Thank you so much to NetGalley and the author for an ARC of this book! I’m a huge fan of mystery thriller and I was very excited for the read.

This main character here is Charley, a maid at a Hotel. Charley is young and broke and needs money to pay for her elderly grandmother’s care. The owner of the hotel she works at dies resulting in the daughters visting to read the will and receive their inheritance. There’s a huge storm happening at the same time so all the characters are stuck in the hotel until the storm passes. There is lies, secrets, weapons, murders, and twists and turns you won’t see coming.

I like the short chapters that ended in cliffhangers but must admit the book dragged on for a bit too long. I also found it difficult to really care for Charley. There wasn’t enough in her past (other than struggling financially) to really feel like she deserved better.

Overall I rate this a 3.5/5! Still had enough jaw dropping twists for me to enjoy

Thank you to NetGalley and St Martin’s Press for the ARC of One Big Happy Family by Jamie Day! I would rate this as 3.5 stars, but rounded to 3. The synopsis of One Big Happy Family intrigued me as it is set in Maine, it’s by an author familiar to me (I gave 5 stars to her book Block Party), and it sounded like it would be a thriller. I feel like the book is in the whodunnit category, and if you enjoy that type of book, I would highly recommend this one! As I was reading, I could picture this as a play as it has all of the features of a whodunnit play . . . An old, fancy hotel, the hotel staff (maid, cook, bellboy), a rich family, a stranger, lights suddenly going out . . . I could practically hear “dun dun dunnnnn!” I think this would make a great audio book. A Big Happy Family is fast paced and a quick read for whodunnit lovers.

Charley is a maid at a historic Maine hotel named Precipe, one that has been in the same family for years. She lives on the grounds in a small almost closet like room to save money and pay for her grandmothers nursing care. When the owner, George dies, his three daughters and their families defend upon the hotel for the reading of the will, during a hurricane no less. Charley is worried about her job, will they fire her if they find out her secret, worse yet will they find the local girl that Charley has hiding in the hotel rent free, and also will she be able to pay for her grandmothers care if she loses her job, should the sisters decide to shut down the hotel.

This book started out very strong for me. I enjoy a good lock room mystery/suspence, especially if you throw in some morally gray characters, and this book had plenty of those. The setting was great, an old hotel on the rocky shores of Maine. It was moody, mysterious, and with the hurricane baring down on them, it felt dangerous.

However, I really liked none of the characters in the story. The sisters especially, were just vile and unlikable, even main character Charley had several things I found I really unliked about her, especially her obsession with peoples looks that seems to occupy most pages in the book. Bree, the girl that Charley was hiding in the hotel , to quote Taylor Swift “ I knew you were trouble when you walked in“

The book was divided into four parts, and the parts each had short chapters, which is always a plus in my book, mostly because I have a hard time closing a book in the middle of a chapter. I will say, I thought the book went on longer than it needed and I got bored with it near the half way mark. There were a lot of family in the book, with a lot of backstories, much I felt was not always necessary to the story.

There was a few good twists in the book, but I felt the ending was predictable and ended rather quickly.

One Big Happy Family had all the trappings of a great mystery, but to me it missed the mark, however if you are a fan of a lock room mysteries, don’t overlook this one, it might just be the summer read you are wanting.

I'll start by saying this story has a solid premise that drew me in immediately. The FMC has a well-thought-out back story, which I appreciate. There are a LOT of characters, almost too many for what amounts to a locked-room mystery. A couple of dead bodies later and everyone is unhinged and side stories are spawning faster than you can keep track. It's almost too busy. I would have preferred a more pared-down plot without all the giant twist revelations. I didn't find the love interest side story to be at all necessary or believable given the primary plot. That said, the story definitely held my attention and had some twists I never saw coming.

If you were a member of the Bishop family, it would be best to hide from them. The three sisters - Vicki, Iris and Faith return to the family home which is a famous hotel in Maine for the reading of their father's will. Always known for his eye for the young maids, George Bishop was not a nice man, and his will proves it. Young maid Charley Kelley spent her short career at the hotel fighting off his advances. Naturally once the daughters hear the will, they are sure Charley was actively involved it getting George to write the will he did. With a one-in-a-lifetime hurricane barreling toward them, Charley must keep her wits about her to prevent someone from getting killed. No one is who they really are in this novel and this builds to an exciting climax.

The premise for this one sounded amazing, but for me it fell flat. It was really slow and I just couldn't get into it fully. I felt like it was overly long and that some things just did not make sense.

This book was fantastic! I didn’t know which way was up and the twists just kept coming. My kind of book completely! The author made it so engaging and fun while also making me want to keep turning the page. The characters were perfect and the ploy moved so smoothly! I’d love to see more from this author, thanks for my free ARC!

Charley Kelley got one of her few breaks in life when hotel owner George Bishop gave her a job as a maid in his hotel, the Precipice, on the coast of Maine. But now he has passed away and his daughters are coming for his funeral...inheritance...but hurricane is coming and they are about to get a lot to more than they bargained for in this twisty domestic drama.

Jamie Day delivers again! I loved how well the characters were written and the ending was fantastic. I highly recommend!

I want to thank the author for giving me the opportunity to read this e-arc in exchange for my honest review.

I absolutely loved this thriller. I loved the small town feel setting this book gave off. If you are a fan of locked room mysteries then you are going to love this book from start to finish. You will keep asking yourself who did it and question everybody.

You will not be able to set this book down and will be gripping the sides of your seats the entire time. I had never read anything by Jamie Day before but I think that I found a new favorite author. I would recommend this to everybody I know.

I enjoyed this book! It was fast-paced and kept my attention. I predicted the twist, which was the only down-side for me. It was well-written, and definitely a mystery/thriller that I will recommend!

