The author used lots of descriptive writing and lots of topics. I think for the right audience this is an enjoyable book, but I did not overly enjoy it. The concept was good and I had to finish it to find out what happened. Unfortunately I felt like it was random and much to drawn out in spots with no relevance to the story.

Thank you kindly to NetGalley and Celestial Eyes Press for granting me access to an Advanced Reader Copy of this book!

"Tragedy yearns to be mourned and remembered and mourned some more."

The calm narration of this book is amazing. It's genuinely intriguing how it feels that both nothing and everything has happened due to the detailed account & steady pacing. I can completely understand that this read will not be for everyone but I personally really enjoyed it. The references to The Great Gatsby may fit the story but seem also fitting as you watch the story unfold through Steve's eyes just as Nick Carraway narrated our way through Gatsby's world. There's an underlying tension which is provided immediately through the explanation of the impeding Y2K crisis. However, that isn't the main story here despite being a well placed bookmark for the ending we work towards.

This book discusses truth and consequences through the lens of desire, friendship, greed, the importance of honesty, & success. I found myself captivated by the various relationships within the book and wondering which ones would ultimately mean the most.

In the end there was some significance in all of it and we're brought full circle to the opening lines which I loved. I certainly think it's worth a read at less than 300 pages!

Many Are Invited by Dennis Cuesta is an interesting tell all tale from an author with a talent for conversation and narration. Steve Galanos knows John and Mary's secrets and can't wait to share them at a housewarming party for his former best friend, John. The house party is an implosion of secrets and drama - but I really like the way that Cuesta writes. Told in terms of a flashback, Steve's internal conversations are definitely worth reading!

Thank you to NetGalley, Celestial Eyes Press and author Dennis Cuesta for this digital review copy for me to read and enjoy. As always, my review is voluntary and my opinions are my own.

It took forever to get to the gist of the story in Many Are Invited. Remembering how the world reacted to the supposed Y2K crisis, I figured this would be an interesting read. However, it did not quite fit the "entertaining" bill that I want to experience when I read a story. Instead, it fell flat and a little boring.

Many Are Invited centers on Steve, who is super jealous of coworker and supposed friend John. We are taken back in Steve's recollection of the housewarming party where a tragic incident occurred back in December of 1999. Full of unlikeable characters, the tale drags on leaving the reader really ready for it to be over. And then boom, the climax hits and it is over.

I was not impressed with the over "sexist" views the men have of women. This was certainly not what I was expecting. Not sure I would recommend this to anyone.

Thank you to Celestial Eyes Press and NetGalley for the digital ARC. The opinions expressed are my own.

I was excited about this book since I heard it was a retelling of the Great Gatsby, but set in the 1990’s. It was a disappointment for me. One of the main attractions about the Great Gatsby is the time period~the 1920’s with lots of Glamour, Style, Excitement. So, that’s a tall order to recreate a book that is such a classic for those reasons and place it in the 90’s.

Steve Galanos and John Goetz become good friends on the surface, but Steve harbors much jealousy about John and his success. It was a little interesting their friendship and dynamics at first and then learn about the Technology Industry, specifically focusing on Y2K. The way women were treated and talked about I found very difficult to read. I didn’t like Steve or relate to him much.

Steve Galanos and John Goetz become good friends on the surface, but Steve harbors much jealousy about John and his success. It was a little interesting their friendship and dynamics at first and then to learn about the Technology Industry, specifically focusing on Y2K. The way women were treated and talked about I found very difficult to read. I didn’t like the main character of relate to him.

By the ending, I just wanted to know and get this book finished. Obviously, party happening, know something is coming. I just was sort of done caring.

I don’t think I was the target audience for this book, definitely more geared towards men and probably 45+.

Thank you NetGalley, Dennis Cuesta, and Celestial Eyes Press for granting me a copy of this book. I am always happy to leave a review.

