SYNOPSIS
- Charley, a young maid, works at the Precipice Hotel in a small town in Maine. She uses her wages to pay for her grandmothers’ assisted living facility.
- The owner of the hotel recently passed away. As a hurricane rolls in, the owner’s three daughters are coming in for the funeral.
- An attorney will read the Will, and murder is in the air.

MY THOUGHTS
- A locked room mystery with a dysfunctional family.
- I liked the setting, the ominous weather, & storyline.
- I didn’t particularly like any of the characters.
- Some of the “twists” were a bit predictable, but I didn’t mind.
- I have one complaint. SPOILER: there’s discussion of HPV at one point in this book & reference to how it’s only passed when you do not wear a condom. I didn’t appreciate the factual inaccuracy because many readers may take this as true. For any impressionable readers out there, this is not true. It can be transmitted via skin to skin contact (involving contact with infected skin area). In other words, you can transmit HPV to a partner both while wearing a condom and without wearing one.

TL;DR: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐a locked room mystery with a dysfunctional family

Thanks to St. Martin’s Press and Netgalley for this digital ARC in exchange for an honest review. This book will be published on July 16, 2024.

This closed circle mystery had just what I love in a thriller: remote location, coastal vibes and an impending storm. Three sisters, a cast of other characters and plenty of secrets made "One Big Happy Family" a page turner that kept me wondering if my suspicions would turn out right. The murderer was who I thought it to be all along, but the reason was not at all expected. The bonus happily-ever-after ending made for an enjoyable read. I will definitely be looking for more from Jamie Day in the future.

**Thank you to NetGalley for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.**

Charlie works as a maid at a hotel and takes financial care of her ailing grandmother who is a home. She endures a lot with the family and head of the hotel. When he dies and his three daughters arrive for the reading of the will all hell breaks loose and people begin to die. Read the novel to discover what she uncovers and the exploits the sister's have participated in, now and in the past. I absolutely love Charlies' spirt, personality and steadfastness. A fun novel that will keep you guessing up to it's final pages. I received this novel as an ARC. All thoughts are my own.

Thanks Netgalley for allowing me to read this book. Iris, Vicki and Fairh have come to visit their hotel that has been in their family for years. Now that the hotel is theirs, they each want separate things from the hotel. A good read.

This was such an enjoyable, fast paced read. I love a closed room mystery and this one did not disappoint. There is a limited cast of characters, but they all have secrets. I takes time to figure out how everything is related and how is guilty and who is innocent. I had lots of plausible guesses during the book and some I was correct about and others I was way off. I love when a book keeps me guessing and coming up with my own theories. Families are messy and have lots of secrets. How far one will go to protect them is explored in this book. I highly recommend it!

Charley Kelly, a 19yr old chambermaid, works hard to pay for her Nana's nursing home care. Occasionally she has to steal from the guests to cover her bills, but it is out of necessity, not out of greed. Besides she has to live in a closet and deal with the handsy owner, George Bishop, so stealing is more like hazard pay. Now that George is dead, Charley is wondering if she will even have a job. As she prepares the hotel for the arrival of the Bishop family, she is oblivious to the events that are about to unfold.
One Big Happy Family by Jamie Day is an elaborate mystery story about family secrets. It reads like Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None, where everyone is a suspect and there is no way out, as they are trapped in the hotel by Hurricane Larry. The plot is full of secrets and twists that you don't see coming. You root for Charley to survive as the Bishop family breaks down into chaos. The atmosphere of Hurricane Larry battering the hotel leads to the increased tension inside the hotel. The strange behavior of the Bishop sisters adds to the tension as well. You sit on the edge of your seat as you wonder who will survive the weekend.
One Big Happy Family is a great story. I enjoyed this a lot more than Jamie Day's first story The Block Party, as it progresses faster and has more fleshed out characters. Both stories had great twists and turns with lots of secrets but I felt more connected to the character of Charley than I did in her first book. I think anyone who is a fan of locked door mysteries would be a fan of One Big Happy Family. It has tension and twists, making everyone's motives questionable.
Thank you to NetGalley and St Martin's Press for the advanced copy. The opinions are my own.

Love the setting in Maine, I have family there and the author did a great job describing it. A great read! Thank you netgalley!

Twists, turns and lots of drama! It was difficult to put down and I was surprised and pleased with the ending.

Charley, a young maid with no family but her dementia-afflicted grandmother is working for minimal pay in a remote, high end Maine hotel on the coast filled with antiques - and secrets. After the owner’s death, the attorney, and his three daughters and their families come for the reading of the will while a hurricane is headed straight for the little town. Charley is worried about impending changes and how they will affect her ability to support her grandmother’s care, and rightfully so. Cryptic messages have everyone on edge after one death and another disappearance.

