In the interest of full disclosure, I received access to a digital copy of this book for free in return for an honest and thoughtful review.

With that out of the way, let's talk about One Big Happy Family, by Jamie Day:

This book follows Charley, a young housekeeper at an eclectic hotel in coastal Maine called while on the precipice of a huge storm, in the wake of her boss's passing. As his three daughters turn up for the reading of the will, with a stowaway seeking help showing up just before the sisters do, it seems that maybe more than just secrets will be spilled at the family reunion of a lifetime.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book! I am a lover of mysteries, and this one gets off to a very interesting start. The groundwork is laid pretty early on, and the plot takes off with a good pace from there. Its hard to believe how short of a timeframe the book's events take place in, even having it told to you at the end! This is definitely an approachable page-turner with some good mystery and suspense to it. You might find yourself suspicious of many characters in the book as you go through it, and all with good reason. As a self-professed devotee of thrillers and mysteries, I will note that I was able to set my sights on the correct person to be most wary of prior to the reveal, but it did not take any enjoyment away from me at the time of the reveal, which is an accomplishment for sure!

Day's writing style is casual and gives Charley a great sense of character as she narrates this book. The occasional shifts in perspective were also fascinating and distinct enough without changing the overall tone of what I was reading, which I appreciated as well.

If you're looking for a page-turner that you won't want to put down, but want to be able to finish in a weekend, I would definitely recommend this book to you. I'm looking forward to seeing what Day writes next!

3 ½ stars rounded up. What a crazy ride! This is the story of what will happen to the Precipice Hotel after the owner dies. Three sisters are coming back for the reading of the will with a hurricane looming. You also meet Charley, one of the loyal employees and she has no idea if she’ll still have a job after the sisters take over. This book was full of one crazy situation after another. Lots of fun and kept me guessing what would happen next. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this advanced reader’s copy.

Thank you to netgalley for the arc in exchange for my review. There is no shortage of family drama in this book. It certainly is not one big happy family. Some twists and turns along the way but overall kind of an unbelievable story. With the patriarch of the family dead, three sisters reunite at their family b&b to listen to the reading of their fathers will. All during a hurricane. Chaos and murder are abundant. Three stars

One Big Happy Family

As a huge fan of The Block Party, I think I was expecting a lot from this one and while I did enjoy it, I didn’t as much as I did her first book.

There are a few things that I loved about this book, the first is the setting and the second is the character of Charley. I think the two kept me invested enough to keep going. Although a bit predictable, I still enjoyed the impending weather, the sense of isolation, and again, Charley.

I’m definitely a Jamie Day fan and will be reading whatever she writes next.

My thanks to St. Martins Press for this gifted DRC.

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for sending this book for review consideration. All opinions are my own.

Wow, I finished this book in record time. I'm giving a rare 5 stars; it started off interesting and ended on an interesting note. I liked the plot, it moved along nicely and there weren't any glaring mistakes that I noticed. The characters were likable for potential murders. The storm reminded me of old murder mystery movies, makes it spooky & you never know what'll happen when the lights go off. I've read a book by this author before and this was my favorite. There was only one part of the story that I questioned and that had to do with who died. We're told it's one person and turns out to be another. How'd that happen and no one knew?

#JamieDay #OneBigHappyFamily #NetGalley #St.Martin'sPress #murdermystery #contemporymurdermystery

Thank you to Net Galley and St. Martins Press for allowing me to read a copy of One Big Happy Family by Jamie Day. I have read one other book by this author so I was happy to read another one. This book was but, to me it seemed like another book I read. The a hurricane will hit the hotel where a family is staying to read the fathers will. The pacing of the book was slow.

🪨Book Review🪨
*
Summary:
The Precipice is a legendary, family-owned hotel on the rocky coast of Maine. With the recent passing of their father, the Bishop sisters--Iris, Vicki, and Faith--have come for the weekend to claim it. But with a hurricane looming and each of the Bishop sisters harboring dangerous secrets, there's murder in the air-- and not everyone who checks into the Precipice will be checking out.

Each sister wants what is rightfully hers, and in the mix is the Precipe's nineteen-year-old chambermaid Charley Kelley: smart, resilient, older than her years, and in desperate straits.

The arrival of the Bishop sisters could spell disaster for Charley. Will they close the hotel? Fire her? Discover her habit of pilfering from guests? Or even worse, learn that she's using a guest room to hide a woman on the run.
*
Rating- ⭐️⭐️⭐️
*
My thoughts- this one releases in August and I was super hyped to receive an advanced audiobook for it. While it was beautifully narrated and super atmospheric , think gothic hotel in the middle of an intense hurricane with crazy family drama, it ultimately fell short. I saw the twist coming a mile away and I did not like any of the characters, which was my main problem. I should have connected with Charley, but I found her super disloyal and quick to throw away people who actually cared about her because she thought the nephew was hot. All in all, it was very atmospheric and has some juicy toxic family drama, it just fell short.
*
QOTD- what did you do this weekend ?!
*

Wow really enjoyed the setting in this one. Hurricane Larry is approaching and the Bishop sisters have just arrived at Hotel Precipice for the reading of their father George’s will. Get ready for a cast of self absorbed characters, family toxicity at its finest and so much chaos that will keep you turning the pages.

