I enjoyed The Block Party. One of my favorite parts was the comments on the neighborhood online community page. So funny!

I was really impressed with this debut by Jamie Day. Set at a block party on Memorial Day, the Block Party is a dual timeline, dual point of view thriller that kept me guessing the entire time. What was so unique about this book was that not only do we not know who the killer is, but we also don’t know who was killed. I loved trying to figure it out while reading.

For this story, I was glad that the author chose to only have two narrators because there were a lot of characters to keep track of. Alex and Lettie are mother and daughter, and we get to find out what happened by having them flashback to the previous year’s block party and learn about their neighbors.

If you love a good thriller with some neighborhood drama thrown in, then this is the book for you. I loved the pacing and the writing style, however I did think there were a few too many characters to keep track of. At times I would ask myself, “who’s that?” even though they’d been mentioned before.

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

At first the story starts off a bit slow but after a few chapters I was sucked into this story. All the secrets and drama kept me trying to figure out the deal with each of the characters. It was well written and moves at a smooth pace that made the story intriguing. I definitely didn’t want the story to end and suggest others check it out if you want a good read.

Thanks to NetGalley and the Publisher for the arc.

Took me a bit to get into this book, but once I did I couldn’t put it down. So many twists and turns…. Some I saw coming and others that I didn’t. This book goes to show that you never know what goes on behind closed doors and even the “perfect” neighborhood home, may not be so perfect once you get a look inside.

We are immersed into the drama of Alton Road and its residents from page 1. with this neighborhood block party gone wrong. What happens behind closed doors doesn't always stay there... In this book, we follow Alex and her daughter Lette as they navigate family strife, new neighbors, friendships, relationship turmoil, crushes, and suspicion. I was hooked from the beginning. It's not only a who-done-it, but also a quest to find out who died. And honestly, I could see why most of the characters could have been the killer or the one who was killed.
Content warning: suicide attempt, drug use, child death

This was a super quick, twisty tourney read. I read it in almost one single setting. I love the way everyone's lives slowly intertwine, I thought the characters were interesting and well developed, and that the premise was really compelling. Overall, I had a lot of fun with this one!

This book had a lot of elements I usually really enjoy in a thriller- terrible people in a neighborhood setting. However, this one really missed it’s mark. It was incredibly repetitive.Yes I get it, Alex likes to drink. The amount of times it said “Alex always had time for a drink” got to be a bit much for me. It honestly felt exhausting to read.

In addition, everyone in this book is super unlikeable and you don’t understand the motivations of any of the characters for why they act the way they do. Unlikeable characters isn’t a deal breaker for me but I do need a little insight into their actions. Everyone was very one dimensional.

For a thriller-nothing really happened until the last 10% of the book. They alluded to a murder but you don’t know who was killed or how until the 90% mark.

I would have DNF this book except I felt I needed to finish it to write an honest review. Thank you netgalley for the arc in exchange for this review.

Such a fun read that I couldn't put down! Loved the fast paced story and the conversational tone. It was easy to follow despite the many characters and the twists kept me on the edge of my seat the entire time. Highly recommend for an entertaining end-of-summer read!

Thank you to NetGalley, Jamie Day, and St. Martin's Press for the ARC.

3.5 Stars

All neighborhoods have their secrets, how can they not with so many different personalities and backgrounds. Alton Lane is the place to live. Tight knit, upscale and full of secrets. The annual Block Party is almost like any other block party; food, games, music, catching up with neighbors…unlike others, this one includes murder! The story starts with a bang, literally, and then takes us back to the prior year and builds from there.

I love thrillers and domestic ones especially, this one just moved at a slower pace than I had hoped for. I found many of the neighbors annoying and the situations over the top. I did enjoy the separate connections between the female neighbors.

Thanks to St. Martins Press and NetGalley for this ARC. Opinion is mine alone.

It was so strange to read a murder mystery and not even know who was murdered. Yes, that is right, the reader doesn’t know who the murderer was or who was murdered!

The Block Party was definitely a page turner, with a diverse cast of characters. It is a great summer or vacation read, you know light but keeps your interest, and an ending the reader will be satisfied with.

Thank you @stmartinspress and @netgalley for the opportunity to read and review this book.

I noticed all the great reviews on this one but just did not work for me, I had to push through to finish. Many unlikeable characters. I just could not connect throughout the story. I say this has more mystery elements than thriller. Still an ok story, 3 out of 5 for me. Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin press for and e-ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Alex and her husband, Nick, live in a nice community along with their teenage daughter, Lettie. Alex us a divorce mediator and Nick is an architect.

Alex’s sister, Emily, a real estate agent, and her husband, Ken, along with their son, Dylan, live next door to Alex. Emily has just sold a nice home to Samir, Mandy, and their son, Jay.

There’s also Brooke, who became a widow when her husband fell off a cruise ship.

Alex seems to be the one that everyone counts on to do community parties and always decorates for all of the holidays. There is tension in each family and we learn their personalities and secrets.

Each year on Memorial Day, they have an outdoor party where they barbecue, play games, and drink. But one year, shots are heard and people end up dead. Whom could it be?

This is a gossipy yet real portrayal of families and all of the secrets they are hiding problems they are dealing with. For the most part, I liked the characters with the exception of the annoying Bug Man. Someone should have squashed him under their shoe. Numerous times I rolled my eyes at Lettie and her ridiculous climate change agenda. Hopefully, college will mature her. So, a good drama here that I’m sure readers will enjoy.

Copy provided by NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.

I first off absolutely love the idea of this book. I read the synopsis and was hooked from there. I couldn't wait to finish this one. I stayed up late to try to finish it and I was not disappointed. I had my suspisions on what the twist and turns were but I was fairly surprised at the end. If you love murder, secrets, and a little mystery, this is the book for you. A close knit group of neighbors who live on the same block come together and many secerets get revealed. Get ready for the block party of the century.

THE BLOCK PARTY by Jamie Day is a fun and engaging domestic suspense novel filled with secrets, lies, scandal and even murder. The residents of the exclusive Alton Road neighborhood in Meadowbrook have an annual block party, always with lots of drinking and drama. The story starts with the present-day block party when someone ends up murdered, but who is dead, who killed them and why is the subject of much gossip. The speculation takes the story back to the block party one year prior and follows all of the residents going forward leading up to the murder. Bitter rivalries and betrayals come to light and any of the characters could be to blame. Alternating between past and present, the story wraps up with a surprising twist. The comical excerpts from the Meadowbrook community pages gossiping about their well-to-do neighbors were a fun addition. I enjoyed this entertaining neighborhood drama and I thank the author, publisher and NetGalley for the chance to read and review an early copy.

First off, Suzy Jackson should be the go-to narrator of choice for female YA/NA characters! ❤️ Kudos to Megan Tusing as well. I enjoyed this listen! 🎧
As for the book itself, it was a wonderful summer read. The release date was very well timed! So many people dealing with that neighborhood summer BBQ party vibe right now! 😬 There was some back and forth with the POV shifts but it was easy enough to follow. I listened to this book in one day and was riveted from start to finish!

*Thanks to NetGalley, St Martin’s Press (ebook) & MacMillan Audio for the advance copies for review.

The perfect summer domestic thriller is here! The Block Party exceeded all my expectations and takes the reader through a year in the life of a high class neighborhood. Secrets kept by all, lies, and manipulation galore.
The annual Memorial Day block party is off with a bang, and you won’t believe the secrets that have led up to this years party.

Written from the perspective of two of the main characters, this book deals with family dynamics, teenage issues, friends, neighbors, and past grudges.

Thank you NetGalley for this advance reader copy in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC! I love a thriller and I’m often split on books about rich people doing things. This was a winner for me! I felt invested in the neighbors’ stories and enjoyed the very relatable social media neighborhood group interjections. I started to suspect some of the things that were happening, but not all, and kept my attention through the very last page.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I could see this being made into a Netflix series, or movie for HBO max. With that said, I found it a little slow.

