Well, this certainly wasn't short on the drama. The story is told from the perspectives of Alex and Lettie, a mother and daughter. Alex telling us all the drama happening with the adults and Lettie bringing us into the teen drama. I can honestly say I had no idea how this story was going to turn out. It kept me guessing until the very end. I liked all of the backstories and getting to know all of the characters through Alex and Lettie's eyes. I also enjoyed the small little blips of "social media" gossip, which, if you've ever been in a small town or neighborhood's Facebook group, then you know what I'm talking about LOL.

The narration was fantastic! Both ladies kept the story exciting and set a good pace for all the action. I also wanted to point out it looks like this is a debut novel by Jamie Day and if so, it was SO good! I expect big things in the future.

If you want a fun, whodunit, drama filled thriller, check this one out. Thank you to Jamie Day, NetGalley, and MacMillan Audio for allowing me to listen and review!

2.5 stars
[Warning: Contains a spoiler at the end]
This type of thriller just isn't for me. I'm finding that revenge-plot thrillers often leave me with extreme dislike of the main characters. This book also had me very confused between the large cast of characters and what all of their issues were. I had to keep stopping to ask myself, "Wait, is she the one with the dead husband? Or is she the one in the unhappy marriage?" So many unhappy marriages! The writing did keep me interested enough to see where this was all going, even with all of the "oh, come on! Nobody would do that!" moments. This also felt like a young adult novel was shoe-horned into an adult thriller. I didn't mind that so much, but the narration switch between the general narrator (mostly Alex's perspective) and Lettie's first person chapters seemed clunky.
I'm giving this one an extra .5 star because there were moments when I did feel engaged with the characters, however unlikable most of them were.
Thank you, Netgalley for the digital audio ARC.
One more note (Spoiler alert!):
I have a complete distrust of thrillers that include the constant mention of a family pet. The possibility of having something bad happen to an animal in a book for a plot device is a deal-breaker for me. I get anxious whenever a pet appears in a scene and this book had the poor dog throughout the book. I'm happy to report that nothing terrible happens to the dog.

I was not crazy about this book nor the style it is written in. The Block Pary is a domestic thriller about a murder doing a block party, except the murder does not happen quickly. It takes the majority of the book until we deal with a murder. The only death we are told about early in the story, is the death of Brooke's husband. Most of the story is told through the narrator, Alex and her daughter Lettie. Alex is a nosy neighbor with way too much time on her hands that she goes around judging and gossiping about her neighbors while drinking. She is the neighborhood drunk, and her daughter is the political environmentalist. She is a bit annoying in the beginning but becomes one of the better parts of the story.

The problem is there are multiple characters without much development. None of these characters have any life. Maybe if the author had given some of these characters a voice, perhaps it would have bought more life to them. We also hear from residents of the community sharing their perspectives through a Facebook community forum which I hated! It was all just a disjointed bunch of noise; it didn't really add much value and personally I felt was better without it. I think the reader is smart enough to guess that perhaps Jay could be a drug dealer without the inferences from the voices of the Facebook community.
This book is long to say that nothing ever happens. Just your mundane characters with long overdrawn scenes. I kept waiting for something to happen after being 70% in the book, but no, you must keep reading! Well at least the stalker is discovered by then. This book is not my cup of tea, but so many people here have enjoyed it and I am sure it will be the cup of tea for someone else.

I absolutely loved the Block Party! This book has it all and there were so many twists I didn't expect. If your looking for a book with family drama, gossip, and murder, definitely check this one out!

I loved that it was told from multiple view points and went back and forth between present and past. Little by little the story unfolds and you start to learn all the secrets the people living on Alton Road are keeping! From the first chapter, I was hooked! I didn't want to stop listening!

The narrator of the audio book did a great job and I really enjoyed listening to it. At first it was difficult to remember who was who as there are several characters, but after a few chapters I was able to keep the families and characters straight.

Before reading I recommend looking up trigger warnings as there are several potential triggers.

Thank you to Macmillan Audio and Netgalley for letting me listen to The Block Party in exchange for an honest review!

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.

Well, that was fun! Told from the alternating voices of Alex and her daughter Lettie, this is a twisty tale. The Alton road cul de save reminds me of both Desperate housewives and Melrose Place where all the neighbors get involved in each others business. We get to see Their annual Memorial Day block party over multiple years, and what a difference a year makes. A who dunnit from the first chapter, this was a very enjoyable listen as an audiobook with multiple voices for each character

Suburbia appears to be a community of secrets as Day's book masterfully illustrates.
Whenever a murder occurs, the excitement takes off but it takes a gifted author to keep that suspense in high gear. This is a fun read with some unpredictable twists that keep the story going and, then, accelerating even more.
The narrators were great and added that note of tension that made me even more jittery and on edge.

