Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's for the ARC. I voluntarily read and reviewed this book.
2.5 stars
In a word, boring. Each character more blah than the next. There are many, many characters, not confusing keeping them straight but I would like to have had a different point of view than Alex and Lettie. And I don't think we really needed to know every single thing each character was doing a year ago before getting back to present day. I thought the Online Community Page messages slowed down the narrative unnecessarily. There should be lots of trigger warnings before reading this - too many to mention. The writing wasn't terrible which is why I didn't DNF this.

It’s giving Desperate Housewives 💅🤌

The Block Party starts at a Memorial Day Block Party on Alton Road. Then it transitions into the year prior with flashbacks in a Facebook group in the present. The timelines got a little confusing for me and took me a little bit to get my head around the overall timeline.

Then there’s the characters - lots of lies, cheating, dysfunction, and even a little bit of murder. I will say that there is almost one too many characters to keep track of (especially when the book is only told from a couple POVs). I wish the book would have focused on diving deeper into some relationships/ characters instead of breezing past some.

Overall, this book was binge-able and I finished it quickly. Reminds me of the high school days where your crush doesn’t like you back and the pressure of college apps and all the drama that goes into high school.

Thank you to Net Galley for this ARC! Be sure to checkout the Block Party when it comes out in July.

A suspenseful thriller in the neighborhood noir genre that is both entertaining and engaging. Alex lives a good life with her husband and soon to be college bound daughter Lettie. Her sister and brother-in law live next door and she is friends with most of the people on her upscale street. When a new couple moves in, divisions and secrets begin to make themselves known. Told from both the perspective of Alex and her daughter, multiple storylines emerge and keep the reader guessing. The characters are well developed and the plot twists keep the reader wanting more. An excellent novel that will keep you up reading until the end.

Alex Fox has somehow become responsible for the annual block party in her upscale neighborhood. Despite being busy with her job as a divorce mediation specialist, parenting a soon-to-be college-bound daughter, and having problems in her marriage (mostly related to her drinking), Alex still is the driving force behind the annual party. The book begins with Alex trying to stay on top of things even though she's already had a bit too much to drink. When this leads to an embarrassing accident, she stumbles home to change clothes and get some space from her husband Nick. Once home, she falls asleep and is woken up by police sirens which seem to be right outside -- at the party. Then neighbors a few streets over, who are all a bit miffed at not being good enough to be invited to the block party begin having an online discussion about what is going on. Rumors soon begin to fly that someone at the party is dead.

The story then goes back in time to the previous year's party when things weren't so tense in the neighborhood. We meet all Alex's neighbors, all of whom seem to have secrets behind the walls of their large, well-kept homes. Alex's sister Emily is concerned that her husband Ken is a bit too interested in the wife of the new couple in on the street. Gorgeous widow Brooke might or might not have had something to do with "losing" her husband. Alex's daughter Lettie used to be best friends with the girl across the street, Riley, but Riley has turned into a mean girl. Riley's parents, Willow and Evan, are headed for divorce, just as soon as Willow can figure out how to get around the pre-nup she signed. The new neighbors, Samir and Mandy, are a bit too secretive for the other neighbors -- just what are they trying to hide? Their son Jay, who Lettie takes an immediate liking to, has been kicked out of college and spends his days in the basement "working on coding."

The chapters alternate between Alex discussing the various goings-on in the neighborhood and Lettie, who is trying to get revenge on Riley for bullying her. When Lettie enlists Jay in her revenge plot, things soon spiral out of control.

The story is certainly a page-turner as Alex continues to drink, Lettie is behind the scenes trying to help her friends, and the other adults in the neighborhood continue to act sketchy. It's fun trying to catch clues to work out what happens at the most recent block party. I was a bit disappointed in the ending, as it felt a bit flat after all the build-up, but the rest of the story was enjoyable.

I almost put this book down. It started off good and then the middle was kind of ehhh, but then it picked up again and I’m glad I kept going. Ended up being a pretty good book. Lots of drama throughout. A little predictable but I liked it

The families living on the exclusive Alton Rd. cul-de-sac hold a summer block party yearly, but this year it is marred by a host of police cars and ambulances. Speculation soon runs rampant on the community FB page with everyone more interested in taking shots at each other than what has actually happened. Could someone actually have been killed??

The story flashes back a year and the deep secrets of four families are slowly revealed. Everyone has something to hide, but some secrets are unforgivable. And, when it comes to taking revenge, you won’t get anywhere by playing it safe.

This one definitely keeps you guessing till the last page!

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

4.25

I enjoyed this one a lot more than I initially thought I would!

In the beginning, I found the way certain characters (especially the younger ones) were written came off as the "teenager" archetype. Through the story I found the younger characters frustrating, and the normalization of Jay and Lettie's age gap was slightly concerning, considering she was in high school and he was a college drop out. The storyline with Lettie and Riley was also surprising as they set aside years worth of animosity all of a sudden and were back to the good old days? It just seemed a little convenient there.

The second half of this book really carried. I got used to the authors writing style, figured out the (huge) cast of characters and the plot flowed a lot better. I like how the author used the community Facebook group to help tell the story and I thought it added a cool layer to the story.

