Although I have heard a lot of good reviews on this book, I really struggled getting involved in it. There are quite a few characters to keep track of. It took me about midway to really connect. Much like Knot's Landing or Desprate Housewives - there are a lot of secrets on Alton Road. On the night of the annual summer block party there is a murder and we go back one year to get some answers. The author does a nice job of tying up all the loose ends of the many storylines.

This is a tough one for me to review; in many respects, I found it a bit cheesy and stereotypical - you have the neighborhood drunk, the neighborhood tramp, the neighborhood cheater, the neighborhood dysfunctional couple. I also struggled to connect or relate to any of the characters, which I really need to do if I'm going to fully immerse myself into the story. But on the plus side, it was a twisty storyline that kind of flitted all over the place to keep you guessing throughout the entire story, which was fun - every time I thought I knew where it was going, it did an about face and I was in the dark and guessing again. And the author did a great job of weaving multiple, seemingly unrelated storylines and wrapping them up into a nice package by the end. So overall, a decent debut by an author that has potential to be great. Looking forward to what she might write next!

Do you know your Neighbors? After reading this book, you may decide not to!

Block Parties sound fun don't they? Food, fun, festivities, and frosty beverages. What's not to like? The residents of Alton Road gather once a year for a totally wicked time, their Block Party. Little did they know someone has murder on their minds.

Going back in time we learn about the families, friends, and enemies who live in this neighborhood and we discover all the reasons why.

A domestic drama that was entertaining though it felt a little soap-opera-ish to me.

Thanks to NetGalley, St. Martin's Press and MacMillan Audio.

The Block Party by Jamie Day is her debut novel.

The Block Party is based over two time periods and two point of views between the mom, Alex and her daughter, Lettie. I was not a big fan of Lettie throughout the book but felt she redeemed herself towards the end.

One of my favorite parts of the book was the neighborhood online chat. It is so relatable to how you see them online. I also really liked the ending and how all the loose ends came together.

One con is that there are several additional characters/neighbors to keep up with. I think the author did a fairly decent job with them though. it was a bit confusing at times and took me a bit to remember who everyone was.

I enjoyed this book overall but did find some parts slow and drawn out. If you like drama, mystery or trying to find out the ending you would like this!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC of this book. All opinions are my own.

The Block Party
⭐️⭐️⭐️.5
Author: Jamie Day

I requested a digital advanced readers copy from NetGalley, St. Martin’s Press and Macmillan Audio and providing my opinion voluntarily and unbiased.

Synopsis: On the night of the annual Summer block party, the Meadowbrook community Facebook page lights up with posts reporting sirens descending on the desirable and exclusive cul-de-sac neighborhood on Alton Road. Bit by bit, the comments trickle in, some taking pleasure in their neighbors’ misfortune and others showing concern. The truth eventually comes out. It's not an accident, or a drowning, or a fire, as some had predicted. For the first time in forty years, there's been a murder in Meadowbrook.

The residents of Alton Road—The Fox family, the core of the neighborhood but each with secrets of their own; the Adair Family, the seemingly perfect all-American family; the Thompson Family, on the brink of an explosive divorce; The Kumars, the mysterious "new neighbors"; Brooke Bailey, the "Black Widow"; and Gus Fisher, the quirky salesman— are entangled in a web of secrets and scandal unbeknownst to the outside world and even each other.

Who was murdered at the block party? Who committed the murder? And why? As the night unfolds, the residents will discover that the real danger lies within their own block and nothing—and no one—is ever as it seems.

My Thoughts: The residents of Alton Road are a memorable bunch. Each has a secret or two. There is betrayal, lies, manipulation, and a web of secrets. The story opens with a bang of a murder and slowly builds backwards with secret upon secret mixed with betrayal and whoa. There are a plethora of characters to sort through, but it is worth it once you get it down.

