I Invited Her In # NetGalley
Adele Parks

This was, for me, a slow starting book. It took me about a third of the book to be drawn in. I was tempted to not finish the book but I preserved and I am glad I did. The characters were not notable and I really did not care for them. They did finally become more fleshed out and I found myself becoming sympathetic toward Mel and Abbi. Not to be prudish, but I did not care for all the sexual innuendo regarding their college relationship. It made me uncomfortable. The whole synopsis of the plot was shallow. I will try to read another of this author’s work to see if I enjoy it better than this. This not a book I will recommend. A 3 star rating.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an advance copy read of this book for an honest review.

A fascinating read! With friends like Abi, you don’t need enemies. I could predict what was going to happen 30 minutes into the book, but my sadistic heart enjoyed the read as Abi tore down Melanie’s life piece by piece.
Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC.

This was simply brilliant, I enjoyed the writing style and the plot and didn't want to have the story end, I would really like to read a lot more from this author as this was my first novel from Adele Parks and boy have I been missing out!

Melanie (Mel) and Abigail (Abi) are best friends at university until Mel (just 19 years old) becomes unexpectedly pregnant during their first year. Mel claims to not know the identify of her baby's father, that it was a one-night stand with someone who doesn't go to their university and she knows she will never see again. She drops out of university to care for her child, and, subsequently, loses touch with everyone, including Abi.

17 years later, Mel receives an e-mail from Abi out of the blue. Abi is in the middle of a divorce - she caught her husband shagging his (much younger) PA - and now needs a place to stay. Mel extends an open-ended invitation into her home, which Abi readily accepts. And that's when everything spirals out of control.

*Slight implied spoilers follow, but nothing explicitly discussed.*

This book was really hard for me. I don't think I've ever been so stressed out while reading a book. I couldn't read it fast enough, mainly because I wanted to make sure things worked out okay for this character, or that this other character got what was coming. For that reason, I can't really say that I enjoyed this book...it's not really a good feeling being so stressed out/emotional/worried about what you're reading.

I will say this, though - this book was very well written, and the author did an AMAZING job of making you FEEL things. I felt upset and distraught right along with Mel about everything that was happening to her. Outraged. My heart was pounding, I was having trouble sleeping because I was thinking about how awful everything was and how hopeless everything seemed. Then, during Abi's chapters (it's told through alternating POVs), I wouldn't necessarily sympathize with Abi, but I found myself kind of understanding her motivations (not at all approving of her actions though).

Overall, though, this book was just really, really hard for me. It's not one I ever want to read again, and not one that I would necessarily recommend to others (without a fair dose of warnings, anyway). The way that Abi so coldly sought revenge against Mel by destroying her life (and also by almost destroying Mel's son's future) was just so...awful.

And, to make it worse, the epilogue is told through Abi's POV. And, though I wouldn't necessarily say it was a redemption chapter, it sure felt like that - which I didn't like. With everything she put this poor family through, why should her happily-ever-after be what we end with? And there was no satisfying moment of horror, of recognition of how awful she had been, how wrong she was. She was at peace with everything, still so self-assured and smug. Sure, she recognized that maybe she'd gone about things poorly, but it's okay - she got exactly what she wanted in the end, damn the consequences and the people she (almost) destroyed along the way.

I don't mean to trash this book - like I said, it's very well written, incredibly gripping and moving, and really sucks you in and makes you feel real emotions. However, for me, I just didn't enjoy that feeling of stress, of everything falling apart. It was just a little too much. And, even though everything was more or less okay in the end, it just wasn't really that satisfying after the emotional ringer we'd been put through. I guess I needed something more.

*Thank you to NetGalley and Mira for providing me with a free advance review copy in exchange for a fair and honest review.*

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/39752831-i-invited-her-in

this story is about two women and their troubled friendship. their story is told in different point of views and reveals throughout the book.
mel is a loving and caring mother with likeable flaws whereas abi is the highflying business woman; but the higher they rise the deeper the fall..
during the story there is quite a lot of drama going on, sometimes i thought that it was a touch too much.
nethertheless i found the end of the book very rounded up and satisfying!

tank you #netgalley for this arc!

I found this book a bit hard to get into . It was very predictable . It moved very slow for me when I like a fast paced book.

I Invited Her In is just not quite there as a novel. It wants to be a psychological thriller, but neither the psychological nor the thriller aspects work. It also wants to be a women's fiction novel, with insights into family, single motherhood, and friendships. The family stuff is beyond obvious, the single motherhood aspects feel like they are from the 1960s or something when it comes to the "shaming" one of the MC's goes through, and sure, every friendship is complicated, but when your "friend" starts showing signs that she's gone off the rails (Hi, Abi!) maybe you don't keep trying to make things okay? Maybe you, I don't know, get a restraining order?

Anyway. Mel and Abi were friends at university. Abi was the girl everyone wanted to be and Mel discovered she was pregnant and left school to have a baby. And while Mel is now settled in a comfortable middle class life, complete with great husband who loves her son even though he isn't the father and more kids and etc. she's intrigued to hear from Abi, who has been living the Instagram ready life in LA, and has just left her husband, the university bad boy everyone wanted but she got.

