You're Invited

This was entertaining in some ways and the plot, setting, and characters were interesting to begin with. I would have liked it a lot better if there had been a lot less internal thoughts from Amaya and much more from the interrogation interviews. The most interesting aspect was the relationship between Amaya and Kaavi and we needed more of that. The plot was also way too complicated in every area-- simplicity for all the motives and actions/history would have made this much more suspenseful, cleaner, and tighter. It was all over the place.

That was wild. I only docked a star because the first half was slow. The rest was incredible.

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.

Interesting read…not my favorite book. I would have liked more character building for Amaya… I enjoyed the Sri Lankan cultural additions. Definitely a vacation read.

This book hooked me right away. I enjoyed hearing the story from various perspectives and reading the interrogation interviews. Everyone who was in invited to this wedding has something to hide and a reason to want the bride-to-be dead. Of course it makes it easy to suspect her ex-best friend, who is also her future husband’s ex-girlfriend. The twists and turns have you wanting to read more. This was a wild ride and I loved every second of it!