Actual rating 2.5

I decided to give this book a go based on nostalgia - the main character works for the phone company and lives in the Bay Area of California in the lead up to the Y2K furor, just as my husband did at the time. I felt like I might have an insider's understanding of what the book was about and was a little excited to relive the past. I was wrong. This book wasn't really about Y2K, or the phone company, or anything that I recognized from the time. The characters were unlikeable and unbelievable. Supposedly best friends but constantly coming across as enemies seemed to be the theme of the relationships in all directions. Others have pointed out the sexism, which was a bit over the top, but not as far as you might wish for that sector at that time. The main thing that bothered me is that there wasn't really any story until near the end, and then it just stopped without any sense of an ending. My final feeling after I realized there were no more electronic pages to turn is that this seemed more like a first draft than a finished product. The idea was good, but it just needed more work.

My thanks to Celestial Eyes Press, the author and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this in exchange for an honest review.

Steve, the narrator of Many Are Invited, tells of his life leading up to Y2K. His job and his relationships with friends and women are the bulk of the the storyline which centers on John, Mary and Mary's friend Lauren. On the outside, they like a bunch of good friends. Underneath it all, they are not. Lines are definitely crossed. Everything leads up to a housewarming party for John and Mary who have recently married and bought a house.

Steve makes some questionable decisions and although sometimes I feel like he was trying to be a good guy, he ultimately does things that lead to the tragedy that takes place. By the end of the housewarming party none of their lives will be the same.

This book gave me a little of a Lucy Foley's The Wedding Guest vibe. I liked it because I did not guess the ending and it kept me curious and reading. I thought some of the character's conversations were oddly placed and at times unnecessary but overall I thought it was worth reading. Thank you NetGalley and Celestial Eyes Press for a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

I'll start by saying I don't feel I was quite the right audience for this book. The book fully takes place from Steven's point of view and focuses on his "friendship" with John. Steven is jealous of John right away for getting his 90s tech company to start prepping for the Y2K problem. We are also continually building towards a housewarming party where something happened and we don't find out what that something is until over halfway through.

Now of course, it did take place in the 90s from a man's point of view but the remarks towards any women in the book were just distasteful for me, leaning a little far into the misogyny and sexism that was more rampant in that time. On top of that, there are a bit too many descriptions of the technology from that time as well as too much of a focus on politics and religion for me.

As someone that lived through Y2K as a child, I continually found myself bored...but at the same time, I don't think this would be enjoyed by a generation too young to remember Y2K either. Perhaps those like the main character who also worked through that time will enjoy it as they relate to the main character more?

I think this is intended to be a sort of Great Gatsby retelling (one of my all time favorites) but without the glitz and glam of the roaring 20s or the charm of Jay, it misses the mark for me. I would recommend this one mainly for male readers 40+ in age.

Thanks to NetGalley and Celestial Eyes Press for the ARC in exchange for my honest review!

Steve lives a relatively simple life. He and his best friend John have a competitive relationship. Steve constantly feels outdone. Once John meets Mary, his life gets even better. They quickly become engaged and he finds himself on a real live come-up after cashing in stocks to make a few million dollars. He has his dream house, a great job and Mary. Mary also has a friend who seems to be in competition with her, just like John and Steve. One housewarming party later and tragedy strikes leaving everyone's lives changed.

*Special thanks to Netgalley and Celestial Eyes Press for this e-arc.*

Told from the perspective of Steve, our narrator, a story about a house warming party unfolds. It all begins in the early 90’s, when a coworker finds an issue with computer code that will impact Y2K. From there, their friendship unfolds and we see them go from coworkers to friends. As Steve watches his friend find love, get married, and buy a house, he’s jealous over what appears to be luck in his friend’s favor. And then everything unravels at the housewarming party.

While a great premise, the story felt rushed and at times ridiculous. I didn’t understand the point of the story honestly and I felt like the climax of the drama was almost flat.

A quick, easy read, but it just wasn’t for me.

Once I found out this was a Great Gatsby retelling it made sense, but I feel like the Great Gatsby set in 1999 just doesn’t translate to a new modern classic.

