Ugh, if my ex-boyfriend was marrying my "best friend" I would cut them all out of my life. I definitely wouldn't attend their wedding, stupid choice by the MC, but it makes for one twisty and drama filled book.

This thriller will keep you on the edge of your page the whole way through the book. Great writing and a story that will stay with you .

A twisty one about a destination wedding gone off the rails. Amaya and Kaavi were friends until they weren't but now Kaavi has invited Amaya to her wedding in Sri Lanka- her wedding to Matthew, who happens to be Amaya's ex. Awkward to be sure but then Kaavi goes missing and well, no spoilers. Amaya's efforts to cope with her anxiety made her a more sympathetic character , I liked the setting, and it's got a zippy plot. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC, A good beach or travel read.

Ok WOW. This book was SO wild. I feel like thrillers tend to be kind of predictable, which is fine, but there’s nothing like a twist to throw you off, and this book had twists on twists. I really liked the way it was written, bouncing from POV to interviews, although I do think it would’ve been nicer to have Kaavi’s POVs mixed in rather than a random chunk near the end of just her POVs as it made it feel a little disjointed. But the plot made up for that completely. It was like Crazy Rich Asians mixed with Counterfeit and Knives Out. I’ll totally be checking out anything else by this author now.

A quick-paced, twisty, and fun read. The dynamics and unlikable narrator really put you on the edge of your seat throughout the whole read.

The first half of this book was so incredibly slow that I 💯 would have DNF'd it had it not been a buddy read.

My buddy heard the book picked up towards the latter half and although I do agree with this, things went completely overboard.

It's as if the author wanted to throw out almost every trigger warning for shock value and just couldn't stop. It was ridiculous and way too much. The ending was comical and I just wanted the book to end.

I absolutely despised all the characters. There wasn't even a dog for me to like, or a cat, bird, pigeon, anything!! Everyone was extremely materialistic, narcissistic, obsessed with their presence on social media, blah, blah, blah, barf, barf, barf.

Needless to say, this was not my favorite,

I did appreciate the Sri Lankan representation in the book, which is the only reason I'm rating this higher than 1⭐.

Thank you Netgalley and Berkeley Publishing for the ARC. This book was on my Netgalley backlog list, and is available now.

A woman finds out her former best friend is marrying her ex-boyfriend and decides to go to the wedding to resolve things. Can you imagine attending the wedding between your ex and your former best friend? That would be a hard no from me, but that partly what made this story so fascinating from the very first page!

About the Book

Amaya Bloom finds comfort and peace in living her life in a very controlled way. She is a believer in the symbolism and power of certain numbers, and uses those to make decisions and guide her life forward.

When she receives an invitation to her former best friend Kaavi’s opulent and over-the-top wedding in Sri Lanka, she is surprised. Kaavi and Amaya haven’t spoken for many years, though Amaya has kept up with Kaavi through an anonymous social media account she uses to follow her.

But the invitation is even stranger because not only are Kaavi and Amaya estranged, Kaavi is marrying Amaya’s ex-boyfriend Matthew Spencer. Amaya knows she must attend and stop the wedding from happening, no matter what it takes.

But as the week-long wedding festivities begin, rumors about Amaya swirl and she can’t help feeling like she has a target on her back. When Kaavi then goes missing, all evidence makes it seem as though Amaya is to blame.

But Amaya isn’t the only wedding guest with secrets… What happened to Kaavi and who is responsible?

My Thoughts

In You’re Invited, the questions and mysteries about what is going on all lie in the decades leading up to the main storyline. How did Amaya and Kaavi’s friendship fall apart? When did Kaavi and Spencer get together? What happened the last time Amaya was in Colombo? So many questions!

Amaya is a character that readers may have a hard time understanding at first. She is clearly suffering anxiety and finds signs, symbols, and atypical treatments to manage it. Though the number symbolism helps her at times, at others it is debilitating. She is also obsessed with her former best friend—stalking her social media using fake accounts and commenting on everything she posts, while simultaneously spiraling about how fake her online persona is.

At the same time, she quickly turned from vapid and unhinged to sympathetic and compelling in my eyes. She still seemed unwell, but it became the sort of situation where I started to see her strength in coming to this wedding, rather than as a crazy stalker who jumped at the chance to see Kaavi.

The twists were a real mind-bender! A lot goes on and everything was turned on it’s head. In the second half of the book we get Kaavi’s perspective on things, but I didn’t really understand exactly what had happened until the very final twisted chapter. An absolutely wild read!

DNF'd; I thought this one would really work for me but I read the first few chapters ages ago and can't bring myself to keep going. it's giving the Guest List but maybe more graphic? but I wasn't a huge fan of the Guest List so I think I'm cutting my losses

The setting of this one alone is unique enough for me to recommend it to others. I love mysteries set in other countries as it's more of an escape. The wedding in You're Invited was so complex it made a great place to set this one and revel secrets over the whole story.

