Although this book synopsis sounded interesting I just found it overall very slow. There was a lot of details given that I felt like were not needed and I just was never pulled in by any of the characters. I really enjoyed Jamie Day's debut novel " The Block Party" so will definitely read her next novel as well.

This is the second book I have read by Jamie Day. Her first book I read, Block Party, was so good so I was very excited to read this one.
I didn’t like it as much as her other book I read, but I still enjoyed it! The one thing I had trouble with was it is a bit slow and there are times when there are a lot more information given then I think was needed.
Other than that I would recommend it. Lots of twist and turns and kept me guessing on what was really going on.

The story centers around what I believe to be an amazing hotel. Located in Maine, the author did a wonderful job with imagery and the property sounds to be out of this world. While the Precipice sounds like a place I want to visit the owners are people I want to avoid.

When Mr. Bishop dies, his daughters all fly in for the reading of his will, and a hurricane. This delightful cast of. characters; the maid, the sisters, the manager all combine to make a funny, suspenseful but lengthy story.

With more twists, turns, and murders that I can count, One Big Happy Family is not all that it seems. This will be a popular summer read!

ONE BIG HAPPY FAMILY
BY: JAMIE DAY

About 4.5 Stars happily rounded up!

I tried this author who is new to me and thought overall that it is a good locked room mystery-thriller combination. It is written by Jamie Day and the title chosen is a perfect fit called, "One Big Happy Family." I'm being facetious because if you looked up the phrase 'dysfunctional family' in the dictionary you would view a portrait of this unhappy group. Add in a hurricane where there is no cell phone service, deliberately destroyed WiFi, and a murderer on the loose and things start getting creepy. Charlie Kelly is a maid who is nineteen years old and she depends on her wages, tips and her beloved Nana's Social Security check to be able to keep her small apartment. Charley would do anything for her Nana who is suffering from dementia because they have always been close. Charlie never met her father and her mother died of a drug overdose leaving her Nana to take care of Charlie and love her. Now it's Charlie's turn to keep her Nana safe in an assisted living type of set up. The owner of the Precipice Hotel where she has worked for two years has just died. Charlie lives there in a small room off the kitchen that used to be a utility closet and is rent free with meals included.

In this atmospheric suspense driven thriller there isn't much activity to the small town in Northern Maine that overlooks a cliff drop where the ocean is choppy. The Precipice Hotel sits right on the property facing the ocean bordering a rocky cliff side. George Bishop died suddenly of a heart attack and his three adult daughters are here to meet with their father's attorney named Brenda Black for a reading of the will. Charley doesn't know if she's going to lose her job and home. It's clear that the three Bishop sisters have an ax to grind with one another.

Rodrigo was the hotel manager and he has old business to settle with Attorney Brenda Black. Charley has agreed to allow Bree to hide in one of the Precipice Hotel rooms since she's fleeing from an abusive boyfriend and doesn't have the money to pay. The three Bishop sisters Victoria, Faith and Iris have just arrived and Victoria and her husband Todd want to stay in the Library room where Bree is hiding out. Faith and her wife Hope are there with their son Oliver. Iris is driven up last with Victoria and Todd's son Quinn because Iris doesn't have a drivers license. Things do not go well at dinner and when the will is read things go from bad to worse.

George Bishop's estate with the Precipice Hotel is worth six million dollars. He wrote Faith out of the will leaving her nothing. He left Iris's money with Vicki's husband Todd as the conservator giving Victoria and Todd two thirds. Before the night is out someone will be dead.

I was impressed with the layers slowly peeling away new discoveries of why the Bishop sisters had so much animosity between them. Those discoveries take place in part two of this lengthy novel. It flashes backwards in time at which I was initially disappointed because I was so invested and couldn't turn the pages fast enough once the murders began. I never knew who would be next since everyone there had done something horrible to someone else except Charley. I soon learned how integral all of the sisters pasts where relevant to drive the present part of the plot forward making it clear that everyone except Charley had motives for murder. The character development was superb and the plot was electrifying.

