This book started off good and I was excited for a catty women drama! However, a murder happens and the. We are thrown back a year and then slowly walked through background. We have two narrators and I sadly didn’t like either one of them. Alex is the typical busy body neighbor who sticks her nose in everyone’s business. Then Lettie, her daughter, is a teen who basically preaches at the audience the whole book. I feel like this book could have been better served by flipping back and forth through the timelines instead of being told straight through.

Thanks to NetGalley and St Martin’s Press for an eARC in exchange for my honest review.

I loveeee neighborhood drama thrillers but I could not get into this one. I think the cheating ways and jealousy threw me and made me not get into it as much. It just seemed a little whiney, needed and not the neighborhood murder drama I was looking for.

Looking for a domestic thriller with all the the soap drama? "The Block Party is just right for you. Full of twist and turns, part drama part thriller this book ended up being a very fun read.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this book in advance of publication.

I sure love me some dark town/neighborhood underbelly and The Block Party did NOT disappoint! An excellent thriller from front to back.

This was a very average read for me but I certainly enjoyed it fine. First, I wouldn't really classify this as a thriller. It's more of a domestic suspense. At the beginning we find out there is a murder, but then we go back in time and relive the dynamics, secrets and events of the past year with all the neighbors on Alton Road that led up to the murder. I thought the unraveling of everyone was entertaining, the ending a surprise, and it's a great summer read for your TBR!

The Block Party is such a complex story. I can’t even begin to describe it. And the blurb doesn’t divulge much either.

There are numerous characters and families. So many that I had to take notes on who’s who. But they were developed enough to distinguish one from another. But it took a while.

The story unfolds through dual timelines and dual points of view. It got a little confusing at times. Especially if I wasn’t paying attention. The pacing was a little slow. And it wasn’t until past the 60% point that the story took off. With numerous twists and turns, patience paid off with a rewarding finale. Four stars.

I received a DRC from St. Martin’s Press through NetGalley. The review herein is completely my own and contains my honest thoughts and opinions.

3.5 stars (rounded)

If I had to describe this book in one sentence it would be this: Be prepared for the drama!
I have never been so thankful for the quite, suburb street I live on.

From page one you are sucked into the neighborhood drama on Alton road... where a murder happened. But who did it... and why? As the book unfolds you realize that there are a lot of individuals that could be the murder... or the murdered. Also? Money (clearly) doesn't buy happiness.

This book was full of (unlovable) characters, drama, suspense, twists... and did I mention drama? Overall a solid summer read.

Thanks, Netgally for the ARC of this book!

Really didn't keep me engaged unfortunately. may be something i'll try again. I couldn't get into it and unfortunately didn't finish it. I had really high hopes.

I am so mad at myself for not starting this sooner. I was gripped from the first few pages. Interesting characters, great plot, a wild ride.

This was a fast paced story with so much going on with each character. It made it fun to wonder how it was all going to end and try to figure out what was really going on, but I did make following any one story line a little harder (why did I keep getting Evan and Ken confused??). Overall I thought this was a fun read.

Thank you very much to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for this advance copy of The Block Party by Jamie Day in exchange for my honest review. The Block Party is due out this summer, 7/18/23.

Everyone reading my reviews knows I love a messy domestic/family drama, so this premise really intrigued me - a summer Memorial Day block party gone wrong with murder? Sign me up. This one didn't wow me like I expected it to, and it took me A LOT longer to finish than I normally take for an average length novel - I think there were quite a few couples that all live on Alton Road, and it was a bit challenging to keep them all straight. Plus, we had the addition of their kids and their intermixing, and it was a lot of characters. I also would throw in here a trigger warning for alcoholism, because Alex, one of our main protagonists drinks a ton of wine and it's a main focus of her character arc. More triggers - one of our main characters attempts suicide, and there's a lot of talk about drug addiction and an instance when a 16/17 year old is sleeping with an adult.

Thank you again to the publishers and NetGalley for this ARC - The Block Party is out next month, 7/18/23.

When community isn't all it's cracked up to be. Follow a group of nosey neighbours through an event that wasn't on their agenda. Sometimes it's ok to be sociable and help out your neighbours, other times maybe you just need to let sleeping dogs lay.

