The characters didn't really "come to life" for me, and the reasons for their relationships and behaviors didn't seem to be fully developed. I ended up not having a single person in the book that I cared about. I wasn't offended by the misogyny, policital, or religious themes thrown in, but felt like many were gratitiously added to the book without adding a lot to the plot. The tragedy at the housewarming party had some interesting pull but felt like it fell flat at the ending of the book.
I received an advanced copy of this book to read and share my honest opinion.

It was very slow and hard to get through. The male characters were a bit too much. The party that is mentioned in the synopsis doesn't happen until late into the book. When a synopsis mentions a tragedy at a party, I usually see the party happening within the first few chapters, and then the tragedy is explored throughout the rest of the book during other events and such. I also don't like when books have a lot of politics in them. I did like the short chapters though.

Many are invited is a short, mostly entertaining thriller set in the 90s. . It has a lot of references to the Great Gatsby, both direct and indirect. The main character Steve is like Nick, not really the main character and also not very likable He and his friend John work on a Y2K initiative, they are more like frenemies, then John meets Mary who has her own frenemy, Lauren. They all get a little too involved in each other's business, until tragedy hits at a party. There is foreshadowing to this in the intro. The book ends very abruptly. It was mostly entertaining but at times felt like it was trying too hard.

Steve immediately has a dislike for John and throughout their friendship it doesn’t get much better in at John and his wife home warming get together it all comes to ahead in this book is John’s reflections on that. I tried really hard to stay excited about this book. Throughout the first half I think I was really interested but then I found it a struggle to keep breathing and although I finished the book it took me longer than usual. I am not saying it’s a bad book I just don’t think it was my type of book. I received this book from NetGalley and the publisher but I am leaving this review voluntarily please forgive any mistakes as I am blind and dictate my review.

Many Are Invited

The first two third of this book I didn’t enjoy but the last third of the book was where this book to some extent redeemed itself. This book wasn’t plot driven but only character driven, mainly focused on Steve. There wasn’t any character in this book that I could say I loved.

This is about a housewarming party held in year 1999 that ending tragically. The time leading to the party was spent fretting over Y2K, the year many of us were dreading but all our fears were wasted as the power didn’t go out, the market didn’t crash and all that was supposed to go wrong didn’t happen. There was also mention of the right to an abortion and reference to Roe and Wade which was recently being reviewed in America. I found that it quite clever to mention it even though the book was set 22 years in the past.

It was quite evident in this book that Steve was harbouring jealousy towards John, his job, the newly brought home, the money he made buying and selling shares and his girlfriend/wife. But then there was a major twist in the story and Steve got an opportunity to cause misunderstanding. I have to say I was not expecting it to end this way it ended, I feel the Marys character should have been explored a bit more.

There were parts of this book that I was uncomfortable with, especially the references made towards women colleagues Steve and John worked. They gave these women nick names like ‘swede 7”, for them these were just office flings until the next best thing walked through the door.

I have never read any of Dennis Cuesta work before I, went in this book blindly. I, found that I couldn’t relate to any of the characters, Marys character I found was shady she was a very bad friend who was unable to keep secrets, and she kept lying but would miraculously get away with it.

I would like to thank Dennis Cuesta, NetGalley and Celestial Eyes Press for offering me this EARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

I am genuinely unsure how I feel about Many Are Invited. At best, I found it to be… interesting. I did not connect with any of the characters, nor did I particularly like any of them. I ended the story with so many Whys. While I’m sure many may disagree, this book, for me, was a miss.

Voluntarily reviewed after receiving a free copy courtesy of NetGalley, the Publisher, and the author, Dennis Cuesta.

I've written long reviews before for books I didn't like, but I genuinely don't think I have the energy to go through and write down all of the issues I had with this one. I think there are already several other reviewerers who are echoeing my thoughts and feelings. So I'll just say that this was not for me, I didn't like it one bit, I thought it was problematic in many ways, especially with how it depitcs and portrays women, and I don't think I could recomend to anyone I know, or anyone that follows my reviews. At all.

This was just “ehhh” for me, unfortunately - a bit too meandering and disjointed. Was good enough though that I *had* to finish, so I’d say 3.5 stars would be a sound review.
Thanks for the ARC opportunity!

Set during the Y2K fears in Silicon Valley, this novel follows two sets of best friends in the years, months, and days leading up to a housewarming party in December 1999.

