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transparent_tea 's review for:
You're Invited
by Amanda Jayatissa
dark
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I don't remember how You're Invited ended up on my TBR back in 2022. Because I've been in the process of clearing out that list and making decisions on whether or not I still want to read some of these books, this book landed on the "to actually read" section, mostly because I saw the book at a local used bookstore and thought to myself, "Maybe it's time to read it."
Not knowing too much about the synopsis, except that it took place at a wedding ceremony, within the first chapter, it was made to be a murder scene. A jealous person murders the bride and all the guests get rounded up for interviews in trying to figure out who the murderer is. In the first 17 chapters, you're following the same character from the beginning, Amaya, and you understand what took place three months before the wedding of her ex-best friend, Kaavi, and the day of the wedding. Within those chapters, the reader is also getting a peek at the wedding guest interviews that are being held. As the story progresses, it makes it seem like Amaya was the one behind this murder/missing person, but as the synopsis states, other guests are also speaking ill about the bride.
The turning point starts in Chapter 18, where the perspective shifts from Amaya to Kaavi, and things start to unravel, that being rich and famous isn't always what it looks like via social media.
A few things to mark down, there are some self-harm passages while reading Amaya's perspective (which I'm surprised that there wasn't a trigger warning). But just as a note for anyone who's reading this review before, page 6, page 96, page 135, and page 207.
The second thing I marked down was the "plans" Amaya had, her Plan A, Plan B, and Plan C. Now, if you read the book, you know that there were more than those plans, but it was just interesting to mark them up to see what were her plans.
The story itself was pretty twisted; felt like I was reading something kind of boring, following Amaya's whining perspective that she HAS to apologize to Kaavi, and because her online friend Beth kept pushing her to do the right thing. It seems like every single thing that happened was made to go against Amaya (more information is provided within the interviews), but things got going when we shifted to Kaavi's perspective and the end-all-be-all was when Amaya gave her interview, where every single possible outcome that I thought got thrown out the window and I was trying to finish this book as fast as I can, JUST so I know what happens at the end.
I felt that this was a good read, even though I'm not knowledgable about Sri Lankan customs and wedding traditions, but the author made it easy enough to understand without overbearing the reader with all the lavish terms.
And Alexander? I honesty thought it was someone from the event..
Not knowing too much about the synopsis, except that it took place at a wedding ceremony, within the first chapter, it was made to be a murder scene. A jealous person murders the bride and all the guests get rounded up for interviews in trying to figure out who the murderer is. In the first 17 chapters, you're following the same character from the beginning, Amaya, and you understand what took place three months before the wedding of her ex-best friend, Kaavi, and the day of the wedding. Within those chapters, the reader is also getting a peek at the wedding guest interviews that are being held. As the story progresses, it makes it seem like Amaya was the one behind this murder/missing person, but as the synopsis states, other guests are also speaking ill about the bride.
The turning point starts in Chapter 18, where the perspective shifts from Amaya to Kaavi, and things start to unravel, that being rich and famous isn't always what it looks like via social media.
A few things to mark down, there are some self-harm passages while reading Amaya's perspective (which I'm surprised that there wasn't a trigger warning). But just as a note for anyone who's reading this review before, page 6, page 96, page 135, and page 207.
The second thing I marked down was the "plans" Amaya had, her Plan A, Plan B, and Plan C. Now, if you read the book, you know that there were more than those plans, but it was just interesting to mark them up to see what were her plans.
The story itself was pretty twisted; felt like I was reading something kind of boring, following Amaya's whining perspective that she HAS to apologize to Kaavi, and because her online friend Beth kept pushing her to do the right thing. It seems like every single thing that happened was made to go against Amaya (more information is provided within the interviews), but things got going when we shifted to Kaavi's perspective and the end-all-be-all was when Amaya gave her interview, where every single possible outcome that I thought got thrown out the window and I was trying to finish this book as fast as I can, JUST so I know what happens at the end.
I felt that this was a good read, even though I'm not knowledgable about Sri Lankan customs and wedding traditions, but the author made it easy enough to understand without overbearing the reader with all the lavish terms.
And Alexander? I honesty thought it was someone from the event..