Sooo manyyyt liesssss. At the block party, hence the title….

This was a pretty good whodunnit read. I know many mentioned it being a thriller but that didn’t hit the mark for me in that category. It’s twisty and enticing and you have an eyebrow raised throughout wondering what the hell is going on and of course the big clincher is who was murdered? Alas I’m getting ahead of myself.

The story opens up with the pov of Alex, one of the women who lives on “the block”. It’s a culdesac with 5 homes, 5 different families, and many many secrets. Memorial Day is the key day and Alex is the planner making sure everything is going good but also super sloshed so she has to exit scene and go take a nappie where she eventually wakes up to sirens. Then there are tidbits of the Meadowbrook Online community page where people who don’t live in the fancy schmancy rich culdesac talk about what happened and why there are police but of course before you get anywhere with that, you’re taken back to a year before to dive into the nitty gritty. Then you get Lettie’s pov who is Alex’s daughter. She screams I know everything teen that hurt my eyeballs sometimes but if you can endure that you’ll enjoy the rest. You’ll spend the rest of the book learning that everyone lies and everyone is messed up and then the end has a nice little surprise which follows with a clean cut ending.

I enjoyed the read and the drama of all the crazy people but it wasn’t anything that made me check my heart rate and O2 sats or anything. Overall it’s a good 3,5 stars.

Thank you St. Martin’s Press and netgalley for the arc in exchange for my honest review.

Wow! What a block party. Can’t say this is one I’d want to be invited to. Loved the character development in this book, each family unit had their own drama, secrets, and history. The ending is full of twists and turns and really tied up all the questions I had earlier. Also, Lettie may be one of my favorite characters!
Thank you NetGalley for the ARC of this book!

4/5 stars. This book was interesting and keeps you trying to figure out each character’s secrets after we learn about a potential murder at the annual block party. Everything is tied up nicely at the end, although a bit too much drama to be contained in one cul-de-sac.

I don’t typically enjoy books with such a large cast of characters as they are hard to follow and keep track of, but I think it works here. The story is told from the perspective of both Alex Fox and her 17 year old daughter, Lettie. The author does a good job of giving each character depth and purpose by sharing their individual backstories as learned by the two main characters as they discover that no one is quite who they seem. Although necessary to the story, this also made the book seem to drag at some points and made it longer than it probably needed to be. Overall, this was a solid mystery/suspense novel that I enjoyed reading. Would recommend!

Thank you NetGalley for the arc!

I loved this book! The book is set in Massachusetts and is what I call a drama-thriller. A mix of neighborhood/family drama with a mystery thrown in.

The book is in the vein of Liane Moriarty's writing style.

This book will be a great beach read for summer 2023!

The ARC was provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Alton Road-- a high end cul-de-sec--full of friends, parties, and fun. But everyone one has something to hide and all are entwined much more than meets the eye. But what do you expect when your sister lives next door, their son dates the neighbor, the widow across went to high school with your BIL, your daughter takes an interest in the new neighbor's son, and you swear you saw a spark between your BIL and the new neighbor's wife. Alex is a divorce mediator, so she knows how to handle conflicts and "shares" concerns with others. Everyone gets along, but why was an ambulance called on New Year's Ever? And as we follow Alton Road through the year, it is not a surprise that sparks/shots fly at the Memorial Day Picnic. But it will be a surprise of who and why! Jamie Day has hit the ball out of the cul-de-sac with this one! Hard to put down, and ready for book clubs!
Thank you to NetGalley & St. Martin's Press for the ARC.

Full review to come on Goodreads and Amazon. Thank you to the publisher, author, and NetGalley for a review copy.

This book was bad. This book read like a YA novel. I didn’t really connect with any of the characters. This book is told through multiple POVs and it made it hard to keep up with what was going on. This book has to much drama in it for me. I have read so many thrillers and this one doesn’t hold up. I would skip this one.

A sizzling summer read that kept me guessing until the very end! If you are a fan of Elin Hilderbrand, this book is similar in theme and style. The chapters are told from the points of view of various characters, which seamlessly come together to form a complete storyline. After a murder occurs at an annual Memorial Day block party, we are immediately transported back one year, and watch the events unfold over the next 12 months....all leading up to that shocking event. Rumor and scandal, fireworks and twists, revenge and secrets....all these are found in BLOCK PARTY by Jamie Day. Highly recommend!

This book. Wow is all I can say! I could not put this book down. Every page left me wondering what was about to happen next!! I loved how everything was so nicely tied together and we got all of the questions we wondered about answered!! I highly recommend this book!!

The Alton Road cul-de-sac in the exclusive Meadowbrook neighborhood is to die for. Literally! The residents of this street are wealthy, smart, well dressed, educated and they all have secrets. Lots of secrets. The children have secrets too.