There was quite a bit of sexism, which I’m sure was purposeful (I mean, it is a Great Gatsby retelling), but I don’t know, it just didn’t hit right for me. I didn’t care for the characters or their escapades, sadly.

I appreciate the advanced copy, but this book was impossible to get through. It's written like a bad memoir, but it's fiction that's even worse than a bad memoir. The plot was intriguing and the narrator was hateable.

I was invested in this story because I wanted to know what the tragedy was. Unfortunately, I think the “tragedy” was Steve, himself. I did not like him and I’m okay with that. In fact, I didn’t like any of the main characters.

Set in the 1990s, you’ve got the up and coming tech startups and the Y2K worry. (I remember the century ending chaos and fear of the unknown when the clock struck midnight. But alas, planes didn’t fall from the sky and places didn’t blow up. We survived it, technologically.) Told by Steve from his memory. He is really unreliable and tries to appear more important than he really is.

He regularly references books you’d have no idea about unless you read them or knew what they were about. I know the gist of The Great Gatsby but I have no clue about The Brothers Karamazov. I know it’s Russian and that all.

This book ended leaving me unsettled and scratching my head. Maybe if you’ve read the two books mentioned above, you might love this story but for me, it fell short.

In the late 1990’s the whole world was wrestling with “the Y2K” problem. Seems the computers automatically were setting dates but provision had not been made for the upcoming change from 19.. to 20..! Staff was thrown together in groups whose sole purpose was to wrestle with the change.

Lauren and Mary are two very attractive ladies who work in the computer industry. Lauren is over six feet and seen as a goddess who is untouchable! All of the guys silently wish to possess her.

John and the main support character have set up a system of ranking beautiful ladies as Swedes. Lauren is titled Swede 8 and considered unapproachable. Her friend Mary is pretty but does not have a “Swede Rating.”

Our hero secretly would like to be attached to Lauren but decides to settle for Mary. John has decided that Mary is the one for him and throws the whole system into an uproar. The entire affair turns deadly.

This novel might be more appropriate for the late teen/early college years than adult. The struggle between the “rich and entitled” and the “poor and struggling” was a page directly out of my high school years! I identified with the struggling hero of the story while secretly thinking he was such a putz! Only my opinion, however, and you might very well see it differently. 3.5 stars – CE Williams

I really like this book; abundantly so (avoiding the word a lot). I wasn’t too sure if I even wanted to open it after I read a book description that used the words computer systems, dot-com bubble, compiled code, compliance, IPO, and Y2K. I thought nothing could be more boring than a plot that revolves around these words. And then I met Steve.

Steve is the unreliable narrator for the story that unfolds. He is so wonderfully passive-aggressive; a slacker who doesn’t take kindly to those who exhibit initiative, ambition, and drive. What he does like to do is watch as events unfold due to his meddling. He also doesn’t take responsibility when things go wrong. Instead, he finds ways to blame others. This becomes important as he sets in motion events that will coalesce at a disastrous New Year’s Eve/house warming party in 1999.

Steve believes that it is luck which has allowed his “friend” John to be fortunate in career, money, and women. He is jealous, wanting what John has, but unwilling (or unable) to go beyond the confines of his job at the phone company. But he is so funny and intelligent; and at least to me, so likable. This is because Dennis Cuesta—the author—has manipulated me and I am glad he did. There’s nothing like an unreliable narrator to make my day.

I believe that this book is a modern retelling of The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald set in the 1990s instead of the 1920s. The only reason I’m able to say this with assurance is due to the characters in the book talking about Fitzgerald’s book. The basic plot loosely follows that of The Great Gatsby. The characters are also represented. Steve is Nick Caraway: the midwestern man who narrates—in flashback—the events leading to a catastrophe. John is Jay Gatsby: the nouveau riche golden-boy who has the car, the money, the estate, the admiration, and the girl. Mary is Daisy Gatsby: the young, beautiful wife. Lauren is a quasi-Myrtle minus the husband and home in a dump (unless her apartment can be considered one).