I unfortunately found the story to be "meh". I enjoyed the touches of Great Gatsby-ish references and the ridiculousness of late-90s in Silicon Valley. I struggled with the toxicity of both sets of friendships and the misogynistic thoughts of the narrator especially. Not even finally realizing what happened at the big party and the repercussions could save it for me.

Many Are Invited takes place when the country and especially computer companies were concerned about what will happen once the clock hits 12:01 on the first of January. The book starts in 1994, when the Y2K was first being talked about. I didn't care about any of the characters, which makes it hard to complete a book and find something redeeming about it. Luckily the book was short. The "guy" talk was quite annoying.
Thank you to NetGalley and Celestial Eyes Press for an ARC of this book. This is my honest review.

This was an interesting read. The beginning was slow with a lot of IT jargon. I almost gave up on the book. However, once I got through that I was able to continue. I was looking forward to getting to know the characters, especially the protagonist. But, unless it was intentional, I feel that I did not get to know any of the characters. So, I wound up disliking all of them. If one can stick with the story, the plot twist surprised me. So, it is worthwhile giving this book a try.

I almost stopped reading MANY ARE INVITED by Dennis Cuesta. I only finished because I wanted to know if the blurb was actually as misleading as it seemed....It is.

This book was sent to me by NetGalley. A book approved for everyone, they said, are you interested? The description of this one was personally interesting to me because of Y2K, which I remember clearly because of how stressed out everyone was! I said yes because of that connection, but Cuesta exploited that, because he never went beyond mentioning it.

The blurb claims this book is about the Y2K bug from the perspective of a couple programmers. I thought we would get a little jargon, maybe a couple of scenes of inaccessible code speak. Nope, none of it. This book is about Y2K the way my body is about my big toe--it barely touches it in a useful way.

The blurb also claims this book is about a house party. This party doesn't start until 60% of the way through the narrative though--before this, the plot is stuffed with various useless material. The narrator, Steve, and his work rival/buddy, John, sexually harangue and sometimes harass (since many of them are coworkers), every attractive woman they see (and they see many) for 100 pages. And the politics! Every male speaking character in this book has something to say to the other male speaking characters (which compose most of this book's cast) about atheists, abortion, poverty, and others, and they all seem to agree with each other, so of course, this presents the reader no challenge.

The blurb's big lure is that someone gets injured at this house party. But the injury doesn't appear to have a thing to do with what happened before the party scenes. Oh wait! The narrator was collecting some evidence *in the form of gossip* remember, so this does all loosely add up...to some complete garbage about how hot women are sluts who get abortions and murder weak-willed family men. Funniest ending ever? Whatever, I like irony.

Rating 1/2 a star rounded up for all the poor female characters in this book
Finished November 2022
Recommended to fans of memoirs about women

Thank you NetGalley, Celestial Eyes Press, and Mr. Cuesta for letting me read an ARC of this book.

Many Are Invited

By: Dennis Cuesta

Publish Date: 6 October 2022

Publisher: Celestial Eyes Press

General Fiction (Adult)/Literary Fiction

I would like to thank both Celestial Eyes Press and NetGalley for allowing me to read and review this book.

Good Reads Synopsis:

A housewarming party ends in tragedy. . . Steve Galanos, a native Midwesterner, reflects on his time in and near Silicon Valley during the 1990s, a time when the two-digit year emerged as the Y2K problem, the burgeoning Internet fueled the expansion of the New Economy, the dot-com bubble created unseen prosperity and real estate frenzies. Yet it’s a housewarming party, held in late 1999, that affects him the most.

Book Review:

What do I want to say about this book. I gave it 3 stars because I thought the four main characters acted like high school children instead of the thirty something year old’s they are. It was a fast read which was nice and it did hold my attention.

I just couldn’t believe how the adults acted in this story. They always wanted to one up each other which led to the tragedy. I also didn’t like how the men would call attractive women Swedes and then give them a number.

What I did like about the book was the issue of Y2K. I remember the things that were predicted and what the workers were up against, so this was pretty spot on.

I really enjoyed this book! Even though I didn’t particularly like Steve, I did enjoy his inner dialogue and thoughts on things. I loved that the book was set in 1999 with Y2K as a big theme. I remember that time vividly and how worried everyone was! I don’t feel like the ending wrapped up too quickly. I think it was wrapped up ironically and perfect.
Thanks to NetGalley and Celestial Eyes Press for a digital review copy for my honest review.

