Reviews with content warning for Adult/minor relationship - Beautiful Ugly

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Beautiful Ugly by Alice Feeney

6 reviews

disguisedposer's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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jenna_x_w's review

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dark tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.0

This is my first book by this author, and I gather she is famous for her plot twists. I would have preferred if, for me, the unexpected turn of events was NOT my abruptly despising the book and having its rating-in-mental-progress plummet from a 3/4 to a 1/2 when I was nearly finished with it!

I wasn’t blown away by this book, by any means, for the first 2/3rds or 3/4ths of it, but it was a page-turner and it was fine. The main characters of Abby and Grady seemed very flat, but I enjoyed the Hebridean scenery and atmosphere, the eccentric villagers, and of course, Columbo the dog. And then!… it was just utter foolishness upon foolishness and a jumble of other literary crimes and pet peeves.

The “Big Twist” especially (like the whole book hinges on one short, unearned paragraph that changes everything?) was absolute buffoonery, sheer Tomfoolery as far as I was concerned. I did not think the groundwork and character development had been laid to believably pull that off, to say the least. And it was all just…kind of dumb? From that point on to the end, everything kind of starts to unravel if you even look at it twice. Like a SHEIN kilt!

It’s really unusual for me to rate a book a one- or two-star read, since if I’m not liking a book, I usually spot this hazard coming early on, abandon ship, and do not give it a rating. It takes a very rare and special book - rare and special NOT in a good way - to completely sink the ship when it’s nearly to port!

I’m actually a little irritated and even mad that I spent time on this one. I would have preferred The Adventures of Columbo in the Hebrides, to be honest.

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doodlebeanz's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

I am honestly just so... confused and baffled by this book. And I don't know if it's in a good or bad way. I was honestly pretty creeped out by it at certain points, which is something I weirdly look for in a thriller (I enjoy tormenting myself come bedtime, apparently). But as much as I enjoyed it, and as wild a ride as it was, I still felt shortchanged somehow. The plot was there, for sure, but it got a little lost and a little confusing and contrived.

The first part of the story, I was in. Missing wife, creepy remote island, oddly behaved residents of said island... sign me up for that. It definitely got pretty creepy, especially considering I listened to it as an audiobook (HIGHLY recommend. There are sound effects used and it honestly adds such a creepy soundtrack for the book that definitely pumped up the creepiness). As a reader, I had absolutely NO idea what was going on for majority of the plot. I figured out some things, but even in the moment, I was just guessing and just happened to be right. I had a lot of theories throughout the story, and the twist was definitely a WTF moment, but it also just felt... wrong? Like it didn't seem plausible or realistic. It seemed SO out of character, which I think is the point, but it left me feeling very confused and a bit put off, tbh.

In typical Feeney style, some plot points weren't really tied up nicely.

I think the main gist of the story was that everything he was experiencing, people were doing to him. He was drinking hallucinogenic tea (or was he?), which caused him to feel far more paranoid and freaked out than usual, and everyone was acting oddly purposefully to make him feel even crazier. Nothing paranormal was happening, people were just fucking with him. But... it's never really made clear if that's the case. Like the harmonica playing in the woods? The face in the window? His weird dreams about a man-tree coming to life in his house? Just... were those all a hallucination or were those things actually happening? Idk, feel a bit shortchanged there. But that's classic Alice Feeney writing... she leaves you wanting more, but not always in a positive way.

This book felt like 2 or 3 different stories stuffed into one. I felt all the big plot lines were explained, but not well and they didn't really connect. I just have SO many questions lmao. They say that no one (tourists/outsiders) goes on the island,

only women are allowed to live there permanently,

but yet when Grady was waiting for the ferry across, there were other cars and stuff waiting there... so where were they going? Is the island actually haunted or is it all just in their heads? And most importantly, WHAT THE FUCK WAS THE ENDING?! WTF was that?! I absolutely hated it UGH.

I don't really understand why she felt th need to write in a dog. It just seemed to be for shock value, because adding a dog, at least in my experience, always makes the stakes 10x higher. Once a pet is introduced, I immediately assume they are going to get hurt/die, and it makes me SO anxious and I think that's the majority of people. Ultimately, nothing happens to Columbo, he's a good boy, but there are tense moments where you think something bad is going to happen and that just cheapens the experience of reading, at least for me. I am against all forms of animal cruelty/harm, even if it is in writing form!

All in all, I enjoy Alice Feeney's writing but sometimes it's so much build up with such little pay off. Will I be uncomfortable going to sleep tonight? Yes. Do I feel shortchanged by this book and wish it delivered more? Absolutely. Two things can be true. The book was a wild ride from start to finish, I felt like I personally was taking hallucinogenics right along with Grady while I read and I am not sure if that's positive or not. Solid 3.5 stars. Can't go up to 4 for the animal sidekick only being there for shock value and for the ending/big twist being disappointing. I'd recommend if you're a fan of Feeney though!

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