This book got off to a slow start with me, and I have nothing to really judge it against in terms of real life experience. This story takes place in a suburb, in a rich cul de sac. Neighbors live right next to each other and know the comings and goings of the families. I have lived almost all my life in a very rural community on 16 acres and the neighbors here certainly don't have block parties. There is a lot of gossip, infidelity and secrets among the families. One woman is suspected of killing her husband on a cruise, another's husband is an abuser. All the kinds of things you might find juicy are in this book. It takes place over a year and is told from multiple points of view. In the end, I think lessons learned are that revenge just ends up hurting everyone in the end and that secrets that could cause life causing changes should not be kept in the dark. Thanks NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the chance to read this.

Really good thriller of a read! I enjoyed the characters, the plot lines and the suspense. While there may have been too many secrets to be believable, it was a fun read.

This was a 3-star read for me. I appreciated the dual POV and multiple timelines to help unfold all the drama, but I had a hard time enjoying the characters. It felt like this book tried to be adult and YA fiction at the same time, and it didn't work for me. I didn't like Alex and Lettie, the narrators of all the drama. Alex is a nosy-neighbor who needs something better to do, and Lettie is an annoying teenager. There were a lot of other characters in this story, but none of them were very developed. While this wasn't my favorite murder mystery, I was still interested in finding out the truth, and it certainly kept me entertained. Thank you NetGalley for this advanced copy!

⭐️: 2.5/5

The residents of Alton Road have an infamous summer Block Party every year, but this year, the party ends in a murder. As the secrets and scandals of the neighbors are slowly revealed over the course of the year leading up to the night of the murder, it is clear that nobody and nothing is as it seems to the outside.

After reading the first chapter, I had high hopes for this book. Unfortunately, as the book went on, I found that the intrigue of the beginning was, in fact, a fluke. The further I got into the more, the more inconsistent the writing became. Sometimes I breezed through chapters, and sometimes reading it was so mind numbing that I kept focusing on how badly the conversations and dialogue was structured, not to mention the how wildly and unrealistically dramatic the dialogue is. The pacing was also wildly off, since we start with a big event, and then backtrack AN ENTIRE YEAR and go through that year leading up to the big event, without any meaningful time jumps back into the present. Once we get back to the “present,” there’s even more lead up, with not enough suspense to make me care. This book would have very much benefitted from more editing, primarily in the structure of the narrative. If we jumped back and forth in time like, at all, I think I would have been more intrigued by the book, rather than bored of how little is actually happening for most of it. The characters themselves were not great also. Lettie was truly insufferable as just a spoiled, self-involved, stereotypical Gen-Z teenage daughter character who thinks she knows better than everyone, with absolutely no nuance. Alex is the worst kind of main character, from the ill-advised intrusion into other’s business all the way to the overdone “rich, unhappy woman who can’t stop drinking” trope. I really did want to like this one, since it seemed to have so much promise, but ultimately, it wasn’t for me.

Thank you to @netgalley and @stmartinspress for this eARC in exchange for my honest review!!

Short synopsis: At a block party of a week to do town in Massachusetts, someone dies.

My thoughts: I really liked the setting, and while there were multiple people involved we only had two perspectives which I loved. It helped to not get people confused.

There were definitely some unexpected twists revealed at the end, and I was here for it. Totally bingable and fast paced.

The newsletter was such s fun edition, I laughed out loud at some of the neighborly gossip and the things brought up.

This reminded me soo much of Big Little Lies my Liane Moriarty, so if you enjoyed that you’ll love this.

Read if you love:
- Your neighbors
- Secrets and lies
- Unexpected twists
- Mother/daughter POV
- Bingeable thriller

I did a mix of physical and audio on this. I really enjoyed both narrators on this. They did such a great job voicing Lettie and Alex.

My goodness! This was a really really fun mystery/thriller. The Block Party was a well-paced story about secrets, lies, and their consequences. I thoroughly enjoyed each character, as they were all so thoroughly and accurately crafted, that I felt like I knew them. This was a completely delightful summer read!

Thank you to St Martin’s Press and NetGalley for an e-ARC of The Block Party.

Every neighborhood has secrets, but the residents on Alton Street may have more than most. In the course of a year, they’ll find that the ones they’ve tried to keep buried may just come to light, and at the cost of someone’s life.

If you’re looking for a twisty neighborhood drama with strong women and a jam-packed ending, this book is for you.

This book was delicious, domestic drama filled with thrills. Absolutely loved getting to know the neighbors on Alton Street. Their secrets and relationships kept me glued to my Kindle and I have a major book hangover from such a scintillating book. Bravo to Jamie Day for a great thriller and many thanks to NetGalley for the advanced copy in exchange for my honest review. This one is a winner!