Really enjoyed The Block Party and this one was equally as fun. Love the multiple POVs and a story that keeps me guessing.

Thank you Netgalley for an early copy in exchange for an honest review.

After the death of their father, George, the Bishop sisters return to the Precipice Hotelto claim their shares of what they each feel is rightfully theirs. However, what does this mean for Charley, the 19 year old maid who had been working and living there in order to pay for her Nana’s care? Will she still have a job and a place to live once the sisters arrive?

As things turn out, the sisters’ arrivals coincides with the arrival of a hurricane so there are no guests scheduled to stay. However, shortly before the sisters arrive, Charley meets a young girl named Bree who needs a place to stay during the storm to escape her abusive boyfriend. When she promises Charley that she will pay her exchange for a room, Charley can’t resist but needs to figure out how to keep Bree’s presence a secret.

It doesn’t take long once the sisters and their families show up, to realize that this is a family full of secrets. When people start turning up dead, it becomes clear that someone wants the family secrets revealed or more people will die! Charley soon finds herself in the middle of the family drama and needs to figure out a way to survive!

This was a quick enjoyable read! Everyone being locked in a hotel during a storm with no phone service and periods of no power, made for a perfect whodunnit and gave off extra eerie vibes that contributed to the suspense. The story was primarily told in the present with some chapters flashing back to the past to tell a story that revealed the secrets that this family was hiding… and there are many! So if you are in the mood for a thriller full of family drama, toxic relationships, murder and even a bit of humor… then this book is for you!

Charley works at the Precipice Hotel as a chambermaid. She has seen a lot in the short time she has worked there but nothing can prepare her for the craziness she is about to encounter. The man who hired her is dead and his family is coming for the reading of the will. Then a storm locks them all in the hotel and there is a killer on the loose! Choas and destruction, death and mayhem but maybe something good can come from it in the end.
I really enjoyed this book. The characters are crazy. The situations are ridiculous. Through it all, Charley is at the center of it but somehow she holds on to her sanity. How? I don’t know. The sisters that come to find out what they have inherited are all crazy and creepy but in the end they are sisters. They stick together through all of the craziness or do they? There are enough twists and turns to make you dizzy! The end is good and the bad guy gets their due. There is also a side story about Charley taking care of her grandmother who has dementia and Charley’s best friend disappearing during the storm.
If I had one complaint, I would say it was that the book was uneven. There were parts that read fast and smooth but there were parts that felt clunky and out of place. Those moments made me stop and double check how they fit the rest of the story. Luckily there are many of those moments so I was able to get back into the flow easily.
This is a contemporary murder mystery, family dynamics, caught in a storm, maybe romance set in a hotel. It’s a fun read and I would recommend giving it a try. I will read more from this author in the future.

One Big Happy Family is a story that has a great 'locked room' setting in a secluded boutique hotel right before a massive storm is about to hit. A very dysfunctional family meets at this hotel that is owned by their family to hear the reading of the will of their not-so-dear old dad.

The Bishop sisters, Vicki, Faith and Iris, along with a couple of spouses and kids have more baggage than Samsonite, many axes to grind and even more secrets they'd rather keep hidden. The cast also includes the lawyer who has come to read the will and a few staff members, including nineteen-year-old Charley, an extremely naïve, down-on-her-luck chamber maid at the family-owned hotel who tells the story.

The story is divided into four parts, but despite the short chapters, this was an extremely sloooowww story that will require readers to suspend disbelief. We get the backstory on several characters which explains the animosity, but I found many of them to be caricatures with the rhyming teen too odd and over-the-top. There are some good dysfunctional family secret reveals (a la Jerry Springer) but the actual mystery and Charley as the protagonist were weak and the culprit blatantly obvious from the start.

While this wasn't a good fit for me, but if you're looking for an atmospheric family drama with murder and colourful but despicable characters and a locked room mystery vibe, you may want to give One Big Happy Family a try.

Disclaimer: Thanks to St Martin's Press for the advanced copy of this book which was provided in exchange for my honest review.

One Big Happy Family
Jamie Day

Out now!! Pub 7/16 ✨

🌟🌟🌟🌟

Whew! What a wild ride. Chaos and a very toxic family. Some far fetched twists but still fun and entertaining!

So many people have a motive in this book and the characters are complicated and interesting. I love how Day started with the POV of Charley the maid. It really drew me in to the mystery! I had a rough idea of what was going on, and then I had no idea what was going on, and then the ending was different again! The remote gloomy and gothic type setting of the novel played up the dangerous and bleak situation our main character finds herself in. A group of sisters should be best friends, but how does that work if one of them is also a murderer? 🕵️‍♀️ 🔫

Read if you love-
Locked room mysteries
A story packed with family drama and SECRETS 🤫

Thank you @netgalley @stmartinspress @jamieday for a copy of this novel!

