04 April 2025
Beautiful Ugly By Alice Feeney Review And Book Club Questions
Reviewed by: Melissa Ng
Quick Facts
Book Publication Date: 14 January 2025
How I Read It: Borrowed from my local library
Where You Can Find Beautiful Ugly by Alice Feeney: Amazon Australia* | Kobo US* | Kobo Canada*
Content & Trigger Warnings: Grooming, child sexual assault, abandonment, death, murder, gas lighting
Beautiful Ugly Summary
Grady Green is an author riding the high of a bestseller when he calls his wife Abby to share the good news. But mid-call, she sees something (or someone) in the road, slams the brakes, gets out — and vanishes.
The police find her car at the edge of a cliff, door open, phone left behind. No Abby.
One year later, Grady is a broken man: unable to write, unable to sleep, and spiralling into a grief-fuelled haze.
His agent (and Abby’s godmother), Kitty, sends him to the secluded Scottish Isle of Amberly to regroup and work on his next novel.
There, things get weird.
He swears he sees a woman who looks exactly like Abby.
He finds the unpublished manuscript of a dead author (Charles Whittaker), a skeleton hand, and gets anonymous deliveries of articles written by Abby — ones that dig into the secrets of the women living on the island.
We bounce between two timelines and two POVs:
- Grady in the present.
- Abby before she disappeared.
Beautiful Ugly Spoilers
So, where did Abby go? To the Isle of Amberly, because Grady tried to murder her.
Grady discovered a positive pregnancy test in the bin. He assumed Abby cheated on him, since he secretly had a vasectomy.
Instead of asking her about it, he follows her to the cliff and lures Abby out of the car and then pushes her off the cliff.
Except Abby survives.
Turns out she wasn’t cheating – she was going through IVF with a donor.
She flees to the women-only island of Amberly to recover and raise her child in peace with her new partner, Travers.
Meanwhile, Grady’s guilt and grief spiral. He’s sent to Amberly by his agent Kitty to rest and work on his next book.
While there, he finds an unpublished draft of a book by the late author Charles Whittaker and decides to publish it as his own.
The book’s alternating POV, which readers assume is Abby’s, is actually told by Kitty. Kitty and Abby’s mother were best friends, and Abby is named after Kitty.
Kitty is revealed to be Charles Whittaker’s wife and has been using the proceeds from his work to fund the Isle of Amberly.
The island itself is a sanctuary for women who have survived abuse and trauma.
Over the years, the roles on the island have slowly been filled by more and more women, and the island only opens up to visitors during peak tourist season.
But, with Charles dead, the Isle is running low on funds.
Kitty has been orchestrating things behind the scenes, including helping Abby disappear, all to protect Amberly’s secrets and legacy.
Kitty wants to publish Grady’s book (and let him live) if the proceeds can be used to finance Amberly. Charles had plenty of other unpublished work that Grady can use for his future novels.
Grady agrees and publishes the stolen book which becomes a bestseller.
But the celebration doesn’t last.
In the final chapter, Grady wakes up buried alive, the ultimate punishment for the ultimate betrayal.
Beautiful Ugly Review
If you’ve read any of my other thriller reviews, you know I love a dual POV, dual timeline setup — and this one had it all: creepy vibes, secrets in every corner, an island setting, and enough twists to leave your head spinning (maybe too many).
What Worked
✔️ Fast-paced and bingeable. I flew through this book. The chapters are short, and each one ends on a mini cliffhanger that keeps you hooked. It'll have you saying, “just one more chapter.”
✔️ Unreliable narrators done well. Grady is the definition of a man you shouldn’t trust, but he still manages to reel you in. And the switcheroo with Kitty narrating the “Abby” chapters? Clever and well executed.
✔️ The setting. The Isle of Amberly was both eerie and captivating. I loved the concept of a quiet, women-run community with hidden pasts and a few skeletons in the closet — literally.
✔️ The big twist. Did I guess some of it? Yes. Was I still entertained? Also yes.
What Didn’t Work For Me
❌ One too many twists. There were a few too many secrets, revelations, and motives flying around. Just when I got my head around one, another one hit.
❌ Predictable if you’ve read Alice Feeney before. I’ve read Rock Paper Scissors*, and once I got into the rhythm of Beautiful Ugly, I could see where things were going. That doesn’t make it bad — it just makes it a little less shocking for returning fans.
Books Like Beautiful Ugly
If you liked Beautiful Ugly, I think you’ll also enjoy these books:
- Rock Paper Scissors* by Alice Feeney
- Yellowface* by R.F. Kuang
- Gone Girl* by Gillian Flynn
Memorable Beautiful Ugly Quotes
Wives think their husbands will change but they don’t.
Husbands think their wives won’t change but they do.
Beautiful Ugly Book Club Questions
- What were your favourite and least favourite moments in the book?
- Did you enjoy the dual timeline and dual POV structure?
- What did you think initially happened to Abby?
- Did you find Grady likeable or interesting?
- When did you start to suspect Grady was an unreliable narrator?
- Were you suspicious of the women when it became increasingly difficult for Grady to leave the island?
- What did you think of Kitty’s backstory? Did it surprise you?
- Did you think the Isle of Amberly enhanced the setting of the book?
- Why do you think the women of Amberly were so protective of the island?
- The book features some heavy topics such as grooming, sexual assault, and death. How do you think they were handled?
- Were you able to predict any of the twists or reveals?
- Were any of the reveals particularly shocking?
- What did you think of the ending?
- Have you read any other books by Alice Feeney?
- If so, where does Beautiful Ugly rank?
- If not, are you interested in reading more of her novels?
- If Beautiful Ugly was adapted into a movie, which actors would you cast for each character?
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