***Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC of this book. All opinions are my own***

2.5 stars

The premise: An annual block party turns deadly. Everyone’s a suspect. Everyone has a secret and a motive. Take Desperate Housewives’ Wisteria Lane and a dash of Big Little Lies, and you get The Block Party.

I so wish that I had enjoyed this more than I did because it started out with so much promise.

What I liked: There’s some cool diversity here in characters, and I think the way the secrets were revealed was well done. I was intrigued enough to finish it, even when tempted to quit, and I did enjoy the ending. Some of the twists were surprising and I didn’t see coming, which made me give the book an extra star.

What I didn’t like: The writing. Ooof. I struggled. The writing is not great. So clunky. So many adverbs. It was hard to trudge through. The dialogue was cheesy, the teenage chapters didn’t read realistic to me, like what an adult thinks a teen would say. Very cliche sayings and some of the comparisons to things were so bizarre when describing people/things/situations. There’s no prose or beautiful descriptions, no depth to the characters, no heart in the story. Just because it’s a thriller doesn’t mean you shouldn’t feel anything for the people in the story. And I just didn’t.

You’ve got A LOT going on. SA, DV, blackmail, cheating, alcoholism…Every single trauma and trope is here. And you don’t really care or feel for anyone. No one is unlikable really, but you don’t like them either. It’s all a bit too much and yet not enough at the same time. Yes, there’s twists and reveals, but they are revealed soooooo slowly and there’s so much telling vs showing. The pacing is off. If one chapter leaves you with a cliffhanger that finally grips you, the next 3 will put you to sleep. At 70% I started skimming/skipping pages, and I think this could use a heavy dose of editing to slash the page count by at least 50.

There are 2 main characters and both of them are the least interesting in the book. I would’ve much rather one of the perspectives have been Brooke or Mandy, or Jay. Alex was just so boring.

Like I said, I do wish that I had enjoyed this. It’s no small feat to write a book and I’m sure the author worked so hard on it. I don’t doubt that many people will love this and consider it a page turner, sad it wasn’t me.

The amount of characters in this book was extremely overwhelming. The writing and narration was a bit juvenile for me and I found some parts to be unnecessary and too slowly paced.

This was a page turner! I would love to be on this block, snooping in on all these families. My own neighborhood is so boring!!!
This will be a great summer read. You will want to grab this book while hanging out at the neighborhood pool or while hiding from your kids when they should be napping.
The Block Party successfully surprised me multiple times and the twists and turns were excellent. Just when I thought I was on to something… I wasn’t.
Five star.
Highly recommend.
Thank you NetGalley for an early copy.
#Netgalley
#arc
#AddThisToYourTBRlist

The Block Party starts out with a Memorial Day party set on Alton Road, an idyllic block with seemingly well off neighbors, that ends in murder. The story then moves back in time and is told through alternating viewpoints of a mother and teenage daughter.

The Block Party has Desperate Housewives drama and secrets. I personally had a hard time connecting with the characters in this novel. The pacing and plot was a little slow paced for me, but it did pick up once I was about a fourth of the way into the book. The Block Party would likely be a good fit for someone who enjoys a longer, slow burning domestic suspense, such as Big Little Lies.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the opportunity to read an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest feedback.

Just when I thought this was going to be another book about a messed up neighborhood I was so pleasantly surprised by this book. Yes it’s about a messed up neighborhood but also about relationships, trauma, and a great deal of twists. This book was so enjoyable to read, a regular soap opera that folded out on the pages that kept me engaged the whole time. I loved the characters and how they were each so flawed and all growled so much.
Thank you Netgalley and to the publishers for allowing me to read this book.

Set against a backdrop of an upscale neighborhood boasting several dysfunctional families, “The Block Party” is a slow-paced murder mystery that didn’t quite live up to my high expectations. While the writing and plotline are good, the story’s sluggish unfolding made it hard for me to remain engaged. Especially considering the numerous characters—many whom I found unlikeable—and respective storylines that I needed to keep track of. While I was really hoping for a riveting suspense story, unfortunately, I found this book to be mediocre at best.

