You’re Invited by Amanda Jayatissa

Published: August 9, 2022
Berkley
Pages: 384
Genre: Psychological Thriller
KKECReads Rating: 5/5
I received a copy of this book for free, and I leave my review voluntarily.

Amanda Jayatissa runs corporate trainings on Communication Skills Development, and works tirelessly as the Chief Taste Tester at the cookie shop she co-owns when she isn’t recovering from a self-induced book hangover, Amanda. She grew up in Sri Lanka and has lived in the California bay area and British countryside before relocating back to her sunny island, where she lives with her husband and two Tasmanian-devil-reincarnate huskies.

“I guess this is who I am now.”

Amaya has been living half a life in LA, watching her old best friend soar to success back home. When Kaavindi suddenly announces she’s engaged and getting married in three weeks, Amaya is stunned. When Kaavindi announces who she is marrying, Amaya feels sick. When the emailed invitation arrives, Amaya knows it’s a sign that she has to take a trip back home, even if it’s the last flight she ever takes.

The build-up for this novel was extreme. This was very much like a roller coaster. Much of the book explains the past with dips into the present.

The character development in this book was incredible. You genuinely don’t know who to love and who to hate. Everyone is put on display, but it takes a moment of clarity to realize what you’re seeing.

I had no idea who did what until the reveal. When the drop came, I was free-falling through the revaluation, getting whiplash and having my breath sucked from my lungs.

I love when a novel draws me in so intensely and is so well constructed that I can’t figure out the ending. I did figure out part of the twist, but the ultimate reveal was stunning.

This was a beautifully written novel about life as a woman of color in a society where men and reputation dictate everything. I loved the undertones and the power shifts.

The dynamically strong lead characters were so flawed yet strong that you feel connected to them even when you learn their secrets. And oh boy- did everyone have secrets.

It’s true what they say; money can’t buy happiness. But it can buy silence.

Thank you to NetGalley and Berkley Books for an eARC of You're Invited by Amanda Jayatissa in exchange for an honest review.

CW: pedophilia, domestic abuse, emotional abuse, physical abuse, suicidal thoughts, mental illness, self harm, gun violence, knife violence, murder, toxic relationships, sexism, misogyny, racism, classism, see full list on StoryGraph.

Amaya has not talked to her best friend, Kaavi, or Kaavi's family in over five years. After a life changing event forces Amaya to cut off contact from the people that have been her biggest support, she quietly fades into the background, subsisting on social media updates to keep her in the loop about her friend's life. When Amaya sees that Kaavi is engaged to Amaya's ex-boyfriend, she knows immediately that she has to stop the wedding. After she receives a surprising invitation to the wedding, Amaya travels back to her hometown in Sri Lanka, opening the door to the life that she used to live and threatening to uncover secrets that will rock the foundation of this well-to-do community.

Overall, I simply don't think that this book was very well executed or edited. There were a few too many red herrings throughout the book that were never truly explained and were not necessary to the plot line, which made the story convoluted and hard to follow at times. I was intrigued at the outset of the book, I thought the exposition was well done, but the follow through was poor. The device of Amaya's time checking was an interesting bit of characterization, though I was unclear on whether this was designed to be a compulsion for which we were to infer that Amaya is mentally ill and an unreliable narrator, or whether this was a function of Sri Lankan cultural superstition. If the former, I am never a fan of mental illness being used as a trope that perpetuates a harmful narrative. If the latter, I would have appreciated more attention paid to this cultural piece as a moment for learning, and the author could have leaned in more to that ominous feeling.

Though I liked the use of detective interviews with each character as a device for slowly revealing new details about the case, I wonder whether this story could have been more effective if we were aware of what specific crime had taken place at the outset and then we got chapters working backwards in time to discover the perpetrator.

The twists at the end were relatively predictable and not entirely interesting within the thriller genre. Here we have yet another entitled man ruining things for women without remorse. It leaves me wondering if the author could have chosen a different central conflict that brings Amaya and Kaavi back together so that the overall narrative of the book could be more focused on the female relationships, which I found far more interesting.

