Revenge is a dish best served.. at a Memorial Day block party. Jamie Day's soapy new novel is reminiscent of Big Little Lies and Ashley Audrain's latest, The Whispers. The novel is narrated by Alex, a wife and mother, who maybe has a drinking problem, and Lettie, said teen daughter of Alex. The cast of characters are the neighbors of Alton Lane and the plot of the story takes place over the course from one Memorial Day black party to the next years. At the latter Memorial Day party police are called for a homicide. Flashing back over the course of the past year we get to know some of the neighbors and the many, many dark secrets they are keeping from their families and each other. While I thought there were maybe just one or two too many dramatic secrets for one small block. Overall a very entertaining read for fans of domestic and neighborhood suspense! The narration was also fantastic!

The audiobook narration and the storyline were entertaining, even though the block party takes place on a block of mostly dysfunctional people, many of whom take a while to warm up to. If you like Liane Moriarty books, you’ll probably enjoy this one.
Thanks #StMartinsPress and #NetGalley for the arc audiobook

Thank you NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the advanced listening copy of The Block Party in exchange for my honest review.

I'll keep this short and sweet since this one wasn't for me. I ended up skipping quite a bit of the book just to get to the end. I think I would've preferred more than two narrators for this since there ended up being SO many secrets and lies and general chaos.

I did however enjoy the narrators!

In fairness I won't review this on any other retail sites aside from NetGalley since I didn't *technically* finish it.

𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑩𝒍𝒐𝒄𝒌 𝑷𝒂𝒓𝒕𝒚
⭐️⭐️⭐️💫
𝗥𝗲𝗮𝗱 𝗶𝗳 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗲: Real Housewives gone dark 😅, neighborhood drama, suburban thriller
𝗣𝘂𝗯 𝗗𝗮𝘁𝗲: July 18 (out now!)

Alton Road is an exclusive cul de sac neighborhood filled with very interesting residents. They always have Block parties, but during the Summer party, the night ended with murder…

This one started out very intriguing to me and it did have a good ending but the middle was dragging that when I did get to the twists and reveals, I couldn’t really enjoy it because at that point, I honestly just wanted it to end. :/ I almost DNFd this too many times but we all know I can’t DNF to save my life so I pushed through. Thank god for audiobooks 😅

As for any suburban drama, this one had a lot of characters and while character building is very important for thrillers, the lengthy backstory for each of them was I guess where it started to be too dragging for me.

That being said, I think if you don’t mind slow pacing and character driven suburban thrillers, give this one a go. The ending was pretty good. But if you’re like me and wants something faster paced, this might not be for you. Still if you decide to pick it up, please let me know if you liked it!

Thank you so much @netgalley for the free audiobook and thank you @stmartinspress for the advanced reading copy!!

💭 So parties, do you like hosting / attending?
☕️ I like to host but the cleanup would be too exhausting for me so I guess I’m leaning towards attending 😂

There is more emotion in The Block Party by Jamie Day than I expected. I like how the secrets are revealed and that there are just enough characters for readers to never be too sure who to trust or see how everyone/everything is intertwined until the story is ready to tell you. It has been quite some time since I read a mystery book that had me guessing (wrongly!) until the very end. Moreover, when I looked at Jamie Day's profile and saw that this is her first book... amazing! She has definitely gained a new fan!

Megan Tusing, as Alex, and Suzy Jackson, as Lettie, were both great narrators for this book. I do wish it would have been told in first person since the mother and daughter are separate, but it isn't that necessary.

I rate The Block Party a resounding 5 stars. There's nothing I would change in the story, it's perfect to me.

Thank you to Macmillan Audio for providing me with an ALC.

