Title: You’re Invited
Author: Amanda Jayatissa
Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton
Synopsis:
What could be worse than your ex-boyfriend marrying your childhood best friend? Getting accused of her murder…
From the author of My Sweet Girl comes a dangerously addictive new thriller about a lavish Sri Lankan wedding celebration that not everyone will survive.When Amaya is invited to Kaavi’s over-the-top wedding in Sri Lanka, she is surprised and a little hurt to hear from her former best friend after so many years of radio silence. But when Amaya learns that the groom is her very own ex-boyfriend, she is consumed by a single thought: She must stop the wedding from happening, no matter the cost.
But as the weeklong wedding celebrations begin and rumors about Amaya’s past begin to swirl, she can’t help but feel like she also has a target on her back. When Kaavi goes missing and is presumed dead, all evidence points to Amaya.
However, nothing is as it seems as Jayatissa expertly unravels that each wedding guest has their own dark secret and agenda, and Amaya may not be the only one with a plan to keep the bride from getting her happily ever after…
My review:
I wasn’t sure what to expect from You’re Invited but once I got into it, I found this a really entertaining, gripping read. We’re following Amaya who is heading back to her homeland of Sri Lanka for her ex-best friend Kaavi’s wedding – and we soon discover that Kaavi is getting married to Amaya’s ex-boyfriend!
I loved the setting of this book, and finding out more about Sri Lankan culture and society, especially as it’s somewhere I’ve always wanted to go. The wedding that’s being planned is incredibly fancy so we get lots of scenes demonstrating the over-the-top nature of everything from the dress to the hotel to the many parties and social events in the run-up to the big day.
There’s a good dose of mystery as we try to work out how exactly Amaya is plotting revenge – and what exactly happened all those years ago to put a stop to the friendship between these two women? There are some twists and surprises and the way Amaya narrates the story is very easy to read and conversational. You also wonder, at various points, just how reliable a narrator she is… ie. is she slightly unhinged? I personally love those kinds of narrators!
This is a fun, easy read that I raced through and I will certainly be reading more from this author. Recommended!
My rating: 4/5
Many thanks to the publisher, Hodder & Stoughton, for providing a copy of this book on which I chose to write an honest review.