I enjoyed this book. A old hotel on the Maine coast where a young maid lives and works to support her Nana who is in a facility. The old owner dies and his 3 daughters come to the hotel to bury him and attend the reading of the will. At the same time a hurricane is bearing down on them and they are all trapped in the hotel.. As the bodies start to pile up old family secrets come to light. The mystery is solved in the end. Does Charley get her happy ending? You will need to read to find out.

Jamie Day is a new to me author! I have heard so many positive things about this and the Block Party. I was so excited to read this book! I chose to listen on audio and the narrator was well spoken and kept my attention for the duration of the book.

This book has a lot of characters and they are very intricately woven. Charley is a housekeeper at the Precipice Hotel in Maine. Her employer for a very long time passes away and his daughters return to the hotel. Charley is barely making ends meet trying to pay for her grandmothers retirement, she is afraid that she will lose her job. In the middle of a hurricane, the family has arrived and the cook has quit. They are all locked in with each other to ride out the storm. The Bishop sisters are quirky and their family is too, they also all have secrets. I enjoyed slowly learning about their past and present stories. This family takes dysfunction to the next level!

The book is told from Charlie, the Bishop Sister’s and others perspectives alternating between the past and present. I really enjoyed untangling this web of deception, lies, tragedies and secrets! Some parts of the story seemed irrelevant and drug on. This was a perfect summer audio book to enjoy by the beach and after a long vacation day!

I struggled to think where I wanted to rate this one. On one hand it is twisty and kept my attention (mostly), on the other hand sometimes I just found myself shaking my head so hard. Who would do or say these things? BUT that said, it is fiction and if you can suspend your disbelief it could be really enjoyable!

The characters are mostly so unlikable. Even our narrator, Charley, has her faults. This is all about each character's secrets and there are definitely enough secrets to go around! So many twists! Some were easier to figure out early on than others. A couple times my jaw dropped.

Overall, this was a quick and entertaining read.

<b>TW/CW:Language, drug addiction, sexual abuse, domestic abuse, drug overdose, death of parent, dementia, classism, eating disorder, bullying, family drama, toxic family relationships, abusive relationships, drinking, smoking, cheating, depression, anxiety, infertility, death by suicide, cancer, physical abuse </b>

<b><big>*****SPOILERS*****</b></big>
<b>About the book:</b>
The Precipice is a legendary, family-owned hotel on the rocky coast of Maine. With the recent passing of their father, the Bishop sisters—Iris, Vicki, and Faith—have come for the weekend to claim it. But with a hurricane looming and each of the Bishop sisters harboring dangerous secrets, there's murder in the air—and not everyone who checks into the Precipice will be checking out.

Each sister wants what is rightfully hers, and in the mix is the Precipe's nineteen-year-old chambermaid Charley Kelley: smart, resilient, older than her years, and in desperate straits.

The arrival of the Bishop sisters could spell disaster for Charley. Will they close the hotel? Fire her? Discover her habit of pilfering from guests? Or even worse, learn that she's using a guest room to hide a woman on the run.
<b>Release Date:</b> July 16th, 2024
<b>Genre:</b> Thriller
<b>Pages:</b> 368
<b>Rating:</b> ⭐

<b>What I Liked:</b>
1. Writing was good
2. Love the plot of a cut off hotel from society during a storm

<b>What I Didn't Like:</b>
1. Felt slow
2. Predictable
3. Boring boring boring
4. Basic thriller
5. Unnecessary romance
6. The rhyming 14 year old

<b>Overall Thoughts:</b>
<b><i><small>{{Disclaimer: I write my review as I read}}</small></i></b>

Seriously I would not trust Janice. Why wouldn't she tell Charley about Medicare. Or get her on Medicaid some kind of financial aid so that she isn't paying this rent on her own and they could help. Maybe it doesn't exist in this world.

I don't know how the guests wouldn't know it was the maid stealing from them. No one has complained in the years she's worked there about missing money?

Honestly I'm just really annoyed at how much she complains about being a maid. She acts like it's the hardest job and yes there are hard days (I was also a maid at a hotel so I know that some days are hard), but she makes out like she never gets days off and she never gets time to herself. We are in the middle of the storm and she's even complaining about no guests so you go from her complaining about too much work to not enough.

