After George Bishop passes, his three daughters return to the family owned Precipice Hotel for the reading of their father's will. Charley Kelley, a nineteen year old chambermaid, wonders what will happen with her job which she needs to support her grandmother. She is also hiding a young woman from an abusive boyfriend. What will happen when the sisters discover the young woman's presence. An impending hurricane isolates all at the hotel as one of the sister's husband is murdered and family secrets are revealed. Will help arrive before someone else dies?
#OneBigHappyFamilyBook #JamieAuthor #StMartinsPress #NetGalley

Unfortunately, this one missed the mark for me.
The dialogue felt forced, the pacing felt off, and it was just messy?
I was here for the dysfunctional family, the setting and the storm, but it couldn't make up for what felt jumbled to me.

The setting and premise for this book intrigued me...a house/hotel in coastal New England with a multi-layered cast of characters...a mystery all unfolding in one location. Well, it's not just a whodunnit in the present but a gradual unfolding of past secrets and sins culminating in a wild ride of family drama (not to mention those outsiders dragged in to the plot).
It got a little fantastical for my taste at times, but a fun read for the summer.
Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for this ARC. All opinions are mine.

Last year I loved Jamie Day’s debut novel, The Block Party. Domestic suspense mixed with a chaotic web of neighborhood unrest. This summer she’s back with One Big Happy Family taking us to the coast of Maine. Charley is a young maid who has lived and worked at a family owned hotel for two years. When the family patriarch dies his three daughters arrive for the reading of the will. A deadly hurricane looms, ominously mirroring the dangerous secrets that each sister keeps.
I loved the locked room premise, the setting, the mood. It gave me knives out vibes for the big cast that all have something to hide, and gain. Sadly, the book fell a bit flat for me. I will absolutely be looking forward to what Day writes next, and applaud her for going in a different direction from her debut novel.
I received a review copy from the publisher, St Martin’s Press.

More isn’t always better. In my case, after a certain number of plot twists and reveals I get bored and my brain says “Get on with it.” This isn’t true for many readers and the intricate plot will remain enjoyable for them. My other problem was not connecting with any of the characters although I’m not sure why. The book has a very slow start, but does start moving in the second part and builds from there. If you delighted in The Block Party be aware that this book has a different tone.

One Big Happy Family by Jamie Day
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ stars
368 pages
Out today 07/16/24

Thank you @netgalley & @stmartinspress for the eARC for this new thriller!

Jamie Day’s second book One Big Happy Family is a mysterious summer thriller set at the Precipice hotel in Maine, a famous family owned hotel who recently lost the owner. Since the passing of their father, the 3 Bishop sisters Vicki, Faith, and Iris come to visit to meet with the lawyer & figure out who’s going to be in charge. Little did they know there is murder in the air & some of their deepest, darkest secrets are going to come out-whether they like it or not.

What a wild ride! It took me a little bit to get into due to the number of characters in this book. So many twists that I did not see coming happen during this book & made me want more! The idea of the characters being stranded at the hotel during a storm is just something that always draws me in!

Read if you like:
✨locked room thrillers
✨family drama
✨characters stranded together

#earc #netgalley #jamieday #thriller

I loved this book! I don’t know why but I was hesitant to start it. I was so pleasantly surprised and hooked on the story. I enjoy locked door thrillers especially during a disaster, like a hurricane in this book. It was so much fun! Kept me guessing what was really going on! It wasn’t a full 5 stars from me though, because the culprit was predictable and felt bad for them, didn’t like what happened at the end. Overall though I recommend it! I posted a Bookstagram review on this one on pub day, and it is linked down below.

I began reading this book just as a hurricane was bearing down on the Texas coast. How fitting since the book is set along the coast of Maine, with a hurricane on the way. The owner of the Precipice has just died and his three daughters are on their way to the hotel for the reading of the will.

The main character, Charley, works as a maid at the hotel. Living in a small room off the kitchen, Charley is trying to make enough to support her grandmother who lived in a senior home.

The deceased owner, George Bishop, was not a nice man. He cheated on his wife, tried to seduce all the maids and wasn’t supportive of his daughters, with the exception of one.

