If you loved the neighborhood drama of Desperate Housewives this book is for you. I loved the interconnected drama between the families who call Alton Road home. The dual narration by the main character Alex and her daughter Lettie gives the story the depth needed for the drama to unfold across all generations.

Alton Road was similar to Wisteria Lane in all the best ways.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC of this book.

Solid summer time read. Drama, twists, and turns. The book was fuĺl of unlikable, entitled ppl, and I figured out part of the story at the 50% mark. However, it didn't take away from enjoying the read. It could have cut out a couple of chapters and still get to the same conclusion. There were a few times I found myself rereading a few pages because of how it was written. I did both the written and audio and I would say the story is better listening to the audio. Actually, the audio helped me enjoy the story that much better.

#NETGALLEY #THEBLOCKPARTY #JAMIEDAY

Book Review: The Block Party by Jamie Day
Published by St. Martin's Press, July 18, 2023

★★★☆ ☆ (3.25 Stars)
Mixed.

In author Jamie Day's debut novel "The Block Party" (2023), think "Desperate Housewives" with the glamour dialed down. Where "Wisteria Lane's" break from tedium is an annual block party.

Where "Marcia Cross" is an alcoholic divorce lawyer, "Teri Hatcher" is a go-go dancer turned socialite, "Eva Longoria", a realtor, and all three cobbled with an app developer, a photographer, a stalker, a "bug man", among a cornucopia of odd bedfellows, tucked in between an online neighborhood chat group gossiping endlessly page after page throughout the book, with the banter adding absolutely nothing to advance the plot.

But I digress.

There is, inarguably, suspense and thriller value in this debut novel. A decades-old tragedy on a cruise, slow burned but finely crafted by the author into a case of deeply fraught retribution, with all the players subtly embedded in the plot, without them even knowing it.

Much of the book, however, is centered on a black-clad teenager, not described as "gothic", but subtly inferred to as an "Antifa" wannabe, a teenage climate change vandal caught on camera yet esteemed in the narrative, a fully indoctrinated graduating high school senior, who laments to no end that her school should "...care about greenhouse gas emissions, class sizes, mental health counseling, bullying, poverty, child abuse, gender issues, race issues..."

It is at this juncture when you realize this is not a Kathy Reichs or Colleen Coble thriller. When the author begins to lose part of her audience, or at least their positive rating. Proselytizing is so trite.

And sure enough, the novel culminates in premeditated murder, a crime confessed but without a trial, joyous atonement and good cheer with all giddy singing kumbaya in a bonfire, with the finale punctuated by, wait for it, - an egg tossing championship.

// " ...Once an egg tosser, always an egg tosser..."
- from "The Block Party" by Jamie Day //

There may be an audience somewhere out there for this fine novel. But unfortunately, not this reader.

Give this one a pass.

Review based on an advance reading copy courtesy of St. Martin's Press and NetGalley.

“The residents of the exclusive cul-de-sac on Alton Road are entangled in a web of secrets and scandal utterly unknown to the outside world, and even to each other. “

On the night of the annual summer block party, there has been a murder. To find out what happened, we go back a year to see what led up to the dramatic events. The timeline alternates between last year and the present. The story is told from the point of view of two main characters: Alex and her daughter Letty. This book is filled with juicy drama. The neighborhood community forum was entertaining and wonderfully petty. It reminded me so much of one of my local town talks Facebook groups. The narration was perfect and I really enjoyed the way this unraveled. The audiobook kept kept me intrigued and in my opinion this was the perfect summer domestic suspense. I’m looking forward to more from Jamie Day!

This is the perfect summer novel! I flew this one; it is fast paced, has plenty of twists and turns, and is compelling. It starts with a murder, and you are quickly transported back to the year leading up to the block party where the murder seemingly happens. This is one of those stories where nobody is as they seem, and i really enjoyed not only the adult characters, but the teen ones, as well.
Lots of interesting characters and solid plot development. I really enjoyed this one, and I look forward to see what this author does next!
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the e-galley!

If you’re looking for a book filled with drama, secrets and murder…then this one is for you.

It’s Memorial Day and at the annual block party someone is murdered, but who and why?

