First things first, I would love to thank NetGalley and St. Martin's press for allowing me to partake in reading authors I love before the books are even released. I have also read "The Block Party by: Jamie Day, that book was also written exceptionally well. "One Big Happy Family" was a great, fast paced read. Tons of well described characters and a plot that would keep you guessing until the end. Thank you Jamie Day for writing edge of your seat books, that are hard to put down.

One Big Happy Family is a well written suspense. I was throughly entertained by the plot. The plot is fast paced and kept me on the edge of my seat. I received an advance ebook from the publisher and Netgalley. This is my unbiased review.

First, thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review. This book is a follow up novel to the author’s first – which was widely enjoyed. Alas I had not read that one – only this one.

“One big happy family” is about anything BUT a happy family. Obviously the book title is tongue in cheek. A legendary, small hotel on the coast of Maine is inherited by the Bishop sisters when their father dies. The three sisters descend upon the hotel one weekend to review. In the mix is also a young chambermaid who may have had some type of relationship with the old man. When a hurricane hits as they are all there – it makes it impossible for anyone to leave – a convenient plot device.

The plot is full of secrets that are slowly meted out as the book progresses. I found it difficult to feel favorably about this book as I didn’t identify with or like any of the characters. At first I thought Charley was a sympathetic character as the maid who could potentially be ousted from her “home” and her job that she needs to pay for her grandmother’s care. But I grew bored with her personality and her decisions. When she agrees to let a young woman who claimed she was hiding from an abusive boyfriend hide out in an empty room, she too becomes a captive of the resort due to the storm and a key figure in the plot.

The character backstories go on a bit too long and don’t provide the necessary support for the plot. While the author tries to create an atmospheric, moody vibe, the whole book fell short for me. The plot twists weren’t so twisty and I had it figured out before the reveal.

This book was kinda all over the place, but very suspenseful at times. The last 1/4 of the book flew by, however I felt the ending was rushed.
Lots of characters and a couple storylines will keep you on your toes. From the struggling maid barely making ends meet to the “entitled sisters” who arrived right before a major storm. Several others sprinkled in the mix as well. I had to go back a couple times to sort them out. Since I was not able to find the time a couple days to read more than 10-15 minutes. Not that the pace was slow, I just have tons going on in my life right now.
I did enjoy it, didn’t see any glaring holes in the plot or grammar errors.
I received an ARC from NetGalley and this my honest review.

This was definitely a story with a lot of twists and turns, but some of the connections you could see coming. It's a locked room mystery, technically, so if you like that type of story, you would enjoy this. The thing that I kept having a hard time with is that the dialogue just didn't seem authentic, like real people. It felt like the characters were just saying exactly what they needed to in order to drive the plot. Overall, it was enjoyable, but it wasn't my favorite.

This was one of my favorite sub-genre tropes! Secluded who-dun-it- /one-by-one type. It's set at a secluded hotel during a really bad storm. The family was unhinged and a mess and the whole thing was just chaos. Oliver was my favorite character, tbh. Everyone in the book kept acting like he was Damien from The Omen or something with his creepy rhyming but ALL I pictured the entire time was Cody from Scary Movie 3. Will definitely check out other books from this author! Thanks for the e-arc of this book!

This book hoooooked me from the first chapter. I really enjoyed it and couldn’t put it down. The only part that lost me was the epilogue. That was long drawn out and felt… well it felt unnecessary.

All in all I really enjoyed my first arc

This book has a messy cast of characters and enough skeletons in the closets to keep you hooked. Some of the twists become predictable, but they remain well-written and engaging.

I loved this book! It was giving very "Clue" vibes. This story is about a hotel in Maine where the owner has recently passed away. The maid, Charley, is fearful she will lose her job the helps pay for her grandmother's nursing home. The owner had 3 daughters who are...interesting. The sisters and their families come to town for the reading of the will and people start dropping dead. To add to the madness, a massive hurricane is coming and threatens to wipe out the hotel. There are some mysterious characters in this book and it keeps you on your feet! Charley is a LOVABLE character, I want her to be my little sister.

Bonus points for an ending I didn't totally see coming.

This book is jam packed with drama and suspense. I would recommend it to anyone who wants a quick, page turner to curl up with! Such a great book.

Three bright shiny stars for Jamie Day's newest novel, One Big Happy Family.

Day's latest work follows a chambermaid named Charley at a family-owned hotel in a wooded area of Maine. Charley's creepy, cheap boss and the owner of the hotel, Mr. Bishop, has just died, and his family is in town for the reading of his will. As you can imagine, his children and their spouses are all eager to hear what they've been gifted after his death. Right before the Bishops shows up, Charley is asked to harbor an acquaintance who is running from an abusive boyfriend. Charley, understanding desperation in her own life, agrees to hide her in the hotel even though it means risking her job. But what if the Bishops find out that Charley is keeping a non-paying guest in their hotel? When fighting breaks out amongst the Bishop family, will Charley be caught in the middle of it? A hurricane is looming outside, and while tensions rise with the weather, tensions rise equally inside the hotel.

I loved the character of Charley, I felt she had real depth and you could feel her situation weighing heavily on her throughout the book. You empathize with her and root for her and genuinely like her. And just as much as you grow to love Charley, you grow to hate the Bishop family. Selfish, conniving, and mean spirited, this family is unlikable from the start.
I also felt as though the setting was amazing enough to be a character in and of itself, and I love books where that is an element. The hotel is described beautifully, and when the storm hits you can really transport yourself into the book.
Although I will say I did not anticipate any of the twists in this book, I will say that I felt it was a bit far-fetched for me. I find very realistic thrillers to be the scariest of all, and I just felt like this had a lot of different elements that made it a bit "messy" in the end. Also, aside from being inconveniently present, Charley didn't have much point of being included in this whole extravaganza.