This is your classic locked room trope. No one can leave due to the storm and the tree that has fallen over the driveway leading out to the road. The only people in the hotel are the family and their spouses, an attorney and Charley.

When the husband of one of the daughters is found poisoned, the tension throughout the house escalates until all the secrets begin to emerge from years past.

I enjoyed this locked room mystery and the setting was just perfect.

Many thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for allowing to read an advance copy. I am happy to give my honest review and recommend this to readers who love a good mystery.

Thank you Netgalley, Jamie Day and St. Martin's Press for the ebook! I absolutely loved the setting (coastal Maine antique motel) with an impending hurricane on the way! So much to unpack in this book and it was delivered perfectly.

What a messed up family! Everyone in this book has secrets and seems capable of being the "bad guy." The Precipice Hotel is almost another character, being full of themed rooms and all of the patriarch's collections of objects.
Most of the book is from Charley the maid's POV, but there is a section that delves into the sisters' history. Lots of twists and conniving and plotting. The book was interesting and well written.

This is an extremely riveting thriller with a pace that never lets up. It's chock full of exciting twists and turns that you never see coming. Throughout most of the book, the title is rather ironic because these people seem like anything but one big happy family. However, the ending is surprisingly touching.

A closed room mystery about a family with lots of secrets who all get together to discuss their father’s will after his death. The three sisters come together at their family’s Precipice Hotel in the hilly shores of main right as a hurricane is hitting. Told from mostly the POV of the 19 year-old maid, we slowly get the unraveling of decades of held family secrets.

While I loved the setting, especially the Maine coast town with the arriving hurricane, I think there were quite a few parts of the plot that just didn’t do it for me. The first half of the book was pretty slow, which was fine for me, but it was the reveal and the unraveling of secrets that didn’t work. It felt really predictable (and I rarely can guess the twists), and the cast of characters didn’t really leave me to care what happened to any of them. The epilogue also really tanked it for me, and I felt like it was the most unrealistic of it all.

Charley is struggling and is grateful for her job as a maid at the Precipice Hotel where she also gets free room and board. The conditions aren’t great but it’s all she can manage to help care for her ailing grandmother. When the wealthy owner dies, his three daughters and their families return to the Precipice fur the reading of the will…. Just as a hurricane is about to hit.

As you can imagine, in this locked room thriller, the sisters have a lot of animosity to each other, there are lots of secrets, backstabbing and of course, a murder. Unfortunately, Charley and a stowaway guest find themselves caught up in this nightmare situation, fearing for their lives as the sisters air their dirty laundry and turn on one another.

This one intrigued me initially and then slowed down a bit before it picked up again. I guessed the twist early on but still wanted to see how it would play out. It was a quick and easy read and Charley was the star of this book, considering how unlikeable everyone else was.

Thank you to @stmartinspress and @netgalley for a digital review copy of this new thriller

This book was fantastic!! I loved the atmosphere of the seaside hotel with a hurricane looming. Set in a small town in Maine at the Precipice Hotel One Big Happy Family is about three sisters coming home. Their father has passed away, and it's time for them to collect their inheritance. After they each arrive is when the secrets start to unravel.

The story is told primarily from the POV of Charley, a young chambermaid working at the hotel. There are a few chapters told from the POV of the sisters.

I was able to guess at some twists, but not all of them. From start to finish, this book was filled with twist after twist that I didn't always see coming. Jamie Day is fast becoming a new favorite author!

I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are my own.

Jamie Day is one writer I absolutely love to read. She keeps you intrigued and wanting not to put the book down and this was is no exception. Charley is the housekeeper at a hotel in Maine. She is awaiting the arrival of the three Bishop sisters to see what they inherited from their late father. In the meantime Charley is hiding a young woman that is hiding from an abusive relationship and she can’t pay. Vicki arrives first and she is so demanding. She wants all new repairs done to the inn and she is a bully as well. Charley has a little problem she has sticky fingers with cash because she is trying to keep bills paid for her Nana and herself. Jamie writes so you want to know more about this dysfunctional family and oh the twists and turns are intense to say the least.

I received this ARC for free from Netgalley, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

I was really excited for this novel and it began with lots of promise. A hotel with a bunch of interesting characters and a hurricane bearing down on them all. There was a ton of drama and that seemed to overshadow the rest of the story. I felt the story was predictable in places, so I was a bit disappointed but I stayed with the story.


