The Block Party by Jamie Day is the ultimate summer "who did it" read. What I love about this book is there is a variety of characters and storylines to follow. It is tied together perfect making the storyline seamless. I loved how each characters personal story played into the main plot making for a shocking reveal when you find out what really happens at the block party. Overall this book was interesting, relevant to current times, and lead you along a journey of playing detective. Narration for this book was great as it really helps you attach to each character. Overall a fantastic summer read!

What a wild ride this book was! I will say this one started off a little bit confusing with all of the different characters. A lot was thrown at me at once and I found it hard to keep everyone straight. However, once I got a good handle on who was who I started really getting interested in their storylines and what would happen next. There are so many details but they all come together in the end for a huge plot twist. I did unfortunately guess the big twist pretty early on but still appreciated the ending. Overall I enjoyed this one!

As we approach many annual 4th of July gatherings, remember people only present what they want you to see.

The residents of Alton road live on the cul-de-sac everyone whispers about whether in jealousy or scorn in person and online. On the night of their annual summer block party the whispers roar as nearby neighbors hear gun shots.

Alternating between different points of view, we go back a year leading up to the block party and find out why a murder between neighbors becomes possible. Everyone’s secrets are laid bare and there are plenty of plots twists to keep the reader entertained.

The Block Party is full of drama and deceit with a few storylines that pull at the heartstrings. This beach read is pure escapism.

Thank you to NetGalley, Macmillan Audio, and of course the author Jamie Day for the advanced copy of the audiobook. The Block Party is out on July 18th. All opinions are my own.

This was one of my most anticipated reads of the summer and while I enjoyed it, it fell a little flat.

I'm a sucker for a neighborhood drama - give me all the moms drinking too much wine, the misbehaving and bratty children, and the philandering husbands. And while The Block Party had all of this - and more - it had almost too much. There was SO much going on.

We had narrators from several families, of all ages, and with all backgrounds. There were about 9 subplots going on and while everything eventually tied together nicely, getting there took some work and it was occasionally difficult to keep everyone and everything straight.

I probably could have done without most of the teenagers' storylines and had more focus on the female protagonists. At first I was invested in Lettie's plot, but it ended up taking up more of the story than I needed and I started to lose interest.

I listened to The Block Party on audio and it was pretty good. Multiple narrators were used which I always appreciate but none of them were particularly stand out.

All in all, I enjoyed The Block Party but it's not one that will really stick with me. It's a fairly quick and certainly entertaining read and would definitely be perfect by the beach with a fun cocktail.

Thank you to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for the copy.

A must listen to!! Well written and entertaining. I started on the commute home and found myself listening whenever I had a spare moment. It was so gripping. You will not regret listening to this one.

How well do you know your neighbors? The Block Party is a summer drama exploring the threads of secrets among neighbors and how they become tangled.
Unfolding over Memorial Days during Alton Road’s annual Block Party, the community learns there’s been a murder. Going back one year, the characters’ lives, betrayals, secrets and more are unveiled, primarily through dual POVs from a mother and her teenage daughter. This story keeps you guessing who the victim and suspects are until the very end.
I appreciated the ongoing mystery of this novel but found just a few too many storylines where it made it hard to follow overall. Narrators for the audiobook were great and dynamic with each perspective. Thank you to Macmillan Audio and St. Martin’s Press for the ARC in exchange for my honest opinion. You can check this out starting 7/18.

I appreciated the clean language of this book, except for the use of Jesus' name. I thought I was going to read about a neighborhood mystery, but it just never got there. Almost 20 chapters in and I had to continually remind myself that they're going to try to solve a murder here any minute.
So many characters introduced so early on in the story and without defining memorable traits make this book hard to follow.