Her stealing from guests and I'm over here wondering why she doesn't get a second job at night. She could pick up a second part time job and that would help a lot rather than banking on people having cash and losing her job. Maids usually work 8am to 4/5pm, so she could get another job.

This random woman that she met at a location I can't remember and don't care to look up shows up at the hotel promising the she'll give her $1,000 if she will hide her for the week at the hotel. And I'm just like no that makes zero sense and you might get screwed over in this deal. You have no proof that this person is really even going to give you the money once the week is over. You have no idea how dangerous this boyfriend is of hers and you're putting yourself in the crosshairs of their fight. Charley asks her why doesn't she just call the police and she shows the text messages that Jake has sent her that are on the edge of threatening but not really and says that that's not enough for the place. And I mean that is true. But how does she have no one else to call to get home to even help her? Why wouldn't she go to the police sit with the police and call somebody to come and get her or someone to send her the money to go home. I don't know... Thrillers just make me even more suspicious but I just don't feel like I want to help people when they have this weird scenario happening.

Charley mentions a photo that's in the hallway of some of Georgia's favorite workers and she mentions that she was just very nicely next to a nice car but didn't know how she managed to have that much money on a maids pay. 100% says that this girl that showed up is George's daughter and she's here to contend the will. That the woman in the photo is her more that was;
• Paid to leave town when he assaulted her and she was pregnant

There were sometimes when George was described as an okay guy to he was sexually assaulting women. It was always switching by Charley

They act like this hotel is so tiny that they have no where to put Bree. It's 3 stories. I'd be putting this woman in the basement/attic if my job was at risk.

Of course Quinn is hot and Charley is all about that so hoping this doesn't turn into a romance.

Oh no I am so shocked that Todd was killed. Who could have seen that happening!?

Seriously now we are saying the kid is a psychic.

I don't like jumping back into the past. It feels like it slowed down the momentum of the book and the mystery. Now we are reading about the sisters as they have went their own ways. I loved the isolation but now it's just in the background of this story.

Todd sleeping with Faith before going out with Vicki. Ewww. Not sure how they never knew that Faith and Todd were living together.

I had a laugh because in this flashback of Todd they just paint him like this typical villain. Vicky is adopting Iris' son because she's went back to using drugs and is incapable of taking care of him. The whole time during the court thing Todd is mad because they're losing out on money for being foster parents.
<i><b>"So we lose the money from the state for being foster parents and get all the burden of Quinn’s ongoing expenses . Great deal, Vic! You really crushed this one.”</b></i>
Not happy about Vicki adopting Quinn when she says to Iris that she's now his mother and Iris will only be known as his aunt. Heartless.

Can't forget that Todd had competition removed from Faith's modeling career. And when Faith approaches him about it, that she had ended her life he says good riddance. But even Faith was questioning whether he had sexually assaulted that girl when he had drugged her so she'd miss her modeling appointment.

It's just crazy how many conversations Charley is privy to with this family. It seems like she's always just right where everything is happening. Whenever they're having heated conversations that pertain to family affairs there's Charley hanging out in the wings. I'm really trying to understand what Charley does if the whole time she's just standing with the family. Why would she have to sit here while they do a three card spread? It's just crazy. There's zero reason to have the maid there.

It also doesn't make any sense why would this family that Todd died hang around the house? I get that it's a hurricane but what is the point of hanging out the house? Just because the detective said to wait around which is silly it makes zero sense. Because one of them is still a murderer why would the police have them all still in the house in case someone else ends up getting killed?

Love that Charley is jealous of Bree and she's questioning whether Quinn is more attracted to her than Charley? There is a murderer on the loose someone was killed in this house and you're worried about Bree looking more attractive to another man. What are you doing?? Who would react like this? Does no one care about the safety of themselves?

I still think that it's Bree. She keeps planting people that they are the ones that would be guilty. Plus she had the motive to kill this person. Plus she's the witness who said she heard arguing and shuffle outside her room.

Cool cool we habe so much time in this book to stop what we are doing to look for a painting that was rumored to be worth thousands of dollars. But don't worry because Charley doesn't care that she might be hanging out with a murderer because he's hot. When you're hot you can't be the killer. Duh!

Oliver's stupid rhyming is interesting at first and then gets pretty annoying after a few pages. Oliver might be one of my top most annoying characters.

I skipped a little bit through the book I was so bored.

