I wanted to like this book as I love family drama. It was just too much for me. Too many characters with too many issues, none of which were developed enough to make them come off the page as someone about whom I cared. The Block Party focuses on a row of expensive homes in a tony suburban neighborhood. Interspersed in the story were internet posts about the neighbors written by others who lived in smaller homes. It was a little much, but that is what NextDoor is really like.

The list of characters and issues : There is a brooding teenager, a possibly abusive newcomer, his possibly abused wife and their bad-boy son, a couple of cheaters, a gun toting moron frat-bro husband, a widow on only fans whose rich husband fell off the side of a ship, a mean teen who is abusing drugs and sleeping with a married man, a few busybodies and a salesman selling pest services who is called Bug Man. Bug Man makes some of the rich people very angry and is purpose in the book???? I’m still shaking my head.

I rounded this review up!

How well do you think you know your neighbors? Probably not nearly as well as you think. That’s especially true of the people of Alton Road. You see everyone has secrets, but secrets don’t remain buried forever. The Block Party is a wickedly entertaining domestic thriller that hooked me from start to finish. This will make a great summer beach read. Thanks to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for access to an eARC of Jamie Day’s The Block Party.

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-block-party-jamie-day/1141976615?ean=9781250283191&bvnotificationId=4628f84d-25f1-11ee-a167-12d9c98a7193&bvmessageType=REVIEW_APPROVED&bvrecipientDomain=gmail.com#review/253323865

See, this is why I don’t go out.

Thriller, domestic suspense, dual timelines. This cul de sac pretty much has it in for everyone but it dragged on a little for me. I had a tough time with Lettie, the high schooler and even tougher time with her Mom Alex, slowly succumbing to her alcoholism. And throw in a murder for good measure.

Block Party is a solid domestic drama debut from Jamie Day - and it is definitely a good pick for a summer read!

The upscale homes on Alton Road look perfect from the outside - but inside, each family hides secrets and lies that will impact the entire neighborhood… eventually resulting in a murder at the annual neighborhood block party. The book chronicles the events of the year leading up to the murder, and is told from the perspective of Alex (3rd person POV) and her daughter Lettie (1st person POV) as they slowly begin to unravel the secrets that their neighbors are keeping - while trying to keep their own hidden.

This book started off very slowly for me - I actually put it down and returned to it a few weeks later. But once I hit the 40% mark, I felt really invested in the characters and I couldn’t wait to find out what happened to them. This is more of a character-driven drama than a thriller, so there weren’t really any twists but there were definitely certain elements of the plot that I didn’t guess while reading them. It was really unique how the book was told from both an adult and a YA perspective - it took a bit to get used to the switch in POV but I ended up really liking it.

My favorite element of the book was the super fun commentary provided by glimpses of the town Facebook group/message board - it made me laugh because the posts were exactly what I feel like I experience in my own town’s page on a regular basis!

Thank you to St. Martin's Press for the ARC!

You know that book about the close neighborhood where everyone is besties with everyone around them even though they have so many secrets they barely know each other. Sure. You know it. Their kids are weirdly all connected even though they don’t like each other much. Their all sterotypes like the end of The Breakfast Club. And one of the moms general drinks wine like a marathon runner drinking water. You know it. This is it. Again.

There are no likeable characters here. The story is OK. There are some final scenes that bring the whole story together. It’s light summer murder reading. Which is so weird to say. But you’ve read this book. You know.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/ 5 Stars

Happy Pub Date to Jamie Day and The Block Party! Thank you to St, Martin’s Press, NetGalley, and Jamie Day for allowing me to read an ARC (Advanced Reader Copy) for an honest review!

I’ve been looking for a good thriller that keeps me both engaged and guessing until the very end. And boy, did Jamie Day deliver by providing me with the debut novel I didn’t know I needed! I suggest reading this book soon because I have no doubt that it will be picked up and made into a series. You’ll want to be ahead of the producers. Plus, we all know that the book is better than the show/movie!

I’m so thankful 🤗 that I was able to complete this book 📖 as a Buddy Read with friend, Raven, who was also approved for this ARC.