Mel invites Abi to stay with her for a few days to catch up and is enthralled by Abi all over again. Abi seems so nice, except for all the catty remarks and wait?? Could she possibly have another reason for being there? Could it do with her divorce? How could Mel possibly tie in to that?

So yeah, I Invited Her In isn't quite there because it uses a sledgehammer when a feather would do, meaning its obvious and tired. And irritating, as I am not a fan of the woman-gets-revenge-after-a-man-does-her-wrong-by-hurting-another-woman-but-not-the-man thing.

Dream like Amy Dunne, baby.

Thank you HARLEQUIN - MIRA and NetGalley fro the ARC.

Semi-Predictable but enjoyable...

I definitely could see where part of this the plot of this was going but I still enjoyed the book. If you are looking for a good paced read and don't mind not being "shocked" by a twist I would check this out.

I received an advanced digital copy of this book from Netgalley.com and the publisher Harlequin - Mira. Thanks to both for the opportunity to read and review.

This book was a test of endurance. Outlandish and ridiculous situations that were completely unbelievable. Who in their right mind invites someone they haven't spoken to in 20 years to stay at their home?? I barely finished this book.

If you must, put this book at the bottom of your reading pile.

1 out of 5 stars. Do not recommend.

Mel's long lost friend, Abi, suddenly makes contact with her out of the blue and so Abi invites her to stay with them...indefinitely. What follows is a tale of intrigue, jealousy and, ultimately, revenge.

I have read a few of Adele Parks' books now, and all of the usual things I enjoy were present in I Invited Her In - the build up, the excitement and the twists and turns. However, I do feel that elements of this story were just a little far fetched to be believable. Some of the reactions of Mel and her husband, Ben, to Abi's behaviour and the events that occur just didn't seem like the normal reactions of average people.

Having said that, the captivating storyline and pace of the book meant I was still enthralled from beginning to end.

This was a very weird read for me. I ultimately enjoyed it and and found the story line interesting and the characters pretty great, but it was a very slow read. I felt like it was a bit too drawn out and took too long to get anywhere. I am a huge fan of thrillers and have read a ton, but this just didn’t fit the category for me. I would read another book from this author though, although I wouldn’t trust the genre classification.

EXCERPT: Suddenly I have a better idea. Or, is it a worse one?

I could invite Abi to come and see me here in Wolvney. That way she'd meet the kids and Ben. I've never had the urge for her to meet my family before, quite the opposite, but now she's made this move, and under these circumstances, it seems the right thing to do.

She probably won't accept anyway. I can't imagine her coming all this way out of London. Not that it's far, but there are certain types that think anywhere out of zone three is abroad. Is she that type? I won't know unless I invite her.

ABOUT THIS BOOK: When Mel hears from a long-lost friend in need of help, she doesn’t hesitate to invite her to stay. Mel and Abi were best friends back in the day, sharing the highs and lows of student life, until Mel’s unplanned pregnancy made her drop out of her studies.

Now, seventeen years later, Mel and Abi’s lives couldn’t be more different. Mel is happily married, having raised her son on her own before meeting her husband, Ben. Now they share gorgeous girls and have a chaotic but happy family home, with three children.

Abi, meanwhile, followed her lover to LA for a glamorous life of parties, celebrity and indulgence. Everything was perfect, until she discovered her partner had been cheating on her. Seventeen years wasted, and nothing to show for it. So what Abi needs now is a true friend to lean on, to share her grief over a glass of wine, and to have some time to heal. And what better place than Mel’s house, with her lovely kids, and supportive husband…

MY THOUGHTS: I wanted to love this book. It started out fun and gossipy. . . Old friends catching up after years apart, with a slightly darker undertone so that you just know that not everything is quite what it seems. And it isn't. But neither did it go where I expected it to. All good. I have no issues with the plot which is devious and twisted.

The issue I have is with the verbosity of the author. This is a very long book, maybe not in actual page count, but it took an extremely long time to tell this story, and a whole six days to read it. And things were over explained. The characters motivations were gone into in such detail that, at times, I lost the thread of what was actually happening. It didn't happen just once either, it happened repeatedly to the point where I was tempted, at times, to skip a few pages.

This should have been a suspenseful read but it well and truly missed the mark.

And I know that I said that this seemed like a long book but, at the same time, the ending felt rushed and somewhat unsatisfying. . .

This was a ☺☺.5-star read. I was going to award ☺☺☺ purely because the plot wasn't totally predictable, but on reflection my original rating will stand.

