I loved this book, right from just reading the synopsis I knew I would. It gave me all the And Then There Were None meets Clue vibes and I was hooked from the very beginning!

A group of mystery writers are invited to a remote island off of Maine for a writing retreat with the mysterious, reclusive J.R. Alastor - an author so anonymous he has never done an author event and requires all the writers to sign NDAs.

Organizing it all is event organizer Mila del Angél who has a plan of her own when it comes to one of the writers - one who did her wrong. But by the second day when one of the writers goes missing it will become clear to everyone in attendance that someone is very, very wrong. Someone knows their darkest secrets and is meting out their own form of justice.

As I said, I loved this book. It kept me going late into the night because I had to know what was going to happen next. I enjoyed seeing in all the characters perspectives and trying to figure out who the killer was. I also loved all the secret passages in the house and the book map that looks like a Clue game board.

This book is definitely one of my favorite reads of the year (reading this as an ARC in 2024) and I can’t wait to get a physical copy!

This was such a good book! The writers retreat gone murder investigation was good! The ending was so unexpected and usually I do predict the ending so I am very glad this author did a great job keeping the ending unexpected! I liked the characters, the pacing and the writing style of this book.
Thank you to NetGalley, the publishers, and especially the author for this ARC in exchange for my honest review of the book!!

🌴📖 Just finished this thrilling ride set on a private island with a group of bestselling thriller/mystery authors at an elite writing retreat! Hosted by a legendary author whose true identity has remained a secret for decades, things quickly take a dark turn as the guests discover that their secrets—and lives—are at risk. 😱✍️

What surprised me was the multiple narrators; I usually prefer two, but here it felt seamless and really enhanced the suspense. Each perspective added layers to the mystery!

The best parts? The creative and entertaining games the authors have to play to survive! 🎭 The house itself is described so vividly—it’s the kind of place you’d want to visit but also never want to step foot in!

I absolutely loved this book and can’t wait to dive into more from this author! Perfect for anyone who enjoys a good mystery, murder, and a whole lot of fun! 🔍💖

Did NOT see the end of You Are Fatally Invited coming! A masterful thriller. Very much recommend and will purchase for libraries.

This is the type of book where you get exactly what you hope for with the cover.

A handful of authors are given an ominous invite to a "writer's retreat" and the plot takes off. It is a fun Clue murder mystery-like novel that I thoroughly enjoyed. It is clear the author also had fun writing this. Between the different formats, fonts, images, and more, this book was genuinely fun even though it was a spooky thriller murder mystery. That is hard to pull off.

<b>What I loved:</b>
-This is a fun murder mystery, very much a page-turner of a novel.
-The cover is beautiful.
-The plot is interesting and the characters have depth to them.
-There's no extreme gore or anything in this book, at least not in my opinion. This is genuinely a fun read and it's beautifully done.
-Because the book is about a writers' retreat, there is meta talk about the art of writing, and my nerdy self heavily enjoyed this.

<b>What I didn't love:</b>
-The writing style was not my favorite. Very much a personal preference, but it made it harder to consume the book the way I wanted to. I found myself re-reading passages to make sure I got every last detail, versus being able to inhale. This isn't a bad thing. I'm coming from the world of Freida here, so different artistic styles completely.
-Lots of mentions of vomit and nausea, lots and lots.
-The ending did feel slightly rushed and chaotic? I believe that was the intent - to give the reader what they had been craving for the book, but I felt satisfied throughout the book with the clues given.
-Multiple perspectives from unreliable narraters and very vague quotes and bits scattered to increase confusion and curiosity. It was fun initially, but I think it was potentially used too much and impacted my ability to get lost in the book.

I would totally recommend this book to anyone looking for a fun whodunit murder mystery. Also, how could you not want to own this beauty?

Thank you for allowing me to read this advanced copy in exchange for my honest feedback!

A good locked room mystery with multiple POVs. It didn't grip me in the way I"d hoped, but it's a still an enjoyable read. It was a little dense in places, which slowed it down, but then some people might enjoy that. 3.5

-You are fatally invited- is perfect for thriller lovers! This book was very well written with amazing characters. It had me hooked from beginning to end. The plot twist completely shocked me! It was so good that I finished it in one day I couldn’t stop reading it.

Thank you so much to NetGalley for the arc in exchange for an honest review.

Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC.

If you're a fan of the game clue and Agatha Christie/ Hercules Perot story lines, then you'll love this!
It's a who done it mystery. I enjoyed the storyline but found that there are too many characters to keep track of. It is definitely an enjoyable read for a mystery lover and I rate it four solid stars.

Thank you NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group- Ballantine for this eARC in exchange for an honest review.

I feel like the story had a lot of potential, but I had a hard time staying engaged with the story and the characters. The idea that these authors are gathered at a secluded estate under a guise of mystery was intriguing but ultimately fell flat. I felt like the pacing was uneven which made it really difficult to follow along as the story progressed.

This book does have multiple POV, which I typically enjoy, especially in a thriller/mystery, but it felt like there was too much being explained between characters and what I felt like were unnecessary details that contributed to the uneven pacing the story. At a certain point, it became a bit predictable and felt as though I was watching a rerun of a movie on tv.