The Alton Road annual Memorial Day Block Party started with a bang 💥….two to be exact. Neighbors from nearby streets immediately hop on the neighborhood’s electronic distribution list and start asking questions and making assumptions. Cops 👮‍♀️ arrive to manage the crime scene and begin investigations. The storyline travels back in time and brings you to modern day so that you can help determine “whodunnit” and why.

Day’s writing is superb and character development is on point. She has you believing that every neighbor on Alton Road knows something about one neighbor while having it out for another. She keeps you guessing all throughout. The women in the book are flawed but genuine and strong. They are simply humans struggling with their emotions, justice, and their conscience. Will the neighbors of Alton Road make it out alive? That’s for me to know and you to find out!

Themes:
🍷 Dependency on alcohol
🔍 Stalking
⚠️ Sexual Assault and Misconduct
💔 Broken Relationships
😈 Revenge Plots
💰 Blackmail
🤫 Secrets
💊 Mental Health
🧬 DNA Results
🦂 Betrayal
💭 Multiple POV

I enjoyed this book a lot!

This book reminded me of Such A Quiet Place at times. They both feature a party as a major plot point and utilize a neighborhood chat board.

There is tons of neighborhood drama and some twists that kept me on my toes.

The timelines could have been defined a little more concretely. There were times that I wasn’t sure if I was reading in the past or the present because the block party was an annual thing.

I also kept getting a couple of male characters confused with each other for quite awhile. They were very central to the plot, but I didn’t feel like we saw enough of them to solidify who they were to the story. Or maybe I was just not paying close enough attention.

There were some parts of the story that I didn’t personally love, but I did think that it all came together well in the end. Check TW/CW because some content could be heavy at times.

This cul-de sac neighborhood's block parties are everything and more! Throw is murder, secrets, lies, abuse, drugs, alcohol and more and mayhem ensues and now you have a party worthy enough to have a community blog write about it and it's residents. While I found this book to be slow and drawn out in parts it was still full of twists and turns that made you want to read faster.
Thank you to Netgalley, St Martins press and the Author Jamie Day for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review .

The residents who live on Alton Road hold an annual block party every summer. The entire block turns out, and it is a huge bash. This year it will definitely be one to remember, because on top of the fun, and the usual drama that goes on, something else happens... someone gets murdered.

The story is told in alternating chapters between one year before, and the day of the block party, as well as feeds from the local online gossip app. First. let me say that the gossip feeds were hilarious. You could have changed the names and the topic and the sniping on there would have sounded just like the local Nextdoor feed that I refuse to read the comments for. Then there were the residents of Alton Road. .You know they say you never truly know what goes on behind closed doors. Every single house on Alton Road had at least one (and most had more than one) secret that it was harboring......and boy were those secrets juicy. This book would make the perfect beach or pool day read. Have a nice tall glass of something cool to drink by your side and you will be set, because once you crack this book open, and start delving into everyone's secret lives, you aren't going to want to put it down. I guarantee it.

Secrets and treachery surround the seemingly happy residents of Alton Road. A shocking murder the night of the annual block party brings everything to light.

The Block Party is a stand-alone thriller. This suspenseful novel will have readers second guessing throughout with all of its wild twists.

I liked the author’s use of the neighborhood chat to break up the drama and to add background information on the residents. Each of the households has such a unique side story. I was invested from the very first page.

If you’re in the mood for a murder mystery and looking for something with a summery vibe, The Block Party may be just right for you. I will definitely be looking for more books from Jamie Day in the future.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own. Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press!

The perfect summer read! A twisty, fast paced thriller that grabs your attention from the start until that surprise ending!!

Drama, drama, and more drama!! And I was here for it all!! It’s that one block party you wish you weren’t invited to but could watch everything as it was all unfolding behind the scenes kind of view. The conclusion of this debut book was great! I can’t wait to see what this author does next! The audiobook was engaging and truly brought all these moving pieces together!

Thank you to NetGalley, St Martin Press and MacMillan Audio for an ARC & ALC in exchange for my honest review!

What a wild ride this book took me on! It had a lot of interesting characters and I really got sucked into the neighborhood drama of it all. I loved the ending, it was a great complete circle and I had NO clue what was going to happen. Bravo.

Happy publication date 7/18/2023 ! Thanks Netgalley , author Jaime Day and St.Martin’s Press for sharing the ARC.
Engaging debut novel, i would classify this more as domestic drama with twists and reveals instead of a thriller . It’s all about Messed up family dynamics, teenage drama , all living in the same street on a upscale neighborhood offering drama and gossips galore . Narrates from mother and her teenage daughters perspective the story goes back and forth between an event that transpires on Memorial Day to all the way a year before which explains what lead to the present moment.
If you likes shows like Desperate Housewives or books like Little Fires Everywhere this would be a perfect pick for you . Do not go into this expecting it to be a suspense thriller , while there are certainly elements of twists and reveals its party of story telling that you’ve got to go through in the entirety.
It’s a 3.75 / 5 star read for me .

**Many thanks to NetGalley, St. Martin's Press, and Jamie Day for an ARC of this book!**

Neighbor (noun): A person in relation to his fellow-men, regarded as having social and moral duties toward them. (The Century Dictionary)

Though there are MANY definitions of the word neighbor, when it comes to THIS block and social and moral obligations?

Let's just say...they're in SHORT supply!

Alton Lane is a neighborhood full of deep pockets and deeper secrets, and the adjoining neighborhoods have no trouble calling them out online for their scandalous and sometimes snooty behavior. But when a MURDER takes place after one Memorial Day block party, all of the gossip is for once well-deserved...and NOBODY quite knows what happened...or who took the fall!

Alex is a mediator by day...and ends up being a natural problem-solver for the neighborhood by night. Her teenage daughter Lettie is out to save the world (or at least try) and they live with Alex's husband Nick, a seemingly perfect guy. When Lettie casts her eye on devastatingly handsome bad boy Jay Kumar, however, she may be getting in deeper than anticipated...and a bid for revenge on a certain someone may go a bit TOO far. Willow, another neighbor, is in the midst of a divorce. Alex's sister Emily lives on the block too with her husband Ken, not to mention gorgeous Brooke Bailey, each with secrets and tangled webs of their own.

One night, the four women of the aforementioned group get a bit tipsy and decide to play Two Truths and a Lie...and when widowed Brooke casually mentions that she killed her former husband as one of her statements, NOBODY knows whether to take her seriously or not. Is this the most dangerous secret of all...or could one of the OTHER women have an even darker secret under wraps....or are they the guardian of someone ELSE'S deadly secret?

Jamie Day had me engaged for a while...the first 25-30%, let's say. Although there was a fairly large cast of characters (and more than I felt were necessary honestly, even in a book about a whole neighborhood block) they had enough defining characteristics to keep them separate in my mind. That being said however, there was one through line with this cast....they were all sort of awful people. And on top of that, we got to hear about the character's traits OVER AND OVER to the point where I was almost rolling my eyes. Alex, for example, has a drinking problem...and not only will she acknowledge her heavy drinking to herself ad nauseum, but all the characters around her are constantly mentioning it too. Then there's daughter Lettie who's dedication to the environment, saving the planet, and curbing the effects of climate change are certainly admirable....BUT they didn't need to be repeated endlessly. It started to feel less like character development and more like the author didn't trust the reader to even be paying attention.

This does capture all of the trademarks usually found in Domestic Suspense. Since it does fit squarely in the genre, in that aspect, Day IS successful. Failing marriages, lies, divorce, affairs emotional alienation, bullying...this a veritable therapist's playground. (Well...in a manner of speaking). But where this book started to lose me was in its ridiculously LONG timeline where we have to follow these characters for an entire YEAR. I think tiny clips and blips from the past would have been fine, but there was no universe where this book needed to be this long. Even though it clocks in below 400 pages, with the uneven pacing and sometimes slow-moving plot, it felt closer to 500 for me. The twists weren't OVERLY predictable, but weren't too big of a stretch either and by the time they were revealed, I was pretty checked out anyway.