This was a 'do not finish for me". I loved the idea of the story but found that it was slow. The characters were all unlikeable. I couldn't make myself finish past 60%.

2.75 - the concept was good but i think there was too much info explained for the less important characters and not enough for the main (i would’ve liked more about the sisters and their complex relationships). Thank you NetGalley for the advance copy!

Thank you, NetGalley for giving me the chance to read One Big Happy Family by Jamie Day! I loved that the book was set in Maine and had so many twists and turns all the way up until the end.
This was my first Jamie Day book and I can’t wait to read more!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

This thriller opens with the 19 year live-in maid, Charley, at the Precipice Hotel (set on a cliff above Jonesport in coastal Maine) fleeing the murderous intentions of three sister heiresses during Hurricane Larry, knowing that the lone road is blocked by a felled tree. She’s been employed at the hotel for two years, trying to barely make enough to keep her Nana in elder care. George Bishop, the eccentric (and apparently lecherous) oddities collector and owner has just died and his daughters Vicki, Iris, and Faith are here to determine the fate of the hotel — and possibly Charley’s, too.

Jamie Day, whose last novel “The Block Party” was a gossipy, boozy, cat fight among neighbors (where I learned about hiding rotting shrimp in curtain rods) creates another toxic atmosphere where it’s hard to decide who you despise the most. There’s only one other employee, Rodrigo, with Charley, and the sisters have plus ones. Vicki has brought husband Todd and very handsome son, Quinn. Faith’s wife is Hope, an “airy-fairy-kumbaya” type and they have a sullen, speaks-in-rhymes, tarot-reading young teen (who resembles the Damien of “Omen”), Oliver. Iris, the middle sister, is more bedraggled than her siblings (a rumor of drugs) and she’s alone, although Quinn drove her here. Plus Charley and Rodrigo are hiding a “secret” guest — Bree, who fled a nearby AirBnB because of her abusive boyfriend. There’s a lawyer on her way, too, to read the will.

It has a lot of the same vibes as “The Maid” by Nita Prose (Molly the maid) and even Frieda McFadden’s “The Housemaid” (Millie the maid). Charley is equally complex and sympathetic. There’s background on the sisters as children to help us understand them, although a lot of it is sad “nobody notices Iris’ glow no matter how hard she tries to shine.” This is a sisterly cat-fight to the very end with a lot of action and twists. I loved it! 5 stars!

Literary Pet Peeve Checklist:
Green Eyes (only 2% of the real world, yet it seems like 90% of all fictional females): NO The closest we get to green are Quinn’s hazel eyes.
Horticultural Faux Pas (plants out of season or growing zones, like daffodils in autumn or bougainvillea in Alaska): MAYBE I doubt Hope could have kept oleander alive back home in New York (generally a USDA zone 7 while oleander is a 9 or 10). But maybe she had a greenhouse. And poisonous belladonna berries also have a role, which is “such a book-club way to die” according to Vicki.

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for a free advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review!

Perfect summer thriller! Family drama at its finest. An old hotel filled with more family secrets than you can imagine. When a death and a huge storm bring them all together, who will leave alive??

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC!

Publication date July 16, 2024..

New author to me. Thought the narrative was interesting. This isn't a reflection on the book, but I personally couldn't connect to the characters. That's just a me thing though.

Release date: July 16th 2024

One big happy family is a locked room thriller, casting a vastly toxic family who have gathered at their late father’s hotel for the reading of his will. “We put the fun in dysfunctional”.

Our main character Charley works as a live in hotel maid. She gets a front row seat to all the drama whilst unintentionally gets sucked into one big crap storm of a night, (pun intended).

To say people aren’t thrilled about the will is an understatement, and when one of the family members turns up mysteriously dead, along with cryptic threatening poems showing up all over the place, it’s clear that more is going on and some shocking secrets from the past are the catalyst for this night from hell.

Combine that with a tropical storm that causes power outages and no cell service to call for help, the guests are left in quite the predicament and left to play detective all on their own.

I really enjoyed my time reading this one. I found the defective relationship between the three siblings with all the obnoxious bickering quite entertaining. I felt a strong connection with the MC and have high praise for the way things turned out in the end.

I enjoyed the atmosphere of the stormy weather raising hell outside whilst the characters play cat and mouse and the blame game. Lots of laughs for a mysterious thriller.

Thank you to Jamie day, st martins press and NetGalley for an advanced copy!

One Big Happy Family by Jamie Day is a locked room mystery. The story is set in a Hotel in Maine, whose owner has just died. Charley, the nineteen year old maid is getting the place ready for the arrival of the owner’s family. The family is coming to the reading of the will but a hurricane bearing down on the coast of Maine is also coming. Everybody is trapped in the hotel till the hurricane passes. It seems everyone is hiding a secret and one person ends up dead and another is missing. This book was fast paced with lots of surprises and I couldn’t put it down. Thanks to St. Martin’s Press and Netgalley for this arc.

I didn't have high hopes going into this novel since Block Party was not interesting enough for me. However, Day totally caught my attention in One Big Happy Family. It took a bit to "get into," but once I did, I couldn't put it down. Some things were predicable, but then some totally caught me off guard. Thanks to St. Martin's Press for the ARC on this book - totally recommend!

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the eARC.
The first half of this book was great, I loved it. But during the storm when everyone was stuck inside the hotel I got bored at times. Towards the end it got good again and even though I intuited the ending, I was happy with it.
The sisters were awful, their father was a monster, Charley was sweet but very naive, and Bree was, (warts and all) sympathetic but pitiable.
Overall it's a good, suspenseful read.