Overall, this was yet another disappointing thriller selected as a Book of the Month pick, and it has me questioning the screening process by which the company makes their selections. I think we can do better than this.

“IT’S FUNNY WHAT you call home. Some find it in a place, others in people. You can find it in a smell, in a smile, in a feeling. Home is where the heart is, people say. So where’s your home if your heart has been broken into a million pieces, over and over again?”

What could be worse than your childhood best friend marrying your ex? Getting accused of her murder, for one. This is an addictive thriller about a lavish Sri Lankan wedding celebration that not everyone will survive.

Wheeeee what a ride! From the multiple unreliable narrators to the nonlinear timeline giving you glimpses into the events leading up to the wedding..just wow! I really enjoyed the peek into Sri Lanken culture and into the country itself.

It started out with what appears to be an obvious motive for a potential murder and a cut and dry mystery, but it quickly turned into anything but. I have whiplash from all of the twists and turns in this one! This fast paced thriller will have you guessing until the very end. I really enjoyed the transcript chapters throughout the book too.

Although I purchased the physical copy, thank you to Netgalley, Berkley Publishing, and the author for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Amanda Jayatissa has created magic once again. I am in love with the way she sets up a book. She is a master of building up suspense until it is whirling around your head. Making you turn the pages faster and faster. Needing to know what is going on and who is responsible. The suspects change with each passing chapter. Bringing forth more questions, and creating more depth and background for each character. The deeply guarded secrets which come to light will shock you and spin you 180 degrees. All of this makes for a stellar read, where you have to remind yourself to come up for breath.

Amaya and Kaavi were best friends from childhood, until something happened five years ago that ripped them apart. Amaya is shocked and elated to receive a wedding invitation from Kaavi. When she finds out that she is marrying her ex-boyfriend, her heart is ripped out once again. She decides to fly home to Sri Lanka, determined not to allow this wedding to happen. But how far is Amaya willing to go?

This is an astounding book that will leave you gasping at all of the twists and turns. I loved reading about the gossiping Sri Lankan Aunties, who love to know everyone's business but claim they are looking out for everyone. The Sri Lankan culture is wonderfully represented and makes you feel as though you are taking part in all of the wedding splendor. Do yourself a favor and read this book. Thank you to Amanda Jayatissa and Berkley Publishing for sending me this thrill a minute read.

Amanda Jayatissa has given readers a multi-layered mystery in her latest novel, You’re Invited. Set almost entirely in Colombo, Sri Lanka, culture and family play large roles in this story. Amaya Bloom is invited to Kaavi Fonseka’s wedding in Sri Lanka. Kaavi and Amaya were best friends during childhood and college, but their relationship was broken five years ago. When Amaya learns that the groom is Matthew Spencer (Spence), her own ex-boyfriend, she is determined to stop the wedding. During the wedding celebration week, rumors surface about Amaya and when Kaavi goes missing, everything points to Amaya. However, secrets abound. Who is behind Kaavi’s disappearance? Will Kaavi get her happily ever after or is she dead or kidnapped?

Many of the characters in this story were hard to like. Amaya was an unreliable narrator who felt broken, but somehow determined to stop the wedding. Kaavi felt privileged and occasionally curt to others, but when focused on her charity and her social media content she came across as caring, strong, and independent. Others perceive Spencer to be caring, helpful, and charismatic. These dynamic characters transformed during the course of the story as various events unfolded.

The tale goes back and forth in time from the day of the wedding to three months earlier and several times in-between, especially the week of the wedding. The points of view switch between Amaya and Kaavi as well as transcripts of interviews with various guests on the day of the wedding. This adversely affected the flow for me, but the suspense and the cultural lifestyles and traditions information helped overcome this.

With twists and turns, the story builds momentum with emotionally rich characters, unpredictable moments, a deeply involved plot, and a setting that was new to me. It has plenty of suspense and a little action, but the intensity is what kept me fully engaged. The internal dialogues of Amaya deepened this intensity.

