Absolutely delightful! This is easily one of the most twisting (and twisted, in a good way) books I’ve read lately. Almost everyone in the neighborhood has something to hide. Sorting them out was so much fun! Though there are quite a few characters, keeping them straight was easy as they’re so well developed. Highly recommended! I enjoyed this book and am looking forward to future work by this author. I received a complimentary copy of this book and chose to write a voluntary, unbiased review.

The residents of the cul-de-sac Alton Road in Meadowbrook, Massachusetts are the people we want to be: better jobs, better houses, better cars, better looking. Better friendships – just look at those exclusive block parties and gatherings. They’re so close, know each other so well, pop in and out of each other’s home, care about their children. They are the envy, with maybe a little resentment thrown in, of Meadowbrook at large. Something to aspire to, because the people who are lucky enough to live on Alton Road have it made; they are living the good life. But are they?

Author Jamie Day ensures you won’t be able to put The Block Party down from the first page, when it’s reported on the Meadowbrook community Facebook page that there is a “police action” occurring at the annual Alton Road Memorial Day block party. Whoa, someone is dead. An accident? A fire? A drowning? No, wait, someone was murdered. But who? How? Why? Who did it? Has someone been arrested?

As the story works backwards from the murder – still leaving us in the dark about the identity of the victim and the perpetrator – we start to realize that maybe we don’t want to be one of those “lucky” Alton Road people after all. Instead of better everything, maybe it’s just more: more drinking, more lying, more cheating, more violence. More deadly secrets.

Day provides a thrilling, exciting, non-stop roller-coaster ride. By the time we’ve met everyone – the neighborhood organizer, the one everyone relies on and goes to, the new family, the widow, the family having problems, all the young people – anyone and everyone is a plausible potential victim or murder suspect. Lots of clues, lots of puzzle pieces to not quite put together, and an explosive ending that will amaze you. Thanks to St. Martin’s Press for providing an advance copy of The Block Party via NetGalley. It was a gripping read, impossible to put down with a well-crafted satisfying plot and ending. I voluntarily leave this review. All opinions are my own.

Pretty enjoyable debut from Jamie Day. A juicy, neighborhood thriller with "Desperate Housewives" feels. Perfect for a cool summer night on your deck or to devour while lounging on the beach. Lots of twists & turns that will have you guessing until the final pages!

This story is told in third person by Alex and in first person by her teenage daughter Lettie starting on Memorial Day present and going back a year to the block party last Memorial Day. It is interspersed with comments from an online neighborhood chat board regarding the events of the present Memorial Day block party.

It was filled with a variety of characters that you might find in a typical neighborhood. Along with standard neighborhood issues from Hoa problems to who’s sleeping with who, who’s an alcoholic, cheating, stalking, divorcing to whose kid is doing drugs or selling drugs, tattling on your kids or breaking up with your kid. Anything that can cause a scene at a neighborhood party. It’s all there. There’s something for everyone.

I enjoyed most of the characters and their back stories. Will I remember it next week? Maybe, maybe not. It was entertaining with several twists I saw coming, a couple that surprised me and a few inconsistent annoyances. (Seriously, did the school really need another student to ID the school vandal who scrawled graffiti identical to their supposedly offensive t-shirt that got them sent home? I worry about the quality of these children’s education) 😂

Recommended to readers who love neighborhood drama and gossip.

Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin’s Press for a copy provided for an honest review.

A character driven suspense narrated by Alex and her 17/18 year old daughter, Lettie, this novel lays bare all the secrets in a cul-de-sac neighborhood. From the very beginning one knows that someone(s) has died, then the novel reviews the previous year to lead up to the fatal events. I struggled with the first 30% of the book, but then the action ramped up and I began caring about what would happen and how the relationships would survive all the secrets detonating around them. Twisty and wild and perfect for reading at the pool

The Block Party was such a good book! While a bit of a slow unfolding of neighborhood drama, the book both starts and ends with a bang. Critical details are released chapter by chapter as I tried to figure out who committed the murder, and who the victim ultimately is, from a cast of characters that all have motives and enemies. I could picture this prestigious neighborhood block so clearly in my mind, and I enjoyed the narrators. This was a very fun read that I would highly recommend!

This is a delicious soap opera of a novel about a neighborhood street full of secrets. There is the sexy widow whose husband drowned under mysterious circumstances, a college dropout who knows his way all too well around a computer, and an alcoholic mom who just can't resist taking another drink, and that's just the tip of the iceberg. There isn't a person on this block who isn't keeping at least one juicy secret.

This book is an extremely fast-paced, exciting, and totally addictive read! Make sure you have plenty of time to read when you start it because once you pick it up, you will not be able to put it down again until you finish it. It's that addictive! If you like a story teeming with high drama and plenty of exciting twists and turns, this book is a great choice.

