Thank you to NetGalley for the opportunity to read the ARC of One Big Happy Family. It was part locked-room murder mystery and part family drama, with a tiny bit of romance mixed in. I loved the setting of an old, eclectic hotel on the coast of Maine during a terrible storm.

Broken into four parts, the book read fairly quickly with a great cast of characters and a lot of twists, turns and family secrets revealed throughout. While I felt some of it was a bit far-fetched I still enjoyed it. The only part I really didn't like was toward the end when it felt like I was reading the narrative of a very long action scene in a movie. (I tend to get bored and distracted when these get drawn out too long.)

The ending held several surprises that I didn't see coming. Overall it was a good read. Nothing exceptionally memorable, but a fun read.

The Bishop sisters have come to claim The Precipice, their family owned hotel, but a huge storm is on the horizon. Each sister wants what they think is theirs but will all their hidden secrets get in the way. Charley has been working at the hotel and is worried that she might just lose her job. She has her own secrets and doesn't want them to be found out. Follow along and see just what and whose secrets come to light. Will everyone who.has checked in actually check out or will murder make its way into the hotel?

3 stars.

Charley, a young chambermaid, works at The Precipice, a family-owned motel in the coast of Maine, wanted by the three sisters who are set to inherit it. All three sisters are dangerous in their own way and Charley, desperate to provide for her grandmother , is caught in the middle. This book fell a bit short for me - while the premise was intriguing, and the sisters harboring secrets, I expected more excitement and yet it seemed like this book was entirely too long. Somewhat predictable, Charley and her efforts were not enough to get me entirely hooked.

Right away, I was hooked. I love a good "stuck in a house with a killer and have no contact to the outside world" vibe. It's a common psychological thriller trope but one I always enjoy.

One Big Happy Family takes place at The Precipice Hotel on the coast of Maine. An estranged family gathers together after the passing of their father. Gathered in the hotel are three rival sisters, a few other family members a guest hiding in the hotel from an abusive boyfriend and the maid, Charley. What could possibly go wrong when a storm blows in and no one can leave? Apparently...a lot.

There is a whole lot happening in a short time frame of this book. When the will is read, there are a lot of unhappy people and by the next morning, one of them is dead. Was it a heart attack or were they killed?

The story is fast paced and engaging. It held my attention fully. I thought the book had great character development for the main players. I had my own theories what was happening but really, it doesn't matter to me if they are right or wrong. I just want to read how this all plays out and wraps up.

This ending wasn't quite what I had in mind. While some was expected, some was just too over the top. Some things I chuckled at. Regardless, a quick read I flew through, entertaining and yeah, I would recommend it for sure!

I was excited for this book. I read The Block Party by this author and really enjoyed it. Unfortunately, I felt like this one missed the mark for me.

The book is split up into 4 parts. Part one was pretty tame and a little dull, but things got intense in part two and I was loving the story. Then part three went back to dull, and that really made the reading experience difficult. Part four has a good twist, but there was still something missing to make the story better.

I feel that the book should’ve focused a lot more on the Bishop sisters and less on Charley. As far as thriller MCs go, she wasn’t impressive. She was just sort of…there. I loved the nitty gritty of the Bishop sisters and would’ve loved a whole book from their POVs.

There was also a romance between Charley and Quinn that I found to be unnecessary and cheesy. The way Charley immediately fixated on him made me feel like she was 14 instead of an adult. I can be pretty tough about romances in thrillers though. In my opinion, it’s hard to make it work.

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press for my gifted copy!

One Big Happy Family was an entertaining one-room/one-house thriller. It was a slow burn, but with an impending hurricane and suspicious deaths, I was definitely turning pages quickly. Upon finishing, I don’t know that this thriller will stick with me because it felt similar to others I’ve read, but I’m interested in checking out Jamie Day’s backlist. Thanks for sharing the early copy with me!

I spent a lot of time trying to immerse myself in the world of this book. I expected family intrigue. And there was some. It was interrupted by a lot of ridiculousness. Gee, I think there is somewhere here killing people. But look how cute that guy is! Is my uniform making me look like a maid?
The main character worried about a lot of ridiculous things, which was weird when you consider the real problems she had to worry about. The three sisters at the center of it all had some backstory told but not enough to have gotten themselves into the position they are all in now. I found them all to be unlikeable and boring.

One Big Happy Family follows Charley, a 19 year old, who is running a hotel on the Maine Coast. Hurricane Larry is coming to town as well as the hotel's owner's three daughters to read the will of their father. However, things are not as they seem and with the whole family in town and there are a lot of skeletons in everyone's closet and they chose this weekend to come out.

I love a locked door mystery and give me all the family drama!

Thank you Jamie Day, St. Martin's Press, and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

"One Big Happy Family" by Jamie Day is a gripping novel about a 19 year old girl named Charley Kelley who works as a “chambermaid” at the Precipice Hotel in a touristy part of Maine. Charley, with a tough exterior, navigates her challenging life as she supports her grandmother with dementia by using her measly hotel earnings. Charley's financial struggles force her to occasionally steal small amounts of money from hotel guests, despite her guilt.

The hotel, owned by the now-deceased George Bishop, is set to be inherited by his children. Bishop's character is revealed as predatory, having taken advantage of his young maids in the past, including Charley.

As the story unfolds, Charley and her coworker prepare the hotel for the arrival of Bishop's children and an impending storm. During this time, Charley meets Bree, a girl escaping an abusive boyfriend named Jake, and reluctantly offers her refuge.

The arrival of the Bishop children, Iris, Faith, and Vicki, along with Bree’s presence and the approaching storm, set the stage for intense drama. Secrets come to light, and danger looms as the characters are confined together in the hotel. This locked-room type of thriller keeps readers on edge with its suspenseful plot twists and revelations.