If only, if only, if only....

....there hadn't been so many secrets.

or certain people hadn't "looked the other way."

Every one of the residents on the Alton Road cul de sac had something to hide.

I had a hard time engaging with the characters in this mystery. Right off the bat, either the angry teenager's brittle attitude was getting on my nerves, or her flaky mother was aggravating me with her paltry attempts at hiding the fact that she was three sheets to the wind and had fallen off the sobriety wagon.

In fact, I was constantly being irritated by one character or another throughout this story. I often found the writing style was too breezy in some sections, and in others it seemed to me that the author was taking forever to advance the action - whenever that was any, that is.

I'm rating this one a 3.5 out of 5., rounded down to a 3 because GoodReads does not allow half stars. My thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for an ARC of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

I gave this 4 days and 25%. I'm not sure what it was exactly that didn't draw me in--I think it just felt like it was taking a long time to get where it was going, and I didn't care enough about the characters or the plot to continue the journey.

The Block Party is an addictive page-turner, perfect to tote with you to the beach or the pool this summer. I enjoyed the drama and the secrets of this wealthy neighborhood, and I appreciated the way the author started the book with a murder and then went back to the events of the prior year. The viewpoint also alternated between a mom, Alex, and her teenage daughter, Lexie, which gives the book some YA crossover appeal. Highly recommended if you are looking for a fun thrill-ride for your beachreading this year--it definitely kept me guessing! Thanks to St. Martin's Press, Netgalley, and Jamie Day for the librarian preview copy.

There were so many characters that it took me about half of the book to sort them out but once I did I really enjoyed the book. There were several parts that I could totally relate to since we live on a cul de sac and try to have block parties a few times a year. Good book from a new author for me.

Fans of Desperate Housewives and What the Neighbors Saw should check out this book! Told in different viewpoints and past/present timelines the people on this block will have you wondering what skeletons are hidden in their closets. Then just when you think you’ve figured it out there comes a bigger twist! Loved the neighborhood online forum addition!!

I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own. Thank you NetGalley, Jamie Day and St. Martin’s Press for hearing my honest review. Looking forward to reading more with you
#partner

Alton Road looks like an idyllic neighborhood of wealthy, happy families....until you look behind those front doors.
Then it's like an episode of Desperate Housewives.

The book starts out at a current time Memorial Day block party. We're introduced to the players and start learning a little about them. Then it happens -- ambulances and police are dispatched to Alton Road, while the neighboring community's message board goes crazy with spectulation. Then it flashes back to last year's Memorial Day party when all this uproar started. And whoa - is there a lot going on in this little community. So many players and so much drama - sleeping around, cheating, FansOnly, drugs and drinking, family secrets, stalking and so much more. Its crafted to keep you guessing and interested. Not my normal type of reading, but I really enjoyed this one!

Thank you to NetGalley, the author and publisher for a temporary, digital ARC in return for my review.

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

Alton Road is a tightknit community, maybe even too tight, as everyone knows everyone's business. Alex is hosting this year's memorial day block party and it is going to end with a bang, literally, someone will be murdered by the end of the evening, but who and why? The problem with Alex is that her drinking has been out of hand lately and she may have drank too much at the party already. Her teenage daughter Lettie who has a massive crush on the older new neighbor boy and together have been plotting the demise of one of her old friends but at who's expense? Revenge, scandals and untold secrets are on this years menu for the Meadowbrook residents but will they all survive it?

I was drawn to the cover, title and description and was looking for a fun dramatic read. Jamie Day's novel tells the story of the neighborhood drama for one year with the POV of Alex and Lettie driving the storyline. The story feels like it wanted to be a version of Desperate Housewives but missed a lot of the intrigue. Most of the secrets we're not all that interesting and the drama was more manufactured than interesting. I was not very connected with any of the characters so did not care so much about what happened to them. My least favorite was the spoiled brat Lettie who's whole intention was to get revenge on a childhood friend to impress the college dropout who moved in across the street, until she magically reconnects with the former friend. She whines constantly about her daddy not paying for the school she wants to go to across the country without taking any self responsibility. For me this one held a lot of promise but little delivery.

