A review by ericasbooklog
The Midnight Feast by Lucy Foley

adventurous dark emotional 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

The Manor is the highly anticipated new hotel offering a luxurious, immersive, outdoor experience targeted exclusively for the wealthy. Francesca Meadows will stop at nothing to ensure that the opening weekend and festivities are nothing short of perfect. But when things being to slowly go wrong in the days leading up to the main solstice celebration, Francesca’s perfect facade is put to the test as she is faced with the local angry townspeople, the ominous long rumored cult, and the secrets she believed to be buried in the past.  

Midnight Feast has the easy storytelling and plenty of twists that we know and love from any Lucy Foley story. It’s filled with quick chapters, multiple POVs, and multiple timelines that keep the reader guessing along the way. 

Overall, I enjoyed this story and the twists and surprises that I didn’t see coming until it was too late. But this story fell a little short for me, especially in comparison to other Lucy novels, for two main reasons:

  1. The first half of the book was slow. Sure, it had details and tidbits that mattered to the story, but it felt like a slough to get through the first half. I am not one to “DNF” books so I pushed through, but I can see how this may lose readers in the beginning as it takes some time to really pick up and get interesting.
  2. I am an early 30’s, American reader. While I am aware of many UK terms and slang words, I felt like this story had excessive verbiage used throughout that didn’t land for me. I know I don’t represent all audiences, but I feel like the overuse of current trends, pop culture, slang, etc. will make this story miss the mark for many other readers and not stand up well to the test of time. 

Thank you so much to NetGalley and William Marrow for an eARC of Midnight Feast. This was a fun read and I continue to be thrilled to get my hands on anything by Lucy Foley