No block party is complete without a little drama. Or, a lot of drama, as is the case for the residents of Alton Road. The Block Party is a fun, twisty summer read about a cul-de-sac full of secrets, lies, cheating, revenge, and even murder.

The Block Party is an annual tradition on the exclusive suburban cul-de-sac of Alton Road. The book opens with a block party that has gone awry and the gossiping elsewhere neighbors who are thrilled that something went wrong on the highfalutin Alton Road. At least until they learn it was a murder.

Alton Road is a cul-de-sac anchored by the Fox family. Alex and Nick Fox are more-or-less happily married. Their daughter Lettie is rebellious and trying to find her place in the world. She is also grounded after getting suspended from school. Alex is drinking too much and Nick is burying himself in work.

Then there are the Adair’s. Emily is Alex’ sister and confidante. Married to the successful and handsome Ken Adair who has strayed in the past. They have two sons, the super-accomplished son off in college and Dylan whose entire life has been spent in a poor comparison to his star athlete brother. He’s dating Riley who was once Alex’ best friend, but has ghosted her or tormented her since Junior High. Willow’s husband Evan Thompson is a successful photographer. Their daughter Riley is keeping dangerous secrets that are finding their way to the surface. Willow is planning to divorce Evan, trying to find the right time.

The Kumar’s are new to the block. Samir seems a controlling, perhaps abusive husband while Mandy is mysterious and an enigma though she is far too interested in Ken for Alex’s taste. Their drop-out son Jay lives with them and he and Alex form a friendship that leads to epic revelations

The only unmarried person on the block is Brooke Bailey who people enjoy suspecting killed her husband. All they know is he disappeared on a cruise. She has a stalker, but she’s not overly concerned.

Last and least are the Greek chorus of neighbors whose social media interstitial gossip could have been a way to add context or move the story forward, but instead were annoying intruders on an otherwise propulsive narrative.



.The Block Party is an excellent domestic thriller. There is constantly growing tension as more and more secrets are revealed. It would have been better without the social media interruptions. They did not sound authentic, but more like a parody of social media by someone who avoids social media. They were the single sour note in the thriller, but since they kept interrupting they got very annoying.

Alex and her daughter Lettie are at the heart of this book. Not that they are amazing detectives or anything. They are ordinary nosy people who when they see something’s wrong, they try to something about it They talk to people at a deeper level than the usual banalities and can see patterns. Lettie wants to be a tough, avenging angel but has too much compassion and good sense to be good at being bad. Alex wants to be and do good, but her drinking is getting in her way.

I like the book a lot. The pacing is excellent, the plot hangs together. Nobody is too smart, no Poirots or Marples, but just good old neighborly nosiness gets to the heart of the matter. I like that. The characters are satisfying and complex. The only false not comes from the neighbor’s social media, but isn’t social media always the ruiner?

I received an e-galley of The Block Party from the publisher through NetGalley

The Block Party at St. Martin’s Press | Macmillan
Jamie Day on Facebook

The Block Party was told from two POVs, mother and daughter. This was the first book where I read a mother./ daughter POV and I enjoyed it a lot. It was great to see how the two points of view collided in the end. I feel like If I right a lot about this novel, I will give it all away. I thought it was a great book and kept me entertained. The only thing was it wasn't one of the those novels that I could put down and it too me a little while ti read the book.

Thank you Jamie Day, St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for allowing me to read this ARC e-book. This book is definitely in my top right now for favorite mysteries. I loved it. It was funny and so relatable and yet had a dark undertone to the entire thing. That said I felt like we all know someone who could have been these different characters. Like every neighborhood, or small town has all of them and I related so much to that I felt like it could have been set in real life. The twists and turns as each chapter switched between mother and daughter went together seemlessly. And the twist at the end made me say What?! like out loud it was the perfect mic drop to an all around jaw dropping mystery.

The Block Party by Jamie Day is a domestic suspense with a timeline of the current day and one year ago. There are many characters and lots of drama, starting off you know there has been a death/murder but you need to read the story of how things unfolded and who was to blame.

It’s a good read, I was interested to see what happened to the characters. It’s not a nail-biting, page-turning suspense but more of a slower story that is still entertaining.

This summer, meet your neighbors.

The residents of the exclusive cul-de-sac on Alton Road are entangled in a web of secrets and scandals utterly unknown to the outside world, and even to each other.

On the night of the annual Summer block party, there has been a murder.

But, who did it and why takes readers back one year earlier, as rivalries and betrayals unfold—discovering that the real danger lies within their own block and nothing—and no one—is ever as it seems.

Just came out! Get it now.

This was a fun read, the setting and the characters were enjoyable to follow. However it seemed like there was too much to follow. In addition, the pacing felt a bit off which made some parts feel slower. It was a twisty book which made it quick!

The Block Party is an entertaining, suspenseful, drama filled, and twisty mystery. The story is told via an alternating timeline between one year ago and present day; and multiple POV between a privileged mother and her teen daughter. I was hooked from the first sentence and powered through alternating between the book and audio because I couldn’t get enough but was forced to adult. As the secrets of the neighbors are revealed, the twists start appearing. I couldn’t have asked for a better ending for this story, I really enjoyed it.

Thank you, St. Martin’s Press, and Netgalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing an advanced reader copy of this book!

I loved the twisted mysterious story about people living on a suburban block who all have secrets they’d kill to keep hidden! It was interesting to see chapters written from a 3rd person perspective alternate with chapters written from one character’s first person perspective. I don’t know how I feel about it. Not sure if the author was testing out the different POVs or if she was trying to hone in on the first person for a different reason.

Other than that, great book, good pacing, characters were believable, and I love a good old fashioned story about privileged people brought down by their own hubris!

Alton Road is anything but boring! The neighborhood seems idyllic but the Memorial Day block party shows all the crazy that’s been hiding on the street. Lots of surprises and action in this enjoyable read.

Jamie Day has created a block party unlike any of the block parties I've attended. My neighborhood seems very boring in comparison to the cul-de-sac on Alton Road. In fact, I was reminded of Desperate Housewives and Knots Landing, two of my favorite night-time soap operas from years past. I predict that this will be a very popular summer read. Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for an advance copy to read and review.

Dollycas's Thoughts

Welcome to Alton Road, an exclusive cul-de-sac that is hosting its annual block party.

Do they really know their neighbors as well as they think they do? When one of them is murdered they realize there are a ton of secrets being held by everyone.

We have to go back a year to see which scandal, betrayal, rivalry, and/or secret drove someone to murder.

____

As soon as I started reading this book I felt like I had landed on Wisteria Lane 2.0 (Desperate Housewives). Saying Jamie Day's characters have issues is a huge understatement. The book is mostly told from Alex's point of view. She is a divorce mediator who has a dangerous relationship with wine that she thinks she is hiding. Her 17-year-old daughter Lettie is doing whatever she can do personally to save the planet. She is also crushing on the son of their new neighbors. After a suspension for vandalism at the end of her junior year she just wants to graduate high school and go cross country to attend USC. Alex's husband is miserly when it comes to his daughter's education and is trying hard to get his wife to give up her vino.

The other residents of Alton Road include a widow who may have killed her husband with an interesting occupation, a teen that is having trouble coping with life especially when his girlfriend breaks up with him, a controlling husband, a wife hiding a connection to other residents on the road, a stalker, a drug addict, a cheating husband and more. All of these things come out over the course of the story. Because of my personal experience, I was very drawn to the troubled teen especially because I could feel what was in his future. I felt all of the characters were complex but needed more depth but with the large number of characters, it is hard to do that in one book.

The author fills the book with a lot of hot-button issues. Alcoholism, drug abuse, adultery, statutory rape, computer hacking, blackmail, stalking, revenge, and more. Not one house on the cul-de-sac escaped having problems, and many of those problems could destroy others. Truthfully, all the characters were unlikable but their situations kept the pages turning for me. Plus I needed to know who was murdered, who did it, and why.

I did enjoy the Facebook chat group talking and gossiping about what could be happening on Alton Road. I belong to similar groups for my hometown and the town where I currently live. Thankfully our moderators don't allow gossip but they are a great way to find out what is happening around town, like when you hear a ton of sirens and wonder what is going on or what is on fire or if there is a prison break which really could happen here.

The Block Party is filled with dysfunction and drama. So much drama. If you were a fan of Desperate Housewives you will enjoy this story but unlike the housewives, I have no desire to be friends with anyone on Alton Road but they will probably stick in my brain for a while.

This appears to be Jamie Day's first novel. She is an author to watch. I am open to reading more of her work.

Thanks to NetGalley for an advanced copy of this book!

Synopsis: told from two perspectives (Alex and her daughter Lettie), there's a lot of drama in one year on Alton Road. As the year progress, you dive deeper in to past connections, revenge, teenage angst, and a lot of booze. In the end, Alex and Lettie get a satisfied closure at the end, and the secrets of their neighbors are fully revealed.

What a trollop! A perfect book for those who like Desperate Housewives, the Real Housewives, or authors May Cobb and Lucy Foley- there's a lot of neighborhood drama here (some that's a bit over the top). I would list this more as a domestic suspense more than a thriller or psychological drama; it doesn't have strong character development, but that doesn't mean the plot isn't a whirlwind. I found myself quick caught up in the Alex's story right at the beginning of the book. It gets a little slower and stagnant towards the middle third of the book, but things pick back up quickly about 75% through the book- I finished the last portion in one night!
Lettie's story took me a little longer to get into- I just didn't like the writing style of her story as much as Alex's. I also could have done with all the alcohol references for Alex, as I don't think it added much to the story at all; the other neighbors stories were much more interesting. Overall, still felt satisfied with how the book wrapped up, and would read other things by Jamie Day.

Overall, good summer read or for someone who wants to forget their own stress and drama for awhile and get caught up in someone else's.. 3.75 stars.

