Member Reviews
This was too YA for me. Giving the daughter a POV brought down the drama of the story because she was very immature. By the end I just didn't care what happened.
I received an advance copy in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts are my own.
The Block Party delivered all the drama about an exclusive neighborhood on Alton Road through alternating narratives from a mother and daughter who live there. I love that Day decided on a mother daughter duo for the narration because it gave the reader a glimpse into the full interconnectedness of the families on this road. The story touches not just the adults who live here, but their teenage children as well.
Instantly when starting this book the reader is told that something dramatic has happened at the annual Memorial Day block party celebration, but then the story flies back in time by a year to walk us through how everything unfolds. I loved the build up and the tension that increased as we got closer and closer to the fateful day in question. Day keeps the pacing quick while also managing to provide the reader plenty of needed details about the neighbors and their lives.
🎧: I lucked out and got a copy of the audio from Netgalley and I absolutely loved this book in this format! It was the perfect companion for my commute and kept me entertained the entire time.
A huge thank you to Get Red PR and St. Martin’s Press for my gifted copy!
This story is almost completely set on a cul-de-sac in the Meadowbrook subdivision of an affluent suburb in Massachusetts. Reminiscent of Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty not everything is as the well polished facade might lead you to think ... the queen bee Alex has a drinking problem that seems to be getting worse now that an empty nest is on the horizon. Her husband Nic is risking his relationship to their only daughter for the sake of teaching discipline instead of listening while lamenting the lack of closeness. Their neighbors Alex's sister and her husband have severe trust issues in their marriage and Ken, her husband, very obviously favors their star athlete older son while their younger son is just trying to be seen ... his girlfriend Riley lives another house over with her parents who are just waiting till she's off to college to finally get a divorce. Then there is beautiful and widowed neighbor Brooke and an empty house soon to be populated by newcomers ... but are they really so new and who is sneaking into whose house, and why ? What's with the bug man a pest control salesman pestering the neighborhood? Why does the police keep appearing ? My favorite part was the virtual neighborhood message board that kept rehashing the goings on from outside like a Greek choir in a classic tragedy on the outside not elite enough to be part of this special circle but definitely intrigued!
The Memorial Day block parties of three years form the timeline for this book even if it starts at the one in the middle ...
This made for fun listening, I loved the narration by Megan Tuzing and Suzy Jackson, this was a juicy fun domestic suspense if four houses still make it domestic.
Domestic thriller meets Desperate Housewives.
So many interesting characters (likeable and perfectly hate-able as well).
This book is told in the timeframe of one year between one annual summer block party and the following one.
Chesting, black mail, threats, stockers and plenty of tension, this read will kerp you going until every last answer comes to light.
WOW! The Block Party is full of twists and secrets. Every character has secrets and everyone is connected somehow. I love the believability of the family and neighbor drama. The entire book is slowly building to the major explosion at the end of the book. This is going to be the book of the summer.
This is so good! I didn’t want to put it down!
I loved how the characters were woven into each others’ lives and it slowly unraveled how they were intertwined with one another.
This book does have some dark undertones, but it is well written and it doesn’t ramble on. It is fast paced and entertaining.
I can’t believe this is Jamie Day’s debut book! I will definitely be reading more from this author!
Thanks NetGalley and publisher for the digital copy in exchange for my honest review!
Neighborhood scandal and I am here for it. Someone is murdered at the annual block party and everything starts to unravel. Told from the perspective of a mother and daughter along with flashbacks to the previous year, the story unfolds as secrets come to light. The beginning was slightly slow, but the mystery kept me intrigued. The narration brought the story to life while adding a dash of realism. This is an entertaining summer listen. Thank you, NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for my audiobook.
Sometimes having neighbors in a tight knit community is great! Sometimes it means having intertwined secrets and doing kind of crazy things to keep them secret. This was a quick whodunnit, but most of the characters have issues so it seems than any of them could snap at any time.
Audiobooks can easily be ruined by a bad narrator - The choice of narrators for this one was spot on ... super articulate and in line with the theme of the book.
This book was the first I've read by Jamie Day and I look forward to reading more.
This is a fun, fast-moving suspense book with intertwined family dramas among close neighbors in an affluent cul-de-sac. There are a couple of interesting surprises near the end, and a satisfying conclusion. The voice actor did a great job.
Every summer, in neighborhoods around the country, people gather for a little bit of fun and friendship at their annual block parties. But in the audio edition of The Block Party by author Jamie Day, one neighborhood’s annual tradition ends in tragedy.
Full review published on NightsAndWeekends.com and aired on Shelf Discovery
This book takes place over the course of a year- the year between block parties. Reading this book also felt like it took a year.
