This book did feel a little like the movie Knives Out if you supercharged it and gave it a tropical storm/hurricane in the background.

When Frank Bishop, owner of The Precipice dies, it brings his daughters back to settle his will. But nothing is as it seems. No one has good intentions and this situation seems to be bringing out all the negativity. Thrown in with this messy bunch is hotel employee, Charley who is trying her best to keep out of the line of fire.

This book was a nice blend of mystery/thriller, romance and women's fiction. There was a solid plot and some well-timed twists. I enjoyed this read immensely.

AUDIOBOOK REVIEW: The audio was done quite well. The narration really lent itself to the characters and I found myself completely immersed.

Thank you to NetGalley for early copies of both the ebook and audiobook.

One Big Happy Family was a great listen with may unexpected twists. Just when I thought I knew where the story was going or which one of the sisters had something to hide I was proven wrong.

I liked how author Jamie Day used time jumps and alternating POVs to tell us each sister’s story. Seeing how they all intertwined made for a very satisfying conclusion!

Narrator Saskia Maarleveld was fantastic and I’ll be looking for more books that she’s narrated to add to my audio TBR.

Overall, I recommend One Big Happy Family to any thriller who loves an inheritance-driven whodunnit to solve.

Thank you to NetGalley, Macmillan Audio and Jamie Day for an early listening copy. These are my honest thoughts.

Happy Pub Week to Jamie Day!!!

I read this on Pub Day! I really enjoyed this author’s debut, Block Party. However, this one was just ok for me. Too much family drama and not enough real suspense for my liking. I did enjoy this story but was expecting more. It was predictable, a tad slow and I stuck around for the ending but that fell flat for me. If you love a locked room thriller, family drama then I highly recommend this one for you. I will be picking up more by this author in hopes she brings back that debut book energy!

A huge thank you to St Martin Press & Macmillan audio for both the ARC and ALC. my review is honest and voluntary.

3.5⭐️

The Bishop sisters and their families convene at The Precipice hotel for the reading of their father’s will. Each sister comes bearing secrets and ill will towards other family members. The hotel’s maid, Charley, looks on and narrates. The party is trapped together as a hurricane passes through. When one person is found dead and perhaps murdered, the claws and truths really come out to play.

This was my second book by the author and I really appreciate how he writes interesting unlikeable characters. The banter and the storyline were both interesting, but drawn out at times. Parts of the story were a bit far-fetched, but it was still a fairly enjoyable quick listen.

Thank you to @netgalley @macmillan.audio and @stmartinspress for the ALC and ARC copies of this title!

Thank you so much NetGalley and Jamie Day for the opportunity to read this ARC!

One Big Happy Family kept me guessing the whole way through. Everytime I thought I was finally on to something, another twist would pop up! I loved how different parts had different points of view. One Big Happy Family pulled me in from chapter 1 and kept me engaged. The details and description made me feel like I was in the book living all the drama with them!

This was the first book I have read by this author. The cover and synopsis are what me to the this book initially. I thought it would be the perfect book to listen to on an upcoming road trip. Sadly, I did not find what I was looking for in this one. Though it had a promising start, the book felt very disjointed with little character development of recurring characters. I found myself disengaging as I listened, and the freeway miles passed. Once the story started to pick up steam as it moved towards its conclusion, It felt rushed with a lot of hare brained turns that didn't make sense. A lot of new plot twists and turns that came out of nowhere, but not in a good or logical way. This book was Just OK for me which did a three star review. Thank you, McMillan audio and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this ARC.

One Big Happy Family is a multi-layered thriller that will keep you guessing. I was surprised throughout the story. Some things I’d anticipated (which I do love because my brain gets to play detective), but even how these anticipated events occurred had an element of surprise. This book is full of plotting, family secrets, and lies. It’s a closed room thriller, with a storm confining the characters. Such a great read!

If you haven’t read Jamie Day’s books yet, I definitely recommend!

I listened to the audiobook version of this story, which was well done by a single narrator. I listened at 1.75x speed (my normal audiobook listening speed is 1.75x-2x speed).