Much you like you can't choose your family, you can't always choose your neighbors either. And although I've lived in my new neighborhood for a little over a year now and still only know a few names...after reading about this motley crew, I think I'd rather be Home Alone....or rather Alone, in my Home! 🏠 😉

3.5 stars

This one pulled me in all different directions. There’s part mystery and a whole lot of drama. It made me grateful to not live in this neighborhood because it harkens back to high school drama but magnified. The good - well developed characters and a definite plot filled with intent and red herrings. The bad - I felt that a lot could be trimmed to help move the storyline along. Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the read.

Thank you St Martins Press for this advanced e-copy of The Block Party. This was just an ok read for me. I really thought it was going to get extra juicy, but unfortunately it was a bit of a let down. Not saying there wasn’t some pretty devious things going on, both in the present and the past, but other than a few nail biters there wasn’t much else. The character development was what kept me going. I really wish it could have been tied up a bit sooner than it was. The story just drug out a little too long and was mostly pretty predictable. This had major potential, but didn’t hit home for me.

Wow! Alton Road is certainly full of surprises and interesting folks. You might see you or someone you know in these characters. You may recognize these real-life situations. Lettie is at a difficult phase in her life but I enjoyed watching her mature. Oh, those middle/high school years. The ladies of Alton Road have formed an unbreakable bond. How lucky are they? Course it wasn’t an easy road to get there. I loved the story line and the characters. I received this book from NetGalley, but my opinion is my own.

Small town suburbia has a bevvy of secrets and when you throw murder into them, it becomes a completely un-put-down-able combination. This is one of those clear an afternoon type of books. Jamie Day has created enough drama to keep you hooked. If you like that side of tiktok where people are dishing drama, this book is for you. Add as dash of murder, it's a perfect combo.

Thank you St Martin's Press for the galley!

DNF @ 60% - I really thought I was going to finish strongly in this one, but it could not hold my interest one bit. if I had finished it, it probably would have sat at around 2 stars because I appreciate the author and her research into this thriller. however, I just found the characters super unlikable (and not in a good way), and the plot was too weak to hold it together.

The Block Party, by Jamie Day

Short Take: You can stop looking, I’ve found your next beach read.

(*I voluntarily read and reviewed an advance copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.*)

Hello Duckies, and welcome to the middle of summer! It’s that time of year when snow cones just mean melting and stickiness, going for a swim sounds like too much work, and will my jerkbutt neighbors EVER stop it with the fireworks???

Neighbor problems are just one blip on the map of problems Alex is facing. Sure, she has a killer career as a divorce mediator, but she’s paid well because the work does a number on her psyche. That would be a lot for anyone, but she also has a daughter who’s a delightful combination of sullen and angry, a sister whose obsessions are going to destroy her marriage, a touch of alcoholism that’s rapidly ballooning toward out-of-control, a capital-L Lifestyle in the best neighborhood to maintain, and a new neighbor who may be a victim of domestic abuse.

Plus, it’s her job to host the annual neighborhood block party, where, as the story opens, someone has just been murdered.

Our narrators are Alex, her daughter Lettie, and snippets from the neighborhood facebook page, and let me tell you, the author captured the weirdness of social media pages perfectly. Lettie and Alex are decent characters, if a little infuriating (I swear, they both make the wrong choice pretty much every single time).

I’ve seen a fair amount of criticism over the story being another Desperate Housewives knockoff, and I can see the similarities. You have the rich people with scummy secrets, the twists that are drizzled out at just the right pace, and a picture-perfect setting. And yeah, I suppose that to some people that’s a turnoff, and to be very honest, if I weren’t just coming off of the horrible, terrible, awful, worst-thing-I’ve-ever-read Behold The Monster, I might also have more issues with this one. But it was exactly the literary comfort food that I needed in that moment, and I enjoyed it immensely.

The Nerd’s Rating: FOUR HAPPY NEURONS (and a Japanese Slipper, my new favoritest drink.)