The book starts with finding out that someone was murdered, but then you are taken back over the past year and find out all the secrets and scandals that have been happening in the neighborhood. Told via multiple POV’s of the neighbors, it was suspenseful and filled with drama. Everyone is unreliable, and I was surprised by the ending. It’s the perfect poolside or beach read.

I really enjoyed this book and the mysterious, interesting, secretive, reckless, and criminal residents that live on Alton Road. All the twists and turns were great and kept my interest. We follow the characters for a year which sets the scene for this year’s block party where all is revealed and believe me it turns into quite the party. This is a character driven novel and there are quite a few characters that all contribute to the story. I loved the community Facebook messages that were interspersed throughout the book. They definitely were an accurate representation of these Facebook groups. I thought the pacing was great and I was engaged from start to finish. I definitely recommend you add this one to your summer reading list.

In this book we follow Alex and her daughter Letti as they navigate the drama in their upscale neighborhood. There was a large cast of characters most of which were unlikeable. The plot was plenty of twists and turns to keep you on your toes while reading this. The entire book was a fun read and the ending caught me by surprise.

Foreshadowing is a technique that many writers overuse to the point of ridiculousness. However, Jamie Day puts a unique twist on the method in her new novel, “The Block Party.” She starts with a mystery at the end of the story and then works up to that point. The result is very effective suspense, so much so that I stayed awake until 4am to find out what was going to happen. And the ultimate revelation was worth the wait.

“The Block Party” is the story of five families in an upper-middle-class Massachusetts neighborhood whose big social event is the annual Memorial Day block party. Except, this year, the party ends with a murder, as readers learn in the first chapter. They know what happened, but not who the killer and victim were. They also don’t know most of the book’s characters, who will include the ill-fated duo. For those answers, the author goes back one year to the previous year’s party and works her way forward, season by season.

The central families in “The Block Party” all include parents in their 40s or early 50s (I’m guessing about the ages here) with high school or college-aged children. The flashbacks to the earlier year start out as something from a typical domestic drama. But, as the year progresses, events turn darker. Before the climax, readers encounter stalkers, rocks thrown through windows, an earlier death under mysterious circumstances, spouse abuse, an amateur porn operation, plenty of affairs and suspected affairs, and drug overdoses. That’s more than enough material for several books. In this author’s hands, however, the information rolls out gradually and inevitably, without the unwieldy information dumps common to stories of this type.
By the time of the climactic block party, readers will wonder why it took some characters so long to do anything. Also, there’s an ongoing guessing game about who the good and bad guys are in the book. The author deftly switches readers’ suspicions throughout the book, with several major surprise twists before the finale.

Even on the day of the party, there’s plenty of tension, including at least one major red herring about who is going to be involved in the deadly violence. And before the day is over, there are two more significant twists. I’m pretty good at guessing these types of stories, but I was surprised twice in a big way by developments that were far more complex than I first imagined. These aren’t the most fully developed characters in the world, but they have surprising depth for this type of story.

I’ve kept this plot discussion somewhat vague because I don’t want to spoil anything for readers. I do want to mention the most annoying aspect of “The Block Party,” however. The author inserts excerpts from postings on a neighborhood bulletin board several times in the book. These excerpts usually mark the change of seasons. This 21st-century suburban version of the classic Greek chorus is annoying (perhaps intentionally), as people send asinine, off-topic posts in the middle of each
conversation. However, the author uses this bulletin board to gradually provide more information about what happened at the party. Each time she does so, readers know more about what’s coming, and the guessing game becomes more complicated. The bulletin board serves a valid role in the novel, but the author could have accomplished the same thing in a less intrusive manner.

I haven’t found much biographical information about the author, Jamie Day. “The Block Party” appears to be her first novel. But it’s an accomplished thriller that far more experienced writers can’t pull off successfully. This is genre fiction of the “Gone Girl” variety, but it’s an excellent example. I didn’t care for the framing device, but any book that keeps me up until four in the morning rates five stars from me. “The Block Party” is one party readers will be glad they attended.

NOTE: The publisher graciously gave me a copy of this book. However, the decision to review the book and the contents of that review are entirely my own.