Thank you to St Martin's Press for the ARC via NetGalley in exchange for my honest opinion.
The Block Party doesn't come out until July but it was what this mood reader decided to pick up while reading on the beach in Rio! A big part of Carnaval in Rio is attending blocos which are kind of like block parties, although they are quite a bit bigger/louder/crazier than any block party I've attended.
Anyway, this book was a fun read to keep my attention during lazy, HOT afternoons at Ipanema Beach this week - it opens at a suburban road's exclusive Memorial Day block party where there has been a murder. The book then goes back a year to the previous block party so the reader can see the events that led to the murder. As the anticipation builds, it's unclear who has been murdered - or who did it - because there are many potential suspects, victims, and motives. Throughout the book, at the end of some chapters, there are speculations from some jealous town residents who do NOT live on the exclusive block on a message board that help fuel the reader's thoughts and theories. If you were a Desperate Housewives fan and enjoy a mystery read, I think this book would be right up your alley! I found it highly entertaining and definitely recommend reading it. I did not see the ending coming!

Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for this ARC in exchange for my honest review. The Block Party was chock full of twists! It was also chock full of characters that sometimes had me confused, and chock full of predictable drama that was cliche and sometimes had me a teeny bit bored. One of the characters had a drinking problem to the point she was always sneaking wine, thinking about drinking wine, or thinking about not drinking wine. Otherwise, she was thinking about her husband thinking about her drinking-not-drinking wine. She even thought about her sister thinking about her drinking-not-drinking wine. So she finally decides to stop drinking—until the block party. Then she drinks wine again, and thinks about drinking it all day, and thinks about her husband thinking about her drinking it. In between that, there’s infidelity, statutory rape, a slew of other petty crimes, and even murder. There’s a lot going on on this one street! In the end, I honestly didn’t find myself attached to any of the characters, and didn’t really care who on the block had been murdered. This story was not my cup of tea (or shall I dare say, not my…glass of wine) but it does have lots of positive reviews and a good overall rating. Give it a try and decide for yourself!

This was SO GOOD!! It was a quick and easy read that kept me engaged the whole time. Would recommend for a fun pool or beach read this summer!

I was invited to read this one. I should have trusted my instincts and declined, but I usually at least try when I'm asked to take a look at a specific title. Unfortunately, my instincts were right here - this wasn't a good fit for me. I think I'm just over the "secret life of the suburbs" type of domestic thriller... This one moved slowly, the characters were typically (for the genre) unlikable and stereotypical, and I just never connected to the story enough to care about what happened to any of them...

The Block Party was an incredibly enjoyable read! I loved that the story was told from Alex & Lettie’s view point. I also enjoyed how the lives all entertained together. A thoroughly enjoyable read!

Alton Road, a part of the Meadowbrook Community, is a desirable, sought after place to live. It is seemingly full of “good” families, with affluence, good careers, and well behaved children. This may however, just be an illusion. On the night of the annual block party, an incident occurs, and someone will not survive. What I liked about this book was all of the history that was provided to the block party. The story looks at events that occurred one year prior to the block party which provided a lot of pertinent information and led to good knowledge of character development. There are multiple story lines to follow and multiple points of view are used in the telling of the story. This was genius as it allowed for more knowledge of the characters and their personalities. I loved this book and couldn’t put it down. I highly recommend this book and will be reading more by this author. Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the advance review copy in exchange for my honest review.

The Block Party centers around the dysfunctional inhabitants of a ritzy cul-de-sac. When their yearly block party ends in murder, we go back in time to the year before and learn about the secrets each neighbor is keeping, with deadly consequences.

This book essentially grew on me--the pacing is nice and the writing clear and I did like Alex's voice. But I did skim through a lot of Lettie's chapters. She got better toward the end, but her voice at the beginning and her holier than thou activism was a bit...annoying (sorry!).

The format of the book was enjoyable--I liked how the online forum was woven into the story. Overall it was a solid read and a satisfying one.

Special thanks to St. Martin's Press for inviting me to read this title through NetGalley in exchange for a review.