Alton Road is known for its manicured lawns, its illustrious homes, and its annual Memorial Day block party. To the passing motorist, Alton Road and its residents embody a suburban dream, yet mediator Alex and her daughter Lettie know sometimes gleaming facades hide dark secrets. After all, Alex is an alcoholic, Lettie is an outcast, and one of their neighbors is a murderer.

The Block Party is a juicy suburban mystery, perfect for fans of Big Little Lies. Our story begins present day at the annual Memorial Day block party where someone has been murdered, but who is the victim? And who has the motive to kill? Rewinding exactly one year, the story takes off, carefully dropping little nuggets of information for the reader to piece together before reaching its dramatic conclusion. This is a fun read and while the pacing did drag in certain places, there was enough tension and drama to keep the pages turning and it did not affect my enjoyment of the book. If you are craving something in the veins of Desperate Housewives, add this book to your summer reading!

*Review has also been submitted to Amazon and Barnes and Noble, pending approval from both sites.
**I received an audio copy of this book via Netgalley, St. Martin’s Press, and Macmillan Audio. The views established in this review are my own.

Although it took some time for me to get into this book and learn all of the characters, it gradually pulled me in as it went along until I was completely hooked at about the midway point. There were many twists that kept my head swiveling back and forth.

Lies, secrets and cover ups were all part of the plot in this neighbourhood mystery thriller. Someone has died during the annual block party. But who? How? And why? The story goes back in time to a year ago, at the Memorial Day block party event when the newest additions to the neighbourhood are meeting the neighbours. When Emily catches her husband in a puzzling encounter with one of the newcomers, Mandy, this sets off alarm bells and leads her sister Alex to investigate further. The more she learns, the less she understands what is going on with these new neighbours. As things heat up, Alex will also discover things about her friends, family and herself. There is also a plot arc involving Lettie, her 17 year old daughter, and her plot for revenge against her former best friend. The story alternates between Alex and Lettie's perspectives.

This was a fun read full of neighbourhood drama and suspicions. I was given both an ebook and audio copy. The audio performance was dually narrated and both were upbeat and engaging. Voices were well matched to the characters.

A gracious thank you to #NetGalley, and #MacMillanAudio.

The Block Party by Jamie Day
Mystery suspense, dual timeline. Multiple POV’s.
There is a murder at the annual Alton Road summer party. Only the residents of the exclusive cul-de-sac are invited and neighbors outside the block want to know what happened and why. Going back one year, we meet the residents and gradually learn about their lives and more, their secrets.

🎧 I alternated between an ebook and an audiobook. The audiobook is narrated by Megan Tusing and Suzy Jackson. The performances of both were great with distinct voices for different characters. The emotional suspense came through clearly. The downside of the audiobook is the switch from present to past continuity so the reader / listener needs to pay attention to the time frame as well as the large cast of neighbors.
I listened to the audiobook at a speed of 1.5 which is my preferred setting.

Secrets are reveled slowly as the prior year connections are revealed. Most of the tension and suspense is in the last 20% of the story. For me the hard part was tying everyone together and keeping straight the mental and physical issues of the past and how they tied to the present. A complicated twist but I’m satisfied with the results in the end.

I received a copy of this from NetGalley and the publisher, Macmillan Audio.

PUB DAY BOOK REVIEW: The Block Party by Jamie Day ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Audiobook Narration by Megan Tusing and Suzy Jackson-- loved having different voices for the two povs. Thought they both did a really great narration.

Book Moods: neighborhood drama, "keeping up with the Jones", block parties, family secrets, murder, gossip

HAPPY PUB DAY!! I really liked this drama filled neighbor gossip mystery. The different POVs between the teenagers and parents were so fun. There are so many twists and turns and a murder to be solved. One of my favorite parts was the online social media narrative. Will next year's block party be just as good as last? Or will everything have changed??