Thank you NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for this advanced audiobook copy.

One Big Happy Family is of course anything but its title. Three sisters gather to say goodbye to their father and discuss his assets. Each and every person in this book has their own secrets and of course the sisters have their own secrets. Their dead father was not always the best person and his secrets are revealed as well. While a hurricane thunders outside they have gathered in their father's resort which is empty except for a "Frogger" and their staff. Then someone dies.... That is where it gets so crazy and hard to keep up but you cannot wait to hear the next part and then the next. Thank you #NetGalley for this audiobook. I really did like the narrator as well.

When the owner of The Precipice, a renowned hotel in Maine, passes away his 3 daughters and their families come to visit to hear his will. Charley, a maid at the hotel, must prepare for the visit and keep the sisters happy. With the arrival of a hurricane and an unexpected guest staying at the hotel they are all stuck there until the storm is over. When one of the sister’s husbands turns up dead they all begin to turn on each other. Charley must race to figure out who the murderer is because she might be next.

One Big Happy Family was a really quick and easy audiobook to listen to. I sped through it and enjoyed it.

I personally enjoy mystery books that take place in one secluded location. I think it adds to the intrigue and urgency.

There are a lot of twists and turns throughout the book to keep you engaged. While I figured out some there were a few that took me by surprise. Unfortunately the ending felt predictable and that’s why the book was 3 stars for me.

I recommend this book if you enjoy family dramas and who dun it stories.

This book was okay... took a long while to set up and get going I think it was almost 50% before there was any real action, though there was a steady build. The story line was okay, I just think sometimes books are more general fiction with mystery element or just a mystery and not a thriller-- though there is a death so perhaps it is technically a thriller. I listened to the audio version of this book-- the narrator sounded like they had a cold. Other than that, it was a fine performance.

Locked room mystery with shady family members. You've got my attention! In this case, it's Hurricane Larry, the Precipice boutique hotel, and the Bishop sisters. We're on the rocky coast of Maine as we start off with Charley, the 19-year-old chambermaid who is the main draw into the story until the sisters show up, staking their claim for the ownership of the hotel when their father has just passed away. The setup will draw you in, especially with the other characters in the mix, and I really enjoyed about the first 25% of the book.

And then...it seemed as if the author didn't quite know what to do for the next 50% of the book. It dragged and dragged. How many times could we all switch who was holding the gun until I started not to care? I could see where the author was going with revealing small clues about the ultimate reveal and motivation, but boy, it took a while to get there. Then the last 25% almost redeemed the dragged-out middle; keyword: almost. It was such a good setup, especially with the hurricane and the ridiculousness of some of the characters, but a lot of it became fluff. Especially the back story of the sisters, where a few sentences would have been fine. It drew me out of the locked room mystery pacing, and it never caught back up. And side note: the cover did not match the feel of the book. Yes, the gloomy sky, but then the patio furniture...? Weird.

Thank you to NetGalley and St Martin's Press for a copy of the eARC. All opinions are my own.

Thank you NetGalley for the complimentary e-audiobook of, One Big Happy Family by Jamie Day.

Great mystery read! Trust no one!

The Precipice Hotel offers a lot of charm and history, but not all good. The three Bishop sisters arrive for the reading of their father’s will. All three bring secrets, jealousy, and they’re all expected to stay at the hotel together.

The hotel housekeeper is Charley who has her own set of issues, but she’s not thrilled to be under the same roof as the Bishop sisters and it sounds as though the sisters feel the same about her. Her grandmother is living at an assisted living facility and when the hotel is full, Charley swipes from the guests rooms.

As a storm raged, they were all stuck inside and the guests at the hotel have dwindled. Charley is unable to browse guests rooms without any guests on the premises. Then someone turns up missing, and then someone dead. Mystery and curiosity are running rampant through this novel. No one can be trusted and suspicion is all over the place. With all this combined, it does make for a fast-paced read. The ending did not make me gasp, but the chase and uncertainty was fun for a change.