Every neighborhood has its cast of characters and antics that at times has you shaking your head, this one is no exception. Like mother like daughter; sometimes being bossy has its advantages and sometimes it doesn’t. In this lighthearted novel that tackles some heavy emotions surrounding alcoholism, drug use, suicide and rape, one family and neighborhood comes together even as it’s being ripped apart. Well written and fast paced, Day delivers a neighborhood mystery with a lot of heart.

I love uncovering new great authors!

I loved this book!

Who wouldn't want to read about a murder on a street where all the neighbors know each other and all have secrets and are up to some unsavory shenanigans!!

This book has a lot of characters but Day writes them so seamlessly that you're able to keep them straight and not get lost.

Highly recommend picking this one up!

A neighborhood full of secrets can only lead to trouble. When one resident turns up dead, we are taken through the lives of the residents to learn what lead up to the death. Told from multiple viewpoints, we are given a view into 2 generations of residents and their drama. This book read like a movie, with building suspense, strong characters and a satisfying resolution!

3.5 stars for this one by Jamie Day! It was a story about a group of neighbours who live in a cul-de-sac community. Everybody in this story is hiding something - it's full of secrets and lies! There are secrets between neighbors, friends and even families.

Each year, the community hosts a block party for memorial day. But this year, things get sinister when there is a murder on site. In order to figure out who dies and how it happened, the author takes you back to a year earlier and explores the characters and their stories leading up to the fateful night. I really liked that aspect of the story. It was a quick read for me and I found it quite entertaining. The twists weren't exactly mind blowing, but I liked them.

My one issue, and it's minor, is that there were quite a few characters and at times it was hard to keep them straight.

I'd like to thank St. Martin's Press for my review copy. Overall, I liked it! This book published on July 18 and is available now! If you enjoy deception and a bunch of people behaving badly, this may be for you!

Revenge is a dish best served.. at a Memorial Day block party. Jamie Day's soapy new novel is reminiscent of Big Little Lies and Ashley Audrain's latest, The Whispers. The novel is narrated by Alex, a wife and mother, who maybe has a drinking problem, and Lettie, said teen daughter of Alex. The cast of characters are the neighbors of Alton Lane and the plot of the story takes place over the course from one Memorial Day black party to the next years. At the latter Memorial Day party police are called for a homicide. Flashing back over the course of the past year we get to know some of the neighbors and the many, many dark secrets they are keeping from their families and each other. While I thought there were maybe just one or two too many dramatic secrets for one small block. Overall a very entertaining read for fans of domestic and neighborhood suspense!

⭐️3 I thought the story was going to be based more on the murders. Insteresting plot and compelling story. Didn’t predict some of the twists. Felt like the Facebook comments about the block party were uneccesary to the plot. Overall an entertaining read.

Even though I feel like I’ve read a number of books with this same concept before, I had high hopes for The Block Party. Unfortunately, it left me kind of underwhelmed.

The story centers around Alex and her daughter Lettie, who live in a swanky neighborhood where everyone seems to be very involved with each other’s lives. While mother and daughter have their own share of problems and secrets to deal with, they spend a lot of time getting in the middle of everyone else’s.

Going into the book, I thought it would be a bit more of an ensemble cast, with lots of POVs, but we only get Alex and Lettie’s. And while that was ok, I thought it really could’ve benefited from featuring other characters, too. Getting the story from the two most boring characters in the story made for a bit of a boring reading experience. The few snippets of the community social media page didn’t really add much to the story, either. While there was some initial intrigue that made me invested in the story, the slow development of the mysteries didn’t keep me engaged. I also guessed every twist long before they were revealed.

Overall, The Block Party, had promise, but didn’t live up to it’s potential for me. The pace was slow, the characters were kind of dull, and the mysteries weren’t all that mysterious. I also thought the end tried to tack on some moral lesson with a very heavy hand, which it didn’t really pull off. This isn’t a book that I would pick up again, but I have seen some more positive reviews on this, so others may enjoy it more than I did.

The Block Party, by Jamie Day, is a perfect beach read! Serious topics like family drama, gunshots, domestic violence, male predators, grief, revenge and coming of age issues are all woven into this tale in a very readable, entertaining fashion, akin to a television mini-series that you just have to keep watching to find out what happens next!
The residents of Alton Road have an annual Memorial Day BBQ, with food, games, and plenty of neighborhood drama. The timeline of the story actually spans two years and includes three memorable Memorial Day gatherings. The protagonists, lawyer Alex Fox and her environmentally responsible daughter Lettie, voice their thoughts and propel the plot in alternating chapters, which lends a bit of a YA vibe to the story. All the characters are well-developed, with very distinctive personas, and mysteries about their pasts and current actions abound.
As in any good domestic drama, everyone has secrets, some dark, some innocent. While there are serious issues related to death and abuse, there is also a warm family vibe, especially with the Foxes.
I enjoyed the hip, modern storytelling style and Lettie’s fresh, witty observations. I recommend this novel for readers looking for an entertaining summer read, with some depth.

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for the ARC. This is my honest review.