I really enjoyed this mystery thriller from Lucy Foley and found myself eager to read. It centres on the opening of The Manor and some strange events.
Lots of characters stories intertwine and we re-visit the past through Belle's diary.
Really enjoyable read.

I love Lucy Foley's books, she's queen of the locked room thriller, UT this one surpassed all the others. The main 2 characters, Belle and Frankie, tell the story along 2 timeliness of their teenage summer and the present. It's set in the town of Tome, where Francesca is opening a new luxury wellness retreat/spa/hotel. Throughout the book there's a real eerie feeling, from sinister woods, strange markings and a black crow theme throughout. Totally spine tingling! Fantastic range of characters cleverly woven together through threads of the past. I absolutely recommend this book and give it 5 stars.

Lucy Foley just gets better and better. The Midnight Feast is her best book yet.

Set in the grounds of a luxurious manor house The Midnight Feast is told in Lucy's usual.split narrator style. As a reader you never get the whole picture. I love this style and there were a few jaw dropping moments along the way. Mixed in with this was the folklore of The Birds, a mythical group who carry out justice as they see fit. I won't say anymore about the story line except that it is excellent.

This is a book that gets under your skin and leaves you longing to get back to it. A very solid 4* read from me.

Overall, I found this book to be a good read even though it didn't captivate me. I wasn't too keen to pick it up as I felt there were too many POVs and the story wasn't really going anywhere. I'm interested to see if anyone else felt the same?

I received a copy to review below is the blurb:

"In the shadows of an ancient wood, guests gather for the opening weekend of The Manor: a beautiful new countryside retreat.
But under the burning midsummer sun, darkness stirs. Old friends and enemies circulate among the guests. And the candles have barely been lit for a solstice supper when the body is found.
It all began with a secret, fifteen years ago. Now the past has crashed the party. And it’ll end in murder at…
THE MIDNIGHT FEAST"

I really enjoyed this book especially the way it flipped between the past and current day. I didn't see how all the characters were linked initially and to be honest to start with I found the story a little slow. The more I read on, the more invested I became in the characters, their backgrounds and how they were all linked together. I don't give 5 starts lightly but this book was a great read, a little bit of a supernatural theme but more of a twisty psychological story.

This felt very much like Lucy Foley’s take on Nine Perfect Strangers, which unfortunately I was not a fan of. The overall premise is great, but it’s littered with some very bizarre themes throughout. I loved The Guest List, I found it so addictive but unfortunately this didn’t match that level I have previously enjoyed with Foley’s work.

A really fabulous book which I will certainly recommend to others.
Thanks for the opportunity to read & review it. Lucy Foley is a fantastic author.

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC! I was really excited when I was approved for this as I sped through The Paris Apartment and loved it. But unfortunately I’m putting this as a DNF at 40%. This just wasn’t for me, I wasn’t gripped by it and felt a bit lost with so many POVs and having the characters change identity within those POVs.

Absolutely devoured this, gobbled it up in one sitting, in the heat. A fever dream! Sinister, intriguing and pacy - Lucy Foley has done it again. A brilliant summer thriller,

Set at the hot new Devon luxuy retreat The Manor, The Midnight Feast follows the lead up to and aftermath of its grand opening on the summer solstice. People aren't who they seem and old grudges come to ahead... I'll leave it there so you can enjoy all the twists and turns Foley weaves in.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for kindly granting access to the eARC - much appreciated!

The Plot: 4/5 The Characters: 4/5 The Setting: 5/5 The Writing: 5/5

Thoughts:

This was an amazing read!! My first Lucy Foley novel and I can understand now why her books get so much hype.
The multi-POV narratives kept me hooked throughout the story and I think the way Lucy Foley intertwined the characters stories was so smart! I never guessed any of the twists that were revealed towards the end.

I definitely recommend this book to any thriller enthusiasts! It had everything I look for in a thriller.

Tropes:

Folklore
Dual timelines
Mystery
Cult themes
Toxic friendships
Victim gets revenge
Tight circle suspects

Pros & Cons:

Pros: I loved the combination of past and present tense, the diary entries too!
+ short chapters 🤩

Cons: My only niggle of complaint would be that I struggled to comprehend how the characters who knew each other in their teens wouldn’t recognise each other in their 30’s. (Bar a couple of them, eventually).