Review of The Block Party by Jamie Day

A huge thank you to @stmartinspress as well as @getredprbooks for the copy of this book. I enjoyed reading it with my friends in
the #sqafbookclub. It’s always a good time with that crew! This book was so fun! It screamed of summer, and I loved the entire summer vibe it had. But of course, it is my favorite genre thriller, so it wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows. I loved the neighborhood drama and the mystery and who was murdered and why. It was well written, and I loved the piece throughout the book. I definitely will be picking up the next book by the author.

Synopsis from Amazon:

This summer, meet your neighbors.

The residents of the exclusive cul-de-sac on Alton Road are entangled in a web of secrets and scandal utterly unknown to the outside world, and even to each other.

On the night of the annual Summer block party, there has been a murder.

But, who did it and why takes readers back one year earlier, as rivalries and betrayals unfold―discovering that the real danger lies within their own block and nothing―and no one―is ever as it seems

I really enjoyed this book. I thought it was great and I know a few of my book clubs are going to like it. :)

This one was definitely an entertaining read! The characters were all flawed, sometimes awful. I can definitely see this becoming a tv show. As for the audio, despite the big number of people in the book, it was easy to keep everyone straight. Great summer read overall. Thank you so much to Macmillan Audio for the ALC.

I hated everyone in this book for a while! But thankfully it got a lot better and the bad-dude gets his in the end! I can't wait for the next book that Jamie Day releases!

Right at the start we learn that something very bad has happened this year at the annual block party on Alton Road. But as for who is the victim and who is responsible…that takes much longer to learn as we jump back a year and learn all about the people who live on Alton Road. This is a well done domestic suspense/thriller. As we get the opportunity to learn all about the residents—new and old—of Alton Road the list of potential victims and suspects balloons. There is an awful lot going on in this neighborhood and everyone seems to have a grudge against someone else. Motives are almost as plentiful as the secrets these people hold, and a number of these characters are the kind you’ll just love to hate. The audio narration is well done, with Megan Tusing and Suzy Jackson voicing the two main POVs. Definitely a fun summer beach read. I’d like to thank Macmillan Audio for the allowing me the opportunity to listen to an advanced copy of the audio version of The Block Party.

https://www.amazon.com/review/R15QBJSI6SVTRA/ref=pe_1098610_137716200_cm_rv_eml_rv0_rv

This was a fun thriller that kept me guessing! The story opens at a Memorial Day block party and we know that someone is killed but we don’t know who the victim is, who the killer is, or any of the motives. We then go back in time to the year before to find out exactly what happened on this cul-de-sac during the fateful year leading up to the murder. I found this to be incredibly entertaining and hard to put down.

The story is told from two points of view, Alex, a middle age woman who always seems to have a glass of wine in her hand, and Lettie, her 18-year-old daughter. The group of characters that live on this street have a lot of things going on and I couldn’t wait to see how things would play out. As the pieces started falling into place and the murder drew nearer, I became more and more hooked by this story. There were a few surprises worked into the story that helped to keep things very interesting.

I listened to the audiobook and thought the narrators did a great job with the story. Megan Tusing and Suzy Jackson both did an excellent job of bringing this story to life. I enjoyed the various voices that they used to represent all of the characters in this cul-de-sac. I thought that they added just the right amount of emotion to their reading. I do believe that their narration only added to my overall enjoyment.

I would recommend this book to others. I thought that this was an entertaining and exciting thriller with enough twists and turns to the pages turning quickly. I plan to keep an eye out for future works by this talented author.

I received a review copy of this book from St. Martin’s Press and Macmillan Audio.

Murder, secrets, betrayals...oh, and plenty of DRAMA, Block Party by Jamie Day has all this and more!

The story begins at the annual neighborhood Memorial Day block party and before it ends, someone dies.

Alton Road may be the best Cul-de-Sac in town but the residents are all a hot mess. They cheat on, and with each other, some are addicts, and one might just be a murderer. All this makes this novel such a good read, I mean, who doesn't love to watch the perfect stumble and fall? I am certainly not going to turn it down!

