The description called this Agatha Christie meets Crazy Rich Asians, and boy were they right! I've never seen such an accurate comparison in the synopsis. Definitely don't skip out on this thriller!

This book was such a confusing book at times with all the different pov's and the interviews. So many secrets were being kept in all of them, and it was so good, but definitely one you have to pay close attention to.

In You're Invited the main character that we follow is Amara who has returned for her former (maybe still current) best friend's wedding to her ex-boyfriend. Now this entire time Amara is dead set on stopping the wedding by any means necessary. Why? We have no real idea besides that Spencer is not a good guy for some reason. It isn't until the story slowly unfolds and we get to see things from the past that we start to see why Amara does not like Spencer. Along with this we also see Kaavi's pov and see her family's life and all that Amara has missed while she is away. Which was a lot, and a lot of pent-up anger is happening to several different people in Kaavi's family.

Overall this book while confusing at times, does keep you on your toes and wanting to find out what happens next. With so many secrets and pent-up anger anybody could have caused Kaavi to go missing and potentially harmed her. The ending itself is one that surprised me and I gotta give it to the author as they did an amazing job of keeping all the twists and turns coherent and making it so they all connect in the end. No loose ends for a change which I am so happy about.

rating 4.5 stars
(read a finished copy)

Archived prior to being able to read the book. Lost interest in trying to pick it up. I was originally interested but as it sat in my library, I did not feel the summary grabbed my attention anymore.

You're Invited by Amanda Jayatissa is a perfect fit for readers who crave a thrilling and suspenseful tale of mystery, friendship, and dark secrets, set against the exotic backdrop of Sri Lanka, and who enjoy a fast-paced, addictive story with unexpected twists and turns.

You’re Invited by Amanda Jayatissa is a thriller novel. The story in You’re Invited is one that changes the point of view between a couple of the characters but also has transcripts of interviews in the story. This one also switches back and forth from the current timeline to one a few months earlier.

Amaya and Kaavi were once best friends but it has been several years of not speaking to one another so Amaya is a little shocked to receive a wedding invitation from Kaavi. Even more shocking to Amaya is the fact that the groom is going to be non other than her own ex-boyfriend.

Amaya becomes determined to stop the wedding before it begins and decides to head to Colombo, Sri Lanka where the wedding is being held. After arriving though rumors begin to surface about Amaya and before she knows it Kaavi goes missing and of course all eyes are on Amaya as a suspect.

You’re Invited is the first book I’ve read from Amanda Jayatissa and of course a good old thriller is always enticing I was also looking forward to spending the time in a culture and place I’m not familiar with myself. Reading this one I found the characters weren’t particularly likable as I find sometimes in thrillers with unreliable narrators but it did have the good old fashion twists and turns one would expect. The format felt a little choppy but overall when finished I would rate this thriller at three and a half stars and would perhaps read another from this author someday.

I received an advance copy from the publisher via NetGalley.

Ugh, if my ex-boyfriend was marrying my "best friend" I would cut them all out of my life. I definitely wouldn't attend their wedding, stupid choice by the MC, but it makes for one twisty and drama filled book.

This thriller will keep you on the edge of your page the whole way through the book. Great writing and a story that will stay with you .

A twisty one about a destination wedding gone off the rails. Amaya and Kaavi were friends until they weren't but now Kaavi has invited Amaya to her wedding in Sri Lanka- her wedding to Matthew, who happens to be Amaya's ex. Awkward to be sure but then Kaavi goes missing and well, no spoilers. Amaya's efforts to cope with her anxiety made her a more sympathetic character , I liked the setting, and it's got a zippy plot. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC, A good beach or travel read.

Ok WOW. This book was SO wild. I feel like thrillers tend to be kind of predictable, which is fine, but there’s nothing like a twist to throw you off, and this book had twists on twists. I really liked the way it was written, bouncing from POV to interviews, although I do think it would’ve been nicer to have Kaavi’s POVs mixed in rather than a random chunk near the end of just her POVs as it made it feel a little disjointed. But the plot made up for that completely. It was like Crazy Rich Asians mixed with Counterfeit and Knives Out. I’ll totally be checking out anything else by this author now.

A quick-paced, twisty, and fun read. The dynamics and unlikable narrator really put you on the edge of your seat throughout the whole read.

The first half of this book was so incredibly slow that I 💯 would have DNF'd it had it not been a buddy read.

My buddy heard the book picked up towards the latter half and although I do agree with this, things went completely overboard.

It's as if the author wanted to throw out almost every trigger warning for shock value and just couldn't stop. It was ridiculous and way too much. The ending was comical and I just wanted the book to end.