A thrilling read told from various POVs with twists and turns aplenty.
Bella attends the newly opened Meadows ultra-Hotel with a pseudonym and a wardrobe of rented clothes following receipt of an anonymous tip about its ownership. Gripping, gritty and compelling. With thanks to the publisher and netgalley for an advance copy.

Unputdownable! If that's not a word, it should be, because there's no better word to describe this book. I found it super engaging and right when I thought "oh okay it's pretty predictable" I get hit with twist after twist!
Some things simply couldn't even be guessed. Exactly what you need in a good murder-mystery!
Huge thanks to NetGalley and HarperCollins for this ARC!

I've loved all of Lucy Foley's books, and this was no exception! I found this really gripping, and the multi-person perpsective worked really well. I enjoyed all the twists and turns and didn't see the ending coming. The perfect summer read.

DNF @ 40%

I had fairly high expectations for The Midnight Feast, after finding MANY of Lucy Foley's thrillers fun, gripping and enticing enough for me to want to read the next. Unfortunately though, I think I have to throw in the towel with her books ~ I'm accepting that maybe they're just not for me.

The atmosphere in this was great and undoubtedly the most enjoyable part for me. What I couldn't get behind though, were the COUNTLESS pop culture references. There were so many that it was beginning to take me out of the story, let alone feel any sort of suspense. Needless to say that the first 40% had me dragging my feet and extremely confused.

This proved a fantastic holiday read, like The Wicker Man meets Goop told from multiple POV.

Francessa is a marvellous creation, introduced in 2 different timelines and despicable in both, she is the entitled influencer that we all love to eye roll, pedalling overpriced tat to the gullible rich. Having inherited an estate from her grandparents, she has reinvented herself and the property as an upmarket ‘destination’.

Then there is Bella, trying to find herself, Owen, trying to lose himself and Eddie just starting to find who he really is.

But this stretch of the Dorset coast is ancient and full of its own mystery and mythology: the Birds. 🦅 The Birds have their own response to the changes around them and a way of uncovering secrets that bring events to a thrilling conclusion.

This was spooky, satirical and satisfying but I can’t imagine it being reviewed favourably in Conde Nast Traveller any time soon!

With thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for an arc of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

I have really enjoyed all of Lucy Foley’s books so I was excited to be able to read this early. This took me awhile to get into and I found it very easy to put down initially. However, the last half I flew through and loved how the story and characters came together in the final few chapters. Similar to her other novels there is alternating POV and also alternating timeline of before and after the midnight feast.

Francesca Meadows builds an ultra posh retreat resort on her family’s property, The Manor, totally disrupting the life and livelihood of the locals. Characters from her past resurface, disrupting her perfectly planned opening weekend.

Not my favorite Lucy Foley book, but a solid read if you can get past the slow start!

Loved this new book from Lucy Foley, wonderfully immersive.
Opening weekend for a new five star accommodation complex called The Manor but the locals aren’t happy….nor are ‘the birds’ or ‘the trees’.
This piece of land has been owned by Francesca’s family for a long time and the sense of entitlement is clear.
There are a few characters in this book and chapters are told from their point of view, some also have now and then chapters. While it does sound confusing, I found it very easy to follow.
With some sense of the supernatural and eeriness, I flew through the first half of the book but then real life caught up and I couldn’t wait to get back to it.
I really don’t want to say too much regarding the book as not knowing adds to the suspense but I loved the ending, very satisfying.
Well worth the read
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for a copy to read.

I was so excited for this book, but unfortunately it disappointed me. The characters were so insufferable that I couldn’t seem to muster up any energy to care about them or what happened to them. The timeline switches also kept throwing me off and the pacing was just so slow it didn’t capture my attention; it took me a while to even finish this book. It’s supposed to be thrilling, but I was bored out of my mind.

Thank you to Netgalley and HarperCollins UK for the arc in exchange for an honest review.

Told from multiple POV and timelines might seem a little off putting, but stick with it.
I was a bit unsure of this at first, but it does make sense and I actually really liked it.
I struggled to find time to read when I started it but when I found more time, it was definitely more enjoyable. This is one of those books that is best devoured in a few sittings if you can.
The characters were well established and likeable, even the bad guys. Twists and turns from about 60% on and this is where it picked up for me. Some big revelations near the end which kept me interested.
Overall I’d give it 3.5 out of 5, rounded up to 4.

Lucy Foley is fast becoming my go to author for locked room mysteries. This one had a dark eerie undercurrent which is even more my sort of thing. Loved it !