I received an ARC of Many Are Invited from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

Many Are Invited is a story that develops slowly over the first half of the book and then culminates in one dramatic evening. The narrator Steve describes his initial impression of John, who he meets at his phone company job when John makes an impassioned company-wide presentation about the risks of Y2K coding bugs and argues that a Y2K team is necessary and he's just the man to lead it. Steve is not impressed, but over time becomes one of John's closest friends. In fact, Steve is with John the evening that he meets his future wife Mary and her coworker Lauren. By the end of the book, each of these main characters has amassed numerous secrets and questionable choices that all collide at John and Mary's housewarming party.

I found reading this book enjoyable, though I never really found any of the characters particularly likable or realistic. It's a quick read with action building toward the end. However, I was left feeling like the abrupt ending left more questions than answers and a lingering sense of insignificance.

I don't think I was the right audience for this book. I almost didn't finish it, but pushed through so I could at least give an informed review. I found all the characters unlikeable and had little interest in how their stories turned out. Not my cup of tea.

This book just wasn’t what I was expecting. I couldn’t get into it at all but finished it because if I start a book then I have to finish. I just wish it was more interesting.

I work in IT and the IT/Y2k story line at the start of this book had me running down memory lane! I couldn't read the beginning of this book fast enough, as it felt like I was reliving my work past and I loved it! After that I felt like I was reading a book version of The Office Space movie, with a character that was completely unhappy with his job and always wanting more but not really doing anything about it. There was a lot of drama between friends that don't even like each other that I had a very hard time relating to. I had to skim a lot of the date and party scenes of the book in order to make it through and find out what happened.

Thank you NetGalley and Celestial Eyes Press for the ARC of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.

This wasn't my favorite. I was working in the tech field at this time and thought I'd connect to the story. I did not. It felt rather pointless.

I have to say this one with its team of horrible characters, sexism (ick), jealousy, and terminally bad writing is in line for my worst book of the year 2022!

Thank you NetGalley for a free ARC in exchange for an honest review. The 90’s setting was a draw for me to this book, but this book really wasn’t for me. I couldn’t connect with the characters and all of the Y2K stuff was boring.

First and foremost - Thank you to NetGalley and Celestial Eyes Press for the opportunity to read this book.

This book had so much potential, but for me personally it fell flat. I feel like it was kind of all over the place in the beginning. Then it was very slow to me. Next thing I know, everything is happening and it's finally getting exciting and then 5 minutes later it's over. It was not terrible, but it was not for me.

This book had an extreme build up to the climax. The parallels to "The Great Gatsby" are definitely there, but the biggest difference being the narrator. Steve Galanos was most definitely no Nick Carraway. Steve's narration was not honest, tolerant, or reserving judgment of John , Mary, or Lauren. So much so that he felt the need to step in and become probably the biggest antagonist of their story.

Many Are Invited was an OK read, but nothing I would ever recommend. The plot simply felt lost for me—the opening chapter felt like it was unnecessary and the entire story could have been told in linear fashion.
After finishing, the plot was clearly more about a love triangle (square?) than anything else. This could have been rated a little higher for me if the characters were more well-likable, but unfortunately they all seemed to be self serving.

Thank you NetGalley and Celestial Eyes Press for accepting my request to read and review Many are Invited.

Author: Dennis Cuesta
Published: 10/06/22
Genre: General Fiction (Adult) -- Literary Fiction

This reads more like a long magazine story than a book. In the late 1990s computers are beginning to be household staples. Vehicles are coming equipped with onboard computers. Then the realization sets in that with the dependency so high on computers, the date of January 1, 2000 could shutdown the world. Scientists and geeks work tirelessly fearful of what may happen. The general population ignored and mocked the fears. It wasn't until the problem became known as Y2K bug that people began to pay attention.

This story starts with the potential problems and forming committees to understand Y2K. From there the working relationships enter into personal spaces, and friends become lovers, friends become enemies, and the soap opera-like tales begin. The story ends with its own Y2K twist.