There are a few too many characters to keep track of and you don’t find out right away who has died.

I liked how the storyline went back in tame by a year and I didn’t find the timeline to be problematic in anyway. I loved the dual perspective between the mother and daughter. I also really felt a lot of the daughters teenage angst. That character was very well established in my opinion.

Of course because this is a thriller I can’t reveal too much but it was a fun summer read.

This book has the overall feeling of a popular series for sure though, so let’s hope that happens for this author.

I want to thank NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the advance copy in exchange for my honest review.

A fun read! A block full of fun, interesting residents that all have a secret or two. The story breaks out into several families on the block and does a good job of tying everything back together in the end. It definitely has some surprises and twists. Good read! Thank you netgalley for the ARC.

The Block Party is Jamie Day’s latest thriller/neighborhood drama. The action begins during last year’s Acton Road Memorial Day Block Party and spans an entire year. The story is narrated by an alcoholic homeowner and her troubled 17-year-old daughter.

Each year Alexandra “Alex” Fox organizes the Summer Block Party for the residents of Acton Road in upscale Meadowbrook, Massachusetts. Alex is a burned-out family lawyer turned divorce mediator who has fallen off the alcohol wagon again. Alex’s husband, Nick, is a bland architect who gets rightfully frustrated with her alcoholic behaviors. They have a 17-year-old daughter, Elizabeth “Lettie”, who they grounded for half of the summer due to her vandalizing her school with spray paint. Lettie is a social outcast and is very concerned about climate change. She wants to attend college at USC but her parents want her to go to UMass instead.

Alex’s sister, Emily Adair, lives across the street with her philandering husband, Ken, and their two teen-age sons, Logan and Dylan. Logan is a lacrosse player at Syracuse University, while quieter Dylan lives in his shadow. Dylan is close to his cousin Lettie, but their relationship can be tricky since he is dating her bully/former best friend/next-door neighbor, Riley Thompson.

Alex’s best friend, besides her sister, is her next-door neighbor, Willow Thompson. Willow is 37 and estranged from her wealthy fashion photographer husband, Evan. She would like to divorce him due to his excessive partying and general irresponsibility, but she would suffer financially because of their iron-clad prenuptial agreement. Willow’s daughter Riley is the most beautiful girl at the high school.

Neighbor Brooke Bailey is a hot widow who is dating a man 15 years younger than her. Her husband, Jerry, died when he mysteriously fell off a cruise ship a little over a year ago.

The tranquility on Alton Road is a little shaken up when realtor Emily sells a vacant house to the Kumar family. Indian-born Dr. Samir Kumar is a psychiatrist while his blond wife, Mandy, is a psychologist. Their 20-year-old son, Jay, was kicked out of Northeastern and is living with them. Jay quickly befriends the lonely Lettie, while Mandy and Ken Adair are obviously attracted to each other upon meeting.

Soon Ken Adair is seen sneaking away from the back of the Kumar’s house. Meanwhile Jay helps Lettie get revenge on Riley Thompson for turning her in to school authorities. When they follow Riley, they discover that she has a romantic relationship with an older man. Lettie has to decide if she really wants to out Riley because it will hurt her cousin Dylan.

At this year’s Block Party, Alex gets drunk and falls into the kiddie pool. Nick sends her home to sleep it off and when she returns to the party two hours later, the police are there. Later in the evening someone is murdered and the reader has to figure out who and why. The author neatly wraps up everything so that the ending makes sense, but it’s still surprising.

The story itself was good but I had to make notes on the characters because there were so many intertwined relationships. I really didn’t like any of the characters, especially the two narrators; I wanted to slap some sense into them. However, the characters were multi-faceted and not always how they seemed. The plot was excellent.

I received an Advance Review Copy (ARC) from NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.