Thanks to NetGalley, St. Martin’s Press and author Jamie Day for the Arc Copy!

Twists and turns and family drama. What more could you ask for?! I sped through this book at such a fast pace just to be shocked and pleasantly surprised by the end!

This book had me on the edge of my seat. I was so enthralled with this book the whole time. The family and other characters in this story were so annoying, making me need to see what happened at the end. The ending caught me off guard, which is what I always want in a thriller/mystery book. The book was every bit chaotic and fast paced like a thriller should be. Thank you St. Martin’s Press for sending me an ARC of this book.

This was quite an interesting book! I had trouble putting it down and easily got drawn into the story. I spent a good amount of time while not reading trying to figure out who the bad guy(s) was. But I hadn’t spent more than a few seconds near the truth before I convinced myself it could work. Boy, was I wrong!

I liked Charley’s voice in this, even if I felt parts of the story could have been in 3rd person for all she actually did in the story. Lots of listening and seeing what other people did while she sat or stood there. I guess, in a way, that’s what happens when you’re a maid—you blend in to the background. So it worked, I guess.

This story was so twisty and turn-y, and I thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it.


I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Thank you NetGalley for this book to review. This is my first book by Jamie Day, and it might just be that her writing isn’t for me. I found the book to be too wordy. I prefer dialogue and action, and this book had pages and pages of exposition. Description is important for a book, but not to the point where you’re dreading the next thing for the author to describe because it’s going to take a while to get to the point.

There was just so much going on in this, and the characters were all over the place. Some things just weren’t realistic or consistent, and the characters vascular between being unbelievable gullible and naive, to having insightful intuition and character judgement the next moment.

It was also weird the way Quinn who was a college student, was referred to multiple times as a kid by someone younger than him, and Ollie’s character was portrayed as autistic in most scenes and completely neurotypical in others.

It was just odd, wildly dramatic, and not believable to me.

Thanks to Netgalley for the advanced copy of this book. All opinions are mine.

This book takes place in a very cool setting. A family-owned, antique-filled hotel called The Precipe. We are first introduced to a maid named Charley who we follow throughout the story. Although Charley does her best to keep a calmness at the hotel, a storm is brewing outside as well as the drama that is to come. Drama unwinds quickly throughout this book, especially when The Bishop sisters, the daughters of George Bishop, the owner of the hotel, arrive for the reading of George's will.

Filled with drama, family secrets and twists, Jamie Day took me on such a ride with this one. I really enjoyed this one.

Thank you so much to NetGalley for this Egalley.
4 stars!

Book comes out July 16th, 2024

Thoroughly enjoyed this book. Always fun to read about a story taking place in the elements. Lots of thought provoking pieces to this plot and I like the way it kept my interest and all came together as the story progressed

Just before a huge storm the Bishop sisters travel to the Precious Hotel for the reading of their late father's will. Tensions rise as the storm ramps up and they soon discover there are more secrets between them.

This was a great murder mystery with a twist I did not see coming! I'm usually good at being able to suss out the murderer in a story, but this one kept me guessing. There are layers to this story which makes it stand out against more one dimensional reads.

I like that the story didn't lean on the usual tropes you might see in mysteries in this genre. I think that was a big part of why this was really fun to read. Nothing about this was predictable, so it kept my attention through the entire book.

Thank you Netgalley for the ARC in exchange for a fair and honest review.

I read The Block Party and liked it. I was excited to learn of this new book.

I liked it - I didn’t love it. It went on a little too long for my taste and there was a lot going on. Overall it was an interesting read with some twists and turns.

I was really excited to read One Big Happy Family as I really enjoyed “The Block Party.”

Unfortunately, I felt that the book was too long and dragged on. I started getting bored after about 20% and I was easily able to predict what was going to happen and how the story was going to end which made it harder for me to finish.

Thank you to NetGalley, St. Martin’s Press, and the author for an ARC of this book, which publishes on July 16, 2024.

The Bishop sisters have returned to town after being estranged for several years. Their father has recently passed and his will is being read during a hurricane. Who will inherit his money? Who will inherit his hotel? When everyone is harboring secrets, what could possibly go wrong?

We meet the Bishop sisters and their families, current staff, and learn of secrets of the past. The story, mostly set in current day flows together nicely, though there are some scenes that play out that are a hit over the top. I kept waiting for the protagonist to get her comeuppance. Twists and turns had me guessing throughout, and a surprising ending left me wanting more.

Not sure if it was me that was the problem, or the story, but I couldn’t get into this one. I read about 30% before deciding to DNF, so will not be providing feedback at this time due to not finishing the story. I intend to go back and try again at some point, because other reviews sound really promising! (The two stars rating is only because Netgalley requires you to star the book in order to sent a review. That’s not representative of how I felt about the story since I didn’t get far enough in to really know.)

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC!