Silicon Valley in the early 90's was a very competitive market, just waiting for the right man or woman to launch the next digital milestone. Two young men, Steve and John, meet while working for the same company. A company that encourages competition among co-workers as an incentive to succeed. The story of their competition is told to us by Steve. John quickly moves up in the always changing digital market, a rise that Steve feels is undeserved. When John succeeds in his personal life, it adds more fuel to Steve's jealous views of John and their "friendship". The story builds to a head during a housewarming party. When the dust settles, we are left with a crime worthy of the evening news.

This was a fast read but seemed to miss some pieces to the story. Like the author was just trying to finish the book any way he could. I'll still recommend to me reading circle as it truly has some great chapters moxed in with those that are just good.

Many Are Invited is one man’s narration of a party that occurred many years before, December 1999. Certain events happened at the party that affected the narrator, Steve, for many years after.

Steve recounts parts of his life leading up to the party, especially those that involved the others who attended. Much revolves around the Y2K fear of the world drastically changing for the worse on 1/1/2000 (a whole lot of nothing that turned out to be).

I really enjoyed the writing. The chapters were short and provided background while moving the story forward. However, I didn’t connect with Steve or any of the other characters. Steve was envious of his friend John and his life, but never made any decisions to improve his own life.

I will definitely read more by this author. Thanks to NetGalley for an advanced digital copy.

This book was extremely difficult to get through. Between the nonexistent plot, the underdeveloped characters, the technical jargon that made me skip paragraphs on several different pages and the conversational sexism randomly thrown in (because at that point in the story, why the hell not add another subtle theme to the story?), I truly almost did not finish this book. The storyline had too many inconsistencies, and it became too convoluted with random events that I thought I’d never be able to finish this book.

The year is 1999 and A house warming party ends in tragic circumstances. Y2K plays a huge roll in this one and that added a unique twist to this book.
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Steve and John met as colleagues during the dot com bubble and became friends. This story relives their friendship and their relationships with Mary and Lauren from the beginning to the fateful night in 1999.

Huge thank you to #celestialeyes @netgalley for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.
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Many Are Invited is written from the POV of main character John who has a very similar voice of Patrick Bateman but without the exercise or killing.  The story timeline leads up to Y2K and the fears associated with computers during that time is a main plot point.  The references to The Great Gatsby are obvious but respectful.  Overall not a bad story but not sure who I would suggest this book to.

“No,” Megan said. “I mean, marketing could do a budget transfer, but corporate isn’t going to approve that. Not for that amount.”

If that little bit of dialogue makes you want to learn more, this book is for you. Unfortunately it just made me think of work.

This is the story of IT (male) professionals working on the Y2K problem in the late 90s in the Bay Area. Something earth shattering happens at a party in the future and corporate speak interactions like the one above are what you need to read through to get there. The backdrop doesn't ring true. I was an IT professional working on the Y2K problem in the late 90s in the Bay Area. There were a lot of female programmers working on it. In this book, however, women aren't technical. They only hold HR, marketing, admin or secretarial roles. Oh, and the guys have a pretty offensive rating system they apply to women.

With stilted dialogue, insider "knowledge" that is just wrong (a townhouse in Pleasanton would not be the object of envy, commuting was as bad in the 90s as it is now), too much boring work stuff and the misogyny.... this was not the book for me.

My thanks to NetGalley and Celestial Eyes Press for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This was a quick read that I was able to finish in a few hours. The pacing was incredibly slow despite that.

I liked the idea of a Gatsby retelling in the Y2K timeframe, but aside from the idea, this story fell flat. The men in this were misogynistic, and lacked any redeeming qualities while the women were shallow and jealous. The story got off to a slow start with John and Steve discussing work and reducing women to numbers in their made up collection. I was hoping that the characters would have had some likeable quality or even something dark and unsettling. Unfortunately they remained sad, and one dimensional.

The bulk of the "action" happens in the last 10% of the book.

