The Writer’s Café Journal

Welcome to the twenty-seventh book review of fifty-three. Each week this year, I’m opening my Weekend Coffee shares with book reviews or links to those reviews. Reviews are three stars or higher. The genres range from picture books to fiction and nonfiction titles.

Beautiful Ugly
Author is Alice Feeney
Published in January 2025
The publisher is Flatiron Books
Available in Audiobook, eBook, Hardcover, and Paperback (320 pages)
Psychological Thrillers | Murder Thrillers

This is my review as shared on Goodreads:

“Beautiful Ugly” by Alice Feeney is an unforgettable dark thriller.

Author Grady Green loves his wife, Abby; according to him, Abby is his world. When his wife disappears, Grady’s life spirals to its lowest point. He can’t sleep. He can’t write. He’s lost his friends, his money, and his home. Where does that leave him? A year after Abby’s disappearance, grief still consumes Grady. In a last-ditch attempt to get his life on track, he accepts an offer to stay in a writer’s cabin on a remote Scottish island, where he questions his own sanity.

A constant question is, is Grady crazy, or is someone screwing with him? And if so, why? The constant questioning about what is real and what is truth builds tension. Coupling that with Grady’s many reasons for brain fog and confusion creates a dynamic of doubt. Narrated primarily from Grady Green’s point of view, “Beautiful Ugly” tells the story of a struggling writer who loses the love of his life in a dramatic disappearance. However, Alice includes sporadic chapters narrated by Abby. Abby’s chapters build suspense because they paint a different picture of her life and her relationship with her husband. Most chapters are brief, which controls the reading pace. Alice uses beautiful language and descriptions. For example, “The sky is stained the color of crushed cranberries, looking like a painting composed of angry brushstrokes over a picture-postcard white sandy bay.” A review of this book wouldn’t be complete without a comment on the setting. The remote Scottish island of Amberly is pivotal to the story for many reasons, one being the suspense it creates with its isolated small community. The island acts as a character with voices in the fog and sand, a detailed history, and a sad story of its own.

Eerie and mysterious, yet beautiful; fitting for the title, “Beautiful Ugly.” A recommended read.

To read more of my reviews, you can find me on Goodreads at Shari_Marshall.

If we were having coffee, I would start by sharing which books I still have to read from my summer reading challenge list.

1. Complete Book of Solitaire and Patience Games
2. Children of Ruin
3. The Book of Cernunnos
4.  Save The Cat Writes a Novel
5.  Animal Spirit Guides
6.  The Language of Lenormand
7.  Everyday Witch’s Book of Deities

If we were having coffee, I would share that I’m slowly reading the Solitaire book. I can now play Canfield, Chameleon, and Storehouse. The basic setup for these three is similar, with a reserve pile of either twelve or thirteen cards, four tableau piles, and four foundation piles. Later this weekend, I’m hoping to learn Eagle Wing. The setup for this one differs from the first three games I’ve learned.

If we were having coffee, I would share that I received my Celtic Reiki Level 1 certificate. It’s different from Usui because of its nature and tree focus. Hmm, what else can I share this week? I have written ten chapters in the second book in my children’s series, and I’m hoping to have a cover reveal for book one soon. If you haven’t had a chance to check out Dug Up on Amazon, I hope you will today while you sip coffee.

Here’s the coffee bean grinder. How was your week?

By Shari Marshall (2026)