The neighbors on Alton Road have a yearly block party on Memorial Day Weekend, and this year, someone is dead. Through flashbacks of the previous year, readers learn what lead up to the events of the block party and who is dead. The main characters, and narrators, are Alex, a divorce mediator who loves her wine a little too much, and her daughter Lettie, a high school senior seeking revenge on her former best friend who ratted out her out as the vandal who protested the dress code. The chapters alternate perspectives between the two, and readers get to see their relationships with all of the neighbors including some newcomers and their college- aged son, Alex’s sister and her family, Lettie’s best friend and her parents, and a sexy widow with an Only Fans account. This tale of neighborly gossip, betrayal, and revenge will keep readers guessing until the very end. Who is dead, and which neighbors have motive to kill?

The two narrators of this audiobook are great. Having two narrators helps differentiate between the perspectives, and their delivery of the sinister happenings on Alton Road add to the unsettling atmosphere.

I love juicy neighborhood secrets and drama and this book doesn't disappoint! It jumps back and forth between past and present Memorial Day as we try to figure out what's going on with the new couple on the street, along with other developing drama that slowly unfolds. We soon learn everyone has their secrets. I enjoyed both Alex and Letty's POVs and both narrators brought them to life. A fun twisty story that sucked me in from the beginning!

Fun domestic drama of the juiciest sort.

I'm always here for the wild neighborhood stories, I really enjoyed this one. I alternated between the audiobook and the print copy for this one. Most of the book is great on audio, the narrators for Alex and Lettie, Megan Tusing and Suzy Jackson, do a fantastic job giving those characters voice. The neighborhood Facebook-esque group posts though, are great in print and don't translate well to audio. There aren't a ton of them, so it's easy to get through them quickly.

The book opens with a neighborhood's annual Memorial Day block party, in which something major has occurred but we don't know what. We then flash back and forth throughout the book with the previous year's block party and everything that led up to the events of the present day.

Everyone here has secrets and issues. Alex and her husband and the other couples in the neighborhood have them. Lettie and her friends in high school have them. The two groups overlap as well, in the most shocking of ways. The book is filled with suspense, a plethora of drama, and a lot of people behaving very, very badly. You just won't be able to look away!

Yes, there are a lot of characters. It can get confusing, but the audiobook helped me to keep them straight because many of them were voiced differently. I just found this to be a highly addictive family drama.

One word of warning, if you have triggers you might want to steer clear. There are SO many I think the only thing that didn't occur was animal harm. But if you like super juicy neighborhood stories, this one just might hit the spot this summer.

Black mail, revenge, secrets and lies! This neighborhood has it all!

Starts out with a block party (for the more expensive homes on the block) there is a noise and it looks like someone was killed.
We go back a year and learn all the characters and their secrets. They each have something to hide.

This books started out strong, I was hooked. I actually enjoyed the “neighborhood group posts” I thought they were funny. I felt Lettie was boring at times lecturing us on environmental issues every chapter, I know people are like that but it became annoying. But she definitely had a great storyline. There is a lot of neighborhood drama. Some of those parts dragged on. I fell everything came together in the end and it was a nice twist!
Trigger warnings: drug use/ overdose, suicidal tendencies, spousal abuse, and sexual assault.
Thank you NetGalley and McMillan Audio for an ARC audiobook in exchange for my honest review. I enjoyed the narrators for both Alex and Lettie. They did a great job.

Every year, the Alton Road neighborhood has a Memorial Day block party. Residents only, no outsiders. Those residing in other neighborhoods are scandalously fascinated when there is a murder at the annual party. Jaime Day, the author, takes us back through the past year in the cul-de-sac to shed light on the rivalries, misdeeds, and positive and negative interactions of the homeowners and their families.

Lettie, the teenager who wants to grow up quickly is an engaging character upon which the story hinges.

Recommended for those who enjoyed the book "What the Neighbors Saw" by Melissa Adelman.

Narrators Megan Tusing and Suzy Jackson make the book an enjoyable listen.

Initially this was captivating but things started to wane as I got half way through. I realized I just didn't connect to any of these characters. I was propelled to power through to see what actual happened.

✨Book Review: The Block Party✨

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

Alton Road is not your average neighborhood. It is full of many secrets that all come to light at the annual summer block party. The plot begins at the scene of the crime…someone has been murdered at the party! The rest of the book is told from the perspective of both Alex and Lettie, a mother/daughter duo who don’t always see eye to eye. Alex isn’t ready to accept she has a drinking problem and Lettie is focused on saving the world. The timeline also jumps between the present day Memorial Day and the Memorial Day one year prior. Throughout these plot lines, the reader must answer these questions.