I would have DNF if this wasn't an ARC, but I wanted to give this a fair chance.

You can easily read this book in a day because the story is interesting enough and the writing is crisp and it’s just that easy. But the plot is slow moving with characters that were not relatable.

Thank you for this opportunity!

The most difficult reviews to write are those where you want to write a longer synopsis but don't want to spoil the suspense. This is one of those. A short thrilling novel set against the backdrop of the Y2K problem of the 90's. The story, however, mainly deals with the drama surrounding co-workers and friends Steven and John and their love interests. I delved into it thinking that the story would be more tech-based but it turned to be otherwise. Worth a one-time read if you are looking for something easy quick and not too heavy.

Thank you Netgalley, Celestial Eyes Press and author Dennis Cuesta for the ARC.

Thanks to NetGalley and Celestial Eyes Press. This book had a strong premise but a bad execution. The book was boring..and slow. It then was rushed towards the end to get an ending.

I do not understand this book at all. When I read the synopsis and then the prologue, I felt like this was going to be an interesting read. But then we did a time jump - and this book was about Y2K. But was it? Or was it about frienemies? Because I think it was a warning on having frienemies.

Seriously, the synopsis isn’t even touched on until almost 60% in apart from the prologue. I was here for the dramatic housewarming party - not Y2K, sexism, religion and politics.

None of the characters were remotely likable. I do not understand. It was “quick” because it was short, but it felt so long! I kept waiting for it to get to the point and when it got there it just ended.

Clearly I am not the intended audience. That’s okay. Thanks to NetGalley for the ebook copy!

An untimely death at a housewarming party takes place just prior to the millennium, and Silicon Valley IT professional Steve Galanos is trying to make sense of it all. Later, he proceeds to recount events of December 1999 that led up to the tragedy.

The ordeal centers around his friendship with co-worker John Goertz, who in 1994, warned their company of a possible calendar programming disaster when the year 2000 hit. John was then assigned to spearhead the Y2K conversion. Though Steve was jealous of him, they eventually became friends.

"Many Are Invited" follows the events of December 1999 through Steve’s perspective and his friendship with John and others, especially the women in their lives.

There were a lot of characters in the story, and I was confused as some would reappear later in the book. That said, I was completely engrossed in this story as author Dennis Cuesta never let up on the suspense. I kept trying to predict the circumstances of the upcoming death, specifically the “who” and the “why”. That says a lot as I didn’t feel for any of the characters. The men were misogynistic, the women were two-faced and both genders harbored a competitive jealousy and ill-will towards each other.

Cuesta created such a build-up, and I wasn’t letdown by the conclusion. It made sense and was satisfying.

I don’t know if Cuesta was trying to say something about the Silicon Valley work culture, but I kept thinking of the adage “With friends like these, who needs enemies?”

(This review will be posted on UnderratedReads on Oct. 6, 2022)

The year is 1999 and Steve is attending his best friend, John’s, housewarming/holiday party. John is newly married to Mary who is excited to show off their flashy life.

John and Steve met at work working on the infamous Y2K “bug” that supposedly was going to bring the world to a halt (spoiler: the world survived) But something happens at this party that changes Steve’s life forever and it involves John and Mary and Lauren, Mary’s supposedly best friend.

The premise of this novel sounded interesting but the story didn’t really seem to go anywhere. The ending was anticlimactic and very abrupt and left me pondering what the point of the novel was. The story made several references to The Great Gatsby and I’m not sure if the author was trying to re-imagine the story in modern day. And the characters were all unlikeable and difficult to relate to, especially Steve and John and the way they talked about women. This novel just wasn’t for me.

Thank you to Net Galley and Celestial Eyes Press for this early review copy of the novel. It’s publication date is 10/6/22. This review can be found on Goodreads and on IG @maria.needs.to.read

3 out of 5 stars - It was ok

Thank you to NetGalley and Celestial Eyes Press for this advanced copy. All opinions expressed are my own.