Thanks Net Galley for the opportunity to review this title.

Steve Galanos and Josh Goetz meet and become "friends" in the 90s. Steve is jealous of John's success in business and in his personal life. This jealousy is mean to provide tension, but I found it petty and annoying. Over time the each become a couple - John and Mary, Steve and Lauren - and the group of friends is now a foursome. There is jealousy between Mary and Lauren as well.

When the story opens, we know that a tragic event has happened at a party. We get the backstory in flashbacks. I love a dual timeline story, particularly one in which we know something has happened in the "now" and get to delve into the why and how through the flashbacks. I enjoyed the time period of the 90s and the dot com era, as I was a young adult during that time. I am not sure how this would play with younger readers.

Sadly, a lot of the promise of this did not pay out for me. I found the characters unlikeable and annoying. There was nobody to root for, nobody for me to relate to. Not to be gender restrictive, but this also read very much like a "bro" book. Because of the unlikeable characters, the plot was not compelling.

I appreciate the opportunity to read this, and I hope it does well, but it wasn't a book for me.

I received a copy of Many Are Invited for review via Net Galley! Opinions are my own!


Many Are Invited is an interesting plot, that centers around a housewarming party, in the late 1990s (think: the Y2K scare). I had heard it was supposed to be a play on the Great Gatsby, but in “more current” times. That alone made me want to read it.

It was a VERY quick read, but nothing really connected with me. I didn’t love any of the characters, which makes it hard for me to love the book. Maybe it was the perspective? I’m no feminist, but it was a little heavy on the bro-speak/locker room style chat.

It’s 1994 in California and people are starting to consider what the year 2000 is going to do to all IT systems relying on the date. Since most IT coding was done with 19xx in mind, there weren’t too many systems ready to either take in the 20xx, or if they only used two digits to represent the year, the systems were most likely going to think New Year’s Day was going to take in the year 1900 (see the problem?). Steve meets John around this time, and even though he’s not fully convinced of the Y2K urgency, after some time working together Steve realizes he and John have a lot in common and they become good friends. At least until John leaves the company for a start up and hits it big when he’s able to cash out of his IPO stocks. It’s around that time that Steve starts to see more of John’s flaws, and the little green monster from the land of envy is born. I wasn’t sure about this book when I started reading it, but it definitely grew on me, especially since I worked on many of the Y2K projects in IT myself. There were a lot of twists and turns and the more I read, the more I liked the book. Unfortunately, there just wasn’t enough follow-thru for me in the ending since I found I had more questions than answers, which is not really how I like the books I read to finish.

Special Note: Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for allowing me to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

Holy Mother-of-Ramblers Batman. Literally almost no point to the first say 150/242 pages. All of the "thriller" action (and I'm using that term LOOSEly) happens in the last 40-50 pages. Even the author felt the need to explain the entire point near the end which also SPOILED THE CLIMAX.

This is a spoiler but it is SO OBVIOUS in hindsight. This is an over-aged extra moldy gorgonzola plot because it's a retelling of The Great Gatsby but Y2K instead of 1920s. If I understand the writing correctly (and remember GG correctly) this was also a fan-theory rewrite, not just a retelling. The author spends pages upon pages explaining Y2K and uses it as a continuous joke throughout the book where even his characters are tired of hearing about it. It does get some nostalgia points for me since I remember Y2K (first new years I had champagne xD) and it was a decent set up at the beginning for the characters. That being said, they were not at all likeable characters, almost all of them were terrible people.

The twist is half-hearted at best, I didn't see it coming because it was the most unrealistic untwist that could have happened in my opinion. The obvious one would have been better. Oh, and there's an extra unfunny Y2K joke thrown in last minute like the author forgot he should tie the first half of the book to the second half. Then the book just ends. There's no actual conclusion it's literally just a phone call that ends.

The only people I think who may like this are fans of The Great Gatsby and even then, I don't think they'd enjoy it either.

This is my sign not to bother with reading every e-arc netgalley sends me...nothing about this story was enjoyable for me.

I thought it was going to a different book from the description and tried to like it but I could not.
I didn't like the main character; I could not sympathize with him or find some kind of connection and the end too left me disappointed.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC