Beautiful and Ugly

 

 3-3.5 stars  Beautiful Ugly is a fitting name for this novel, being both great and, well, less so. It embodied strong, atmospheric, beautiful writing throughout. I loved it and hated putting it down. I was addicted to this story and halfway through I would have happily said this was a five star book and praised it heavily. Beautiful Ugly suited my mood, the weather and was a joy to cuddle with fireside and in bed at night. Hooked, absolutely hooked. I was even looking through Alice Feeney's backlist of books to see what I might read next.

Then the twists occurred and ugly raised its less than glorious head. One of the twists was smart and left me interrogating the knowledge gained from what I had read. A nice surprise I did not see coming, I was excited by this. One was wholly implausible. I read it a couple times to make certain I understood it correctly. It just did not sit well with the story and what we knew of the main characters. It felt like panto, jumping the shark in its unlikeliness. Another twist or two later and we seemed back on track though the damage was done and I felt this was the only way it could go. It seemed fitting but I wasn't as invested by the end as I might have otherwise been.

I know it sounds awful and, to me, it feels awful as I was entirely onboard and loving the journey to who knows where then the opportunity for a great finale was lost.