This review will be posted on July 18, 2023 to: https://instagram.com/amandas.bookshelf

A murder takes place at a neighborhood block party in the opening pages. Then, the novel rewinds to the block party held the year before. As the year unfolds over the pages, we learn more about the families who live in the sprawling McMansions. They all have great curb appeal, but once you start digging, theres a LOT beneath the surface. This novel kind of reminded me of Knots Landing, the primetime show from the 80s that focused on a southern California cul-de-sac. Like the show, the novel focused on a lot of domestic drama, which isn't necessarily a genre I like. However, you needed that background to understand the murder in the present-day. #TheBlockParty Rating: somewhere between 😐 / meh, it was ok AND 🙂 / liked it
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This book is scheduled for publication on July 18, 2023. Thank you @stmartinspress for providing me this digital ARC via @NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

A compulsively readable novel you will be unable to put down! The characters are relatable and feel real, if a little nutty, and their lives are diverse and complex. The timeline is a little bit confusing at first although it quickly sorts itself out and you become embroiled in the problems and issues of these characters. No one is all good, no one is all bad. Real life, albeit maybe a bit juicier, on the page. I loved it!

What a fun twisty read!

The Block Party is about a rich cul-de-sac group of people who are friends, their lives intertwined in different ways. With that comes a lot of drama and mystery as their secrets are revealed. What happened at the block party? The neighbours who weren't invited all want the inside scoop!

Highly recommend - this is the perfect summer thriller

Told in dial points of view, this twisty thriller will take you for a ride, nothing and no one is who they seem. An excellent debut novel by Jamie Day. Looking forward to more books by the author
Thank you to Net Galley, St. Martin's Press, and Jamie Day for the advanced readers copy in exchange for my honest review.

Alex and her teen daughter Lettie tell this tale of murder in suburbia- but who has been killed and why? This starts with the neighborhood Memorial Day party and then moves back a year to bring the reader into the lives of the various residents. While there are a lot of characters and you won't be able to tell initially who is important, it's not hard at all to keep them straight. No one, btw, is especially likable (not even the narrators). This is becoming a familiar plot- privileged (but not all) neighbors with grudges and secrets- but Day's got good storytelling skills that make this a page turner, Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. No spoilers from me!

The Block Party by Jamie Day
Published: July 18, 2023
St. Martin’s Press
Genre: Domestic Thriller
Pages: 367
KKECReads Rating: 4/5
I received a copy of this book for free, and I leave my review voluntarily.

Jamie Day lives in one of those picture-perfect, coastal New England towns you see in the movies. And just like the movies, Jamie has two children and an adorable dog to fawn over. When not writing or reading, Jamie enjoys yoga, the ocean, cooking, and long walks on the beach with the dog, or the kids, or sometimes both.

“Once an egg tosser, always an egg tosser.”

Alex lives on a prestigious block, where everyone is friends. Everyone knows everyone. Kids were raised together, wives have ladies' night gatherings, and they take turns hosting a Memorial Day BBQ until the truth starts coming out.

Holy. This was intense and read like a soap opera! The secrets, twists, lies, deceit, and ego were bonkers. I enjoyed the build-up and character development.

There are a lot of characters in this book, but the writing is so well done that it’s easy to keep track of everyone. I found the way each character was fleshed out to be refreshingly realistic.

The last half of this book is so intense. There are no pausing places, so I devoured the ending. As things started falling into place, my jaw hit the floor, and I could not read fast enough.

This was well-written and had such delicious, devious twists.

I wasn't sure what to expect when I started the book. I don't always like the characters in thrillers similar to this one. I was so happy to find that this book was unique. I loved the way the story was presented starting in the present and then going back a year. Presenting the story from both Alex and Lettie's perspectives was fabulous. Everything worked so well. I felt like I was part of the neighborhood. The book was paced well, and I was pulled in from the beginning. The comments from social media made me laugh because they are so realistic! I thought the ending was well done and was a very satisfactory ending. I received an advance copy from NetGalley and am voluntarily leaving a review.

Deliciously fun! A twisty domestic thriller. There are a lot of secrets on Alton Road and they all come to light over the course of a year. While there are a lot of neighbors to keep track of, the book is narrated by Alex and her daughter, Lettie. "Revenge might seem like a good idea, but everyone gets hurt in the end."

"This summer, meet your neighbors.

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.

But, who did it and why takes readers back one year earlier, as rivalries and betrayals unfold—discovering that the real danger lies within their own block and nothing—and no one—is ever as it seems."

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the free ARC in exchange for my honest review. All opinions expressed herein are my own.

I was super excited when I was approved for this book because when I read the teaser it felt right up my alley! I love when books entangle multiple people living in the same area with so many secrets and so much thrill and mystery. The foreshadowing in this book is excellent in helping the reader put the pieces together as they read along. I finished this book in two days because I could simply not pry my eyes away. Neighborhood dramas always pull me right in because I secretly love to imagine it in my own neighborhood and what I would be doing to solve things. I think that if you don’t have a hard time keeping track of multiple characters then this would be the book for you. Something about seeing a picture-perfect neighborhood having its dark secrets exposed is thrilling for us all.

An intriguing and twisty domestic suspense!!

I was happy to have both the ebook and audiobook of this novel to review. Being able to switch between the two had me finishing in just one day.

