Charley works at the Precipice Hotel as a chambermaid. She has seen a lot in the short time she has worked there but nothing can prepare her for the craziness she is about to encounter. The man who hired her is dead and his family is coming for the reading of the will. Then a storm locks them all in the hotel and there is a killer on the loose! Choas and destruction, death and mayhem but maybe something good can come from it in the end.
I really enjoyed this book. The characters are crazy. The situations are ridiculous. Through it all, Charley is at the center of it but somehow she holds on to her sanity. How? I don’t know. The sisters that come to find out what they have inherited are all crazy and creepy but in the end they are sisters. They stick together through all of the craziness or do they? There are enough twists and turns to make you dizzy! The end is good and the bad guy gets their due. There is also a side story about Charley taking care of her grandmother who has dementia and Charley’s best friend disappearing during the storm.
If I had one complaint, I would say it was that the book was uneven. There were parts that read fast and smooth but there were parts that felt clunky and out of place. Those moments made me stop and double check how they fit the rest of the story. Luckily there are many of those moments so I was able to get back into the flow easily.
This is a contemporary murder mystery, family dynamics, caught in a storm, maybe romance set in a hotel. It’s a fun read and I would recommend giving it a try. I will read more from this author in the future.

One Big Happy Family is a story that has a great 'locked room' setting in a secluded boutique hotel right before a massive storm is about to hit. A very dysfunctional family meets at this hotel that is owned by their family to hear the reading of the will of their not-so-dear old dad.

The Bishop sisters, Vicki, Faith and Iris, along with a couple of spouses and kids have more baggage than Samsonite, many axes to grind and even more secrets they'd rather keep hidden. The cast also includes the lawyer who has come to read the will and a few staff members, including nineteen-year-old Charley, an extremely naïve, down-on-her-luck chamber maid at the family-owned hotel who tells the story.

The story is divided into four parts, but despite the short chapters, this was an extremely sloooowww story that will require readers to suspend disbelief. We get the backstory on several characters which explains the animosity, but I found many of them to be caricatures with the rhyming teen too odd and over-the-top. There are some good dysfunctional family secret reveals (a la Jerry Springer) but the actual mystery and Charley as the protagonist were weak and the culprit blatantly obvious from the start.

While this wasn't a good fit for me, but if you're looking for an atmospheric family drama with murder and colourful but despicable characters and a locked room mystery vibe, you may want to give One Big Happy Family a try.

Disclaimer: Thanks to St Martin's Press for the advanced copy of this book which was provided in exchange for my honest review.

One Big Happy Family
Jamie Day

Out now!! Pub 7/16 ✨

🌟🌟🌟🌟

Whew! What a wild ride. Chaos and a very toxic family. Some far fetched twists but still fun and entertaining!

So many people have a motive in this book and the characters are complicated and interesting. I love how Day started with the POV of Charley the maid. It really drew me in to the mystery! I had a rough idea of what was going on, and then I had no idea what was going on, and then the ending was different again! The remote gloomy and gothic type setting of the novel played up the dangerous and bleak situation our main character finds herself in. A group of sisters should be best friends, but how does that work if one of them is also a murderer? 🕵️‍♀️ 🔫

Read if you love-
Locked room mysteries
A story packed with family drama and SECRETS 🤫

Thank you @netgalley @stmartinspress @jamieday for a copy of this novel!

3.5 stars rounded up
One Big Happy Family by Jamie Day is a murder mystery/family drama set in The Precipice, a remote resort hotel in Maine. As hurricane Larry descends on the coast, the power is knocked out and the mystery becomes a locked-room caper.
The story is narrated by Charley, a 19-year old chambermaid at the hotel who likes her job and likes the proximity it gives her to money and baubles she pinches from the guestrooms, ostensibly to help pay for her poor Nana’s care home. Charley’s character’s plight rings hollow, and she is hard to care about.
The owner of the hotel dies, and his daughters, the Bishop sisters, arrive for the reading of Dad’s will, and promptly provide all sorts of bickering, baggage and drama—both past and present. They also harbor a dark secret from years ago, which is pretty interesting to follow through the story.
All the characters in this novel seem superficial or unlikeable. The action in early chapters is slow, but the pace picks up in the second half, which is written like a farce, edgy, funny/not funny, with almost slapstick action at times. I can see this novel becoming a TV movie.
I do like Jamie Day’s prose. She writes in a bright, contemporary style. But in this suspense novel, the unlikeable characters, and the sometimes far-fetched situations, overshadowed that voice, for me.
I enjoyed The Block Party, her previous novel, very much, so I will continue to look for future works by this author.

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for the ARC. This is my honest review.