Thank you @netgalley and @macmillan.audio for this advanced listen! ❤️

#happypubday #newthriller #mustread #mustreadbook #mustlistenbook #blockparty

Happy Publication Day to Jamie Day for The Block Party! You know I can’t resist a juicy neighborhood drama—especially when lawn chairs, fireworks, hot dogs, ice cream, rosé, and kiddie pools are involved. Oh, and also murder!!! We all know that you can never ever completely know your neighbors, or exactly what’s going on behind closed doors, and this novel highlights that perfectly. Overall, this was an entertaining domestic thriller with a great pace, a dynamic mix of characters, and full of secrets, lies, betrayal, revenge, and twists galore! It’s definitely an exciting summer thriller that you can easily devour on the beach or poolside. The Block Party is out TODAY! I give it 4/5 stars!

I really enjoyed this domestic drama that had a Teal Housewives feel to it. There was a LOT of drama in the neighborhood and half these people were straight up nuts but it contributed to my overall enjoyment of the story. I liked the way Alex’s story was written to show her losing it a little more as it goes on. I liked the Big Little Lies feel of the neighborhood online forum. In the audio version, I did not enjoy Lettie’s parts as I felt she was over the top in so many aspects. I think maybe if I had been reading as opposed to listening it wouldn’t have been so bad.

Thank you to NetGalley, St. Martin’s Press and Macmillan Audio for my copies of this domestic drama available on 7/18!

Unfortunately this book was a big miss for me. It was way too slow moving, plus I honestly didn't enjoy or find any entertainment in any of the characters.

I love a good neighbor drama ala Desperate Housewives and this one delivered!

We start with the annual Memorial Day block party. There has been an "incident" but we aren't privy. Then we flash back to last year's party and it leads us to now.

Every person in the hood has secrets, from the adults to the teens and everything in between.
And the secrets overlap! Lots of bad behavior among this crowd.

This book had drama, suspense and plenty of surprises! You feel like you are there witnessing it all!

I had both the ARC and ALC and switched between. I found both to be well done. Many thanks to Netgalley, MacMillan Audio and St. Martin's Press for my advance copies in exchange for an honest review!

I was really impressed with this debut by Jamie Day. Set at a block party on Memorial Day, the Block Party is a dual timeline, dual point of view thriller that kept me guessing the entire time. What was so unique about this book was that not only do we not know who the killer is, but we also don’t know who was killed. I loved trying to figure it out while reading.

For this story, I was glad that the author chose to only have two narrators because there were a lot of characters to keep track of. Alex and Lettie are mother and daughter, and we get to find out what happened by having them flashback to the previous year’s block party and learn about their neighbors. I was able to listen along while reading this book, and I thought narrators Megan Tusing and Suzy Jackson did a fantastic job of bringing this story to life.

If you love a good thriller with some neighborhood drama thrown in, then this is the book for you. I loved the pacing and the writing style, however I did think there were a few too many characters to keep track of. At times I would ask myself, “who’s that?” even though they’d been mentioned before.

Thank you St. Martin’s Press, Macmillan Audio, and NetGalley for advanced copies in exchange for my honest review.

“This summer, meet your neighbors”

Even wonder how a block party goes down on an exclusive cul-de-sac full of secrets? A neighborhood Facebook group sure does 🤪

Spend a year leading up to the fateful summer night with Alex and her daughter, Lettie. Did I have a love-hate relationship with some of the characters and want to slap some sense into them? Yes. But did that add to the hoity toity character building? Also, yes.

If you’re a thriller/mystery reader looking for a summer read that isn’t your typical rom-com, here it is!!

First off, Suzy Jackson should be the go-to narrator of choice for female YA/NA characters! ❤️ Kudos to Megan Tusing as well. I enjoyed this listen! 🎧
As for the book itself, it was a wonderful summer read. The release date was very well timed! So many people dealing with that neighborhood summer BBQ party vibe right now! 😬 There was some back and forth with the POV shifts but it was easy enough to follow. I listened to this book in one day and was riveted from start to finish!

*Thanks to NetGalley, St Martin’s Press (ebook) & MacMillan Audio for the advance copies for review.

There’s nothing I love more than rich people drama and this book was full of it!! I wouldn’t say it was quite a thriller but definitely a gossipy mystery with plenty of twists. The audio was great too since there were so many characters and having different voices helped keep them straight.

Hanging out with neighbors, eating great food, drinks, kids playing. What more could you ask for at an annual block party. Nothing until someone gets murdered. Who did it? There are several characters in this story and is told from the point of view of a mother and daughter. The narrators did a great job with this audiobook. Thank you to NetGalley, MacMillan Audio for the ARC. #netgalley, #theblockparty, #macmillanaudio, #neighbors