I was pretty excited for this one, but ended up being pretty disappointed. I struggled through it, and it ended up being mostly boring. All the action was saved for the end of the book. The duel narration of mother and daughter could have been fun, but only if either character had been likeable. They both were just too nosy and in everybody else's business all the time.

Overall, I wouldn't recommend this book. It just wasn't for me.

To be honest for me this was a bit slow. I was expecting a book that grabbed my attention and didn't let go--based on other comments I've read. At times I had a hard time continuing but i did so i could see how this ended. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

𝚁𝚊𝚝𝚒𝚗𝚐: 3.5⭐️
𝙶𝚎𝚗𝚛𝚎: Mystery/Thriller📚

𝙼𝚢 𝚃𝚑𝚘𝚞𝚐𝚑𝚝𝚜:
I enjoyed this one but I thought it was a little too long and not super original,

𝚁𝚎𝚊𝚍 𝚒𝚏 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚕𝚒𝚔𝚎:
Domestic suspense
Unlikable characters
Nosy neighbors
Interesting side characters
Dual POVs
OTT neighborhood drama
Lots of twists

𝚃𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚐𝚜 𝙸 𝚕𝚒𝚔𝚎𝚍:
I enjoyed reading the posts from the online community page

𝚃𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚐𝚜 𝙸 𝚍𝚒𝚍𝚗’𝚝 𝚌𝚊𝚛𝚎 𝚏𝚘𝚛:
None of the characters were likable so I wasn’t really invested
Was too long and got repetitive

The Block Party is focused on one seemingly quite street full of people who have their lives together. All is not what it seems, however, as the reader quickly finds out. The story is told in dual points of view between Alex and her daughter Lettie and spans over a year. All the neighbors on the street have secrets that they are keeping from each other as well as their own families. Some of the secrets are harmless, while others turn out deadly.

I thought this was a good domestic type thriller, but was sort of predictable at times for me. I did expect some of the twists, but was surprised by other turns. I do think it got a bit repetitive at parts, especially with Alex's drinking. I felt that the reader was knocked over the head with this information time and time again, almost wanted to roll my eyes at the frequency. I found the format to be interesting, telling the story in dual timelines and chronologically. I liked the development of the characters, but most of them were just kind of unlikeable, which is fine because you're not always going to like your neighbors, but there were few redeeming people besides Lettie honestly. Either way, I had fun reading this book, and look forward to recommending it to my friends who like a little neighborhood drama that isn't their own. I give this 3.5 stars rounded up to 4.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for an advanced copy of this book. All opinions within this review are my own.

The Block Party starts off with a bang, literally! This can’t put down novel begins with the end, so to speak and is riveting throughout the telling of the previous year’s issues and what led up to what we know are gunshots at the annual block party. But by who?

As we become invested in the lives of the families who live on the affluent cul-de-sac, with all their hidden secrets, lies and undisclosed problems, the anticipation of the ending is a continuous mystery which the reader tries to keep solving. What on earth happened at the annual block party?

Although the families all seem to know each other and get along, there is a breakdown in relationships and friendships as the year progresses. The families include:

Alex, Nick and their teenage daughter Lattie. Alex works as a marriage litigator, Nick a businessman and Lattie has recently been suspended from high school because of an incident in which someone she thought was a friend squealed on her. From the outside, the perfect family, except Alex’s drinking is out of control, Nick knows it and gives Alex an ultimatum. Lattie whose former best friend lives on the street dumped her for a new set of friends and in the process made her the laughingstock of the school. She wants revenge.

Alex’s sister Emily and Ken her husband also live on the cul-de-sac. Emily is a realtor. They have two boys Logan in college, the apple of his father’s eye and Dylan, in high school. Dylan dates his cousin Lottie’s former best friend, Riley. Ken unfortunately had a wandering eye years ago and through much counseling they worked out the issues. But Emily thinks it could be happening again.

Willow and Evan are in the process of getting divorced but are still living together on the cul-de-sac because of their high school aged daughter, Riley. Because of all her parent’s fighting she truly wishes one of them would move out. But Riley has dumped all her friends for new ones some not so nice and one in particular much older than her.