Oh look at that George is Bree's father//<b>shocked</b>//

So Bree managed to gain George's trust and hang out with him this whole time for like a month and no one saw them together? I just don't understand how that's possible no one in the hotel saw them. Bree also killed George. Christina got pregnant with George. And she knows that the sisters killed Samuel, who was going to be the best stepfather that Bree had. Not sure how she knew that just from her mother's words.

Are you kidding me? Quinn runs out there to go and get the painting from Bree. As though he did not just inherit $220,000. But he needs this painting he needs it back so badly. A painting he didn't even know about till a few days ago.

Omg Bree left the painting to Charley in the event that she didn't come out of this alive. She knew her like 3 days but she wrote this whole note to let Charley know how great she was.

I knew knew knew Janice was ripping off Charley. Seriously though how the hell wouldn't Charley know this fact. It's not like they just out you on Medicaid because you need it. You have to apply for it. Was Janice the one who put her grandma on medicaid? But then I feel like you have to prove who you are to that person you can't just say that they're living in your facility. She's not even the legal guardian of her. This just seems insane.

<b>Final Thoughts:</b>
Basic thriller with nothing thrilling that happens. Predictable with a capital P.

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<b><small>Thanks to Netgalley, St Martin's Press, and Macmillan Audio for this advanced copy of the book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

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

Give me all the domestic thrillers/family dramas please. Jamie Day has put together a twisty novel that I could not fully predict. Fun and bingeworthy.

If you're a locked-room mystery/thriller lover, run run run to grab Jamie Day's latest - One Big Happy Family.

Charlie works as a maid at a Maine hotel. The owners of the hotel are converging on the area for one weekend to discuss the will and testament of their father - George Bishop. George Bishop was a horrific human being and his three daughters - the Bishop sisters - aren't all that much better. To make the weekend just that much more entertaining, Hurricane Larry is rolling through and he's predicted to be a doozy.

Cue all your best elements of a locked-room thriller: trapped in a creepy hotel with a murderer, eerie clues about who might be next, countless secrets and terrible people, tons and tons of red herrings and layers of drama.

I listened to this novel on audio and enjoyed the narrator though I didn't think she was the best choice for Charlie. Her voice was more mature than I typically associate for a 19 year old so I often forgot how young Charlie was. She did add great elements of theater and drama to the tale though so I appreciated the entertainment value.

Overall, this was an entertaining read. Thank you to St. Martin's Press and MacMillan Audio for the copy.

Full disclosure: After reading The Block Party, I was convinced Jamie Day could write the phone book and it would still be enthralling, so I was incredibly excited to be able to read One Big Happy Family. Unsurprisingly, it was just as excellent as Day’s first book.

Charley is a chambermaid working and living at a New England hotel to try and scrape together the money to keep her beloved grandmother in a memory care home. After the death of the owner, his daughters and their families come to the hotel for the reading of the will. As it so happens, there is a hurricane that weekend, and not everybody gets out alive.

This book was so delightfully twisty and the characters were so nuanced and complex. I found the protagonist, Charley, especially well written. She acts her age (nineteen) and makes decisions based on the hand she is dealt. A lot of the decisions she makes would not be ones I would make now, but I could see myself making at nineteen. She has vulnerabilities and struggles with who she should trust. The other family members are equally fleshed out. Their motives, actions and decisions are all consistent with their characters.

The hotel itself is central to the story. Old, full of character, and nestled on a precipice, where it is exposed to the elements.

I completely recommend this book to anyone who likes family drama, suspense, and a good mystery.

This is the first book from this author that I have read. This book was a fast read mystery. The book was filled with enough suspense to keep the reader turning pages. This is a book which I would recommend to anyone who likes a good mystery.

It was such a ride! I loved the coastal Maine bed and breakfast, hurricane approaching, and dysfunctional family vibe. It was facepaced and kept me reading(listening) long into the night. A whodunit that did not disappoint! The audiobook version was fantastic. I loved the narrator and thought she brought the story to life. This was a must-read for sure, and I can't wait to read more from Jamie Day!

this book was fun! i didnt love it but i didnt hate it. i thought it was a little blah in some area, mostly the beginning. when it picked up, it got good! i definitely guess what was going on but i didnt mind because it was still a fun to see how crazy everyone got. i knew bree had something to do with it but wasnt sure how much, but i knew she was involved with the bishops. there were definitely some cliche tropes and i got kind of bored with those along the way. i didnt looooove any of the characters, i thought all the sisters were dumb but i'm glad they finally took some responsibility.