This novel is somewhat unsettling and has many threads woven into the plot. Readers should be aware that besides the bride’s disappearance and presumed demise, there is a focus on family, friendship, how well you know others, control of one’s life, belief in astrology, self-harm, a fixation with lucky numbers, and much more.

Overall, this was an intense novel with suspense and uncertainty. This story felt very realistic and like it could occur. Everyone had agendas and the final reveal had a surprise that I didn’t see coming.

Berkley Publishing Group and Amanda Jayatissa provided a complimentary digital ARC of this novel via NetGalley. This is my honest review. Opinions are mine alone and are not biased in any way. Publication date is currently set for August 09, 2022. This review was originally posted at Mystery and Suspense Magazine.

One would think their childhood best friend’s wedding would be a time of joy and celebration. Unfortunately, that’s not the case in Amanda Jayatissa’s forthcoming sophomore novel “You’re Invited.” The story’s protagonist, Amaya, hasn’t spoken to the bride, her ex-best friend Kaavi, in five years. And unlike the title suggests, Amaya wasn’t really invited to Kaavi’s wedding. But Amaya travels from California to her birthplace of Sri Lanka to stop the nuptials — Kaavi is set to marry Spencer, Amaya’s ex. And like the childhood playground brag, Amaya knows something Kaavi doesn’t know. Jayatissa spins a grim crime read where the little twists are just as much of a surprise as the big ones. It’s been compared to “Crazy Rich Asians,” most likely for the portrayal of a lavish Sri Lankan lifestyle, but “You’re Invited” is in a league of its own. The writing is captivating, the pacing perfect, and Jayatissa never fails to give you just enough to draw your own conclusions, that will most likely be wrong.

This was billed as a 'Crazy Rich Asians' type thriller, but this doesn't hold a candle to that. Took me to page 250 for something interesting to happen. And I can't get over how some of these characters act! 90% of the time I just wanted to slap them.

And I get trying to slowly unravel a story in a compelling way in a society setting, but having every character just try and pin in on every other character is not a great way to make a thriller.

Thank you to the author, publisher and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

When your ex-boyfriend gets engaged to your childhood best friend, you have no choice but to step in, right?

Enter Amaya who just found out her ex is getting married to her oldest friend Kaavi. Amaya is not well, she often thinks of killing others in increasingly violent and strange ways. She doesn't really have friends to call her own aside from an online pen pal. When her best friend Kaavi gets engaged and she gets a cryptic invite to the wedding, she has no choice but to attend and try to stop the wedding. Upon Amaya's return to Sri Lanka, she's reminded of her past with Kaavi and her ex. Secrets plague Kaavi's family and Amaya as she tries to keep her wits about her during the wedding festivities. When Kaavi suddenly disappears, everyone looks to Amaya as the number one suspect.

Jayatissa's novel shines as a thriller. The twists are foreseeable which are my favorite. The characters are hard to pin down and you can't help but wonder what their motivations or true colors are. The world of Sri Lanka luxury is one I never had the pleasure of reading about before and it sucks the reader right in.

Thank you to Amanda Jayatissa, Berkley and NetGalley for the early read. It was phenomenal.

This turned out to be a pleasant surprise for me. I had requested it on a whim and had seen it a few times on bookstagram, but wasn’t sure if it would ultimately be my thing.

I had a lot of fun reading it! It felt like I was at a murder mystery wedding! In Colombo, Sri Lanka. Which sounded beautiful by the way!

Everyone had a secret..some were easy for me to crack, some, not so much. I was definitely surprised by some of the twists of events. And that ending! I didn’t see it coming! I recommend this one if you like murder mysteries or cozy mysteries.

The beginning pulls you in but the next few chapters it almost lost me, Amaya was a whole lot the entire book, everybody ended up being a lot. I didn’t root for her and I didn’t feel sorry for her either. She seemed like she had some personal issues and needed to get help with those. Once you learned all that was going on! I enjoyed that. I loved the ideas in the story but the journey took a scenic route that lost my interest at times.

Thank you to @berkleypub for providing a NetGalley ARC of You're Invited!

