Meddling, rich, messy housewives? Sign me up. I typically love a domestic drama, but this one left something to be desired.

The story is told from the perspectives of Alex and her daughter, Lettie. Both characters were so unlikable with seemingly no redeeming qualities. Alex is a loose-lipped, alcoholic mother and wife that will spill her friends’ confidential information to anyone with ears. Lettie is an angsty, tree-hugging, spoiled rotten teenager that thinks the world revolves around her. I thought Lettie and Jay’s relationship was bizarre, considering the theme of inappropriate relationships. The Friendsgiving chapter was also insane — who unloads all their personal and marital issues to their neighbors like that? However if I’m being honest, I did love all the drama.

I have to rate this 3/5. The storyline was complex, it all wrapped up nicely at the end, and it was well-written. I just wish it was told from the perspective of better characters. The only characters I liked were Brooke and Zoey the dog. If I took anything from this book, it was the importance of minding my own damn business!

Thank you to Netgalley and Macmillan Audio for the advanced reading copy!

I love an exclusive neighborhood drama and this one was so entertaining. The narration alternates between a mother and her daughter and both narrators did an excellent job bringing the tension and emotion. At first this seems like a straight forward story; marital problems, teenager problems, but there were many twists and the way the story takes you certain ways to hide others was so well done. A slow burn start that really ratchets up and two narrators that could be unreliable make it a quick read overall. I also appreciated that though the characters are clearly affluent, they are not overdone or over the top characters that make it hard to read about. A great summer read for thrills!

The Block Party
by Jamie Day
Narrated by Megan Tusing; Suzy Jackson
Pub Date 18 Jul 2023
Macmillan Audio
St Martin’s Press


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, 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.

A block party is meant to be a joyous occasion, filled with laughter, music, and community spirit but a murder tends to damper festivities.

The events leading up to the Alton Road block party are told from the perspectives of Alex - a divorce mediator who uses alcohol to cope with all the things - And her daughter Lettie - a gen Z environmental advocate wanting to change the world while also taking a little revenge on a childhood bully. As the story is told from a rather inebriated Alex and naive Lettie - I was never sure what to believe. The dual point of view weaves together various partial facts and half truths that eventually reveal secrets, desires, and wrongdoings.

The writing mixes drama and dark humor that keeps the reader engaged throughout.
I laughed out loud at the facebook banter from the nearby neighborhood groups and would have enjoyed reading a bit more from the perspective of outsiders looking in.

If you like to read stories about rivalries and betrayals that are glamoured over by neighborly friendships, then you will love The Block Party.

#theblockparty #blockparty #community #neighborhoodbarbecue #summerpicnic
#netgalley #summerfun #summerread #culdesac

A truly wonderful book told through multiple view points. I really enjoyed the characters and the twists and turns that the story took. Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for my complimentary copy!

The Block Party is a suspenseful who-done-it AND who-died story. The commentary on society via the bougie Aldon Lane community is a welcome addition to the story. Wealthy suburbanites gather for an annual Memorial Day block party and the story moves forward and backward in time to give background and clues to what happened. The story definitely kept me intrigued and made a great audiobook. The narration isn't my favorite, but it was good.

Story- 5 stars
Narration- 4 stars

Thank you #StMartinsPress and #NetGalley for the ARC of the audiobook

This super twisty book is a perfect summer read, especially because it takes place over the Memorial Day holiday. This neighborhood has secrets, and the double-blind format (who was killed and who did the killing) kept me guessing over the course of the novel. I loved the format with chapters interspersed with dialog from the online neighborhood forum, which gave some outside perspective and also a bit of comedic relief.

The Block Party by Jamie Day is the ultimate summer "who did it" read. What I love about this book is there is a variety of characters and storylines to follow. It is tied together perfect making the storyline seamless. I loved how each characters personal story played into the main plot making for a shocking reveal when you find out what really happens at the block party. Overall this book was interesting, relevant to current times, and lead you along a journey of playing detective. Narration for this book was great as it really helps you attach to each character. Overall a fantastic summer read!