I absolutely despised all the characters. There wasn't even a dog for me to like, or a cat, bird, pigeon, anything!! Everyone was extremely materialistic, narcissistic, obsessed with their presence on social media, blah, blah, blah, barf, barf, barf.

Needless to say, this was not my favorite,

I did appreciate the Sri Lankan representation in the book, which is the only reason I'm rating this higher than 1⭐.

Thank you Netgalley and Berkeley Publishing for the ARC. This book was on my Netgalley backlog list, and is available now.

A woman finds out her former best friend is marrying her ex-boyfriend and decides to go to the wedding to resolve things. Can you imagine attending the wedding between your ex and your former best friend? That would be a hard no from me, but that partly what made this story so fascinating from the very first page!

About the Book

Amaya Bloom finds comfort and peace in living her life in a very controlled way. She is a believer in the symbolism and power of certain numbers, and uses those to make decisions and guide her life forward.

When she receives an invitation to her former best friend Kaavi’s opulent and over-the-top wedding in Sri Lanka, she is surprised. Kaavi and Amaya haven’t spoken for many years, though Amaya has kept up with Kaavi through an anonymous social media account she uses to follow her.

But the invitation is even stranger because not only are Kaavi and Amaya estranged, Kaavi is marrying Amaya’s ex-boyfriend Matthew Spencer. Amaya knows she must attend and stop the wedding from happening, no matter what it takes.

But as the week-long wedding festivities begin, rumors about Amaya swirl and she can’t help feeling like she has a target on her back. When Kaavi then goes missing, all evidence makes it seem as though Amaya is to blame.

But Amaya isn’t the only wedding guest with secrets… What happened to Kaavi and who is responsible?

My Thoughts

In You’re Invited, the questions and mysteries about what is going on all lie in the decades leading up to the main storyline. How did Amaya and Kaavi’s friendship fall apart? When did Kaavi and Spencer get together? What happened the last time Amaya was in Colombo? So many questions!

Amaya is a character that readers may have a hard time understanding at first. She is clearly suffering anxiety and finds signs, symbols, and atypical treatments to manage it. Though the number symbolism helps her at times, at others it is debilitating. She is also obsessed with her former best friend—stalking her social media using fake accounts and commenting on everything she posts, while simultaneously spiraling about how fake her online persona is.

At the same time, she quickly turned from vapid and unhinged to sympathetic and compelling in my eyes. She still seemed unwell, but it became the sort of situation where I started to see her strength in coming to this wedding, rather than as a crazy stalker who jumped at the chance to see Kaavi.

The twists were a real mind-bender! A lot goes on and everything was turned on it’s head. In the second half of the book we get Kaavi’s perspective on things, but I didn’t really understand exactly what had happened until the very final twisted chapter. An absolutely wild read!

DNF'd; I thought this one would really work for me but I read the first few chapters ages ago and can't bring myself to keep going. it's giving the Guest List but maybe more graphic? but I wasn't a huge fan of the Guest List so I think I'm cutting my losses

The setting of this one alone is unique enough for me to recommend it to others. I love mysteries set in other countries as it's more of an escape. The wedding in You're Invited was so complex it made a great place to set this one and revel secrets over the whole story.

I didn't find the thriller aspects of this novel to be very unique (and the "plot twist" was too obvious, IMHO), but I especially liked the armchair travel to the upper echelons of Colombo society. I also enjoyed reading a contemporary book set in Sri Lanka, as most of my Sri Lankan reads have been focused around the Civil War.

Thank you so much to the publisher for sending me an ARC!
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Unfortunately I DNFed this, it just didn’t catch my attention and maybe I’ll get into it again when I’m in the perfect headspace to give this another try! But I would buy and recommend this to others definitely!

I really wanted to like this one but unfortunately it fell a bit flat. I really enjoyed the lush lifestyle and the overall setting of the novel. Unlikeable characters and the overall pacing were the things I had the most issue with.

This kept me on my toes! I enjoyed the twists and found myself not able to predict what was going to happen!

I received an advance copy. All thoughts are my own.

Weird yet fun? I think the “Crazy Rich Asians meets Agatha Christie” descriptions are apt. I enjoyed the setting and was definitely compelled to keep turning the pages! Will be recommending to my book club.

I think I like You're Invited even more than My Sweet Friend, also my Amanda Jayatissa.

I'll leave you with this...Amaya is invited to the wedding of her childhood bff who happens to be marrying Amaya's EX. Yep, you read that right. So when a murder occurs, it all becomes fast-paced, twisted read.