Thank you to Macmillan Audio, Netgallery, and Alice Feeney for the opportunity to listen to this audiobook in exchange for my honest opinion.

Synopsis: Author Grady Green is on the phone with his wife when she mysteriously goes missing. The story flashes forward to one year post-disappearance. Grady is out of money, struggling to write his next novel, and still in the fog of trying to piece together what happened to his wife. When Grady's editor offers him the opportunity to go to the remote island of Amberly to write his next novel in peace, he accepts. However, when he gets to Amberly things are not as they seem. He keeps imagining that he is seeing his wife, hearing things, and is picking up on the island's idiosyncrasies.

What I liked: This is my first book from Feeney and I thought she did a masterful job setting the mood for this story. As a reader, you are left to wonder if the main character is losing his mind or if something sinister is at work. I also loved how Feeney utilized two words that have opposite meanings for the title and each chapter. I thought that was quite clever!

Gripe: My only gripe was that I did not like the sound effects in the audiobook. I found it distracting.

Recommend: I recommend this book for people who enjoyed Gone Girl or the Girl on the Train. If you liked the movie Midsommar, you might enjoy this novel!

Feeney's books hit everyone differently, but I have always been a fan. Beautiful Ugly is no exception - people seem to love it or hate it. This one is a slow burn that had me wondering how in the heck this was all going to play out in the end. I had so many theories along the way. I enjoyed the ride, but I will admit there are aspects of the ending that just didn't quite work for me (but not enough to not really enjoy the book). I imagine this one will get mixed reviews when it releases next month, but I would definitely tell you to dive in.

I love Alice Feeney's writing and I was so looking forward to this book. I received an #arc of the audio version. The narrators were great, and they had some sound effects in there that were a nice surprise.
Grady Green is an author who is trying to become a best seller. He is married to Abby, who is a journalist. Grady's publisher just happens to be Abby's Godmother.. The story centers around the disapperance of Grady's wife on the same night that he finds out that he made the NY top 10 list. He becomes depressed and loses everything in his depression. Kitty sends him to a remote island to try and help him get his creativity back.
There are soooo many more twists and turns to this story that I don't want to give anything away. You won't be disappointed. Thank you to #netgalley for this #arc.

I absolutely adored Beautiful Ugly by Alice Feeney. The moment I started listening, I was hooked by its compelling premise and the raw, emotional journey it takes you on.
The plot unfolds in an unpredictable manner, each twist building on the last, making it impossible to guess what would happen next.
Alice Feeney has once again proven her talent for creating unforgettable characters and stories that stay with you long after the last page. That ending especially!
Thank you for giving me the opportunity to listen to an ARC. It was everything I hoped for and more!

I very much enjoyed this book until the ending. That's where I feel like it went left and turned into a M. Night Shyamalan kind of piece. Grady didn't do enough to get off the island early on. The ending moral was a tad heavy handed. The writing was good though. I'd read another book by this author.

OMG! This book! I'm speechless I requested the arc because I was wanting something to listen to because I was bored and in a reading slump and I am so glad I did! I couldn't stop! I loved the book so much I preorder a physical copy once I finish! If you love dark thrillers you have to give this book a read! I need more books like this immediately!! Beautiful ugly comes out on 1/14/25 #netgalley #alicefeeney #flatironpublishing #arc #5stars

My third Alice Feeney book and third 5 star read! This is one of the craziest thrillers I’ve ever read. I went in thinking I wasn’t going to love this based on the description but I ate this up.
The second half of this book definitely takes some big swings. The ending of the book left me with goosebumps.

I was swept right in and couldn’t stop listening. I was not prepared in the best way possible!

This was hands down the best fictional audio book production I have ever listened to. The narrator’s were spot on. The sound effects gave me chills. This is what an audiobook production should be! Others need to take note.

We meet Grady Green who is having an amazing day which turned terrible. We calls his wife Abby to share his great news and the unthinkable happens. Abby disappears on her drive home. The story follows Grady a year later. He cannot write or sleep and is seeing Abby everywhere. He goes to a remote Scottish island to try to get his life and career back on track. Could Abby be there? Is he seeing things? What is going on?