On the day of their annual Memorial Day block party a shot rings out. The Facebook page for this neighborhood is abuzz with the news. Who was shot on Alton Road and who did it? Everyone has a theory.

Before we can find out what has happened, the book flashes back to one year before and the reader is pulled into the lives of these Altonites as some people call the people in this cul-de-sac. This twisty story of revenge, secrets and murder with intriguing characters pulled me right in and I couldn’t stop reading this book.

The Block Party will be published on June 18, 2023. Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for an advanced reading copy.

There were some editing issues with the copy received but the content still held me captive to the very end! I would not for a million years have predicted the ending but it all came to a close in a very satisfying end. The twists and turns kept me guessing and I felt genuine concern and horror for the characters. It's been a while since a book has kept me on my toes but this was it! So grateful for being allowed to pre-read this exciting novel and can't wait to see what else the author has in store for us!

The Block Party starts with a Memorial Day party where a horrible crime is committed in the suburban Massachusetts town of Meadowbrook. The rest of the book is a year-long flashback leading up to the fateful day of the crime. The story focuses on five families that live in a cul-de-sac on Alton Road, picture perfect on paper, but hiding many dark secrets. Over the course of a year we learn about all of the characters and their family dynamics and relationships with each other.

I was hoping this book would be a page-turner, but for me I was never hooked. I felt like there were too many characters to keep track of (one could argue, even superfluous characters?). I suppose this is to create a bigger pool of people to have possibly committed the crime, but it just made the book feel long. (Even the epilogue felt unnecessary to me.) I disliked the chapters that were told in the first person YA voice of the teenage character, Lettie. The jump to YA felt abrupt, and unnecessary?

I never felt invested in the characters or really even cared about finding out who was involved with the crime — I wasn't on the edge of my seat waiting to see what explosive truths came to light. It was hard for me to want to pick up the book and continue reading. (Also, if there was one more mention of so-and-so "topped off their wine"....clearly the residents on the street had some serious substance abuse issues.)

So...this one was not for me. I love a good thriller or mystery, but this one fell flat.

Okay, this book was good. Really good. Immediately the cover caught my attention and I’m so glad it did. The character and relationship development was amazing, the plot structure was well developed and thorough, and overall—a great read. For lovers of Desperate Housewives, with a twist—this is a must read.

I’m going to buy copies for myself and my friends! A truly amazing read.

This was a great mix between desperate housewives and big little lies! I loved the POVs between the mother and daughter. Alex and Lettie were both likeable characters struggling with their own issues. The neighborhood secrets at each home kept me guessing the whole time who had been killed it was a little slow in the middle but the paces picked up in the last third of the book. Overall, a good read and I would recommend this to people!

Lots of twists and turns at the end that I didn’t see coming. Loved the character development and the exploration of relationships. Revenge is something everyone has thought about but most people don’t act on. It was interesting to see how multiple characters dealt with the same topic

Great book! Flew threw this one and really enjoyed it. Would recommend to anyone. This book caught my eye with the cover alone!

I liked this, but I didn't fall in love with it. I think that the structure didn't quite work for me. The structure certainly made sense in theory: the "incident" followed by what led up to it and then returning to it to finish out the story.. But I guess the middle went on too long for me and I just wanted to get to the climax. Also, I'm not sure about Lettie's first-person POV versus Alex's third-person POV. I felt a little removed from Alex and would have preferred first person for both. I did enjoy the Next Door-type comments interspersed throughout the book. 3 1/2 stars rounded up to 4..

This book was incredible! I love the writing style of this author. If you are into real housewife type mystery’s, this book is for you!

I have to say this book went above my expectations. This was an addictive read that I could not stop thinking about until I finished it.

I love that we get POVs from Alex and her daughter, Lettie, showcasing their very opposite personalities. I loved the drama, the mystery, the secrets, just everything about this book was so intriguing. And let me just add; the ending is jaw-dropping.

We start at the Memorial Day block party where Alex has too much to drink and ends up sleeping it off only to be woken by sirens. We then find out through the neighborhood online community page that the unthinkable has happened; someone has been killed at the block party. We’re then taken back a year to walk through the events and incidents that led up to that block party and we watch this mystery unfold.

The characters in this book are so well crafted and will keep you so immersed in the story and the plot twists will make this book so incredibly hard to put down. Typically I find it hard to become fully engrossed in a book with so many supporting characters, but every character was so unique that each one added the perfect amount to the story.

I would have loved to seen POVs from some of the other characters, but that does not at all take away from how great this book is overall. This would also make for a great TV show adaptation. 4.5 stars!


Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for providing me with a copy of this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

The story begins with a murder, and then we go back and try to figure out which of the MANY characters committed the crime. Alton Road is full of wealthy people, and it seems like every one of them has a hidden agenda or a secret they don't want to be revealed, so you have lots of twists and turns on your way to the surprise ending. Very entertaining novel and a fun read.