Pub date: 8/9/22, early release through #BOTM in July
In one sentence: Amaya will do anything to stop her ex-boyfriend's wedding to her childhood BFF Kaavi - but she never expected Kaavi would end up dead.

I loved Jayatissa's earlier novel My Sweet Girl, so I had to read this one! Amaya and Kaavi are both complex characters, and I loved that I couldn't figure out if they were friends or foes. It was clear that Amaya did something to make Kaavi and her family resent her, but the mystery of what exactly happened unraveled slowly.

I guessed some twists, but I have to say that the ending took me completely by surprise! It reminded me of The Guest List and Crazy Rich Asians, but the tropical Sri Lankan setting and the family secrets kept it feeling fresh. If you like a locked room mystery, this is a fun one to pick up! If you guess the ending, I'll be very impressed!

I would describe this book as Crazy Rich Asians meets People Like Her and let me tell you - I AM HERE FOR IT!

This will definitely be making my top five of 2022. Once I got invested in the story, I COULD NOT PUT THIS BOOK DOWN.

What happened to Kaavi?
Did Amaya kill her?
Will Amaya win Spencer back?

I absolutely loved the drama, the setting in Sri Lanka, the over-the-top wedding, and the influencer aspect. I was totally enthralled with the gossiping Aunties, the descriptions of the fabulous outfits and delicious foods, and the whirlwind romance between the perfect Kaavi and her prince charming Spencer. Everyone had secrets and I always love that the more perfect a person seems, the more flawed they seem to be.

The parts about the friendship breakup and how emotionally taxing it was on Amaya and Kaavi really hit home. We always read about romantic breakups, but often, a friendship breakup is even worse and more traumatic. I really felt for Amaya and her heartache at watching her ex-boyfriend and ex-best friend fall in love and plan their wedding.

Pieces of the story were a bit predictable for me but how everything played out was fantastic and I was constantly questioning my gut.

My only gripe with this book is the cover - "She'll wish she never RSVP'd" - UGH EDITORS WTH! Amaya DIDN'T RSVP! **face palm** LOL!!

This was my first book by Jayatissa and it absolutely will not be my last!

This book had twists inside the twists which took me by surprise. I loved it!
Perfect set up, rich people and family drama, fun wedding, and surprises I did not see coming. Major main plot twists were easily recognizable at the start of the book, but the smaller ones are what drew me in. The last 30% of the book was a wild ride and that ending was incredible. We had it all wrapped up, but some things were still left to our imagination.
I will highly recommend this if you like domestic thrillers, it was creepy and kept me on edge while not being too triggering.
Thank you NetGalley and Berkley for an early copy.

Kaavi is getting married. She lives in Sri Lanka with her parents and sister and enjoys a luxurious lifestyle. Her phone is her best friend and she posts everything that is going on in her.life several times a day. She had a very good friend, Amaya, but they had a falling out and hadn't been in touch for years even though Amaya scrolls through several of Kaavi's posts. So Amaya is quite amazed when she gets an invite to Kaavi's wedding. She is in for quite a shock though when she finds out that Kaavi is marrying Amaya's ex boyfriend. She decides to attend the wedding as she has to stop Kaavi getting married any way possible.
I really enjoyed this story and it had a good unexpected ending.
I thank the author, publisher and Netgalley for my ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Thanks to NetGalley & Berkely for providing a digital ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I was intrigued to read a mystery set in Sri Lanka. I'm not overly familiar with the locale, and it was definitely interesting to see a portrait of high society in, as Jayatissa repeats over and over in the novel, "Colombo 07."

Amaya travels to Sri Lanka to attend the wedding of her former best friend, Kaavi. While Amaya lives in the states after a somewhat tragic childhood with an absent father and a mother who died when Amaya was pretty young, Kaavi has used her family's money and influence to reinvent herself as an Instagram influencer, her every move documented, photoshopped, and catered to Kaavi's adoring followers. The kicker is, Kaavi's marrying Spencer, Amaya's ex. Kaavi and Amaya haven't spoken in years (although Amaya creeps on Kaavi's Insta from a variety of sock puppet accounts), so why is Amaya now invited to the wedding? Amaya doesn't know, but she's determined to stop the wedding from moving forward ...

