Review of You’re Invited

You’re Invited … to another wedding thriller. Are you RSVP’ing YES or are ready to leave this sub-genre at the altar? Check out my review of You’re Invited by Amanda Jayatissa

You’re Invited by Amanda Jayatissa

To be published on August 9 2022 by Berkley

Thanks to the publisher for providing an advance copy of the book for review.

Synopsis: 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.

Then Amaya learns that the groom is her very own ex-boyfriend, and 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. 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…

What Else Has Amanda Jayatissa Written?

She published My Sweet Girl in 2021. My Sweet Girl is about an orphan who was adopted in Sri Lanka and brought to America, then finds out a dark secret about her past.

Then her new roommate is murdered but the body vanishes. I haven’t read the book, but friends on my Goodreads feed found the book twisty and fun, and the main character bold and unapologetic about her actions.

Review of You’re Invited

Have wedding thrillers have become a bit overdone in the last couple of years?

I blame the runaway success of The Guest List. Check out my full list of wedding thrillers and tell me your favorites.

I liked The Guest List, and I have to say that You’re Invited is a pretty good contender as another favorite wedding thriller.

The plot, in a nutshell, is that Amaya discovers her former best friend Kaavi is marrying Amaya’s ex. Filled with rage, she flies to Sri Lanka, vowing to stop the wedding by all means possible, even murder. Amaya arrives, then the bride goes missing.

At first, main character Amaya comes off as someone with violent tendencies and a alarming anger management problem.

But the story does a great job of exploring Amaya’s past and also revealing the secrets and grudges that make other family members and wedding guests not so thrilled about the happy occasion.

Plus, we also get the POV of the bride, Kaavi, which takes the book in an interesting direction.

While I didn’t feel there were any huge twists (as it sounds like there were in My Sweet Girl), I did find the book really enjoyable to read. Like Big Little Lies, it incorporates police interviews into the narrative.

I also loved the book’s setting. I have close family friends who were born and raised in Colombo, plus Sri Lanka has been in the news lately, so I really enjoyed getting a peek into what it might be like to attend a fancy Sri Lankan wedding.

If you’re not into girly wedding stuff, this book has plenty of grit woven in, so don’t worry.

Have you read You’re Invited? Tell me your thoughts about it, about weddings, or about wedding thrillers in comments.