Thank you Net Galley, Jamie Day and St Martin's Press for the opportunity to preview this title and the opinions shared are my own.

Rating: 4/5 Stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
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After loving Jamie's debut novel The Block Party last year, I just knew that I had to get my hands on this one. I was super lucky to not only get an eARC but an ALC as well.
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One Big Happy Family is anything but a happy family. Its drama galore and I sat there and I ate that shit up. I absolutely love a good family drama. Best part - its a locked room mystery with an impending storm on the horizon and murders happening.
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Day does a phenomenal job at building tension, suspense and suspicion with all of the characters. Majority of the characters are morally grey and/or are unlikable which makes this an interesting read. Rich people behaving badly is just so much fun to read sometimes!
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One Happy Family is super atmospheric - I loved the feeling of impending doom that I had while reading this. The ending was a smidge predictable, but there were some really awesome twist that I did not see coming and I absolutely enjoyed the ride from start to finish.
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I listened to this one via audio while reading along with the eARC and it was narrated by Saskia Maarleveld. I loved how well this performance was. I felt like I myself was the main character. She made this one suspenseful in all the right places. Highly recommend the audio for this one.
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Overall, another solid win from Jamie Day. So excited to continue following her writing journey. One Happy Family releases today 7/16. Don’t miss out on this one! Huge thank you to NetGalley, Jamie Day, St. Martins Press and MacMillan Audio for the eARC and ALC in exchange for my honest review.

One Big Happy Family, the latest mystery by Jamie Day, is a quick and different whodunit packed with action and thrills. Not only chockful with excitement, but this book also has a good storyline and is jam-packed with quirky characters. All of the characters may sometimes leave the reader a bit confused and bewildered, but if you stick with it, it will become easier to follow. Regardless, said family may be big, but happiness is definitely lacking. If you want a change from the beach bag, rom coms of summer, check this one out.

3.75 // A very twisted sister mystery!

One Big Happy Family follows… one big family: the Bishops. We're following Charley, the maid at the Bishops' Precipice hotel in Maine. The Bishop patriarch, George Bishop, has recently died and his three daughters (Vicki, Faith, Iris) are coming to the Precipice for the reading of the will-- dysfunctional family members in tow. Also joining is Hurricane Larry! Chaos (of course) ensues as the sisters' secrets are forced to come to light and Charley begins to unravel the truth of what really happened at the hotel when the Bishop daughters were kids.

The first maybe third of this book was paced a little too slowly for my personal taste. Hiding Bree in the hotel while the Bishops were arriving was an added element of stress that should have felt thriller-y, but ultimately fell flat for me. I expected this to be faster-paced than it was, but it felt like a chick lit fiction novel for the first 25%+. Learning about the Bishop sisters' backstories was interesting but I still found myself yearning for more action and thriller elements. I also felt like learning their backstories preemptively spoiled the entire mystery. Once I got to the 50% mark, the pacing started to pick up, and I felt more immersed in the story. The ending… is a little far-fetched, but I'll admit that it was plot-twisty and surprising, so I can't complain too much.

The main character/narrator would also sometimes just have these one-liners that made me cringeeeee. Not sure if this writing style is unique to this book or the author in general. It didn't detract from my overall enjoyment of the book, but it did momentarily remove me from being immersed in the story.

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for an early digital copy in exchange for my honest review!!

Jamie Day's ONE BIG HAPPY FAMILY transforms the idyllic coastline of Maine into a treacherous, dangerous, scary place where secrets kill and intrigue abounds. At The Precipice family-owned hotel, three sisters arrive with serious personal baggage to claim their legacy and get what's coming to them. A woman on the run and a chambermaid with deep secrets and terrible habits are added to a potent, explosive situation as a hurricane bears toward them. Told from the maid's point of view, the story is gripping, summer terror at its best. I have never been a 19 year old maid stuck in Nowhere, Maine, but now that I have read this book, I have a feeling for the life I would never want to have -- Day is fantastic at getting you into a character's head, heart, and actions. I received a copy of this book and these opinions are my own, unbiased thoughts.