I enjoyed the narration in the audibook, it kept me engaged,

The thriller was more drama than a thriller but it Charlie’s story kept me into listening. The sister’s had a lot of history brought out during hurricane Larry. I enjoyed Quinn’s interactions with Charlie. He was the good positive piece for her.

This was my first book by the author and would read another one of her stories.

Thanks Netgalley for the ALC!

Charley Kelley, a 19-year-old maid at the eclectic Precipice hotel in rural Maine, is too young to be struggling so much - cleaning for measly tips and tolerating a loathsome boss for free room and board in order to provide for her grandmother’s care. All that changes when the hotel owner dies and his three daughters return to the hotel to hear what his will holds. While a hurricane rages outside, the storm inside is even more treacherous. Secrets will be revealed and not every one will make it out alive.

One Big Happy Family is about a family with shared pain, secrets, grudges and vendettas. Readers are kept guessing as the story unfolds and won’t see the twists coming.

Big thanks to both NetGalley & Macmillan audio for the advanced listening copy!
This one is out now and ready for you!!!

I absolutely ate up Jamie Day's first novel, The Block Party. Unfortunately, this one fell just a little flat for me. Part One was quite slow, making it difficult to get sucked into this story. Once we moved into part two, I was starting to feel like I was in a completely different book and had to stop to make sure I was still in the same one.

While the drama, secrets & mysteries were all fun, I found them to ber very predicatble. I knew which character was the culprit and it was easy to see how this would play out for the most part.

As far as the audio portion goes, it was done well. My only downside was that the narrator seemed to be quite nasally, which I found to be distracting. That is absolutely a personal thing though and nothing against the book itself!

I do think I'd give Jamie Day another go, being as I loved her first novel. This one just didn't work for me as well as I hoped!

Three sisters arrive at their family’s hotel after the passing of their father. The reading of his will brings an air of uncertainty that no one could have expected.

One Big Happy Family is very different style-wise than the author’s first book, The Block Party. The writing is fine, just not what I was expecting. I think the pacing struggled a bit, especially at the beginning when much of the background information is forming. Towards the last 20% of the book, everything comes together so quickly that it almost seems like something is missing. Even with the occasional twist, it’s not terribly difficult to guess the ending.

Saskia Maarleveld is an excellent narrator. She does a great job with all the different POVs and keeping all of the numerous characters differentiated. I think this is the first book in this genre that I’ve heard her narrate but I have heard quite a bit of her work with fantasy books.

I did read the author’s first book and really enjoyed it. While this one wasn't for me, I would be interested in reading more of Jamie Day’s work in the future.

I voluntarily listened to and reviewed an advanced copy of this audiobook. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Charley Kelley is only 19, but she’s already been through some tough years. The only family she has left is her grandmother, and she’s struggling with memory issues. She’s in a local nursing home, so Charly works very hard to afford her room and care. They live in a small town in Maine, but there is a high end hotel named Precipice. Charley works as the maid there, and with that job, she gets to live onsite, in a small room, rent-free. She doesn’t love the job, or how the owner hits on her from time to time, but she doesn’t know of another job in town where she can live and still afford her grandmother’s care.

But when the owner of the Precipice dies suddenly, his three daughters are planning on returning to the hotel for the reading of the will. Iris, Vicki, and Faith will be there soon, along with the attorney who is the executor of the will, so Charley is in charge of getting the rooms cleaned before they show up. But she has a problem. She had recently met a woman named Bree in town, and Bree was trying to get away from her abusive boyfriend. Bree shows up at the hotel, desperate and asking Charley to hide her for a few days. Charley is reluctant, but she doesn’t feel like she can leave this woman in danger, so she agrees to hide her in one of the hotel rooms for a few days.

Then there’s the problem of Larry. Larry is the hurricane heading for them. While some of the locals are writing off the storm, thinking the bark will be worse than the bite, several of the coming tourists have canceled their reservations at the hotel. Soon it becomes clear that the sisters and the lawyer will be the only guests, hurricane be damned.