I didn't find the thriller aspects of this novel to be very unique (and the "plot twist" was too obvious, IMHO), but I especially liked the armchair travel to the upper echelons of Colombo society. I also enjoyed reading a contemporary book set in Sri Lanka, as most of my Sri Lankan reads have been focused around the Civil War.

Thank you so much to the publisher for sending me an ARC!
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Unfortunately I DNFed this, it just didn’t catch my attention and maybe I’ll get into it again when I’m in the perfect headspace to give this another try! But I would buy and recommend this to others definitely!

I really wanted to like this one but unfortunately it fell a bit flat. I really enjoyed the lush lifestyle and the overall setting of the novel. Unlikeable characters and the overall pacing were the things I had the most issue with.

This kept me on my toes! I enjoyed the twists and found myself not able to predict what was going to happen!

I received an advance copy. All thoughts are my own.

Weird yet fun? I think the “Crazy Rich Asians meets Agatha Christie” descriptions are apt. I enjoyed the setting and was definitely compelled to keep turning the pages! Will be recommending to my book club.

I think I like You're Invited even more than My Sweet Friend, also my Amanda Jayatissa.

I'll leave you with this...Amaya is invited to the wedding of her childhood bff who happens to be marrying Amaya's EX. Yep, you read that right. So when a murder occurs, it all becomes fast-paced, twisted read.

Reading about rich people going crazy over murder and mayhem is my guilty pleasure!! You’re Invited has all the best destination thriller features and you will enjoy it, because I enjoyed it. The story moves little slow around the middle, but overall this was a juicy twisted story that gives a different take on happily ever after!

Thank you Berkley via Netgalley for the arc.

I really enjoyed this book and liked the premise along with the location. It felt really unique. The perspective was fresh compared to a lot of mystery thrillers and I felt like I learned a lot about the Sri Lankan culture as I devoured this book. There were a few parts where I felt like the descriptions went a little too far and I got lost in that vs. the story but overall it was really enjoyable and kept me guessing until the end!

I saw this quote from thriller author Andrea Bartz and had to include it here, since she said it so well: "YOU'RE INVITED reads like CRAZY RICH ASIANS' deranged, bloodthirsty sister—slick, twisted, and relentlessly juicy." That was the vibe I got as well, between the very unique and evocative Sri Lankan setting, and the bizarro wedding "celebration" that follows. It has a great hook—a woman is invited to her out-of-touch best friend's wedding, only to find the friend marrying her ex-boyfriend—that immediately upped the stakes for me as a reader. It takes a bit to get into the book and Amaya's head, but once you're in, baby you're in—buckle up!

“No one seems to understand that real loss never eases; we just become more adept at carrying a weight that settles deeper in our chests, smiling through it, pretending like we are totally fine whenever someone mentions them.”

YOU’RE INVITED
Hey guys. I am back? Kind of. I don’t even know where to begin. My life has changed drastically to the point where picking up a book is difficult. I started teaching in August so I have a backlog of reviews to get through and hopefully my desire to read again with come back. Depression will do that to a person. But I am working through it.

It has been a few months since I read You’re Invited by Amanda Jayatissa. Amaya left her life behind in Sri Lanka but must return for her former best friend’s wedding. Things get even more complex when she discovers that her best friend is marrying her ex-boyfriend. She must stop the wedding ceremony. However, weddings in Sri Lanka are extravagant, and rumors swirl. There are plenty of secrets that will come out into the open.

This is such a unique thriller. I don’t think I have ever read a book that has taken place in Sri Lanka. The author does a splendid job of going into the culture and the family dynamics. There are so many intricate ceremonial traditions that left me wanting to research more about them! There is also a lot to unpack when it comes to the wealth disparities within the community, as well.

I did enjoy the gradual release of the plot twists. It added a lot of layers to the story and gave me a sense of unpredictability. The only thing that bugged me is the constant time jumps and point-of-view changes. There were times when it took me out of the story. I really enjoyed the characters and there were some characters that you really loved to hate! Overall, a unique and addictive read!

This was an interesting book with interviews with the various wedding guests, what everyone thought about each other, and more.

I'm not sure if I would have been as on board as Amaya was with her ex-boyfriend about to marry her best friend. Not that I think she was ok with it considering everything that happens in this book. I'm not even sure I would have gone to the wedding. But it is her oldest friend.

What happens is an interesting twist, especially once the story ramps up closer to the end. It did take me some time to get into the book. I think this was because there were so many characters, and we had to understand the backstory of the main characters.