3.5 stars.

I could’ve done without the last chapter/final twist

3.5 stars

When Amaya learns her ex childhood best friend is set to marry her ex college boyfriend she knows she must stop the wedding. She gets the opportunity when she receives an email out of the blue from Kaavi, the future bride inviting her to the wedding she sees her chance. The story has may twists and turns and keeps you guessing until the very end. 4.5 stars.

Our main Protagonist, Amaya is an odd bat. She has a problem with control, both that she always needs it and also that she gets off on letting it go. She also seems to be messy with relationships, we find out early on that about 5 years ago she dropped everyone and everything she knew and loved back in Colombo and almost disappeared. We also find that she has an obsession with stalking her old bff's IG account.

Enter our second protagonist, Kaavi. The old bff to Amaya. She's still sliving in Colombo. (Sliving is what Paris Hilton calls slaying at life) Kaavi appears to have it all. Hundreds of thousands of social media followers, she is an accomplished woman running an uber successful charity, she's a feminist (she thinks she is) who is helping women with her charity and with her advice on social media, and she is talked about in her hometown as if she floats when she walks. Sure there were the odd rumors about Amaya when they were young but for the most part Kaavi's reputation is golden. She's also recently gotten engaged to a handsome, very wealthy American philanthropist.

In her hourly stalking, Amaya comes across the engagement announcement and wants to throw up when she sees that it's none other than Spencer, her college boyfriend who she was madly in love with. Kaavi is her oldest friend so of course Amaya has been invited to the wedding. With the invitation comes an email explaining that Kaavi's parents are also wanting Amaya at the wedding regardless of whatever bad blood there has been in the past. At this point we find out that there is something else here, some reason that Amaya is supposed to stay away from Kaavi and her family. So, no other course of action is possible, Amaya decides to attend her oldest friends wedding with hopes of stoping it from happening.

We follow Amaya through the wedding festivities but only once we've woken up on the morning of the actual ceremony and Kaavi is no where to be found. Everyone is a suspect, especially Amaya.

I really enjoyed this author's style. I have long been fascinated with Southern Asian weddings (attended a few Indian weddings and WOW) and with a setting like Sri Lanka this book called to me when I read the synopsis. The author gave us the best details and description of the events without being too wordy. There is so much detail put into events like this that the author could have easily bogged us down with all of the details (I still probably would have liked that too but most people wouldn't) but she didn't. We got enough details to build a mental picture and to really get a feel for the setting without it being too much.

The characters are all people you love to hate. Self absorbed, selfish, petty, spoiled brats. Regardless, I still ended up rooting for Amaya and even Kaavi.

Most of the chapters are narrated by Amaya but luckily you do get some at the end from Kaavi so you can see what happened from another perspective which is helpful in understanding exactly what went down.

The twists are less twists and more a build up to the final showdown. I enjoyed this style and while I was able to guess parts of the ending it was pulled together well and somehow made me like the characters even more.

I really enjoyed the mean girl attitudes of the main characters. Reminded me of some old friends. Throw in some Asian grannies and I'm hooked. Have I mentioned that I LOVE grandmothers? Even better when they're snarky judgemental bitches, makes me miss my own granny ❤️

100/10 I recommend this to mystery lovers and anyone who enjoyed the movie Mean Girls.

Slightly spoilery here:









I appreciate the author using her platform to show what it's like for a DV survivor to continue their lives. She shows us that there is no right or wrong way to heal and that it can change you in fundamental ways that sometimes you end up a different person. DV is tough, and even tougher when it's not physical and no one around you can see what's happening with their eyes. People are not kind to survivors and expect them to act in a certain way or they're accused of lying which can be one of the hardest parts.

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Initial thoughts:

I actually laughed out loud there at the end. This is a novel full of aholes that you somehow still like. Longer review to follow.

Undoubtedly outdone herself with this one as well.

After reading her debut novel My Sweet Girl and the plot twist that came along with it, I expected this to be equally amazing as well.

And is did not disappoint!

You're Invited was well plotted and written in such an amazing way that you don't know the book has gripped you till you're halfway in. The way the Sri Lankan themes are described and highlighted throughout this book helps the reader connect with the culture in order to understand the full picture.

The utilisation of language (which is so Sri Lankan) and the flawless delivery of the translation is executed perfectly throughout the whole book.

I read this in one day and as always, the plot twists just kept on coming.

It highlights basic human qualities like jealousy, anger and love; while projecting on individual character growth.

It focuses on the world wind of chaos surrounding wedding planning and captures the essence of the true upper class Colombo 7 crowd. ( I say this with ease because I have first hand experience on how this society works)

I love how you really don't know the whole story till the final few chapters and how the writing manages to keep the readers on their toes about it without making them drop the book.

Each character is eerily consistent with actual human behaviour and qualities. It gives us a detailed behind the scenes to life behind the high walls of the "picture perfect family"

If you go into this book with assumptions.... believe me.... all of it will be debunked by the end of the book.

That being said, I have one tip for you - pick this one up while totally expecting the unexpected.