I thought that this was a little longer than it needed to be. After the first murder their is a second one with nobody knowing who the murderer is including the reader makes this a clever and highly addictive reading experience. At about 20% the pacing improves and with everybody not trusting anybody the plot becomes suspense driven. There are twists after twists after twists making this a roller coaster ride that I didn't want to put down. There was an over abundance of revelations that I didn't see coming and I really liked this mystery-thriller novel very much overall. The final piece of the puzzle was mind blowing and elevates this to a 4.5 star rating which I highly recommend to mystery and thriller fans.

Publication Date: July 16, 2024

Thank you to Net Galley, Jamie Day and St Martin's Press for providing me with my ARC in exchange for a fair and honest review. All opinions are my own.

#OneBigHappyFamily #JamieDay #StMartinsPress #NetGalley

I don’t often say this but I felt like this book was a little bit long. Maybe drawn out in the middle? I kept falling asleep while reading in bed at night so it took me a long time to finish this. It wasn’t as suspenseful as I thought it would be. And there is one twist that I was not happy with because it didn’t seem believable. But all in all it was a good read.

Thank you to St. Martins publishing group and NetGalley for an advance copy of this book.

I liked way the story was broken up and it definitely kept me guessing until the end. It was a fun and suspenseful read.

2.5 Stars

I received an advanced copy of this book from St. Martin's Press via NetGalley.

"Restraining orders don’t help when someone is determined to kill you.”

At the legendary Precipice Hotel in coastal Maine, the Bishop sisters - Iris, Vicki, and Faith - gather after their father's recent passing to claim their inheritance. However, a looming hurricane and the sisters' concealed secrets set the stage for murder. As each sister contends for what's rightfully hers, the fate of the hotel's chambermaid, Charley Kelley, hangs in the balance. Charley, a resourceful nineteen-year-old with her own challenges, faces potential exposure of her secrets as the Bishop sisters' arrival threatens to unravel the delicate threads holding the precarious equilibrium.

This book had an intriguing premise, but I found the pacing to be rather slow, and the plot setup struck me as somewhat weird. The story's attempt to weave between the present and the past with the Bishop sisters' stories didn't quite resonate with me, and I felt a sense of disconnect to the overall story, drawing me out of it. There was an anticipation of something more substantial, but unfortunately, it didn't fully materialize. Despite the promising beginning, the overall experience left me with a sense of unfulfilled potential.

Thanks to NetGalley for allowing me to read this ARC by Jamie Day. I think plenty of people will enjoy this thriller, unfortunately it wasn’t my favorite. I appreciate the story and the characters, just wasn’t my cup of tea. I do recommend this one for who enjoy a slow burning mystery.

A dark and twisty locked room thriller that was just up my alley. Set in a remote area of Maine, a housekeeper of a famous old hotel finds herself in a precarious position. Her boss recently passed away and his children, whom she has never met, are all coming to read the will and discuss ownership of the new hotel. All in the wake of a vicious storm, threatening to cut off power and access to the rest of the world. Then, someone is found dead. Everything unfolds quickly and chaotically after that. Definitely a solid thriller I enjoyed!

Thanks NetGalley for this ARC, all opinions are my own.

This was my first book by this author. I had a few issues with the novel like the way Charley discovered the family secret. It seemed far-fetched the way she was able to put the pieces together. There were other things that were outlandish, but it was enjoyable enough that it kept me turning the pages to see how things would unfold. None of the characters were remotely likable, and I didn’t really find myself connecting with any. Overall it was a fine read.

“One Big Happy Family” was SO good! I was mad at my work schedule because I just wanted to finish this book in one sitting. This mystery/thriller has many unexpected twists and turns, with great pacing – it wasn’t too much or crazy over the top. While the book primarily follows Charley, the young maid, there’s enough detail and backstory on the Bishop sisters provided to give readers the big picture on the family dynamics and secrets. I recommend this book for those who love a good mystery/thriller! Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the eARC.

The Precipice Hotel is the family owned hotel where Charley is a chambermaid, working hard to support her grandmother. With the death of the hotel’s owner George Bishop , Charley’s job now depends on whether or not George’s daughters will keep her employed.

