The Block Party starts on Memorial Day. Someone has been shot. But who and why?

Think rich neighborhood with self centered occupants. Lots of drama, revenge, teenage angst, secrets and lies etc.

I love (to hate) the characters. They all had many sides to them. They will keep you guessing for sure.

A soap opera on steroids.

It did start out slow, but once it got going...wow.

I loved this one and can't wait to see what the author comes up with next.

Great for fans of Desperate Housewives and the like.

Thanks to netgalley and St. Martin's Press for the arc.

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What’s not to love about a neighbourhood block party? A lot apparently! Especially when on the night of the summer party there is a murder.
Secrets, scandals, betrayals - this neighbourhood has it all. I am so thankful to live on a very quiet street, with absolutely no talk of big summer gatherings and buffet tables.
I wouldn’t say this is the most original story, but I never once thought of not finishing. There are a lot of characters to keep track of (some are super annoying) and at times I felt it plodded along at too slowly.
Lots of drama, twists and still good summer reading.

All readers know is that there has been a murder at an exclusive block party. It takes Day taking readers back a full year for us to learn the causes and who is dead.

The characters in this book are so complex. Every one has so many layers, so much going on in their lives and in their heads. Despite the enhanced drama, these characters feel real. Day expertly plants seeds so it seems anyone could end up being the murderer and the murdered. I would recommend this book.

This story demonstrates one never knows what goes behind closed doors. Or what will be divulged during a block party.
I did find my attention wandering frequently while reading.
I didn’t particularly bond with any of the characters or all the secrets they harbored.
Sometimes it’s better to just keep to oneself.

This was an interesting thriller that really kicked it up a couple of notches near the end. Told in a dual timeline that really ups the ante and plenty of secrets that kept every character a suspect.

It was kinda a slow start but the drama really kicks in the last 20% of the book. It was interesting to try to figure out the twist but with so many red herrings it was a little difficult to keep all the motives and characters straight.

The Block Party is housewives of suburbia with murder! The book starts at a Memorial Day block party and we know someone is shot. It then takes us back a year to the last block party when everyone on the block was busy trying to look like perfect people. It is told by 2 people, Alex- a professional mediator- and Lettie- her disillusioned daughter. While at times they got too involved with their neighbors lives, their story kept me flipping pages quickly. Another reminder that everything is not always as it seems! Great summer read

I went into this book with such high hopes....
And came out the other end feeling duped and cheated.

Look, I don't want to bash the book. But, I really can't find a positive way to spin anything in this book. I am at a loss for words. The characters were all completely dreadful and unlikeable. They were the most selfish and one-dimensional characters I have come across in a long time. Not a single character had even the slightest redeeming quality from start to finish.

The plot was slow, cliche, and predictable. I wanted to put the book down and walk away from it too many times. There wasn't a thing that happened in the book that I didn't see coming from a mile away.

The ending left me with one big eyeroll. I just sat there, shaking my head, wondering if that really was it.

Needless to say, this book and I are not compatible.

I received a digital ARC from St. Martin’s Press via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions expressed are my own.

I liked the premise of this novel, but it was very slow. The second half of the novel kept my interest, and I did enjoy the ending. I just wish I felt the same way from the very beginning of the story. I look forward to what the author, Jamie Day, writes in the future.

I am just starting to get into thrillers and for the most part I really enjoy them, what with the suspense, excitement, and breath holding (which I realize I’m holding), so this one was a bit of a letdown for me. I found it just meh and not very suspenseful.
Meadowbrook, Ma has some great places to raise a family, but the one that’s best known is Alton Road. With a cul-de-sac, lots of kids, and couples who are all friends with each other, it’s really quite idyllic. All of that, plus the Memorial Day block party they throw every year make them the envy of the rest of the neighborhood- until something so disastrous happens Alton Road and it’s residents become the talk of social media for other reasons. Between stalkers, rapists, child predators, blackmailers, and alcoholics & drug addicts it turns out Alton Road isn’t so quaint after all.
I was a little confused by the way Jamie Day chose to tell this story. It starts out at the present day Memorial block party and then jumps to the previous year’s block party. In alternating chapters we are given a birds eye view of the neighborhood and the residents (that’s how I always envision third person) and a first person view from a 17 year old girl (told present tense, even though it’s still last year). Dispersed throughout the book are present day social media threads from neighbors in Meadowbrook who live on the surrounding streets meant to help move the story along. There is a lot of foreshadowing in these parts and while I didn’t see every twist, the foreshadowing definitely gave a few of them away.
I don’t know of it was the story or the writing, but something about this just didn’t jive with me. It felt pedestrian and I expect a little more excitement out of my thrillers.
Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for an advanced copy of this book. This hits shelves on July 18th.