Special thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This fell flat for me. It did not grab me or make me want to move forward with this book. 100 pages in and still nothing for me - I did not finish this book.

I enjoyed this book very much! The sleepy coastal Maine hotel was the perfect setting for this tale of a twisted family where each sister is more crazed than the last. This was a very exciting story that had me guessing right up to the ending. This is my first book by Jamie Day and I’m eagerly looking forward to reading more.
Many thanks to Net Galley, St. Martin’s Press and author Jamie Day for allowing me to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

3.5 Stars
This book was more of a slow burn for me. I would read a little put it down and come back. The last 20% of the book was in true thriller fashion and I couldn’t stop reading.

What I loved:
+I enjoyed the twists and turns. Even though a lot happened at the end it didn’t feel overwhelming, it was good pacing.
+I really enjoyed Part 2 learning the childhood of the sisters. It was needed to see how they came to be the complicated adults they were for most of the book.

What I didn’t love was the slower burn of part 1.

Fun thriller tropes:
+Creepy Kid (Sixth sense vibes)
+Family Drama
+Remote Location

Overall, once again we learn family is complicated and always entertaining.

ARC REVIEW: ⭐️⭐️⭐️.75 (rounded up to four for GoodReads)
Emojis: ☠️⛈️🏨⚖️😵‍💫

First and foremost, I’d like to thank NetGalley, Jamie Day and St. Martins Press for allowing me an Advanced Readers Copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I was never as fully invested in this book as I could’ve been and I think it was because I didn’t love the FMC. I felt she was immature (but she’s only 19 so like, that checks out) and some of the situations in the book weren’t realistic. With that being said, this book was somewhat predictable but still had my jaw on the floor with the final twist. Ultimately, I’d recommend this book because I really enjoy “who done it” / confined crime scene / crazy twisty stories.

I was going to give this 3 stars but the ending really had me shocked so I’m going to give it 3.75, rounded up. It ended up being a pretty satisfying thriller and I enjoyed it after the fact.

Boldsbooks / bookstagram / arc reviewer

I had no expectations when I started this book as I have not read any other of Day's books. There were both positives and negatives to the book.
Positives: I liked the setting and the idea of all the characters being stuck together during the hurricane. I enjoyed Part 2, where we got a break from Charley and got some interesting background on the Bishop sisters. I liked the writing style during this part especially, but there were some other scenes that also were written with a great balance of description and suspense.

Negatives: Where to start...the characters were all extremely unlikable and inconsistent. It was difficult to feel like I had any connection to the book because the characters' actions felt so random and unreliable. I felt like there were unnecessary parts of the story that made it challenging to invest myself in the book (e.g. Oliver's nonstop rhyming, a lot of the dialogue between the sisters, the HPV twist at the end of the book, Quinn being a love interest). There were many parts in the book that felt phony and made me lose interest.
Overall, I did finish it and liked certain parts, but I'm also not sure that I would recommend it to anyone.

Many thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for sharing this book’s digital reviewer copy with me in exchange for my honest opinions.

This was a fantastic thriller read! So many unexpected things happening in this book! Charley was such an unsuspecting, young housekeeper. She was just trying to take care of her grandmother. Who would have thought that all of the things that would have happened in in the Bishop family would have been in ONE family. CRAZY!

Wow! I am really becoming a fan of this author. This is an awesome story filled with drama, danger, and family strife. Three sisters descend on their family hotel after the death of their beloved father. While stuck, due to a raging hurricane, secrets begin to come out and people start to die. Everyone is in danger, including the live in maid, Charley. what did these Bishop sisters do to cause all this danger?

Once again Jamie Day brings a story that will keep you reading. It never slows down and the secrets are shocking. I was pleased and enjoyed this story.

*I want to thank Netgalley and the author for this book in return for my honest review. *

Stormi Ellis
Boundless Book Reviews

You talking about Gripping! I could not put this book sown. I read in in 24 hours, thank goodness for weekends! I will be reading more from Jamie Day! It was such a good suspense book!

📚 PRE-PUBLICATION BOOK REVIEW 📚

One Big Happy Family
By Jamie Day
Publication Date: July 16, 2024

📚 MY RATING:

⭐⭐⭐⭐

📚 THE SYNOPSIS:

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 19-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?

📚 MY REVIEW:

What a fun whodunnit!! This book was a wonderful murder mystery adventure, reminiscent of the classic storylines of movies like Knives Out. I felt like I was attending a Murder Mystery Weekend at an eclectic hotel resort, but I didn't have to pack a bag or even leave home. The characters in the book will probably remind you of some of your family members - with traits you love and quirks you don't - and plenty of family drama, too.

I don't know that I would call this book "gripping," even though it definitely kept my attention and piqued my interest as I read it. It was a fast read and suspenseful in a subtly fun way, without the heart-racing adrenaline of some of these thrillers I read. This book was just a lot of fun, a mystery that was a bit of a palate cleanser from the intensity of suspense books. I definitely recommend this book and think it's a great read for someone who enjoys mysteries - without all the tension or adrenaline of a serial-killer, heart-racing, tension-filled psychological thriller.

Thanks to Net Galley and St. Martins Press for this advanced copy in exchange for my honest review!

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