The Bishop family’s visit to the hotel is of extreme importance, but when someone in the hotel ends up murdered, Charley finds everything in her world spinning out of control. Add in a hurricane and you have the makings of a solid mystery.

While some parts of the book deliver, the plot is a bit clunky. There are several twists and turns, but they are often over explained. This takes the reader out of the story, and one twist at the very end left this reader scratching her head.

The setting of the book is perfect for classic mystery fans, with the old hotel and a hurricane brewing outside. With the decent plot, this would made a solid beach read, but nothing sets this book apart to make it special.

Thank you to NetGalley and St, Martin’s press for the ARC opportunity.
This was my first novel by Jamie Day and most likely sadly my last. I found the book very slow moving with too much going on that wasn’t pulling me in. Charley’s nana needs her help paying for rent, her mother was a drug addict who passed away, George is the owner of the hotel and was a total creep, George dies and his daughters are coming for his funeral arrangements, Charley meets a woman at a coffee shop who suddenly shows up at the hotel and needs to hide out there, Rodrigo puts in his two cents on the situation and seems to want to make matters worse. Just too much going on IMO, without caring about any of it.
Thanks for the opportunity but this wasn’t for me- DNF

Great suspense novel. The secrets, the lies and the twists all kept me on my toes. This is my first book by this author and I'm looking forward to future books.

Unputdownable! I devoured this book. The characters got a bit sappy about two thirds of the way through, but overall the book was exciting and full of thrills and mystery. Thank you #NetGalley for the opportunity to review this ARC.

This was one of the most enjoyable books that I’ve read in a while. There were some decent twists and the characters, although some unlikeable, were not annoying like many other books lately. This is a very solid, quick read!

This review was also posted on Goodreads.

⭐️⭐️
In The Eye Of The Storm ⛈️🏩 🖼️
I really wanted to like this one, but in the end, it just wasn’t for me. It took so long for me to get into it, and even then, I wasn’t invested in the characters. And the details - so many unnecessary details that only seemed to make for an unnecessarily long story. It just seemed like it was taking you in so many different directions, that it was hard to really get into.
I’m sure it’s someone’s cup of tea, though!
Charley is a broke, down on her luck maid for the Precipice Hotel. With her grandma’s nursing home fees on the rise she’s desperate to keep her job. In the wake of her smarmy boss’ passing her nerves are shot when his three daughters come into town for the funeral right as hurricane Larry is set to make landfall. Little does she know the storm of drama the Bishop sisters will bring to her doorstep, without any assistance from the hurricane.
Thanks so much to @netgalley for this ARC.
Check for this one out, July 16th!

I read The Block Party by this author and absolutely loved it. This book was good but not as great as that book. I still enjoyed this one and think it would be good to read during the summer time. I enjoy thrillers and felt this one went in too many directions and at times made it hard to keep up with what was happening. While this wasn’t my favorite I will continue to read any other books released in the future. Thank you NetGalley for the ARC!!

One Big Happy Family by Jaime Day tells the story of Charley a maid at an ocean side hotel in Maine. The owner of the hotel passes away and his 3 daughters are set to inherit it. But a Hurricane Larry is due to hit Maine in the midst of the chaos of the 3 sisters reuniting, 2 murders, romance from in the past and present. The story was interesting. The characters were developed. I wanted to keep reading to find out what happened. It’s a believable story. Thanks to NetGallery and St Martins for letting me read this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This was a bingeable and entertaining locked room murder mystery. The tone was creepy, secluded and in the middle of an expected hurricane at an eclectic, coastal hotel. I read 60% of this in one sitting. I definitely recommend for fans of locked room mysteries. I had an inkling of who the culprit was, but I didn’t guess HOW or WHY. If a mystery keeps me guessing, that’s a win. As I read an ARC, I did notice in chapter 57 toward the end, the writing switched from 1st person POV to 3rd person POV, then back to 1st person in chapter 58. There were also some punctuation mistakes throughout. I’m sure this will all be fixed by publication!