This was just okay for me. There was too much soap opera and not enough meat. If you are looking for a quick read, this may be for you.

There is profanity.

This was not the book for me. It was a pretty quick and easy read, which I appreciate. However, the characters were not likeable. At all. None of them. I didn't really care what happened to any of them.

Why, why did there need to be random diatribes about politics and abortion rights and Roe v. Wade and religion? I hate it when I'm reading a novel, and the author needs to inject random politics into it. I'm reading to escape from the awful world we live in. Stop reminding me about current political issues that have no bearing on your story.

I also did not like the way the book talked about women. Calling the "hot" ones Swedes. Counting them odd by number. Ranking bodies. Talking about how they would've ranked X years and multiple kids ago. Gross. Even though this is set in the 90s, it seemed like author was a little too into this. It's not like it really had any significant relevance to the story. It could've been toned down a lot.

I was initially interested in this novel because I was an adult during this time. And found it similar sounding to when Gates & Jobs created a tech dynasty only to be driven apart. A modern-day Great Gatsby. Including a tragedy at a dinner party with greed and "keeping up with the joneses" at the helm.
At first, I thought it was a boring workplace drama and that maybe I had too high of hopes. But then the pace picks up and the tech race of the 1990's heats to a rivalry.
And I would like to add this is a great novel for anyone, such as Gen-Xers. And is a different fiction from most mainstream fiction currently out there.

Ugh! What a disappointment! This story was great and when I had to take breaks, I couldn’t wait to get back into it. Imagine me getting to the end and throwing the book across the room as I screamed like Cardi B…”WHAT WAS THE REASON?!”

Such a lackluster ending. Ugh.

Kinda didn’t love this. I have a hard time when I cannot find things about the characters that I like or respect. Hey, I understand meddling in the lives of others makes for great television but without fleshed out characters, but in a book it falls flat and I ended up not really caring what happened with any of them.

I think this story is mainly about a love triangle (or maybe love rectangle…?) but I’m not entirely sure.
The protagonist, Steve, spends a good deal of the prose complaining about his best frenemy, John, whom he seems to both resent and envy, for his success, good fortune, wife, and life. Basically, Steve is a bad friend and unlikable person. My biggest issue with the book, though, was how much time I spent wondering when the hell something interesting was going to happen.
It picked up a little about three quarters of the way through, but not enough to make it worth the time spent reading.
Thanks to #netgalley and #celestialeyespress for this #arc of #manyareinvited in exchange for an honest review.

"Many Are Invited"
By: Dennis Cheers
Pub Date: October 6, 2022

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC.

This book was a bit slow for me. I did find the story interesting and it kept me engaged towards the end. But it was the last few chapters where the story picks up and the narrator begins to correlate what happens to them and the characters in the Great Gatsby.

The story is about friendship, hidden jealousy and desiring what others have accomplished. Its an easy read but, I am giving it 3 stars for its slow story building.

At first this book just seems to meander through the main character's work life and relationships but as you move along through the story, several characters take on more importance. The discussion about Y2K was especially interesting since I lived through that time period as an adult working in an industry that could have been devastated and remembering how we all woke up January 1st wondering if there would be a world left. It was amazing to think that some people had realized early on how traumatic it could be and actually started working on a fix years before. I will say that I certainly did not expect the ending but somehow it seemed fitting. I would definitely recommend this book.

This book was a mess from start to finish. Between unlikeable characters, a disconnected plot line, and tech jargon, it was a slow read that left me feeling like I wasted time.

I had no idea this was a reimagining of The Great Gatsby but make its 90's tech before I started reading and I am glad I didn't because I probably would have given this a skip, but it surprisingly kind of worked as a premise.

What didn't work for me was the characters so much, they didn't have many redeeming qualities and there is enough misogyny enough in real life without having to read about it in fiction . Held my interest to read to the end but not one I would recommend.
A generous 2 star.