind of ridiculous.

Thank you NetGalley and HarpersCollins for an ARC of this book.

A manor goes up in flames, a body is found at the bottom of a cliff, and there are rumors that The Birds may be involved. Nothing and no one are quite as they seems. The story is told from multiple points of view and switches between before the solstice, after the solstice, and the summer of 2009. There are numerous twists as you try to figure out who the dead person is and who set the place on fire. Just when you think you know, here comes another twist.

I would recommend this book. Lucy Foley is the queen of suspense and thrillers.

This is the third book I’ve read of Lucy Foley’s. It was good, but I had a hard time following the story. There are several different narrators and also it switches from past to the present a lot. I kept forgetting who was speaking and would have to flip back and look. There are some twists that were surprising which I enjoyed.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC!

The Midnight Feast by Lucy Foley was such a great read! I love books that have a cult feel and I felt those vibes with this book. I loved the different timelines portrayed in the story as we read the main character's journal from the past in between chapters. In addition, the mystery element kept me guessing until the end. I really enjoyed that I was not able to figure out the ending early on and this book kept me on my toys.