The Kumar family have just moved in. Samir is a psychiatrist and Mandy a psychologist. Their son Jay is twenty and still lives with them. He does not go to college, is working on an app and is quite the computer expert. It seems he can break into any kind of technology.

Finally, there is Brook who is a widow. Her husband fell off a cruise ship on vacation. But the gossip mill continually gives theories as to what really happened. She has no children and what she does for a living is not really known.

Oh yes, there is Bug Man who pops in and out of the cul-de-sac. Let’s just leave it at that!

And finally, there is the Meadowbrook On-Line Community Page which comments real time on what the mysterious sounds were coming from the block party.

As secrets are revealed, assumptions sometimes incorrect and with anxiety increasing on the street some of the relationships begin to crack during the year leading up to the annual party. Quite frankly something happening should be no surprise.

The Block Party is the perfect beach read with salacious gossip, sex, drugs, mystery and shocking revelations which will drive the reader crazy until the end.

Thank you #NetGalley #St.Martin’sPress #TheBlockParty #JamieDay for the advanced copy.

Thank you NetGalley, St. Martin's Press and the author for an ARC of The Block Party for an honest review.

The beginning of The Block Party drew me right in. It starts off at a Memorial Day block party where things quickly escalate and a crime occurs. I enjoyed the dual POV and alternating time lines. The books were narrated by Alex, a mom that lives on the block and her teen daughter Lettie. It was interesting to see some of the same story lines through the views of an adult vs a teen. I also liked the alternating time lines between current and the year before.

There was so much going on in this book. I did figure out some of the twists and there were a couple that I didn't see coming. I did feel that some of the book was more of a slow burn but this was an enjoyable read.

This book was not one of my favorites, There were so many characters who had somewhat underdeveloped backgrounds, it was hard to keep track of who was who. The narrative switched between mother and daughter. Mom Alex and daughter Letty tell the story of a year between Memorial Days. The switch between mom and daughter throws in a weird perspective with the YA voice for Letty. The book jumps between last years block party on Alton lane and this years party with some jumps to different seasons in between. None of the characters were particularly likeable.

This book touched on a lot of heavy topics such as alcoholism (she never takes this seriously and as someone with a family full of addicts it was hard to read), rape, suicide/mental health issues, drug abuse, infidelity, and more. I was not aware it would touch on some of these very heavy topics.

The ending was resolved in a way that felt very unrealistic. There were a few plot lines that felt very unrealistic and almost forced.

Thanks to NetGalley for providing me a complimentary copy of THE BLOCK PARTY by Jamie Day in exchange for my honest review.

The Block Party takes dysfunctional to a whole new level. Every family on the block is hiding secrets and over the course of a year things start to unravel. Cultivating into a knockout block party that ends in murder. I had high hopes for this debut novel, unfortunately it wasn't as thrilling as I had anticipated. The plot was interesting enough, I just couldn't get into the story and it never pulled me in like a really good suspense/ thriller should. The first 2/3 dragged, the last third picked up the pace quite a bit and was easier to read. Too many characters without much to differentiate them from each other. In particular the men. Those that were fans of the tv show Desperate Housewives may enjoy this over the top domestic drama.

Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for an opportunity to read and review honestly an advanced digital copy.

This was like the Real Housewives of Meadowbrook and I loved it! There was so much going on with each family but it all circled back perfectly. I made several predictions all through the book and a lot I was wrong on because that’s just how well the book was written. I love the bond that the wife’s all had how for the most part the husbands sat back or so you think. It’s a great read if you’re looking for a lot of twists and turns.

This book was a lot of fun. I enjoyed all of the characters and trying to figure out what was going on. The ending was very satisfying and this was a great mystery novel. I look forward to more from this author.

Woowee, there is so much happening on Alton Road! Somehow all of these delicious households have the picture-perfect life - until the secrets start getting revealed! Drugs, infidelity, and scandals all start to tear the seams of neighborly friendship apart.

Even better was reading some of the book from the online neighborhood forum, which felt very on-trend! I was hooked as the story unfolded and the tensions rose. The suspense kept me turning the pages and the ending was fantastic!

Thank you so much to NetGalley and St. Martins Press for the opportunity to read this eARC in exchange for my honest review!