**3.5-stars rounded up**

One Big Happy Family is an entertaining Summer Thriller set in a small town, Jonesport, on the rocky coast of Maine. I adore that setting, so was sold on this one by that fact alone.

This novel is an inheritance story of sorts, with murder to boot. We're transported to The Precipice, a family-owned hotel, in Jonesport. The elder, George Bishop, has recently passed and his daughters, Iris, Vicki and Faith, are arriving for a weekend to hear his Will and claim what is now theirs. The three sisters bring with them a whole host of dangerous secrets, heavy baggage and more. Tensions are running high. It's not exactly a lovey-dovey family reunion.

Also in the mix, are a few employees of The Precipice, including 19-year old chambermaid, Charley, who desperately needs to hold on to her job.
This is the kind of book so full of drama that once you start, it's hard to stop. I found it to be incredibly fun with the toxic family relationships that I love to watch play out.

I was gnoshing my popcorn the whole way through!

The setting was fantastic, made better by the fact that a hurricane stranded the characters at The Precipice. I love inclement weather stories and I feel like Day absolutely nailed that vibe here. I actually listened to this audio while I was on vacation in Maine, so that's a bit fortuitous. In a way, that made it extra fun, but in another way, I actually think I may have enjoyed it more if I hadn't had vacation brain at the time.

I did find the narration by Saskia Maarleveld to be a perfect fit for the story. She def succeeded in bringing it to life. I highly recommend that format should it be available to you.

Overall, I was really impressed with this. I found it to be gripping, entertaining, fast-paced and dramatic. The setting and set-up were both fantastic. My only small gripe would be that I sometimes found it hard to distinguish between the sisters. With this being said, that could be 100% attributable to the aforementioned vacation brain. It's hard to tell. Either way, I am looking forward to more from this author.

Thank you to St. Martin's Press, and Macmillan Audio, for providing me with copies to read and review.
I think a lot of Readers are going to love this one!

This was a fun read with tons of family drama. I loved seeing the story unfold and find new motivations behind the various character’s actions. The ending was strong and I loved how everything was wrapped up.

Thanks, St. Martin's Press and Macmillan Audio, for the ebook and audiobook review copies via NetGalley. #macaudio2024

Three estranged sisters arrive at their family’s hotel on the Maine coast. True, there’s a hurricane bearing down on them, but their father just died, and they are desperate to hear the reading of his will. What turns into a locked-room mystery is told mainly (pun not intended, but hah) from the point of view of a 19-year-old naive chambermaid, Charley, who has a few secrets of her own.

I started this mystery-thriller as an audiobook, but it was such a slow build it couldn’t hold my interest (though the narrator, Saskia Maarleveld, is still one of my favorites). Luckily, I was able to pivot to the e-book for the remainder. I’m glad I did because once it got going, Oo-De-Lally! It was the murder mystery version of a food fight. Accusations, secrets, insults, bullets, knives…everything flew around this hurricane-isolated hotel. It was NUTS in the best possible way…for a while. Then it bogged down again with a backstory/reveal. Overall, this was entertaining.

My only pet peeve involves my northern Maine pride. The author refers to Jonestown (where the hotel is situated) as “Northern Maine,” and I must cry foul. If you can see the ocean, you’re in Southern or Coastal Maine. If you can see Canada, you’re in Northern Maine.

One Big Happy Family is a solid addition to Jamie Day's repertoire. It may not surpass her previous work in my eyes, but it certainly holds its own with a captivating mystery and complex characters. Fans of the genre will find much to enjoy in this heart-throbbing whodunnit.

This was an atmospheric thriller that I enjoyed. When the patriarch of the family and owner of a hotel sitting atop a cliff in Maine passes, his family comes together for the reading of the will. Charley is the chambermaid at the hotel, living in a small room at the hotel while her money goes to an assisted living place where her grandmother lives. She is anxious to find out what happens to the hotel as it directly affects her life. What unfolds is a domestic thriller filled with lots of family drama.

I found this to be a tad predictable but a very entertaining thriller. The plot was executed well and I enjoyed it. This was my second book by Day and I look forward to me.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an advanced copy. Opinions are my own.