What a wild ride this book was! I will say this one started off a little bit confusing with all of the different characters. A lot was thrown at me at once and I found it hard to keep everyone straight. However, once I got a good handle on who was who I started really getting interested in their storylines and what would happen next. There are so many details but they all come together in the end for a huge plot twist. I did unfortunately guess the big twist pretty early on but still appreciated the ending. Overall I enjoyed this one!

As we approach many annual 4th of July gatherings, remember people only present what they want you to see.

The residents of Alton road live on the cul-de-sac everyone whispers about whether in jealousy or scorn in person and online. On the night of their annual summer block party the whispers roar as nearby neighbors hear gun shots.

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.

The Block Party is full of drama and deceit with a few storylines that pull at the heartstrings. This beach read is pure escapism.

Thank you to NetGalley, Macmillan Audio, and of course the author Jamie Day for the advanced copy of the audiobook. The Block Party is out on July 18th. All opinions are my own.

This was one of my most anticipated reads of the summer and while I enjoyed it, it fell a little flat.

I'm a sucker for a neighborhood drama - give me all the moms drinking too much wine, the misbehaving and bratty children, and the philandering husbands. And while The Block Party had all of this - and more - it had almost too much. There was SO much going on.

We had narrators from several families, of all ages, and with all backgrounds. There were about 9 subplots going on and while everything eventually tied together nicely, getting there took some work and it was occasionally difficult to keep everyone and everything straight.

I probably could have done without most of the teenagers' storylines and had more focus on the female protagonists. At first I was invested in Lettie's plot, but it ended up taking up more of the story than I needed and I started to lose interest.

I listened to The Block Party on audio and it was pretty good. Multiple narrators were used which I always appreciate but none of them were particularly stand out.

All in all, I enjoyed The Block Party but it's not one that will really stick with me. It's a fairly quick and certainly entertaining read and would definitely be perfect by the beach with a fun cocktail.

Thank you to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for the copy.

A must listen to!! Well written and entertaining. I started on the commute home and found myself listening whenever I had a spare moment. It was so gripping. You will not regret listening to this one.

How well do you know your neighbors? The Block Party is a summer drama exploring the threads of secrets among neighbors and how they become tangled.
Unfolding over Memorial Days during Alton Road’s annual Block Party, the community learns there’s been a murder. Going back one year, the characters’ lives, betrayals, secrets and more are unveiled, primarily through dual POVs from a mother and her teenage daughter. This story keeps you guessing who the victim and suspects are until the very end.
I appreciated the ongoing mystery of this novel but found just a few too many storylines where it made it hard to follow overall. Narrators for the audiobook were great and dynamic with each perspective. Thank you to Macmillan Audio and St. Martin’s Press for the ARC in exchange for my honest opinion. You can check this out starting 7/18.

I appreciated the clean language of this book, except for the use of Jesus' name. I thought I was going to read about a neighborhood mystery, but it just never got there. Almost 20 chapters in and I had to continually remind myself that they're going to try to solve a murder here any minute.
So many characters introduced so early on in the story and without defining memorable traits make this book hard to follow.

The neighbors on Alton Road have a yearly block party on Memorial Day Weekend, and this year, someone is dead. Through flashbacks of the previous year, readers learn what lead up to the events of the block party and who is dead. The main characters, and narrators, are Alex, a divorce mediator who loves her wine a little too much, and her daughter Lettie, a high school senior seeking revenge on her former best friend who ratted out her out as the vandal who protested the dress code. The chapters alternate perspectives between the two, and readers get to see their relationships with all of the neighbors including some newcomers and their college- aged son, Alex’s sister and her family, Lettie’s best friend and her parents, and a sexy widow with an Only Fans account. This tale of neighborly gossip, betrayal, and revenge will keep readers guessing until the very end. Who is dead, and which neighbors have motive to kill?

The two narrators of this audiobook are great. Having two narrators helps differentiate between the perspectives, and their delivery of the sinister happenings on Alton Road add to the unsettling atmosphere.

I love juicy neighborhood secrets and drama and this book doesn't disappoint! It jumps back and forth between past and present Memorial Day as we try to figure out what's going on with the new couple on the street, along with other developing drama that slowly unfolds. We soon learn everyone has their secrets. I enjoyed both Alex and Letty's POVs and both narrators brought them to life. A fun twisty story that sucked me in from the beginning!