Nineteen year old hotel housemaid, Charley, has experienced a lot at her young age. She works tirelessly at the Previpice hotel on the coast of Maine to afford her living expenses and still save e bough to pay for the care of her grandmother, whose memory is fading quickly. When the hotel patriarch dies his family, the Bishop sisters, descend upon the hotel to get what they think they deserve. With a storm raging outside and egos soaring inside, no one can be trusted. After 2 people end up dead, no o e feels safe and no one is above suspicion. With the WiFi knocked out, and some residents injured, how can they get help and will they stay alive long enough to do so? Thanks to NetGalley, St. Martin’s Press, and Macmillan Audio for the ARC. This is my honest review.

I had a hard time getting into this one at the beginning as I felt it was a bit slow. Some of the suspense and twists were predictable but I liked that this was a locked room type of mystery. Overall this was a quick, easy read and I would be interested in reading more from this author.

This review is my own. Thank you Netgalley and St. Martin's Press.

Jamie Day is a new author for me. The cover of this book caught my attention first, as the cover immediately says beach read, but when I read the description it sounded more like a family dispute book. I was still interested.

Description:
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 Precipice'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.

With razor-sharp wit, heart, thrills, and twists, Jamie Day delivers a unique brand of SUMMERTIME SUSPENSE.

My Thoughts:
My heart went out to Charley as she was in a tough situation. She really needed the job in order to take care of her Grandmother and to have a place to live herself. With murder and being trapped in the hotel with the Bishop family while the hurricane raged outside the situation went from bad to worse. Secrets and past cover ups were revealed with surprising results. I liked the plot and the way the story progressed. Charley was a good character and it was easy to relate to her situation. It was an enjoyable mystery, and, in the end, I think it would make a good beach read.

Thanks to St. Martin's Press through Netgalley for an advance copy.

ONE BIG HAPPY FAMILY by Jamie Day was the crazy family suspense that was a perfect, popcorn, summer read out July 16th by @stmartinspress.

Charley is the maid at the Precipice, a family owned hotel on the coast of Maine. The patriarch has died and the family has gathered to have the will read, and no one seems happy to see each other. When one of the party ends up dead, it is revealed that everyone had a motive. Charlie is stuck with this dismal family reunion until the approaching hurricane passes, but tries to keep out of their crosshairs!

This was a soap-operatic family with few redeeming qualities. To have the viewpoint of the proverbial fly-on-the-wall was a fun choice, as the maid is often invisible. I did guess a major reveal pretty early, but still had fun watching it all unfold, grateful for my family!

I thoroughly enjoyed having both digital and audio options in which to enjoy. I am grateful to the publishers for access via @netgalley.

What I keep seeing is that when in Maine, beware of being caught in a storm in a creepy old house.

A fun summer read for the beach. You will fall in love with all the characters and be anxious to turn to the page to the ending. A definite must read.

I really wanted to love this. Closed door murder mystery on the rocky coast of Maine...things I love. But it took so long to get into this story and even determine what the major mystery was we were trying to solve. The sisters' back story was intriguing and helped to build investment, but ultimately even the big twist felt predictable. It was a fine mystery/thriller, but definitely not as captivating as I had hoped.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the eARC.

This thriller fell flat for me, it was very predictable and reminded me a lot of other books that I have read in this genre.

Locked room mystery set in an old hotel in Maine, this had the makings of a good creepy thriller but was bloated with too many secrets. Charley is a 19 year old chambermaid who sleeps in a converted pantry in the hotel. She needs all the money she can get to help keep her Nana in a home for people with dementia. Charley supplements her income by stealing from the guests. Then the owner of the hotel dies and his three daughters arrive for the reading of the will just when a hurricane is reaching the coast of Maine. Each of the sisters has secrets as does their family members and the attorney Brenda Black.

As the storm blows outside, the sisters Vicki, Faith and Iris accuse each other and fight and when someone turns up dead, the group can't escape and there is no cell signal or WiFi to call for help. Vicki brings her greedy husband Todd and her young adult son Quinn who Charley quickly falls for; Iris comes alone and has a long history of addiction, and Faith comes with her girlfriend Hope and son Oliver. Oliver speaks only in rhymes until the end of the book when he suddenly doesn't. There is also a young woman named Bree whom Charley is hiding in the hotel from her abusive husband, and front desk clerk Rodrigo. There are lots of scenes that are almost farce-like as lights go on and off, people move around and accuse each other and secrets and double-crosses are revealed. There is also a long segment of the book which deals with the sisters when they were younger as well as the story of a previous maid that may have been murdered. I thought the book was too long and many of these scenes could have cut. I also wanted more scenes of the weather outside and the powerless feeling of being stuck in the hotel. I didn't guess all of the secrets because there were so many and I didn't find any of the characters likable. Charley seemed more interested in stealing and romance than taking care of her Nana and the sisters were all awful people. Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for a copy of this ARC for review.