3.5 stars rounded up
One Big Happy Family by Jamie Day is a murder mystery/family drama set in The Precipice, a remote resort hotel in Maine. As hurricane Larry descends on the coast, the power is knocked out and the mystery becomes a locked-room caper.
The story is narrated by Charley, a 19-year old chambermaid at the hotel who likes her job and likes the proximity it gives her to money and baubles she pinches from the guestrooms, ostensibly to help pay for her poor Nana’s care home. Charley’s character’s plight rings hollow, and she is hard to care about.
The owner of the hotel dies, and his daughters, the Bishop sisters, arrive for the reading of Dad’s will, and promptly provide all sorts of bickering, baggage and drama—both past and present. They also harbor a dark secret from years ago, which is pretty interesting to follow through the story.
All the characters in this novel seem superficial or unlikeable. The action in early chapters is slow, but the pace picks up in the second half, which is written like a farce, edgy, funny/not funny, with almost slapstick action at times. I can see this novel becoming a TV movie.
I do like Jamie Day’s prose. She writes in a bright, contemporary style. But in this suspense novel, the unlikeable characters, and the sometimes far-fetched situations, overshadowed that voice, for me.
I enjoyed The Block Party, her previous novel, very much, so I will continue to look for future works by this author.

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for the ARC. This is my honest review.

Nineteen year old hotel housemaid, Charley, has experienced a lot at her young age. She works tirelessly at the Previpice hotel on the coast of Maine to afford her living expenses and still save e bough to pay for the care of her grandmother, whose memory is fading quickly. When the hotel patriarch dies his family, the Bishop sisters, descend upon the hotel to get what they think they deserve. With a storm raging outside and egos soaring inside, no one can be trusted. After 2 people end up dead, no o e feels safe and no one is above suspicion. With the WiFi knocked out, and some residents injured, how can they get help and will they stay alive long enough to do so? Thanks to NetGalley, St. Martin’s Press, and Macmillan Audio for the ARC. This is my honest review.

I had a hard time getting into this one at the beginning as I felt it was a bit slow. Some of the suspense and twists were predictable but I liked that this was a locked room type of mystery. Overall this was a quick, easy read and I would be interested in reading more from this author.

This review is my own. Thank you Netgalley and St. Martin's Press.

Jamie Day is a new author for me. The cover of this book caught my attention first, as the cover immediately says beach read, but when I read the description it sounded more like a family dispute book. I was still interested.

Description:
The Precipice is a legendary, family-owned hotel on the rocky coast of Maine. With the recent passing of their father, the Bishop sisters—Iris, Vicki, and Faith—have come for the weekend to claim it. But with a hurricane looming and each of the Bishop sisters harboring dangerous secrets, there's murder in the air—and not everyone who checks into the Precipice will be checking out.

Each sister wants what is rightfully hers, and in the mix is the Precipice's nineteen-year-old chambermaid Charley Kelley: smart, resilient, older than her years, and in desperate straits.

The arrival of the Bishop sisters could spell disaster for Charley. Will they close the hotel? Fire her? Discover her habit of pilfering from guests? Or even worse, learn that she's using a guest room to hide a woman on the run.

With razor-sharp wit, heart, thrills, and twists, Jamie Day delivers a unique brand of SUMMERTIME SUSPENSE.

My Thoughts:
My heart went out to Charley as she was in a tough situation. She really needed the job in order to take care of her Grandmother and to have a place to live herself. With murder and being trapped in the hotel with the Bishop family while the hurricane raged outside the situation went from bad to worse. Secrets and past cover ups were revealed with surprising results. I liked the plot and the way the story progressed. Charley was a good character and it was easy to relate to her situation. It was an enjoyable mystery, and, in the end, I think it would make a good beach read.

Thanks to St. Martin's Press through Netgalley for an advance copy.

ONE BIG HAPPY FAMILY by Jamie Day was the crazy family suspense that was a perfect, popcorn, summer read out July 16th by @stmartinspress.

Charley is the maid at the Precipice, a family owned hotel on the coast of Maine. The patriarch has died and the family has gathered to have the will read, and no one seems happy to see each other. When one of the party ends up dead, it is revealed that everyone had a motive. Charlie is stuck with this dismal family reunion until the approaching hurricane passes, but tries to keep out of their crosshairs!

This was a soap-operatic family with few redeeming qualities. To have the viewpoint of the proverbial fly-on-the-wall was a fun choice, as the maid is often invisible. I did guess a major reveal pretty early, but still had fun watching it all unfold, grateful for my family!

I thoroughly enjoyed having both digital and audio options in which to enjoy. I am grateful to the publishers for access via @netgalley.

What I keep seeing is that when in Maine, beware of being caught in a storm in a creepy old house.

A fun summer read for the beach. You will fall in love with all the characters and be anxious to turn to the page to the ending. A definite must read.

I really wanted to love this. Closed door murder mystery on the rocky coast of Maine...things I love. But it took so long to get into this story and even determine what the major mystery was we were trying to solve. The sisters' back story was intriguing and helped to build investment, but ultimately even the big twist felt predictable. It was a fine mystery/thriller, but definitely not as captivating as I had hoped.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the eARC.

This thriller fell flat for me, it was very predictable and reminded me a lot of other books that I have read in this genre.