Thank you to NrtGalley and Macmillan Audio for this audio ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This audiobook was amazing! The sound engineering was phenomenally done and made you feel fully immersed into the book. The narrators weren’t horrible and made listening a joy.

As for the story itself it was quite good and had great twists although predictable for me at times.

This book had lots of good twists and turns that I absolutely expect from Alice Feeney but the audio fell flat for me. The narrators did well for their specific parts but when voicing the opposite gender, it just wasn’t my favorite. I do enjoy dual narration but I feel like the narrators make the audiobook.

I think I would have enjoyed the audio more if the narrators were different or if it was duet style.

The book was a 4.5 stars but the audio was about 2.5-3.

This was an interesting read. There were points where I found myself losing interest, but it did seem to recapture my attention throughout. I listened to the audio production and they did a really nice job with the tone and cadence of the reading. The story was intriguing with just enough mystery. Would recommend to others

This psychological thriller about an author who is struggling to write his next novel and deal with the mysterious disappearance of his wife started out with a strong, sinister vibe.

It's a locked room ... er, locked island? ... story that was greatly enhanced by the wonderful narration by Richard Armitage and Tuppence Middleton. The addition of auditory embellishments of background noises and music helped to set the eerie mood of the story and setting when author Grady is offered a cabin on a remote island where he believes strange things begin to happen. He questions the intentions of the island residents and whether he has seen glimpses of his missing wife on the island.

This is a slow burn story that leans heavily on the unreliable narrator - a popular and successful trope. We also get chapters about the days leading up to Grady's wife's disappearance and I liked getting both POVs.

I'm not a fan of the slow burn story and this book took quite a while to gain traction with the action not picking up until the last quarter. At this point, the story dives into the deep end of unbelievable that will require readers to suspend disbelief with some of the far-fetched twists that are finally revealed.

An eerie, atmospheric read with lots of red herrings (some of which hit their targets and others not so much), I think this book will appeal to Feeney fans!

Disclaimer: My thanks to Macmillan Audio for the advanced digital audiobook which was provided in exchange for my honest review.

This was my first book by Ms Feeney and I enjoyed it. Told in 2 different alternating narrations, it's a book about what we think we know vs what is true. That's pretty much all I can say. The book is well named and comes up a few times in the story. The twist ending was definitely one you don't see coming. Did not enjoy the needless sex scenes that felt out of place.
The narrator really made you feel like you were in the minds of the characters.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC.

I love Alice Feeney's work, and when I was given the chance to get an audibook copy of "Beautiful Ugly", I was excited. I was not disappointed.

Grady Green is finally a New York Times Best Selling Author. He'd waited for this moment for a long time and everything would be perfect, except his wife, Abby, wasn't home to celebrate with him. When he calls to tell her the news, she's loving and supportive, but suddenly, she sees someone in the road and gets out to help. And then she disappears.

A year later, his life is a mess, and he desperately needs to write another book. So, an offer to spend time at a remote writing cabin in Amberley, Scotland, is an offer he can't pass up. He packs up his stuff and his dog, Columbo (who is not harmed in this book, FYI), and makes the long drive to Scotland. But once there, he keeps seeing a woman who looks exactly like Abby. It can't be her...

One reason I enjoy Alice Feeney's books is that she manages to pull so many emotions and feelings out of me about her characters. Grady's character is not likable. Richard Armitage, the narrator, does an excellent job at bringing Grady Green off the page and I managed to hate him and relate to him at the same time. He spends his time reminiscing about Abby while managing to passive-aggressively take digs at her. As I listened, I decided that it probably sucked to be married to Grady Green.

This story is a slow burn, in my opinion. There is a lot of tension, nervousness, and unease that builds throughout. Grady is an unreliable narrator and it's not hidden: he drinks too much, he doesn't sleep, and he frequently is questioning his own judgement of the events happening around him.

I consider Alice Feeney to be one of the Queens of crazy twists and this story helped maintain that reputation. I don't want to give anything away but the ending was shocking, to say the least. It really made me think about what I had taken as fact and what I had questioned and vice versa.

If you enjoy tension, unease, and locked-room mysteries, you may definitely want to read this.

The truth is definitely stranger than fiction.

Beautiful Ugly is a haunting thriller that had me hooked right away.

