You're Invited

By: Amanda Jayatissa

Narrated by: Shimali De Silva, Soneela Nankani, Deepa Samuel

“Absolutely addictive…it’s like Agatha Christie meets Crazy Rich Asians. Amanda Jayatissa is an author you want to watch.”—Brad Thor

What could be worse than your ex-boyfriend marrying your childhood best friend? Getting accused of her murder… From the award-winning author of My Sweet Girl comes a dangerously addictive 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 week of wedding celebrations begin and rumors about Amaya’s past start 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 reveals 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…

Entertaining,

While entertaining, this book is not an easy one to keep you glued to it. I often find myself bored with the constant changing direction the plot followed and the slow building for the story to get somewhere, not very much surprised by the ending, if you are a concentrated reader, you knew what was coming. I found that first part of the book shadowed the second/ending. The characters where predictable, but well described, and the story pintoresque, and vivid like reading some lalaland kind of story, but to much of a preamble for my taste.
Overall, a bit fun but challenging to finish.

Twists & Turns

This book is a really fun read. The characters are believable and the different personalities are very well written.
This is the first book I have read by this author and I am anxious to read other titles.
I loved the location. I have never read anything using Sri Lanka as the setting. The descriptions of the city and local customs were most enjoyable.
I don’t always recommend what I listen to but if you’re looking for some good entertainment then this book is for you.

I Will Definitely Read Others by This Author!

I have been recommending this book to all my bookish friends! It kept me interested all throughout the entire book, which is rare for my distracted brain these days. Just when I thought I knew what was really going on, things took another turn. I enjoyed the writing and the narration. I will definitely pick up more content by both the author and narrators.

You're Invited...to read this review!

Set on the island country of Sri Lanka, influencer and Columbo sweetheart, Kaavi is about the marry American entrepenuer Spencer, in a lavish wedding that has the whole island abuzz.

While stateside Kaavi's ex-best friend, Amanya, tries to remake a life for herself after her self banishment from her homeland only to be surprised by an invation from Kaavi to attend her wedding to Spencer...who just so happens to be Amanya's ex-boyfriend.

Amongst sari fittings and makeup tutorials, family secrets spill out threatening to destroy the lives of all involved. The wedding approaches as Kaavi goes missing, presumed dead, leading all fingers to point at Amanya.

But everyone has secrets of their own...so the question is, whose secret is worth killing for?


'You're Invited' is told primarily from the perspectives of Amanya and Kaavi, with police statements from various other charecters interpersed, which can be an impactful storytelling tool but in this instance becomes more repetitive than propelling. I listened to this as an audio, and found the start of the book to be strong, losing steam around 1/3 of the way in before picking up again in the final few chapters. But there in the middle I kept upping the speed of the audio book so I could get through it quicker as I found myself losing interest due to the repetition of passages. That being said, Jayatissa ended the book wonderfully twisty to which I appalude her and do look forward to reading more from her as she continues to grow as a writer.

Great Performance

The book was set up so you felt like you knew the answers all along which was the struggle to get through but the twist at the end was pretty unexpected. The performance was amazing though.