This is the story of the reminiscences of Steve, an IT guy from the midwest living in CA before Y2K. Steve makes friends with John, and that is where the story starts. It ends several years later at the housewarming party John and his wife are hosting.

I'm not sure I really understood the point of this book. The story seemed to wander and there were many loose ends that were not wrapped up before the book ended. I kept trying to turn the page for the next chapter when it came to the end of my Kindle, only to realize there was no more book.

As the book opens, something tragic had occurred at a housewarming party (the reader doesn’t know what yet) and the story backtracks to reveal the events leading to it. It is 1999 and Steve and John work to resolve issues related to the Y2K “bug”. Personal and professional jealousies are a recipe for disaster.

This is a very fast read, but it just didn’t resonate with me. It was interesting learning about startups, dot com billionaires, and all the furor about Y2K. But the personal stories didn’t particularly appeal.

I didn’t find anything appealing about any of the characters and I wasn’t sure what the point was.

This one was not for me. It started off good and then went off in too many different directions. I finished it but I'm not sure what I read. Thanks NetGalley for the ARC.

This was a slow read with unimportant details. Unnecessary talk of religion and politics, a fast ending, and a boring lead in to the mystery. Didn’t like any of the main character’s. The only characters that were likeable were Joanna and F. Jake and they were only minute side characters. A bit of a disappointment.

Thanks to Net Galley for this advanced review copy, I am leaving this review voluntarily.

This book seems to have mixed reviews. I think that is because it is a VERY slow burn mystery. But - that worked for me in this one and I enjoyed it!

I definitely remember Y2K and the panic that it brought on. People thought electronics would cease to work, time would stop, and some even stockpiled food!

We meet our narrator, Steve Galanos, who is working in tech at a phone company as Y2K approaches. He's on a special IT group to ensure a smooth transition into the year 2000. He and John meet while working for the phone company. John leaves prior to Y2K hitting and lands in a dot.com startup that ends up making him lots of money. Steve works away at the phone company.
They often go out together. One night they view Lauren through a store window and Steve dares John to go talk to her. John accepts, goes in and ends up in conversation with Mary, Lauren's co-worker and roommate. John and Mary end up getting marries.

We know from the synopsis that there is a shocking event that puts everything in a tailspin. And it definitely takes a while to get there. We finally attend John and Mary's housewarming party and that big event occures.

I was definitely shocked by what happened. I enjoyed the slow pace to the shock and then the aftermath. But if you aren't a fan of slow burn, this might now be for you.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Celestial Eyes Press for an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

The best thing I can say about Dennis Cuesta's Many are Invited, is that it was a short, quick read. There was just enough of a story keep me reading, but it never really led anywhere, except to a tragedy. After the tragedy, that there really seems to be no reason for, the story just ends. I guess there are certain moments when it is Great Gatsby-esque, but if that us what you are going for, you shouldn't have to explain it to people within the story. There were also no redeemable main characters in the story, every single one of them were liars and
cheats. I would definitely not recommend 5his book to anyone.

I had a very hard time reading this book and getting into it. The beginning 1/3-1/2 was fairly slow. The novel is basically set in the 1990's when there was a concern about the Y2K and all the conspiracies surrounding it. Eventual "friends" Steve Galanos and John Goertz met at a company where they were in IT. John’s proposes a possible solution which wins him a promotion and heading up a team to solve the potential issues. Relationships develop, marriage happens and the two couples spend time together, always competing in different ways. John and his wife, Mary, have a housewarming party in 1999 where a tragedy occurs that will change their lives. The majority of the story focuses on this house party after you get through all the office and Y2K talk. I am not sure what the author was trying to capture with some of his sexist phrases and terminology but I do not remember the 1990's being that bad. A difficult book for me to get excited about. Maybe I am not the correct audience or maybe it is more aimed at males. Thank-you to NetGalley for providing an ARC in exchange for my honest review.