This was actually a really fun thriller. I enjoyed getting to know the neighborhood - although it was a little difficult at first to keep all the characters straight. I felt like some of the drama could be happening in my neighborhood - although hopefully not the murder! We didn't know who got murdered until the end of the book so it was really fun guessing about what happened and to who. This would make a great summer read.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an advanced copy. 4.5 rounded up.

Damaging Secrets, a desire for revenge, and dysfunctional people give rise to murder. The story is told mainly from Alex and her seventeen year old daughter Lettie’s point of view. Alex is the glue that keeps the neighbors together but spends too much time with her wine glass. Her daughter Lettie quickly learns that revenge is a two-edged sword. All the neighbors have a piece of the puzzle but it doesn’t all come together until a suspenseful end. I received a free copy of this ebook from the publisher through Netgalley. This is my honest and voluntarily given review. I really like seeing the story evolve and seeing how all the pieces come together. I will keep my eye out for more books by this author.

The Alton Road neighborhood is known in the surrounding areas for its wealth, arrogance, and the annual Memorial Day Block Party. This year, however, the block party takes a turn for the worse!

The Block Party is told from the perspectives of a mother, Alex, and her daughter, Lettie. It is quickly evident that everyone on Alton Road has secrets, ill intentions, and a taste for revenge. The main characters are determined to discover everyone’s hidden secrets.

I found this novel to quite interesting especially as it picked up pace in the last third of the story. The reveal of the characters’ motives, actions, and backgrounds was well done and I was eager to learn the conclusion of the story. I only had ish the beginning of the novel moved as a quicker pace.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the complimentary copy of this title in exchange for my honest review.

🌟Review: The Block Party by Jamie Day🌟

The Block Party is set in an affluential neighborhood that celebrates every Memorial Day by having a block party. They have known each other for the longest time and then enter a new family. The new neighbors have secrets, and this causes a major upheaval in the neighborhood. But are they the only one with secrets?

A domestic suspense, this novel is medium paced and kept my interest till the end. There are several characters and several storylines intersecting with each other. The end ties everything well. I am not sure if I have any favorite characters as such, but at the same time, I like jaded characters that this novel portrays.

There are a lot of issues that this book takes a dive into. Secrets have a nasty way of exploding and especially if everyone wants to know everyone's business.

Thank you St.Martin's Press and Netgalley, for this book.

CW: Grief, loss of children, Miscarriage, rape, domestic violence, addiction, me too movement, attempted suicide

The Block Party
By Jamie Day
First of all- I LOVE this cover!! It definitely drew me in and screams domestic summer drama. Thank you so very much to @stmartinspress and @netgalley for the gifted arcs and the chance to read an early copy of a 2023 summer blockbuster!!
Out TODAY- July 18, 2023
Synopsis-
This summer, meet your neighbors. The residents of the exclusive cul-de-sac on Alton Road are entangled in a web of secrets and scandal utterly unknown to the outside world, and even to each other. On the night of the annual Summer block party, the neighbors hear gunshots ring out.
Alternating between different points of view, we go back a year leading up to the block party and find out why a murder between neighbors becomes possible.
Everyone's secrets are laid bare and there are plenty of plots twists to keep the reader entertained.
I loved the idea of this book: upity suburban neighborhood, the annual Memorial Day cookout, secretive neighbors, a unexpected murder... a suspenseful who-dun-it!
Unfortunately it fell a little flat for me. I found the characters a bit dull, the pace of the story slow, and the mysteries just not that mysterious.
BUT i believe I'm in the minority, and I have seen lots of great reviews! Definitely give this one a try if you love domestic drama and summer thrillers!!

This book had me invested from the beginning and certainly kept me guessing. There's a lot going on at the Alton Road block party. Several characters and many interweaving plot points.

The POV switches between Alex, the organizer of the block party, and her daughter Lettie. It also starts off in the present at the block party, but then goes back to the events of the year leading up to it. With little snippets of the present mixed in.

Most of the characters were pretty unlikable, but I think that's what makes these types of domestic suspense thrillers so tantalizing. This one most definitely had me hooked all the way through.

I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are my own.

The Block Party tells the fascinating story of a picture perfect neighborhood that proves the adage that looks can be deceiving. Author Jamie Day tells her story from multiple points of view and her characters are very intriguing. Alex and her college bound daughter Lettie are at the core of the plot and they become involved in many surprising neighborhood conflicts. This novel is filled with entertaining twists and turns . The Block Party will definitely hold your attention and arouse your suspicions about your own neighbors !

I wanted to like this book as I love family drama. It was just too much for me. Too many characters with too many issues, none of which were developed enough to make them come off the page as someone about whom I cared. The Block Party focuses on a row of expensive homes in a tony suburban neighborhood. Interspersed in the story were internet posts about the neighbors written by others who lived in smaller homes. It was a little much, but that is what NextDoor is really like.