I have mixed feelings on One Big Happy Family. None of the characters stood out in a good way. I don’t know why but I kept thinking Charley was a little older than she actually is so when she’d do things expected for her age (like immediately swoon over a guy) it always surprised me. Makes absolutely no sense but that’s what my brain did while I read. Oliver added the creepy factor which honestly I could have done without. All the other characters are written so you’re constantly questioning their motives to create tension. Rodrigo was probably the most disappointing character. I thought he was going to play a bigger role but he ended up barely there. He exists purely to create doubt and I felt this was unnecessary with all the other characters trapped at the hotel.

We’re dealing with the reading of a will so we know that a lot of the family secrets are going to come into play. I had a lot of thoughts of what was going to happen. I wouldn’t call One Big Happy Family predictable but there were a few things I already had pegged early on. There were other things that I guessed partially right and a few things I was wrong about. This whole section was just ok. It is necessary to the story but it was my least favorite part.

I do like that this all takes place during a hurricane. It makes running away and calling the police a challenge while remaining more realistic. This was needed with how some of the story played out. A different setting I think would’ve made too many things feel outrageous.

The twists were ok and the story itself reads well. Everything gets resolved nicely with only a few things that were added to misdirect that felt forced.

I greatly enjoyed Jamie Day’s The Block Party & had a feeling I’d love his latest suspense novel, One Big Happy Family. I was right! It’s an exciting thriller! Privileged characters are so tangled up, have loads of problems, and skeletons in their closets. The twists hit as the conclusion neared. Add in a Hurricane and it’s a recipe for intensity!

Saskia Maarleveld brings Day’s words to life in spectacular fashion in the audiobook.

Thank you, Jamie Day, Macmillan Audio, St. Martins Press, & netgalley for my early copy & audiobook! All opinions are my own.

It was a dark and stormy night… Of course it was! Hurricane Larry was bearing down on the Maine coast where Charley Kelley, the chambermaid at the Precipice Hotel, was located. George, the owner of the hotel had recently died and Charley was alone, the guests having wisely checked out as the hurricane drew nearer.

First, a troubled young woman named Bree sought shelter while she was hiding from an abusive boyfriend. Then the three estranged daughters of the late hotel owner arrived to pick over the bones of their father’s estate while picking at the secrets that each of them hid from the world. Then their father’s lawyer Brenda Black arrived for the reading of the will.

As Hurricane Larry swirled menacingly around the hotel the will was read. During those dark and stormy nights (and days) murders began to pile up. In this small, closed off community someone was clearing the way for a big inheritance. But who?

Like the “dark and stormy night”, this book was filled with old mystery clichés. The characters were well drawn and it was easy to be drawn into the plight of this 19 year old chambermaid and the extremely dysfunctional family of her late employer.

I enjoyed the book, but it frankly was not the gripping page turner I had hoped it might be. None the less, I enjoyed reading it and am grateful to NetGalley for the opportunity to read it.

I LOVED "The Block Party", so was excited to read this. Unfortunately, I just didn't enjoy it as much as I thought I would. The story was interesting, but at times it seemed to drag on. At times I was hoping the hotel would slide down the cliffs with everyone in it and no one would survive. All the characters were unlikeable. They had no redeeming qualities and they all acted horribly. All the members of the Bishop family hated each other. They were tied together with all the secrets. Did it really matter who killed Todd? Everyone hated him. The Bishop sisters were all a piece of work. George Bishop was the worst. There's no wonder why his daughters turned out the way they did. George's will was SHADY!!!!I honestly thought he was going to be leaving everything to Charley and the sisters would try to kill her. I knew Bree was hiding secrets and was up to something. Oliver was the weirdest and all that rhyming was creepy. The title of the book is the complete opposite of this family. They are one big CRAZY family. It was interesting getting to know each sister. All of their problems go back to the awful car crash.

Definitely recommend the book. It was a good mystery/thriller, that kept me guessing until the end. Yes, I wanted everyone to die, but it still kept my interest. There were so many twists and turns.
So many secrets and lies. Enjoyed the story and writing style. Look forward to reading more books by the author.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from St. Martin's Press, through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

I liked the premise of this whodunnit mystery, and loved the setting in an old hotel in Maine, but it read very young to me. Felt like more of a YA mystery than a domestic thriller for me, so it seemed a bit mis-marketed. 2.5 stars rounding up to 3. Thank you NetGalley and Macmillan for the digital galley in exchange for an honest review.