Alton Road is an exclusive cul-de-sac neighborhood in Meadowbrook. New to the neighborhood are Samir and Mandy Kumar, and their twenty year old son, Jay. Next we have Alex Fox, her husband Nick and their teenage daughter, Lettie. Across the street lives Alex’s sister, Emily, Emily’s husband, Ken and their two teenage sons. We also have Willow and Evan Thompson and their teenage daughter, Riley. And then there’s Brook Bailey, the gorgeous and childless widow.

The neighbors are all very close. The husbands have regular poker nights and the ladies have their own regular get togethers. But these people are all keeping secrets. Brewing beneath the surface is quite a bit of jealousy and anger. We will see that we often don’t know what goes on behind closed doors and that appearances really can be deceiving.

It’s an Alton Road tradition to have a block party every year on Memorial Day. However, this is the first year the police have been called.

The story takes place Memorial day present day and the same day one year earlier. It’s told from Alex and her daughter, Lettie’s point of view. Interspersed were posts to the online community Facebook page which gives insight into what is happening plus some extra local gossip.

“How did it all change so much in a single year?”

I was gripped as secrets and lies were revealed. There were many surprises. I guessed a couple of things correctly but there were a few great twists that I did not see coming.

The story touches on many relevant issues such as drug and alcohol abuse, suicide, and mental illness. There were times things may have been a bit over the top. There was also quite a few characters to keep track of. I did have to flip back a few times to check who was who. However, none of this really dampened my enjoyment of the story.

The audiobook was narrated by Megan Tusing and Suzy Jackson who really helped bring the story to life.

Overall, I thought was a very good debut novel. I am looking forward to reading more from Jamie Day.


I'd like to thank the publisher and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this novel. All opinions are my own.

The Block Party by Jamie Day is one of my favorite books of 2023 so far! From nosey neighbors to complex storylines with well-meaning characters to miscommunications and murder, the neighbors on this block are in a class all their own. I love the vibe of the plot, the title, and the cover. Told from multiple perspectives with a multimedia approach, The Block Party will intrigue you, draw you in, and quickly become a favorite summer read.

I received a review copy of this book from the author/publisher through NetGalley for my honest review. The opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own.

The Block Party is a great book for those who are on the fence about the suspense and/or mystery genre. The pace is quick and the story is easy to follow, with surprises aplenty and nothing to leave you wide awake and checking under your bed at night. I enjoyed it very much and appreciated the author’s gift of storytelling and intrigue.

Block party ending in murder?

Scandals coming out about everyone?

Sign me up!

I enjoyed this book and all the secrets of this street. Read it if murder and gossip are for you!

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for the chance to read and review.

This book reminded me of desperate housewives YA style but it's not a YA book but tbh it should be. It made it easier to read .
Lettie honestly bugged me .... she gave me entitled rich teen vibes. Not my fave .
Alex was meh but I loved her relationship with her sister & the fact they lived in the same street & I was honestly impressed with everything she managed to get done while not knowing what she was doing because u know wine ..😂
I'm still tripped out on Samir & Mandy .
All in all this was an ok read . Very high drama that's for sure .

Thanks to #Netgalley for the Arc 🖤

Slow building, but captivating nonetheless. Pacing definitely picks up at the end for a twisty end of a ride, full of surprises!

Not only are we left guessing who’s done the killing—we don’t even know who’s been killed till pretty much the very end!

Enjoyed the dual POV of mother and daughter, following the different lines of drama of each of their peers. Love how it all wrapped up, and thought pacing overall was great!

Would definitely recommend picking up this thriller for summertime!

I really enjoyed this one. The beginning of the book starts out with the "incident" at the block party and then takes us back through the past year, introducing all the neighbors and letting to us see what lead up to the event. I feel like I just can't get enough of (riiiich as hell!) neighbors behaving badly. And they are always completely wrapped up in everyone else's business. Every single person in this book, adult and teenager, was somehow up to no good. It was super easy to keep track of all the characters, which isn't always the case when jumping around in timelines. A lot of secrets and twists which always make for a great mystery/thriller. It didn't all click for me until we were close to the end, so this one will definitely keep you guessing. You think you know your neighbors, but how well do you really know them?

Everybody has secrets on Altan Road, but which ones are worth dying over. The story immediately hooked me. We start at the present day block party, finding out that someone is dead. Then we are thrown into the past one year at the previous block party and work our way back to present day. There are also neighborhood blog entries from the present that deliver some surprising news. I figured out a good portion of the twists but not the killer or the victim. This is the perfect summer thriller, light but also full of twists, neighborly drama, and secrets. It got slow at some points but it was an enjoyable read!

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This was a refreshing take on a summer thriller. It started a little slow, but then I got sucked right in. It's told in multi POV, and I had no issues keeping the characters clear in my head (something I struggle with at times). It starts with the crime--a murder in a high end neighborhood--and as the book continues, it unravels each character, their motivations, and of course, their secrets. It's a fun, twisty book. Maybe a little on the long side, but that was OK because I enjoyed it a lot!

All the secrets spill at the end of summer block party on the exclusive neighborhood street

-multiple POVs
-summer drama filled with lots of motives, possible suspects, and so many secrets
-a group of parents & adults, their children, the local pest control man, and new neighbors create plenty of surprises

full of drama, sometimes felt hard to keep up with all the POVs but the story gets going! I do agree that certain perspectives that took up more pages read YA, changing the feel of the book as a whole. Overall, it was an entertaining summery book filled with suspicion + drama!

I love dramatic thrillers. Add in a crazy neighborhood and I’m sold! Loved this one and highly recommend it. This would be so good as a tv show! Highly recommend