I am a huge Desperate Housewives fan and I saw another review saying this was the perfect mix of Desperate Housewives and Big Little Lies and I would have to agree. These characters held their own but the nostalgia of nosy neighbours, secrets and murder was reminiscent of these classic stories.

The twists and turns were unexpected and the drama and mystery tied together very nicely at the end.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for this e-arc in exchange for an honest review ❤️

“If everyone threw their problems up in the air, people would race to catch their own.”

 A tony cluster of homes sit on Alton Road, a cul-de-sac in Meadowbrook, Massachusetts, where other stylish folks long to live. The residents’ annual summer block party is quite the soirée. Until it ends in murder.

When the Alton Road neighbors search for the killer, all sorts of secrets emerge. And, of course, no one’s perfect life is quite what it appears to be.

As the neighbors’ lives collide and intersect, I found the coincidences a bit contrived. However, told from multiple points of view, this novel is a quick-moving, escapist read. The story kept me guessing—and turning the pages.

Likeable characters and good story. Kept me guessing and had a few surprises. First read with this author, won't be the last. Thanks to Netgalley for the opportunity to read this book

First I would like to thank Jamie Day, NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for my copy of the ARC.

I thoroughly enjoyed this mystery thriller.

I would like to say there should be a trigger warning at the beginning. I won't go into why because that would give away too much plot.

The moment I picked up this book I got Desperate Housewives vibes! And that, it was! Neighborhood drama inflated with inter connected secrets and lies! There's drug use, there's domestic violence, there's cheating, alcoholism, guns, teen angst, and murder!!! A lot packed into one novel. Full of twists and turns as the secrets unravel into light.
It was a fun thriller, but cheesy at times (everyone's so happy at the end!)
I'm curious to read another Jaime Day book. 3.5

Oh the drama on Alton road. If you are a fan of The Real Housewives or Big Little Lies this book is for you! This book has juicy details, cheating, lying, secrets, sneaking around, and an annual house party that brings the whole block together. If you love a good revenge book this might also be a book for you however, there is not really any revenge just the thought and planning of maybe revenge. I love the alternating point of view between Alex and her daughter Lettie. Each have a similar path but experiencing different drama. Lettie is going into her senior year and dealing with some bullying from an ex best friend. Everyone comes to Alex to talk about their marital problems or other issue. I really had no clue where the drama would go next or which neighbor would be involved, it kept me so intrigued. The last 30% of the book flew by as more and more details unfolded. Many thanks to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for the digital review copy of this novel. All opinions expressed in this review are my own.

This suburban thriller starts off at an annual Memorial Day neighbourhood barbecue and I thought I knew exactly what I had buckled in for. We meet our protagonist, Alex, who appears to have a bit of a drinking problem and causes an embarrassing disruption at the party. But despite the familiarity of these initial themes, boy did this book keep me up at night with twist after twist! The story is told through multiple perspectives and it's one of those settings where you can feel the tension building throughout the story, until things come to an explosive end. The multiple perspective technique is done well here - as the reader, you really really oscillate between trust and distrust of various characters.

This was a gripping domestic thriller that really kept me on the edge of my seat the entire time - and oh boy, that ending! With rich people, unreliable narrators, affairs, mounting tension, and murky secrets, The Block Party is a must-read for fans of Big Little Lies.

Behind closed doors in Alton Road all the families are hiding secrets from each other but who's secret is deadly enough to make a fun annual block party on Memorial Day end in a tragedy?

The Block Party by Jamie Day is a well developed character driven domestic thriller , narrated by two different PoV’ s. A brilliant twisty story with an unexpected ending made it a fun read for me.

I would like to thank St. Martin’s Press & NetGalley for providing an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest and fair review.

This book is packed with secrets within secrets within secrets. Each chapter keeps you guessing trying to figure out what has happened. While there are several characters featured in the book, it isn't hard to keep up with who everyone is. The entire book you are trying to figure out what everyone's secret is and how they are tied together.

This was a DNF at 8% for me. I couldn’t get past the cringey dialogue and one-dimensional characters.

This is definitely the book for someone, but that someone was unfortunately not me.

Thanks to NetGalley for providing me a complimentary copy of THE BLOCK PARTY by Jamie Day in exchange for my honest review.

I do enjoy a novel where you know at the first what the "event" is and then piece it together throughout the rest of the work.

The first chapter sets up the event - murder - and a whole list of who it could be and who did it. In the retelling of the previous year we are led to think of a number of combinations of victim and killer. The ending was satisfying in that it made perfect sense and also was not easily guessed while getting to the point.

I will be looking for more Jamie Day in my TBR list.

DNF @ 31%. I’ve read enough to sense that this will be a 3 star book and nothing that’s bugging me is going to improve. Maybe it redeems itself in the end but it’s reading like a subpar wannabe Liane Moriarty novel. It feels like a screenplay of Desperate Housewives. If the writing had been less juvenile and the character development more well-rounded, I could have continued but once I get irked, I can’t unsee what’s irking me.

I want to Thank you to NetGalley and thanks to the publisher for the opportunity to read this one early.
I plowed right through this book craving for more!! Many twists and turns that had me constantly altering to guess how this one was going to play out. Boom I did not see that coming. Another great read in the books!!!

It was okay. I had a hard time getting into it. I think it just wasn’t for me. Others may enjoy. If the description interest you, give it a try.