The characters on this block are flat and obnoxious. They have one defining characteristic and that is all they are. For example, one of our narrators, Alex, is an alcoholic. All of her writting is about not accepting she cant handle her drink, needing another drink, fighting with others about her drinking.
This book had a ton of drama, not a lot of plot. I kept reading to find out who the victim was, but even that was a huge let down.
Thank you to NetGalley and the author for this advance reader copy of this audiobook.
To be honest, I couldn't finish it. The characters were all awful. The writing was nothing special and the drama was beyond over the top. I love a good thriller, but pointless drama - that I can find in spades in real life. Do not need or want it from a book, particularly where there is not a single character that is positive or likable. UGH!
This was such a good listen. I love all the neighborhood drama. Full of suspense and who dun it questions. It was a little tricky to keep track of characters but with notes it helped. I'd recommened!
It's nearly summer, and the Alton Road cul-de-sac is having their highly anticipated annual Memorial Day block party. Unfortunately, this evening will end in at least one death. But who did it and who is dead? To explain that, we will need to start the story at last year's block party. Over the course of the year, the families on the cul-de-sac unearth secrets, plot revenge, and ultimately learn that they may harbor more than one criminal in their suburban midst.
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Recommend if you liked: Locust Lane, Bad Summer People
Content warnings: rape (mentioned, non-explicit), addiction (alcohol & drugs), murder, stalking, suicide
This one was right up my alley! I saw others call this "domestic suspense" and that exactly fits the bill!
We follow multiple perspectives throughout the book, mainly Alex (a divorce mediator who really likes her wine) and her daughter Lettie, in high school and a big proponent for environmental causes. Most of the wide cast is well-rounded, and we get more of their dimensions throughout the year.
Suspense?
As the year unfolds, a lot of controversy comes to light following a slow escalation of crimes that interweaves motives right up to the end. I spent the whole book guessing who might have died! I guessed a couple of the twists, but it was still engaging, and the prose flowed smoothly.
Thanks to MacMillan Audio and St. Martin's Press via NetGalley for providing me access to both an audiobook and ebook. All opinions expressed above are my own.
I really enjoyed this mystery set in a "rich neighborhood". From the start you might think you know the outcome, but the storyline alternating between an adult and a teenager makes it blur to the real culprit. I liked this back and forth, as it made both seem a little unreliable. There is a trope that isn't my favorite, but I know a lot of people like this type of comeback. Enjoy this on the beach this summer!
This was a sick book!
Started out with a normal block party. You get to meet some of the characters on the block...
But it is so much more than this!
You actually delve into the lives of several of the players in this book...and it goes back and forth between present day, and about a year ago...and the more you learn, the more the plot thickens.
Multiple plot twists are revealed too!
Some I did see coming, some I totally did not!!
If you like thrillers, books that keep you on the edge of your seat and guessing, as well as nail biter books, then this one is definitely for you!!
Also involves some young love, some mistakes, some cheating, and some just crazy, off the wall stuff!
4-4 1/2 stars for me!
Thanks to Net Galley and Macmillan audio for the ARC of the audiobook!
It was released on 7/18/23, so you should be able to find it now!!
If you love domestic thrillers, The Block Party audiobook delivers. There is a lot to keep up with and a lot of characters, as well as a lot of mystery and surprises. Jamie Day's writing is taut and suspenseful, and she adds several quite serious topics to the plot in addition to the family and neighborhood drama. The story takes place in a time period of a year, with the time line switching. The book is hard to put down until the reader knows all the details of the scandals, danger, and secrets on Alton Road.
The narration styles of both Megan Tusing and Suzy Jackson were very on point for this thriller. They each had perfect tone, inflection, and emotion in to capture the sharpness and suspense of the book.
Are you a fan of domestic thrillers?
This one has everything you’d love from this genre:
Neighborhood friends and get togethers
Secrets
Affairs
Alcoholic
Parent/kids drama
And so much more. This was a fun read for my July reading list. Especially since the summer is when so many neighborhoods start gathering together.
Thank you so much to @getredprbooks and @stmartinspress for my copy of The Block Party for my Summer Reading!
I received an advance copy of The Block Party audiobook in exchange for my honest review. I felt the plot was interesting, but the book really dragged on. Not a lot happened, and what did happened was very slow to come about. None of the characters were very likable, and I found the facebook post part of the book to be a bit cheesy and not really add much to the story except to serve to make the mystery greater. Perhaps the book would be better in a written format over audiobook, as in most cases I tend to enjoy books more than their audiobook counterparts, but all in all I didn't love this audiobook and felt it was mediocre at best. 3 stars from me.
well....that was a disappointment. I was expecting a desperate housewives murder mystery but it wasn't. nothing really happened until 90% in and the twists weren't really shocking. The cruise ship one maybe, but that's about it. writing style was okay. I do feel like I wasted my time.