This story centers around the rich families all living on the same cul-de-sac and is told primarily from the point of view of the mother-daughter duo Alex and Lettie (who is 17 years old). While there are a number of characters, it is easy enough to keep track of them. For me, the story would have been more enjoyable if it had centered more around the adults although there is a twist at the end that reveals why Lettie's portion of the storyline was necessary. There were plenty of secrets being kept among the neighbors.

Definite Desperate Housewives vibes. Great character development ending with a whole lotta WTF.

Solid 3… maybe 3.5… ⭐️

Thanks to #NetGalley and the publisher for early access to this book in exchange for an honest review.

📚: The Block Party by Jamie Day
⭐️: 3.5/5 (rounding down on #goodreads)

Did you ever want to be a part of a super close knit neighborhood? If so, this book could have you second guessing.

A then and now narrative between one year, we know that there’s an annual block party (on Alton Road - a big deal in Meadowbrook, MA), a lot of sirens, and a plethora of (maybe?) unreliable narrators. Including our main narrator that found herself fallen in the kiddie pool (but who are we to judge?).

A twisty ending that I didn’t see coming but that held one too many twists to feel truly jaw-dropping - but is a great beach/vacation read.

Big thanks to @stmartinspress via @netgalley for the digital ARC in exchange for an honest review. The Block Party is out next week on July 18th!

The beginnings a bit jarring as you’re just dropped into it with no lead up and then as soon as you start to get your bearings you jump back a year. The large cast of characters are all interesting but lack depth. Everyone’s fairly surface level with cliche secrets. However, the story is very plot driven and full of drama so that helps make up for it. My biggest issue was that many of Lettie and Jay’s interactions were so cringy. It’s hard to tell if it was due to writing issues or if I’m just blocking out how cringe we all were at that “cusp of adulthood” time of life. It’s probably the latter! In the end I loved how as secrets began to come out they started twisting into each other. The ending turned out to be very satisfying in a tied up in a bow kind of way.

🙋🏻‍♀️Who I’d Recommend It To:
•Anyone searching for a mash up between the reality show Real Housewives of… and the classic board game Clue.

Think twice before you move to a cul-de-sac. People who live there have too many secrets. And some secrets can be murder when found out by the other neighbors.

Overall, I enjoyed the novel but felt it did take a little longer to get there than needed. I liked thr message of women protecting women and bonding together. The drama that is in some
Neighborhoods is real and this novel reveals that.

Sadly, I was not a big fan of this one. I felt it repetitive and the concept some what tired. It could totally just be me.

Thank you to St. Martins Press and Netgalley for my Gifted copy.

Unfortunately this one was a DNF for me at about 20%. I thought this was more of mystery thriller and so far all that happened was discussing a lot of drama from the families. It kept me from being interested in what even happened at the block party.

The block party has been a buzzy debut for the summer but I’m not sure it’s worth it. In the vein of Liane moriarty. The plot follows the complicated relationships and dynamics of a group of neighbors/family members. Tensions begin simmering between these neighbors over the course of a year and it explodes into a murder at the annual Memorial Day block party. However, who was murdered by whom and why guides the plot and the flashbacks over the year leading up to the event.

While an entertaining summer read, there are many characters, many of whom seem under developed. The plot didn’t really hold my attention and some of the dialogue felt wooden. However, this is a good beach read and many people will enjoy this read.

Thanks to the publisher for providing the arc via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This book starts with a bang. Or maybe the results of a bang. We know something has happened at the annual Alton Road Summer Block Party. We know it's bad. There are rumors. Then the story goes back a year and we work our way towards that fateful day with short interludes of rumor and message board posting to remind us where we are headed. Why? Because well the story brewing over that year is messed up enough on its own that maybe we don't even need the big bang beginning or ending we are moving towards. This book probably could be a 5 star for me except for my feelings about the two narrators: Alex and her daughter Lettie. Lettie's voice is very consciously young adult. Appropriate given that she is 17 and 18 in the book. But sometimes I struggled with the choices she made. Again, probably appropriate but it rubbed me the wrong way a couple times. Her mother, Alex, however, was on my last nerve for a majority of the book. She was an alcoholic and maybe I should just avoid books with mothers who like a lot of wine. My stomach kind of curdles whenever they are a main character. I understand that the character needed to be that way but somehow it still felt a little bit much. Maybe I just don't know enough about drinking bottles of wine every night? But, other than resulting in some serious eye rolling at the narrator's foibles, there were so many secrets and so many layers in this book. Even when I put it down I was wondering what was going to happen next and how it was going to take a full year for the drama to peak with all the drama going on.

I love a good ole dysfunctional neighborhood! This book was a fun read with a number of surprises and suspenseful writing. There were quite a lot of characters to keep up with, so I found myself a little lost at times, but this family drama was still entertaining.