"One Big Happy Family" is a compelling read that combines elements of mystery, drama, and survival. The dynamics between the characters and the high-stakes situations they face make this book an engaging page-turner. 3.5 stars rounded up! Thank you NetGalley and publishers for the advanced copy!

One Big Happy Family is the recent book from Jamie Day that evaluates how the sins of the past can impact the future , and how family is sometimes forged by those least expected. The story is set at the family owned hotel in Maine, the Precipice. The Bishop family is brought together after the death of their father during a hurricane to overview the will.

Like any thriller there are secrets that come to be revealed and not many of the family are happy with the results of the will. What happens next is the murders, mayhem, and of course the hurricane.

Charley is a maid that has been living and working in the Precipice and as the family starts to gather she begins to question a lot about what she knew about the Bishop family. It doesn't help that she is keeping a stranger at the hotel to hide out from an abusive boyfriend, or that Charley is suddenly drawn into the family affairs.

The story focuses primarily on Charley and her interactions with the Bishop family yet as the story develops the reader learns more about Vicki, Faith, and Iris. None of the family is perfect and all of them have their secrets and burdens. The family is downright toxic and many of them are insane. However, one major secret is what binds the sisters together to this day. Still there are other secrets that could easily break the family apart even more.

I can say that One Big Happy Family does drag a bit and some of the twists came somewhat expected... at least for me. By the build up of the storm I had pretty much figured out many of the plot twists.

Still it wasn't a horrible read and for a summer suspense I enjoyed it. If you are a fan of lock in thrillers with family toxicity then you may want to pick this one up. Until next time, happy reading!

One Big Happy Family by Jamie Day

Thank you to @stmartinspress for the opportunity to read this #advancedreadercopy in exchange for my #honestbookreview! All thoughts are my own and One Big Happy Family is available now.

We love a book with a main character named Bree/Brie! This took me a couple of tries to get into but once I did I really enjoyed it. This was a thrill a minute and very twisty. There was enough POV and timeline shift to give background without being chaotic. If you like investigative maids, dysfunctional families, and locked door thrillers, this is for you!

TWs: infidelity, g*slighting, pois*ning, fr*ming, loss of a loved one, more

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ - 4/5

Unfortunately this was just not entertaining to me. Around 68% I just knew this was not going to get better for me. The only interesting part of this story was part 2 when we got a chance to know the back story of the sisters. I could have read a story about them and their scandals. I did not like our main pov/mc, nor any of the characters. No one was likeable or relatable.

I love big families - I come from a big family and have a big family but the Bishops, the family at the center of this book are something else. Three sisters bound not by a sisterly bond but by a horrendous shared secret that they have sworn to keep while still fighting each other wherever they can. The three of them come together with their respective families and their late father’s attorney to their family’s Precipice hotel on the Maine coastline for the reading of their father’s will. Right from the get go nothing is as it seems and everybody is keeping secrets, the maid is stealing, the cook is harboring major grievances, there is a stowaway whom nobody is supposed to know about and a major storm approaching the coastline. Soon there is a body and a locked room mystery since communication and access to the outside world is cut off. There is tension, twists and turns, there’s drama and heartache and I enjoyed this juicy dysfunctional family. As one of the sisters states in the book this family put the fun in dysfunction.

It wasn’t bad but I didn’t love it. It was a lot of characters and it felt like a game of clue mixed with Agatha Christie. It lost my attention at some point

I wanted to get sucked into this book, I really did. I liked the premise, I was rooting for the main character, but the rest of the characters were so over the top that I just couldn't sink in. Sorry to say, this was just not the book for me. I do think it would work for those who love a wealthy family dysfunction, close quarters / locked-in, mystery read.

Thanks to St. Martin's Press for an advanced copy of One Big Happy Family by Jamie Day.

I loved the coastal Maine setting of this family drama/thriller. This was such an atmospheric book which made for a fun setting for this locked-room thriller. I listened to the audio and overall it was an okay book - it wasn't super memorable to me.

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for my ARC in exchange for my honest review. This book was published July 16, 2024.

This is my second book by this author. It started off a bit slow and it felt too long at times but the last quarter was full of twists and turns. The three Bishop sisters gather at their father’s remote hotel to hear his will read. A solid thriller about a very dysfunctional family who all have secrets…

What a crazy, over-the-top, mystery-infused soap opera! There are plenty of complicated and interesting characters who are likable at some times and then detestable at others. And their backgrounds are all intertwined and secretly related more than most of them realize. It takes place at the Precipice Hotel in Jonesport, Maine and centers around the Bishop Family who owns the hotel. The patriarch, George Bishop, has just died. There is a lot of money to be inherited which brings out some wild antics as most everyone wants a piece of the estate. And as the story progresses, more and more truths come out. Despite some of the outrageous happenings, I really enjoyed this book with its shocking twists, abhorrent behaviors and quirky and immoral characters. Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the digital ARC.

I really enjoyed this story

The precipice is a legendary family owned hotel on the Rocky coast of Maine

With the recent passing of their father, the three bishop sisters, Iris, Vicky and Faith had come for the weekend to claim it

But with a hurricane looming and everyone having dangerous secrets, there’s murder in the air and not everyone who checks into the hotel will be checking out

This was a great and fun read.

Thank you to NetGalley and St Martins press for the eBook

This is a great summer read.

One Big Happy Family, The Bishop sisters come home with a closet full of skeletons. The scheming husband of one. the all natural wife of another, the teenage sons are all dragged along too. The setting and weather were well described and became their own characters.