I listened to Block Party on audio and enjoyed it, the narration was clear and added plenty to the story. When I could not listen I also had a copy of the book, which I will say the story is well written and executed. It has plenty of drama and twists that propel the reader along quickly to the end.

Told in two POVs, Alex and her daughter Lettie, who is in her last year of High School. I appreciated the author's choice of giving the book only two narrators, as there were plenty of characters she could have added, but I also seem to have a hard time keeping them separated when there are too many, so perfect editing on her part. I did not find any of the characters practically likable, but that just made the reading all the better.

The story also has two timelines, the present and a year ago when the party and murder actually happened, the events of the night unfold as you read. I also found it interesting that the author included a Facebook Community in the storyline, where you will get the thoughts and opinions of the residents as they discuss and argue about the who and what of the murder and each other.

All in all the Block Party was entertaining, it wasn't a literary marvel but it was a juicy little book that will give you Desperate Housewife vibes. If that is your type of thing, then The Block Party is a must-read for you.

The atypical suburbanite dream, a block party, however this one comes chalk full of drama deserving a spot as a BRAVO miniseries. Memorial Day offers the perfect day for an end of summer party celebrating new and old friendships. The novel starts in present day as we follow Alex, who is quite the drunken mess, navigate haphazardly around the block. The time period shifts to one year prior leading up to the very same party. What is the difference you may wonder? Quite simply, MURDER.

Alton Road in Meadowbrook is quite well known for projecting a “keeping up with the Joneses vibe”. The community page and commentary about the neighborhood is spot on as neighborhoods from other areas discuss the infamous comings and goings-on. As the reader we not only get this outside perspective of the neighborhood but also from Alex and her daughter Lettie. Come to find out the neighborhood page is not that far off the secrets that are being kept by the residents of that street.

With all of the characters involved it is difficult in the beginning to keep them straight. However, the differing viewpoints of Alex and Lettie really help the reader categorize who is important and who is more supporting. I thoroughly enjoyed viewing each resident from these two perspectives and coming to various conclusions on who was murdered and whodunit. To say the least, I was wrong in my estimation.

This review is based on the audio production of the novel. The reading is performed very well, especially the POV of Lettie. As a YA POV, there are moments when Lettie is infuriatingly naïve and angsty, but this is very fitting. As the novel progressed, I found I liked Lettie more and Alex became much more grating as she was obviously dealing with a serious alcohol addiction. I found the twist to be fitting and it had much more depth and history than most novels in this genre.

The Block Party was such a good book! While a bit of a slow unfolding of neighborhood drama, the book both starts and ends with a bang. Critical details are released chapter by chapter as I tried to figure out who committed the murder, and who the victim ultimately is, from a cast of characters that all have motives and enemies. I could picture this prestigious neighborhood block so clearly in my mind, and I enjoyed the narrators. This was a very fun read that I would highly recommend!

Well, this certainly wasn't short on the drama. The story is told from the perspectives of Alex and Lettie, a mother and daughter. Alex telling us all the drama happening with the adults and Lettie bringing us into the teen drama. I can honestly say I had no idea how this story was going to turn out. It kept me guessing until the very end. I liked all of the backstories and getting to know all of the characters through Alex and Lettie's eyes. I also enjoyed the small little blips of "social media" gossip, which, if you've ever been in a small town or neighborhood's Facebook group, then you know what I'm talking about LOL.

The narration was fantastic! Both ladies kept the story exciting and set a good pace for all the action. I also wanted to point out it looks like this is a debut novel by Jamie Day and if so, it was SO good! I expect big things in the future.

If you want a fun, whodunit, drama filled thriller, check this one out. Thank you to Jamie Day, NetGalley, and MacMillan Audio for allowing me to listen and review!