The list of characters and issues : There is a brooding teenager, a possibly abusive newcomer, his possibly abused wife and their bad-boy son, a couple of cheaters, a gun toting moron frat-bro husband, a widow on only fans whose rich husband fell off the side of a ship, a mean teen who is abusing drugs and sleeping with a married man, a few busybodies and a salesman selling pest services who is called Bug Man. Bug Man makes some of the rich people very angry and is purpose in the book???? I’m still shaking my head.

I rounded this review up!

How well do you think you know your neighbors? Probably not nearly as well as you think. That’s especially true of the people of Alton Road. You see everyone has secrets, but secrets don’t remain buried forever. The Block Party is a wickedly entertaining domestic thriller that hooked me from start to finish. This will make a great summer beach read. Thanks to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for access to an eARC of Jamie Day’s The Block Party.

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-block-party-jamie-day/1141976615?ean=9781250283191&bvnotificationId=4628f84d-25f1-11ee-a167-12d9c98a7193&bvmessageType=REVIEW_APPROVED&bvrecipientDomain=gmail.com#review/253323865

See, this is why I don’t go out.

Thriller, domestic suspense, dual timelines. This cul de sac pretty much has it in for everyone but it dragged on a little for me. I had a tough time with Lettie, the high schooler and even tougher time with her Mom Alex, slowly succumbing to her alcoholism. And throw in a murder for good measure.

Block Party is a solid domestic drama debut from Jamie Day - and it is definitely a good pick for a summer read!

The upscale homes on Alton Road look perfect from the outside - but inside, each family hides secrets and lies that will impact the entire neighborhood… eventually resulting in a murder at the annual neighborhood block party. The book chronicles the events of the year leading up to the murder, and is told from the perspective of Alex (3rd person POV) and her daughter Lettie (1st person POV) as they slowly begin to unravel the secrets that their neighbors are keeping - while trying to keep their own hidden.

This book started off very slowly for me - I actually put it down and returned to it a few weeks later. But once I hit the 40% mark, I felt really invested in the characters and I couldn’t wait to find out what happened to them. This is more of a character-driven drama than a thriller, so there weren’t really any twists but there were definitely certain elements of the plot that I didn’t guess while reading them. It was really unique how the book was told from both an adult and a YA perspective - it took a bit to get used to the switch in POV but I ended up really liking it.

My favorite element of the book was the super fun commentary provided by glimpses of the town Facebook group/message board - it made me laugh because the posts were exactly what I feel like I experience in my own town’s page on a regular basis!

Thank you to St. Martin's Press for the ARC!

You know that book about the close neighborhood where everyone is besties with everyone around them even though they have so many secrets they barely know each other. Sure. You know it. Their kids are weirdly all connected even though they don’t like each other much. Their all sterotypes like the end of The Breakfast Club. And one of the moms general drinks wine like a marathon runner drinking water. You know it. This is it. Again.

There are no likeable characters here. The story is OK. There are some final scenes that bring the whole story together. It’s light summer murder reading. Which is so weird to say. But you’ve read this book. You know.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/ 5 Stars

Happy Pub Date to Jamie Day and The Block Party! Thank you to St, Martin’s Press, NetGalley, and Jamie Day for allowing me to read an ARC (Advanced Reader Copy) for an honest review!

I’ve been looking for a good thriller that keeps me both engaged and guessing until the very end. And boy, did Jamie Day deliver by providing me with the debut novel I didn’t know I needed! I suggest reading this book soon because I have no doubt that it will be picked up and made into a series. You’ll want to be ahead of the producers. Plus, we all know that the book is better than the show/movie!

I’m so thankful 🤗 that I was able to complete this book 📖 as a Buddy Read with friend, Raven, who was also approved for this ARC.

The Alton Road annual Memorial Day Block Party started with a bang 💥….two to be exact. Neighbors from nearby streets immediately hop on the neighborhood’s electronic distribution list and start asking questions and making assumptions. Cops 👮‍♀️ arrive to manage the crime scene and begin investigations. The storyline travels back in time and brings you to modern day so that you can help determine “whodunnit” and why.

Day’s writing is superb and character development is on point. She has you believing that every neighbor on Alton Road knows something about one neighbor while having it out for another. She keeps you guessing all throughout. The women in the book are flawed but genuine and strong. They are simply humans struggling with their emotions, justice, and their conscience. Will the neighbors of Alton Road make it out alive? That’s for me to know and you to find out!

Themes:
🍷 Dependency on alcohol
🔍 Stalking
⚠️ Sexual Assault and Misconduct
💔 Broken Relationships
😈 Revenge Plots
💰 Blackmail
🤫 Secrets
💊 Mental Health
🧬 DNA Results
🦂 Betrayal
💭 Multiple POV