Reviews tagging 'Car accident'

You're Invited by Amanda Jayatissa

12 reviews

jstilts's review

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dark funny lighthearted mysterious tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

This book is a bit of a trick, and it's - only just - won me over. The first 70% of the book follows one character trying to ruin the wedding of her ex-best friend to her ex-boyfriend. It's a fun fast-paced affair with a kooky character that drags you along deliciously because it's pretty clear she has serial-killer tendencies and this gloriously silly thriller is going to ramp up and up into some glorious crescendo of camp drama. The plot is interspersed with flash-forward interviews of the suspects of a slowly-revealed crime, which sounds cliche but is very neatly done.

Then in the last 30% the book changes gears and viewpoint, and becomes rather serious, revealing the main chunk of the book to have been - not exactly wr tten by an unreliable narrator so much as a cunning author determined to see an illusion through. At first this rather sucks all the fun out of the book. Then it becomes VERY serious indeed, and somehow I'm invested in this new style. It ends satisfyingly, and then in an epilogue of sorts there is a rather nice little extra twist, and I find myself living it again.

In the end I have to say well done to the author, but I still want to read that unwritten other version of the book where it goes to where it looks like it is going for the vast majority of the book!
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hookerkitty's review against another edition

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dark emotional funny mysterious sad tense slow-paced
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated

3.5

Ugh, it’s so disappointing when a book you’re totally vibing with just gets ruined by the ending. I was absolutely loving all of the dark humor and cracking up. I was getting really into it and had to know what was going on…and then the ending is rather abrupt, tries to wrap things up in a bow, but yet still leaves some holes, I thought it’d be a slower reveal, but nope. The author must’ve been close to a deadline, or they don’t know how to finish their book (or both). 

So now I feel like a deflated balloon. I was totally planning on giving this high stars and seek out more books by this author, but I’m afraid the ‘ending ruins the book’ would happen again. Such a bummer. 

FYI content warnings: self harm starts on page 6, mental illness practically from the beginning, and the DV descriptions def made me anxious 
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hmetwade's review against another edition

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dark mysterious fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

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anniepatt's review against another edition

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3.0

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emilycheslock's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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odrib's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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shania_danieluk's review against another edition

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mysterious medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

a fun ride, but nothing really memorable. Audio narration was excellent
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dhutton1997's review against another edition

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dark mysterious reflective tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

For the first half of this book, I hated every single character especially Amaya. However, by the middle of it, I was hooked. So good and everything is wrapped up by the end and man will it blow your mind! 
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blackcatkai's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

CW: casual ableism, self-harm (on page), violence, death, blood, gun violence, mental illness, trauma, alcohol use, sex, slut/body shaming, domestic abuse, gaslighting/catfishing, misogyny, brief mentions of drug addiction and pedophilia (not graphic)

this was quite the ride with a bunch of twists & turns, especially in the end. love me a book with rich people drama, even if it's not the entire focus in a story. will definitely pick up more from Jayatissa in the future, this was so easy to get into.
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delphine_'s review against another edition

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funny mysterious relaxing tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

This is a strong 4 stars for me, a fun read with layers I didn’t expect and that just kept on coming. I was enraptured with the plot and really liked the writing. I was also lucky to be listening to the audiobook, and the narrators were incredible, I can’t give them enough praise.

The book goes back and forth between Amaya’s point of view of events over a few days, and the accounts of other characters who give their own perspective. It makes it really interesting and is a splendid set up for some really well engineered reveals and progression points.
And then there’s a third point of view that shifted my entire perspective on things and added so much context and was placed really smartly in the book. Absolutely delightful.


The morals of everybody involved are delightfully twisted and the book left me feeling like well- that was even more messed up than I thought. But in a good way. The layers of morality.

It was also a really fun projection into both Sri Lanka and the high society of that place. It really felt like I could place myself there, the world was really well brought to life.

My only gripe with the book- but it’s a pretty big gripe- is the laying it on thick about one of the characters. I think it could have been more subtle and the result of it was just a lot. I would have been sold just as effectively with less. 

This is about Spencer: I was already down with hating him at the gold digging, the blackmail, and then EXTRA down at the abuse. Adding a layer of pedophilia, though it provided additional motive for Amaya, I thought was unneeded and just made him into a caricature of a villain. “Just add one more despicable thing just to be 100% sure”. Abhorrent, but just to sell us more this character hatred, which I was already sold to and now just felt queasy.


This is a bit sad as the book otherwise does a great job of depicting tense relationships, two-faced individuals, and
a truly splendid job at describing how abuse is insidious and can destroy how you used to be. I loved that the security agent simply believed Amaya about the abuse, or at least let her talk. It’s important.
.

Finally another gripe would be the little faux pas of implying
an addict’s son would be an addict too. It’s also an extra way to make us hate this character, I suppose, but not a great way. The fact that a character was delivering drugs to him was a good way to start hinting at Spencer’s facade being just that, but I wished it didn’t turn into “he was an addict the whole time, he’s a bad person who even does cocaine.” Again doing a little too much with Spencer, but with added insensitivity imo.


All in all I liked this book a great deal and couldn’t stop listening, I am delighted to have spent time with this, and picked up another book by this author. Read the trigger warnings REALLY carefully, because they’re no joke. But if you’re good to go, then I could not recommend it enough.
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