Mandy and Samir Kumar are the newest residents with adult son Jay. The Fox family consisting of Alex and Nick with daughter Lettie. The Adair family consisting of Emily and Ken with sons Logan and Dylan. The Thompson family consisting of Willow and Evan with daughter Riley. Brooke Bailey stands on her own, losing her husband when he went overboard during a cruise. Alex drinks too much and her sister, Emily is the local real estate agent. Emily’s trust in her husband to remain faithful is being tested when he shows interest in Mandy. Lettie and Riley are enemies. Riley was dating Dylan. Lettie teams up with Jay to get “revenge” on Riley for ratting her out at school. The story is narrated by Alex and Lettie, in their POV, with a little social media transcripts sprinkled in. The story opens up in present day Memorial Day and builds backwards over the last year with the incidents and building of the characters. The characters were well developed with depth, banter, mystery, and creatively built. The author’s writing style was complex, twisty, suspenseful, and engaging. The author does a great job with the flow and pace of the book, building the plot with secret unraveling and twisty layers, and the ending was whoa when all of the secrets came tumbling down.

The frog and the scorpion story is a classic and likely my favorite scene from the book. This was more of a neighborhood/domestic thriller. It is a Desperate Housewives vibe mixed with deception, betrayal, and a plethora of secrets. I had the pleasure of having both the digital and audiobook arc of this novel. I preferred the audiobook. I would recommend picking up this novel. For a debut novel, it was entertaining and fun to read at the same time.

Give me all the neighborhood drama stories. The Block Party was a great summer read that I enjoyed poolside. This was a fun read that kept me entertained. and one I would recommend adding to your TBR.

On the night of the annual summer block party, there has been a murder. Who did it and why? This book takes readers back one year earlier and no one and nothing is as it seems.

I had high hopes for a neighborhood drama thriller, but it didn’t end up being the page turner that I was itching for.

I liked the dual mother/daughter POV, but the plot was a bit slow for me. I almost wish it jumped between the past and present throughout the book to keep the pace of the hook up, but the present was only at the beginning and then abruptly at the end.

Not my personal pick for a thriller, but kept me distracted while on the Peloton.

If you like snooping on your neighborhood’s NextDoor page, this is for you! It’s a juicy neighborhood drama, and I will say the neighborhood chats were by far my favorite part. 🤣

That being said, if you like scandalous neighborhood dramas, I think you’ll like this one! If you are hanging on to that last bit of summer this year, pick this one up before diving into spooky season reads. It’s one of those scandalous dramas where everyone has a secret. And can I say the neighbor with an OnlyFans account was the most grounded!? 🤣

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the copy in exchange for my honest review.

4.5 stars
Block Party is a scandalous summer neighborhood thriller. This story has a whole host of interesting characters, intertwining relationships, and a lot of shocking, even lurid backstories. It’s full of dark secrets and a whole lot of enticingly good fun! This rich neighborhood showcases families behaving badly, though they are somehow redeemable and sympathetic for the most part. Everyone is shocked, but no one is really surprised when the worst happens.

Our story starts at a Memorial Day block party in the present day, while the majority of the story reflects back on the block party from last year, and the events leading up to the present day. When a person ends up dead, the story takes off and boy are there a lot of twists, turns and potential victims.

The characters in this story, admittedly, have a lot of secrets to keep buried, but somehow the author makes you feel for them, at least to an extent. They certainly have issues, but the women of the block are also quite close to one another and seem to truly care. Jamie Day seems to strike the right balance of grey characters full of shady choices who somehow aren’t wholly reprehensible, but oddly understandable.

Block Party is a juicy, dark drama that also strikes a deeper note that feels important to ponder. It’s a lot of twisted, toxic fun, but it’s also a contemplative and satisfying thriller. I’m thoroughly impressed with the debut novel!

Thank you to Jamie, St. Martin’s, and Netgalley for an advance copy of The Block Party.


Alton Road is a cul-de-sac of secrets with it’s wealthy residents proving that money can’t buy class. The annual block party kicks off with booze and fake smiles but ends in murder. Told from multiple points of view in the year leading up to the murder, we get a glimpse into this posh world where nothing as it seems and many neighbors have secrets worth killing for.

This was a fantastic summer read, perfect for devouring poolside while sipping on white claws.
An entire cast of unlikable characters makes for a fun ride when you’re trying to figure out who dies and who committed the murder, anyone can go and I’m cheering for all of them to fail! I know there are readers who don’t enjoy those types of books, but I love a roster of ‘love to hate’ characters as long as they’re entertaining.

I loved the comic relief of the neighborhood facebook group comments in between chapters.

The pacing was good, I enjoyed the short chapters and the story moving along quickly leading to quite the reveal at the ending tying up all of the loose ends that were introduced throughout the pages.

I love a good neighborhood thriller, so I was excited to get my hands on this one.

The Alton Road Memorial Day block party is the event to be at each year, but this one’s different – someone is dead.

Rewind a year and we meet the cast of characters. There’s Alex Fox, the queen bee of the neighborhood, and her husband Nick and daughter Lettie. There’s Alex’s sister, Emily Adair, and her philandering husband Ken, and two sons. There’s young widow, Brooke Bailey, who’s rumored to have killed her husband. There’s divorcing Willow and Evan Thompson, and their daughter, Riley. And then there’s new neighbors Samir and Mandy Kumar, and their delinquent son, Jay, who come to the street and set in motion a year no one will soon forget.

Told through dual points of view, we follow the goings-on on Alton Road that lead up to the fateful block party murder and whodunit.

For fans of Desperate Housewives and Big Little Lies, this delicious drama was full of twists and turns that made for one satisfying beach read.

Thank you to NetGalley, Jamie Day and St. Martin’s Press for an early copy of this book for an honest review.

This must be the most dysfunctional group of neighbors! Each year the street holds a block party, which becomes deadly. Gun shots are fired and the police arrive. But who is dead? We are taken back to the year before where we learn about all the crazy things going on. Many, many secrets are revealed. Many are really bad, but also some positive things happen in some of the relationships.

I really enjoyed this book. The different POVs and how it went from the past up to the present. So much drama from beginning to end., I couldn’t stop reading.

This was a fantastic debut novel! I loved that while it was a thriller it also had the drama with the neighborly gossip. I devoured this one!

Thank You to St Martin's Press and NetGalley for an advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

If you are friends with your neighbors and think you know all there is to know, think again. Do you really know what happens behind closed doors, could they harbor secrets you know nothing about and would never suspect.
This is the truth for neighbors living in a cul-de-sac, including sisters, that organize a block party every summer.
The story is told over a year's time beginning with the arrival of a new family moving onto the street and the following summer's party. The story is told in a back and forth style between summers from the perspectives of many individuals, concluding with a very dramatic explosion of truths.

This was a thrilling ride of constant revelations with a cast of well formed characters, leading to a surprising finale.
I would recommend this book to anyone looking for a fast paced well of secrets showcasing the fact that nobody really knows their neighbors the way they really think they do.
Fantastic Book!!!

🪑 I’m pretty impressed by this debut novel! There was a lot going on and I thought the author juggled the various narratives well.

🪑 The story is told from two time periods (one year apart) and two POVs – Alex and her daughter Lettie. If I’m honest, I really couldn’t stand Lettie. She annoyed me tremendously. I also hate it when the adult female MC is an alcoholic in books like this. It is a big turnoff for me when that stereotype is used.

🪑 There are a ton of side characters to keep up with. I think the author did a good job with such a large cast, but I must admit I was getting a little bit lost as a reader. It took me a while to get the hang of who everyone was.

🪑 One of my favorite elements of the book was the neighborhood online chat. I can’t tell you how many chats like that I’ve read in real life. The author nailed just about every demographic possible!

🪑 Overall, I think the author created a complicated tale and an interesting murder mystery. While I had a few nitpicks, I do think it was a good read. I look forward to her next book.

Thank you @NetGalley and @stmartinspress for an eARC of this book, which I have reviewed honestly and voluntarily.

The book opens on present day, someone is murdered, you don't know who, and then the book shifts to one year prior. I really enjoyed the shift in the book as this is where the reader gets all the background on everyone in this small subdivision. As I got to know everyone, I had to restrain myself multiple times from jumping to the end to see who got murdered and who the murderer was. The author wove an intriguing mystery that kept me guessing to the very end.

The novel opens with a party taking place on Alton Road in the Meadowbrook Community. It is the annual Memorial Day block party and Alex, part litigator and part neighborhood busy body, is in charge, again. Very quickly we learn that a murder has taken place, and the neighborhood is buzzing as to who the victim might be.

Then we jump back in time a year, to be introduced to the families on Alton Road, their dramas, and see what might have led to a murder. We have two narrators, Alex, and her teen daughter Lettie, who clues us in as to what is happening with the younger set on Alton Road.

The things I liked in The Block Party, first, lots of drama! Drama on overdrive. Everyone has secrets or dirty laundry and we slowly begin to discover it all. I liked that even though there were a multitude of characters, I was able to keep them separate in my head and distinguish between them fairly quickly, which is not always the case. I've read some books with a lot of players that it takes me until three quarters of the way through the book to keep them straight.

I also liked the fact that I couldn't guess the answer to the mystery. And I also liked that there was more than one mystery, in fact there were several! Also, if you hate how some mystery dramas have such quick wrap ups of the story at the end when everything is being solved, than you'll like ending. It is deliberate, it is explained, it is not rushed. And then we even have an epilogue, where we visit the key players a year later. So all this was enjoyable.

On the complaint side, I did think the novel was quite a bit too long. I listened to the audiobook, and although it was well done, I wanted to hurry through at parts because I felt we were going over old ground. Some judicious editing would have made this a tighter, more intriguing book, at least for me.

Overall, though, I really enjoyed The Block Party, and it was a book that made me want to finish it and find out the answers. I would give it a 3.5 stars, but I'm rounding up because I do think it was good writing, just long.

Thank you to NetGalley, the author, and St. Martin's Press for allowing me to preview this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

<b>The Short of It:</b>

If you like neighborhood drama, in that “train wreck” can’t look away category, The Block Party is your book.!

<b>The Rest of It:</b>

The folks on Alton Road are about to host their annual summer block party. The anticipation is palpable as the neighborhood prepares their dishes, opens up the wine, and settles in for a lovely evening. What they don’t anticipate is the sound of sirens blaring through the neighborhood. You see, there’s been a murder.

The author takes us back to Alton Road a year before the murder. As a reader we are introduced to each household and all of their secrets. There’s an alcoholic in denial, paternity questions, teens battling depression and worse. As a reader, I had the feeling that I was listening in on private conversations. It’s deliciously wicked and at times so stressful! I was wondering how the author would carry that pace throughout but Jamie Day does! I could not put the book down. Every time I picked it up it was like returning to a favorite show.

The Block Party was just what I needed. Flawed characters. Secrets. Beautiful people with a lot of insecurities. All living in gorgeous homes with manicured lawns. It’s as if someone lit a match and set the neighborhood on fire because it is non-stop drama. I loved it.

For more reviews, visit my blog: <a href="http://bookchatter.net">Book Chatter</a>.

The Block Party by Jamie Day is a novel about a highly dysfunctional upper-middle class cul-de-sac. Told at 2 different points on time from 2 points of view, it has quite the build up to great reveal(s). Maybe just slightly too loud and drawn out. One point of view is Alex, the mommiest mom in the cul-de-sac, with a wine drinking problem and penchant for getting involved in everyone else's problems. The other point of view is Alex's teenage daughter Lettie. These chapter have a very YA feel to them. Lies, deceit, misunderstanding, murder and mayhem ensue in the year this books takes place.

My favorite parts of the book are the neighborhood message boards and there's just not enough of those in the book!

Overall a fun read that has that YA vibe for about half the book and slogs a little along getting to the conclusion.

Thank you to St. Martin's Press and Netgalley for an advanced readers copy of this book for my honest opinion.