I believe this is a book worth opening and enjoying.

I would like to thank NetGalley and Celestial Eyes Press for the opportunity to read and review this book.

I picked this book up because I love a good thriller to get me out of a reading slump or when I just want a quick read.

Well… in that sense, it delivered. I read it quickly. I was intrigued enough to keep reading until the end, though I had those moments of foreboding that come when you realize you’re nearing the end and you doubt there is enough time left for the story to resolve properly.

When I finished this book, I was both disappointed and annoyed. And I’ll tell you why.

Many Are Invited starts out strong, I thought. The characters are established, along with their relationships. The narrator (Steve) is unreliable, which is to be expected in a first-person thriller. He’s not a particularly likable character, but I’m also okay with that. Not every human is particularly likable either, and I think making a character unlikable can make them seem more human.

But then I also didn’t like the supporting characters. None of them.

Steve’s “best friend” John, who he doesn’t really care for, is chauvinistic and conceited. He refers to attractive blonde women as “Swedes,” which irritated me quite a bit, and he has a list of Swedes that he refers to by number. Ick.

Then there is John’s girlfriend/wife, Mary. She was probably the most sympathetic character in the story, though she is also difficult to trust.

And Mary’s “best friend” Lauren is beautiful, but awful in pretty much every way. There is very little interaction between Mary and Lauren, so it’s difficult to understand why they are friends. Lauren has no redeeming qualities.

There’s also a cast of minor characters that show up only when convenient or swoop in during the climax and are suddenly much more important or to drop references to books like The Brothers Karamazov. These people are caricatures at best.

By the time I finished the book, I felt like maybe I would have enjoyed it more if I was familiar with The Brothers Karamazov, which I have never read. I understand that the author is probably drawing parallels (as he also does with references to The Great Gatsby), but I feel like The Brothers Karamazov is not well-known enough to toss that into a book like this and expect people to just get it.

Throughout the book, there is a lot of talk about Y2K. It is relevant to Steve and John’s jobs, and since I was old enough at the turn of the century, I understand at least partially why it was important. I think that would be lost on younger readers. That said, I appreciated the twist at the end and how Y2K ended up actually being important in the story.

So, Many Are Invited has some redeeming qualities, but not enough for me to rate it higher than 1 star. There was no real closure for the characters, references that I didn’t understand, and characters that I could not like.

The only way I could possibly recommend this book is if the reader is familiar with both The Great Gatsby and The Brothers Karamazov.

NetGalley and Celestial Eyes Press for this ARC. I certainly remember all the craziness surrounding the fear of what the transition to Y2K would bring about so I thought this would be an interesting look back. I found myself just waiting to get into the storyline, the plot, the characters but felt myself drifting as it was clearly dragging for me. . I almost never don't finish a book but I decided this one just wasn't worth investing more time into.

I wanted to like this. It just could not keep my interest. We learned so much about the job. I kept waiting for some kind of action.

This was not a bad story, but it wasn’t for me. There was a lot of tech talk which I didn’t really get. I didn’t exactly like the characters in the book, either. There was a lot of jealousy within the “friendships” throughout. The chapters were short and overall it was a quick read.

Thank you to NetGalley and Celestial Eyes Press for this advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

A quick, easy read that didn’t amount to a whole lot. It is set in the years prior to Y2K, although I don’t feel that this setting was needed to set the stage for the story. It almost felt that I was reading an old book that I found lying around, rather than a new novel.

John and Steve are coworkers and sort of friends, and we learn about their relationships in this slow moving story. They work, they play, they rate women- which really bothered me! This is not something I would look for in anything I read. The author just drags out the events leading to a housewarming party where a tragic event occurs. But that didn’t even make sense to me- without giving anything away, I reread parts of the tragic event over and over, and I still can’t figure out how one of the characters was injured. Very choppy writing, with events and characters thrown in, almost as an afterthought.