This is an interesting story, but it took awhile to grab me. Amaya wants to present as a very together person, but she is clearly having some trouble hanging onto reality, and she has these extremely off-putting visions of violence happening to people who annoy her. She is a classic unreliable narrator, and Jayatissa keeps us well in the dark as to the reasons why Amaya wants to disrupt the festivities, and the nature of the relationship between Kaavi and Spencer. She does a good job of layering in lesser characters (Kaavi's parents, numerous meddlesome aunties) to provide big oomph and verisimilitude to the surroundings; I was reminded of Crazy Rich Asians with its big depiction of the fantastically wealthy of Singapore - this is CRA, but in Sri Lanka with a side of suspense.

This one wasn't unputdownable, but I'm interested to see what Jayatissa does next.

Amaya hasn’t spoken to her ex-best friend, Kaavi, in 5 years. She’s been anonymously keeping up with her on social media, as she’s a huge influencer. She watches all her videos and comments on all her photos - as a clever screen name, of course. When she’s sees that Kaavi is now engaged to her ex-boyfriend, she’s so upset she wants to kill someone. She swears she will stop this wedding no matter the cost. A few days later, Amaya gets invited to the wedding by email. She’s shocked, but she starts forming a plan of how she’s going to stop this wedding.

This book was full of drama! We find out very soon that the wedding indeed did not take place. Most of the story is told from Amaya’s point of view (which can be quite dark and unsettling at times) and also from transcripts of interviews. As the book goes on, secrets are revealed about multiple characters and it seems a lot of people have motive for stopping this wedding. Everything finally comes together as we get to read Kaavi’s perspective towards the end.

The setting of the book was phenomenal. I’ve never read a book set in Sri Lanka, so it was interesting to read about the customs and traditions there, especially regarding weddings.

While I did predicts some parts of the story, the overall ending was quite unpredictable. I loved how everything unfolded and was revealed at the end. It was a very satisfying ending!

What I liked:
The Sri Lanka culture and setting
The interview transcripts
Kaavi’s POV
Wedding festivities

What I didn’t love:
Amaya’s POV had some details that were t adequately explained. She was fixated on numbers and she would imagine people dying in sudden and disturbing ways. I know we find out about her backstory, but I would have liked a little more information why she thinks this way.

Thank you to @netgalley and @berkley for the eARC in exchange for a review. This title will be published on August 9, 2022.

I loved Jayatissa's debut, so I was super excited to read You're Invited, and it did not disappoint! I blew through this, unable to stop turning the pages. Jayatissa knows how to nail a ruthless, unreliable narrator and cutting social commentary. By the time you get to the last 30% or so, I think every chapter had a new twist. Totally engrossing!

why my nose was in this book:
- I loved Amanda Jayatissa's debut novel, so reading her sophomore book was a no brainer
- My favorite suspense subgenre is those centered around revenge and I knew that the story wasn't going to be a straight arrow to the finish, there would be twists and surprises along the way and nothing would be as it seemed, and I was right!
- I liked the layers of police interviews, so you got an insider's perspective of several attendees close to the wedding party, adding to the suspect pool
- I appreciated learning about the customs of a Sri Lankan wedding

I LOVED Amanda Jayatissa’s previous book, My Sweet Girl. I love that we’re seeing more diverse psychological thrillers. She is from Sri-Lanka and both her books feature sri lankian women.

My Sweet Girl is still my favorite, but You’re Invited was a great ride as well!

A slow burn thriller for fans of The Guest List, and chapters in the format of interviews. I personally love it! It makes it so easy and quick. And I really like having all the different POVs. I play detective and this time, my gut was right!

I've been looking forward to this since I loved the author's first book, My Sweet Girl and this one was just as great. I was immediately drawn in, trying to figure out what was happening, what was true and what wasn't. Deftly crafted, the pacing kept me engaged and I didn't see the ending at all. Amanda Jayatissa is an author to watch and I can't wait for her next book already!