I really enjoyed this audiobook. The plot, narration and sound effects were great. Alice Feeney is a gifted author, and I look forward to her next book.

Thank you to NetGalley and MacMillan Audio for an advanced audiobook for review.

Thank youuu NetGalley & Macmillan Audio for an advanced copy of this amazing audiobook. Beautiful Ugly by Alice Feeney publishes January 14, 2025. Five stars!!!

Beautiful Ugly is about an author, Grady Green, who is having what he thought to be a great day, with exciting news, until his wife disappears, seemingly out of thin air. I think I loved this so much because it takes place on a remote island in Scotland and I'm obsessed with Scotland. The atmosphere was SO creepy. I really want to say more but I fear that I will spoil it. What I'll say is - I typically don't like thrillers that have a certain trope that this one does have... but I still liked it. A LOT. I think it really worked for Feeney. Also, I was happy to read a thriller with a MMC first person POV instead of an FMC. Women get fucked over in thrillers too much. This was FANTASTIC.

This was my third Alice Feeney. I really did not care for the other two by her I read: Rock Paper Scissors & Daisy Darker. I rated them 2 and 3 stars, respectively. But this one??? This sucked me in immediately and was so fun and exciting to listen to. I highly recommend this on audio as it contains sound effects like walkie-talkie crackling, ocean sounds, phones ringing, and more. The narrator has a great voice - it went along perfectly with his character. The narrator is British but did the Scottish accent very well. LOVE!

Any fan of mystery/thrillers from the UK knows the cardinal rule: Never Stay Alone in a Cottage in Scotland. Especially one on an island. But you can't resist falling for Beautiful Ugly, a clever, twisty, fascinating thriller from the brilliant mind of Alice Feeney and the pitch perfect narration team of Richard Armitage and Tuppence Middleton. In Beautiful Ugly, a writer flees to an isolated cabin to mourn his wife and finish his book. But nothing is as it seem in Beautiful Ugly and that's the fun and the fiction of the story. Entertaining, high concept, fierce females and sexy narrators.

"I hope you die in your sleep is how we said I loved you"
I believe this is my first Alice Feeney read and I thought it was ok.
The premise was great, the setting was bold and looming, and the ending was good. The island was so descriptive, I felt as though I could clearly see it and follow Grady as he went to and fro. I could also visually see the people and feel the weirdness in most every interaction. It felt as though I was reading/listening to the story sitting by a crackling fire. So, what didn't work for me?
The pacing. It was an extremely slow moving story. I thought the different POVs would make things more interesting, but the FMC's sections were completely underwhelming IMO.
The narration was great, I really enjoyed hearing some new voices. The male narrator had a great voice for storytelling and captivating the audience. He kept me engaged. I also liked the added sound effects throughout.

Husband-wife relationships are complicated, but Beautiful Ugly takes that to a different level. Grady is not a likeable character though and I kept waiting for him to make the most obvious realization about the island as days go on, but he just did not make the connections till almost the end. Also, the backstories for some of the characters did not quite sit well, but all in all, I enjoyed listening to this highly atmospheric and gripping thriller and felt that both narrators did an excellent job with the voices and accents.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for gifting me an audio ARC of the latest thriller by Alice Feeney. All opinions expressed in this review are my own – 5 stars!

Author Grady Green calls his wife to share some exciting news as she’s driving home. But as they are talking Abby gets out of the car and is never seen from again. One year later, Grady is still devastated and desperate to know what happened. He can no longer write and is not taking care of himself. His agent gives him an opportunity to stay on a small Scottish island in a writer’s previous cottage to try and regroup. But as soon as he arrives, he sees a woman who looks just like his missing wife.

Wives think their husbands will change but they don’t.
Husbands think their wives won’t change but they do.

I loved this one – Alice Feeney at her best. A locked room-type mystery, taking place on a small Scottish island with only 25 year-round inhabitants. The setting is almost another character, because you can feel the isolation, feel the weather coming off the sea, the cold damp feeling settling in your bones. Plus, there is a group of characters that left you wondering who you could trust and what was real. The audiobook was fantastic, complete with sound effects at the beginning of each chapter, immersing the reader even further. I couldn’t stop listening to this one and loved every twist and turn along the way!