This is the first chance Charley has had to meet the sisters. There is Iris, the recovering addict. Vicki and her husband own a jewelry store in Boston, and their son is in college studying philosophy. Faith and her wife Hope have a teenaged son also, a quiet boy who speaks in rhyme when he does talk. Vicki immediately starts making demands of Charley, but the more things go wrong at the Precipice, the less that matters.

Olga, the longtime cook, quits suddenly. Larry hits with a vengeance, bringing down a tree on the drive, so no one can leave. Cell service goes out. And inside the hotel, strange threats add a sense of foreboding to the gathering. The will is read, and with all their father’s rules and stipulations, none of the sisters are happy with the outcome. They thought they were getting the hotel outright, and that is not how their father set up the inheritance.

And then the first person is killed.

As the storm rages outside and the wi-fi goes down, those stranded at the Precipice have to figure out a way to survive the storm, and each other. It turns out that each of the sisters has a secret to keep, and some of those secrets are worth killing to keep.

Charley isn’t a part of the family, and she got nothing in the will. In fact, Vicki fires her, so she also has no job, no home, no way to take care of her grandmother. She has literally nothing left to lose. Except her life. Will she be able to stay alive until the storm passes and they can get help to the hotel, or is this the end for the young maid?

One Big Happy Family is a secret-fueled thriller that asks what it is that makes a family. As the long-held lies are exposed and the truths come out, the danger amps up, until everyone is fighting for their own survival. This novel is a series of dangerous events, escalating and escalating, to a nail-biting conclusion.

I listened to One Big Happy Family on audio, and narrator Saskia Maarleveld, who brought this twisted tale to life. There was a lot of tension, which I thought she handled beautifully. However, there are also a lot of characters who all show up about the same time, so I did have some trouble keeping everyone straight in my head for a bit, especially the sisters. But it was a fun book to listen to, and anyone who loves a story filled with danger, tension, and family secrets should consider adding this one to their shelf.

A copy of the audio book for One Big Happy Family was provided by Macmillan Audio, and egalleys were provided by St. Martin’s Press, both through NetGalley, with many thanks.

Welcome to the Precipice Hotel where it seems everyone has a secret, including the maid. When the owner of the Precipice Hotel dies, his three daughters return to read his will. Charley is hoping that she can impress the Bishop sisters in an attempt to keep her job and living situation. However, with Hurricane Larry devastating the small coastal town, she soon finds herself stuck in the hotel with a family who has more than one secret. Charley hopes to keep her own secret that is hiding in the hotel.

One Big Happy Family was a whirlwind of a mystery. This book was filled with unpredictable characters that all had secretive pasts. I enjoyed listening to the different timelines for each of the sisters and figuring out the secret that each sister held. The narrator did a fantastic job for each of the characters, especially Charley. This mystery kept me on my toes from beginning to end and I recommend this book for people who enjoy locked room mysteries.

One Big Happy Family is out today!

Thank you to NetGalley, St. Martin's Press and MacMillan Audio for the opportunity to review One Big Happy Family. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Nineteen year old Charley is a prestigious hotel’s maid whose owner’s family has just come to stay for the will reading. After the reading, the very unhappy Bishop sisters discover the body of one of their husband’s whom also inherited a big portion and had control of one sister’s inheritance. Oh, and alas, a big storm has come in, stranding them without a way out or any cell service.


So many suspects and many reasons to want him dead. Will Charley and her stowaway figure out who the murderer is? If the random messages are correct, someone will be next, but who?

My thoughts:
While the story kept my attention, it wasn’t very exciting. It’s a good plot, but I think it could have been done better. I did like the TWISTS but the ending really came out of nowhere. I still recommend to readers who like Megan Miranda.

Thank you Netgalley and St. Martin's press for this ARC.

I enjoyed this hotel murder mystery. A thieving maid, family drama where money is involved and a murder during a hurricane....sign me up. I loved the side stories with the individual characters as much as the main story.

I keep hearing about "The Block Party", I can't wait to check that one out by this author.