One Big Happy Family creates an uneasy and atmospheric setting from the beginning. Charley, the young maid of a grand hotel, is hiding Bree, a young woman hiding from an abusive boyfriend that Charley has agreed to hide in the hotel, resulting in a game of musical rooms to ensure she doesn’t get caught, With the owner of the hotel’s passing, unlikeable family is ushered in. The hurricane brewing adds to the intense atmosphere and isolation, and when desk clerk Rodrigo goes home for the weekend Charley is left alone with the Bishop family and their strange behavior..

Happy Pub Week to Jamie Day and One Big Happy Family! Thank you to St. Martin’s Press @stmartinspress, NetGalley @netgalley, and Jamie Day for allowing me to read an ARC (Advanced Reader Copy) for an honest review! Thank you to St. Martin’s Press, NetGalley, and Jamie Day for also allowing me to read an ARC of The Block Party last year for an honest review.

📅 Tuesday, July 16, 2024 was the pub date for One Big Happy Family. Be sure to pick up a copy from your local bookstore or Amazon! It’s definitely worth the read! 📅

I read The Block Party last year with some friends as part of a Buddy Read and was able to read One Big Happy Family together this year with one of those friends! We agreed that both books are great although very different from one another. We ended up enjoying One Big Happy Family a tad better than The Block Party but definitely recommend both to any thriller lovers out there!

Hurricane Larry is about to touch the coast of Maine and the Precepice Hotel. 🏨 The owner of the hotel recently passed away, leaving employees the responsibility of closing up and overseeing the safety of guests. Most guests evacuated. However, the hotel owner’s children and grandchildren gather at the hotel during the hurricane for the reading of the will. The book is filled with lots of surprises, twists, and turns. Not everyone is who they seem and a Clue type guessing game begins. i.e..Who fired the gun in the dining room? I can share that it definitely wasn’t Ms. Scarlet or Colonel Mustard…but that’s all I’m going to reveal!

This book was really difficult to get into, and to finish. This book was honestly super slow, and way longer than it needed to be. A little too many twists and turns that maybe I just missed but made us deter a little too much from the main storyline and made it more confusing than it needed to be. I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

I don't like giving this review as I really enjoyed the first book by this author, but this was not good at all for me.

I love locked room mysteries, so that and the fact that I really liked her first book drew me to read this book. It was so sloooooooowwwwwww and not really that interesting. I did like the main character, Charley, the chambermaid at the hotel, though. I can even forgive her stealing from guests to help pay provide for her and her nana.

The looming hurricane should have brought more tension to the story, but it just fell flat for me.

Thank you to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for an advanced readers copy. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

One Big Happy Family by Jamie Day, this was a new author for me and I have to say it did keep me turning the pages. The story line had so many different twists and turns, I wasn't sure if I was coming or going most of the time. I would have to say it wasn't a all time favorite of mine, but it still deserves a good review. I am thankful that none of these characters are part of my family. I would still recommend to others because I realize not everyone enjoys the same books.

I received an ARC from NetGalley, St. Martin's Press and I am leaving my review voluntarily

*Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher/author for providing me with an E-Arc of this book. The following is my honest opinion *

4⭐ out 5

To describe to book, it is like a a mystery/thriller style, whodunit story.
I really enjoyed this book. I love Day's writing style. She has a talent for keeping the reader hooked even when giving exposition. It was true page turner for me. There so many intricacies and I love that the book made me feel like a detective piecing together the puzzle. If you read her debut novel, and enjoyed it, I think this story will be the same.

Would recommend to friends.

One Big Happy Family by Jamie Day is a suspense thriller that will test the bonds of what it means to be a family and how fast things unravel when secrets are revealed. With their father's recent death, three Bishop sisters converge on the family's resort to hear the will and make arrangements. With a massive hurricane barreling to them, the resort only houses a few staff members. The main character, Charley, is a 19 year old housekeeper who quickly becomes wrapped up in the Bishop family feuds and drama. With a lot of twists and turns, author Jamie Day, packs a lot of punches into this summer thriller. There were parts I really connected with but I also felt like the middle lulled a bit and I struggled to stay focused. Overall, I enjoyed the story though and would recommend it.

Thank you SMP for the gifted ARC.

I had some trouble getting into this one at first, as part one is really, really slow. We picked up in the third and fourth parts of the book, but it was all a little much for me. By the epilogue the whole thing was just way too over the top for me. I really wanted to like this one after the author's last book, but this just didn't work for me.