2.5 stars
[Warning: Contains a spoiler at the end]
This type of thriller just isn't for me. I'm finding that revenge-plot thrillers often leave me with extreme dislike of the main characters. This book also had me very confused between the large cast of characters and what all of their issues were. I had to keep stopping to ask myself, "Wait, is she the one with the dead husband? Or is she the one in the unhappy marriage?" So many unhappy marriages! The writing did keep me interested enough to see where this was all going, even with all of the "oh, come on! Nobody would do that!" moments. This also felt like a young adult novel was shoe-horned into an adult thriller. I didn't mind that so much, but the narration switch between the general narrator (mostly Alex's perspective) and Lettie's first person chapters seemed clunky.
I'm giving this one an extra .5 star because there were moments when I did feel engaged with the characters, however unlikable most of them were.
Thank you, Netgalley for the digital audio ARC.
One more note (Spoiler alert!):
I have a complete distrust of thrillers that include the constant mention of a family pet. The possibility of having something bad happen to an animal in a book for a plot device is a deal-breaker for me. I get anxious whenever a pet appears in a scene and this book had the poor dog throughout the book. I'm happy to report that nothing terrible happens to the dog.

I was not crazy about this book nor the style it is written in. The Block Pary is a domestic thriller about a murder doing a block party, except the murder does not happen quickly. It takes the majority of the book until we deal with a murder. The only death we are told about early in the story, is the death of Brooke's husband. Most of the story is told through the narrator, Alex and her daughter Lettie. Alex is a nosy neighbor with way too much time on her hands that she goes around judging and gossiping about her neighbors while drinking. She is the neighborhood drunk, and her daughter is the political environmentalist. She is a bit annoying in the beginning but becomes one of the better parts of the story.

The problem is there are multiple characters without much development. None of these characters have any life. Maybe if the author had given some of these characters a voice, perhaps it would have bought more life to them. We also hear from residents of the community sharing their perspectives through a Facebook community forum which I hated! It was all just a disjointed bunch of noise; it didn't really add much value and personally I felt was better without it. I think the reader is smart enough to guess that perhaps Jay could be a drug dealer without the inferences from the voices of the Facebook community.
This book is long to say that nothing ever happens. Just your mundane characters with long overdrawn scenes. I kept waiting for something to happen after being 70% in the book, but no, you must keep reading! Well at least the stalker is discovered by then. This book is not my cup of tea, but so many people here have enjoyed it and I am sure it will be the cup of tea for someone else.

I absolutely loved the Block Party! This book has it all and there were so many twists I didn't expect. If your looking for a book with family drama, gossip, and murder, definitely check this one out!

I loved that it was told from multiple view points and went back and forth between present and past. Little by little the story unfolds and you start to learn all the secrets the people living on Alton Road are keeping! From the first chapter, I was hooked! I didn't want to stop listening!

The narrator of the audio book did a great job and I really enjoyed listening to it. At first it was difficult to remember who was who as there are several characters, but after a few chapters I was able to keep the families and characters straight.

Before reading I recommend looking up trigger warnings as there are several potential triggers.

Thank you to Macmillan Audio and Netgalley for letting me listen to The Block Party in exchange for an honest review!

You know that book about the close neighborhood where everyone is besties with everyone around them even though they have so many secrets they barely know each other. Sure. You know it. Their kids are weirdly all connected even though they don’t like each other much. Their all sterotypes like the end of The Breakfast Club. And one of the moms general drinks wine like a marathon runner drinking water. You know it. This is it. Again.

There are no likeable characters here. The story is OK. There are some final scenes that bring the whole story together. It’s light summer murder reading. Which is so weird to say. But you’ve read this book. You know.

Well, that was fun! Told from the alternating voices of Alex and her daughter Lettie, this is a twisty tale. The Alton road cul de save reminds me of both Desperate housewives and Melrose Place where all the neighbors get involved in each others business. We get to see Their annual Memorial Day block party over multiple years, and what a difference a year makes. A who dunnit from the first chapter, this was a very enjoyable listen as an audiobook with multiple voices for each character