THE AUTHOR: Adele Parks was born in Teesside, NE England. She studied English Language and Literature, at Leicester University. She published her first novel, Playing Away, in 2000; that year the Evening Standard identified Adele as one of London’s ‘Twenty Faces to Watch.’ Indeed Playing Away was the debut bestseller of 2000.
Prolific, Adele has published nine novels in nine years, including Game Over, Tell Me Something and Love Lies, all nine of her novels have been bestsellers. She’s sold over a million copies of her work in the UK but also sells throughout the world. Two of her novels (Husbands and Still Thinking of You) are currently being developed as movie scripts. Young Wives’ Tales was short listed for the Romantic Novelist Association Award 2008. She has written numerous articles and short stories for many magazines and newspapers and often appears on radio and TV talking about her work.
Since 2006 Adele has been an official spokeswoman for World Book Day and wrote a Quick Read, Happy Families as part of the celebrations of World Book Day, 2008.
Adele has spent her adult life in Italy, Botswana and London, up until two years ago when she moved to Guildford, where she now lives with her husband and son.

DISCLOSURE: Thank you to Harlequin Mira (US & Canada) via Netgalley for providing a digital ARC of I Invited Her In by Adele Parks for review. All opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own personal opinions.

Please refer to my Goodreads.com profile page or the about page on sandysbookaday.wordpress.com for an explanation of my rating system. This review and others are also published on my webpage https://sandysbookaday.wordpress.com/...

3.5 Stars

I Invited Her In by Adele Parks is a thriller that is quite a head trip. The book is an interesting look at families and friendship. It is a fairly enjoyable read, although the main character is not one that I find relatable.

It is always hard to review a thriller because so much can be given away about the plot. I Invited Her In starts off with what seems as a typical rekindling of a friendship. As the story progresses, however, it becomes quite clear that Abi and Mel ‘s relationship is not as it appears.

❀ INTERESTING FAMILY DYNAMICS

One aspect that is really interesting to read about in the novel are the dynamics of Mel’s family. Parks created a believable and intriguing blended family that the reader can feel right at home with. As their houseguest stays for much longer than anticipated, the strain on the family is one that is identifiable to anyone who has been in a similar situation.

At first, I found Mel to be a fun and compelling character. However, when the plot starts to thicken, I found myself not able to connect with her at all. Her actions just don’t feel typical of the character that Parks developed in the beginning.

❀ INTRIGUING CONCEPT

The concept of I Invited Her In is very intriguing. I found the theme of family that Parks explored to be very entertaining. However, the main character is quite hard to make a connection with due to her actions.

Thank you for letting me review this book early.
This book was right up my alley, family drama and suspense. Fast paced easy read. Great character development. Really enjoyed.

This was a good suspenseful family drama set in London that had a good fast paced plot that kept me guessing till the end . I felt the characters were well fleshed out and believable. Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for letting me review this book

I was really looking forward to reading I Invited Her In. I had high hopes for this book. Sadly, I think I am in the minority when I say I really didn't care for the book. I was on board at the start, but I had major issues with the plot as the story went on. Mainly with who gets seduced in the house. It just really turned me off of the book completely. I wasn't expecting that. In addition, I found the book slow and predictable. I figured out a major twist very early on. In this instance, I think it's just a case of "not for me". The book has received good reviews, so I do recommend that you check it out and try it for yourself.

This is a domestic thriller that features two old college friends. One whose husband cheats, and the other who invites her old friend to stay with her family.

I don't enjoy giving poor reviews, so I will start with the good.
This book was fairly quick paced. I did not find myself getting bored. The author's writing style is very engrossing, and I would absolutely consider reading another of their books. Both of the main characters have secrets. I had trouble trusting any of the characters in this book, which I consider to be a major plus - I love it when an author knows how to keep me guessing.

The bad:
This book was.... a little icky actually. You find out pretty early on that the friend from out of town is dating someone young. Very young. And I just found that to be a little unsettling.
In spite of the unreliable narrators, I found this book to be a bit too predictable for my taste. There were a few major twists that I saw coming a lot sooner than I would have preferred.

I would recommend this book to anyone looking for a non-scary, slightly predictable thriller, assuming they are comfy with a relationship with an icky age difference.

*I apologize for the repeated use of the word "icky" it just felt really fitting in this instance

I must admit, I was slightly underwhelmed by this book. I’d probably give it a 2 1/2 rather than a 3 unfortunately :( I was rather excited about this book after reading the blurb, however it was just too predictable for my liking and lacked sparkle. I also just didn’t reallt warm to any of the characters either, sorry!

This is my first Adele Parks novel and although I enjoyed it I have to say it did take me awhile to really get into it. I found it to be slow in about the first half of the book but once you get past that part and you really get to see how manipulative Abi is it really draws you in and then you can't put the novel down.

I invited her in instantly drew me in because of the title, I have really been into domestic psychological thrillers and this is exactly what this is.

This book was a fun and thrilling read that was full of lies, secrets, unreliable friendships, betrayal and ultimately jealousy and revenge. The characters were well planned as well as the plot and it was well written so after reading this I will be reading more from Adele parks.

So good!!!! I saw so many glowing reviews for this book and they were all spot on!

Adler Parks is new to me and she didn't disappoint at all. This book really is for everyone. Mel and Abi's friendship is all of. They're friends reconnecting after one friends been dealt a bad hand. Mel invites her in, and the choice proves to be not such a great one.

Every one is trying to have a hit thriller and it keeps raising the bar and Adele Parks rose to the challenge. This was a page turner, intriguing and a reminder that you cant have what isn't
yours.