Why is Jay ignoring Lettie?
Who is Riley’s biological father?
Who is Brooke’s stalker?
Who was murdered at the Block Party?

Usually, murder mysteries take place in the wintertime so it was fun reading a summer version of this genre! I also enjoyed chatting with @current_reads_with_cass after finishing! I’m always up for a book talk!

#theblockparty #jamieday #junereads #bookstgram #books #2023reads #bookrecs #readingchallenge #readinggoals #goodreadschallenge #booksofinstagram #alwaysreading #bookstagramchallenges #bookstagramer #instabooks

I provided a in depth review for the ebook, but I’ll add some notes about the audiobook here!

I loved the audiobook- the inflection of the readers voice, and the attention to detail when changing the tone of voice for characters was great.

My only suggestion would be to add the chapter numbers (maybe names too) to the audiobook chapter section. I was bouncing back and forth between the ebook and the audiobook and I would struggle to find the same spot in the audiobook because the chapters weren’t labeled.

The Block party is a domestic suspense story about an affluent block party full of secrets. There are many characters but only two of them narrate the story, Alex and her daughter Lettie. There was lots of drama and secrets interwoven throughout the story. Lettie's side of the story reads like a Young Adult novel. As the secrets unfold, we see connections between the neighbors that leave you shocked. Overall, the story was enjoyable and kept me interested. This is a great beach read or casual summer read. I give it 3.5 stars!

I received an ARC of this book from St. Martin's Press and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Jamie Day’s The Block Party is the summer thriller we ALL need.

You never know what goes on behind closed doors. No one knows this better than the residents of Alton Road. After someone ends up dead at the annual block party, secrets begin to emerge. Readers will be shocked to discover the victim’s identity and the circumstances surround it.

The story alternates between past and present timelines. While it is narrated by a mother-daughter duo, Day incorporates the entire ensemble of Alton Road (and the surrounding neighborhoods). Normally adding multiple perspectives adds to the believability, by these unreliable narrators kept me on my toes.

I loved everything about this book!!! Each time I thought I had things figured out, Day threw another twist and turn my way. The ending left me so shocked, I couldn’t stop thinking about it for days.

I highly recommend picking up a copy of Day’s debut novel. I was able to both read and listen to the book and can attest to them being absolutely phenomenal. The benefit of having a physical book was that it allowed me to go back and gain clarification for key details I missed. Whereas, listening to the audiobook brought a sense of humanity to characters I strongly disliked. Each format offered a unique insight. If possible I would encourage readers to consume both formats.

Special thanks to NetGalley, St. Martin’s Press, Macmillian Audio, and Jamie Day for allowing me to read this book in exchange for my honest feedback.

A captivating dual POV read that keeps readers on the edge of their seats. Filled with deep dark secrets and revenge. The alternating perspectives, and dual timeline provide a deep and complex narrative that hooks you from the beginning to the end. Narrators Megan Tusing and Suzy Jackson deliver incredible performances, bringing the characters to life with their compelling voices.

I loved how the story just continued to build up the anticipation and I really enjoyed how I was able to get a good overall vibe of the cul-de-sac and the neighbors that lived there.

Whether you choose to read the book or listen to the audiobook, the exceptional performances by Megan Tusing and Suzy Jackson add an extra layer of depth and immersion. Block Party is a must-read for fans of psychological thrillers, featuring a riveting narrative, and complex characters.

A very special thanks to St. Martin's Press for the gifted copy and Macmillan Audio and Netgalley for the ALC.

What I wouldn't give to live in this neighborhood! This neighborhood was filled with drama and just goes to show you never know what might be happening in the house next door!

This was an addictive read for me. I am glad, however, that this is a block party I will never be invited to attend. There are several characters and storylines to keep track of. Thanks NetGalley for the audio eArc.