Fun domestic drama of the juiciest sort.

I'm always here for the wild neighborhood stories, I really enjoyed this one. I alternated between the audiobook and the print copy for this one. Most of the book is great on audio, the narrators for Alex and Lettie, Megan Tusing and Suzy Jackson, do a fantastic job giving those characters voice. The neighborhood Facebook-esque group posts though, are great in print and don't translate well to audio. There aren't a ton of them, so it's easy to get through them quickly.

The book opens with a neighborhood's annual Memorial Day block party, in which something major has occurred but we don't know what. We then flash back and forth throughout the book with the previous year's block party and everything that led up to the events of the present day.

Everyone here has secrets and issues. Alex and her husband and the other couples in the neighborhood have them. Lettie and her friends in high school have them. The two groups overlap as well, in the most shocking of ways. The book is filled with suspense, a plethora of drama, and a lot of people behaving very, very badly. You just won't be able to look away!

Yes, there are a lot of characters. It can get confusing, but the audiobook helped me to keep them straight because many of them were voiced differently. I just found this to be a highly addictive family drama.

One word of warning, if you have triggers you might want to steer clear. There are SO many I think the only thing that didn't occur was animal harm. But if you like super juicy neighborhood stories, this one just might hit the spot this summer.

Black mail, revenge, secrets and lies! This neighborhood has it all!

Starts out with a block party (for the more expensive homes on the block) there is a noise and it looks like someone was killed.
We go back a year and learn all the characters and their secrets. They each have something to hide.

This books started out strong, I was hooked. I actually enjoyed the “neighborhood group posts” I thought they were funny. I felt Lettie was boring at times lecturing us on environmental issues every chapter, I know people are like that but it became annoying. But she definitely had a great storyline. There is a lot of neighborhood drama. Some of those parts dragged on. I fell everything came together in the end and it was a nice twist!
Trigger warnings: drug use/ overdose, suicidal tendencies, spousal abuse, and sexual assault.
Thank you NetGalley and McMillan Audio for an ARC audiobook in exchange for my honest review. I enjoyed the narrators for both Alex and Lettie. They did a great job.

Every year, the Alton Road neighborhood has a Memorial Day block party. Residents only, no outsiders. Those residing in other neighborhoods are scandalously fascinated when there is a murder at the annual party. Jaime Day, the author, takes us back through the past year in the cul-de-sac to shed light on the rivalries, misdeeds, and positive and negative interactions of the homeowners and their families.

Lettie, the teenager who wants to grow up quickly is an engaging character upon which the story hinges.

Recommended for those who enjoyed the book "What the Neighbors Saw" by Melissa Adelman.

Narrators Megan Tusing and Suzy Jackson make the book an enjoyable listen.

Initially this was captivating but things started to wane as I got half way through. I realized I just didn't connect to any of these characters. I was propelled to power through to see what actual happened.

✨Book Review: The Block Party✨

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

Alton Road is not your average neighborhood. It is full of many secrets that all come to light at the annual summer block party. The plot begins at the scene of the crime…someone has been murdered at the party! The rest of the book is told from the perspective of both Alex and Lettie, a mother/daughter duo who don’t always see eye to eye. Alex isn’t ready to accept she has a drinking problem and Lettie is focused on saving the world. The timeline also jumps between the present day Memorial Day and the Memorial Day one year prior. Throughout these plot lines, the reader must answer these questions.

Why is Jay ignoring Lettie?
Who is Riley’s biological father?
Who is Brooke’s stalker?
Who was murdered at the Block Party?

Usually, murder mysteries take place in the wintertime so it was fun reading a summer version of this genre! I also enjoyed chatting with @current_reads_with_cass after finishing! I’m always up for a book talk!

#theblockparty #jamieday #junereads #bookstgram #books #2023reads #bookrecs #readingchallenge #readinggoals #goodreadschallenge #booksofinstagram #alwaysreading #bookstagramchallenges #bookstagramer #instabooks