While the concept of this story is intriguing, and the author does a great job of presenting the traditional topes related to the genre, as the reader I needed more in terms of plot. I think ultimately, this narrative is something we have already seen before so it didn't have the surprise factor or wow element a novel like this needs.

thank you to NetGalley and Random House for providing me with an advance copy of this book to review!

thankfully I did like it as much as I'd hoped :) as I said, it's a book that's right up my alley, and I think it very much lives up to its potential. I got super into it, like I was actually taking notes when the part of the book with the labels came out lol. I also think the ending was like... note perfect. I do have a couple of gripes, like an absolutely unbearable certain POV character - to be fair, the author definitely knows he's unbearable, but still - and a couple of plot points that truly strain credibility, but this is a mystery that simultaneously manages to be cozy and recognizable but also very tense.

A perfect fall thriller to cozy on the couch with on a rainy weekend. Kept me entertained and turning the pages

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for the opportunity to read this advanced copy of this incredibly fun and creative thriller! The book is a love letter to thriller tropes, and I can't recommend it enough!
The book centers on a group of bestselling thriller/mystery authors who come to a private island for an elite writing retreat, being held by one of the most prolific thriller writers, who writes under a pen name and identity is still a secret after decades. The writers/guests soon realize there are ulterior motives, and they are not safe at all with their secrets or their lives.
The book goes back and forth between different narrators. Usually, I'm not a fan of having more than two narrators, but this was one of the few books where it wasn't overwhelming or confusing. It worked well and added to the mystery.
My favorite parts were the games the authors must play in order to survive. They were extremely creative and entertaining. The house itself was amazing. The descriptions and details made it sound both like somewhere you wanted to visit and also never step foot in.
I loved this book and can't wait to read more by the author! It's perfect if you love mystery, murder, and fun!

The storyline was intriguing, but I felt it started off a bit confusing and slower paced. There is a large cast of characters and each comes with some backstory. The story is also told from multiple viewpoints in both past and present. By mid point the story moved along much quicker with twists, and turns on every page.. I loved some characters, (Olivia), and found some to be patronizing and unlikable (Fletcher). There’s quite a bit of character development and it was an overall fun and thrilling read.

Several writers get together on a deserted island for a themed retreat. They’ve been invited by their mysterious host, fellow author, JR Alaster. While JR is known worldwide, no one has actually met him in person. When strange things start to happen on the island, the group must figure out if it’s all staged or are crimes really happening. As the events get more intense, the group must also figure out if everyone is who they say they are.

3.3
This is an example of a fine idea with imperfect execution. The chapters are told from differing perspectives with the occasional chapter from a character identified by their crime rather than their name. Good plan, except the delivery was incredibly transparent and made the read a but more pedantic than was pleasant.

intriguing, thrilling, exciting and so much more. this is my first read by this author and i loved what i read. i can't wait to read more!

fleshed-out characters. good plot to keep you flipping the pages. a story that is unputdownable in so many ways. complex twist.

I love when a mystery begins with a floor plan. I also love when a mystery has an “And Then There Were None” set-up with a bunch of people trapped together in a single space. This checks both boxes. This feels like a typical popcorn thriller to me, which I don’t consider a negative. It’d be a good book to get out of a slump or to keep you interested in what you’re reading. There were twists I didn’t anticipate and I liked the multiple perspectives the author wrote in. Each character felt specific and well-defined. I didn’t always love the writing - sometimes it felt a bit cringey or the dialogue felt unnatural. Also, whenever a writer is trying to write around spoilers and twists (for example, one of the main characters we follow has a vendetta against someone else present, without naming them), the mystery feels a little bit forced. Overall, this was super-engaging and despite my minor quibbles, I burned through it quickly.

Murder mystery! And let's talk that cover, it looks like a envelope, that's what originally caught my eye.

I have read a few thriller involving a writers retreat and this is one of the good ones, I finished it in two days, had to work unfortunately, but it was that good.

For me this was fast paced and the clues were there, to be put together, usually I figure out a thriller in the first 1/3 of the book, this one took me a smidge but longer and I LOVE that.

I reccomend this for someone looking for a good fast passed thriller, it will get you, I promise.

You Are Fatally Invited by Ande Pliego is a thrilling ride through a locked-room mystery set on a private island. The premise of a writer’s retreat gone awry, with thriller authors as the guests, makes for a captivating read full of twists and turns. The fast-paced narrative and atmospheric setting keep readers on edge, though some might find the pace a bit too brisk and the clues a bit sparse. With its clever meta elements and suspenseful plot, this novel is a must-read for fans of isolated thrillers and intricate mysteries.

This books was so good and so thrilling. This was no slow burn. I love books about writers and a books about writers that write about thrillers even better. Then a murder happens and games are played. You just want to keep reading to see what happens. This really was such a thrilling book!

Fast paced with an adrenaline rush, this writers retreat gone bad was incredibly twisty and atmospheric. My only gripe is I wish it were slower paced and longer. It was so well written that I just wish I could've spent a little more time on that island with the characters.