The Book:
You’re Invited by Amanda Jayatissa
Published August 9, 2022 by Berkley Books
Date read: August 4, 2022
The Characters:
Amaya
Kaavi
Buy it on Bookshop.org | Amazon
The Plot (from Goodreads):
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.
The Twist:
Nadia (Kaavi’s youngest sister, adopted by her parents) was actually Amaya and Spencer’s daughter. Spencer was abusive and a pedophile, and Amaya gave Nadia up to get her away from him. Spencer didn’t know Nadia was his daughter.
Amaya needed to stop the wedding to keep Spencer away from Nadia (and to protect Kaavi from his abuse). Amaya and Kaavi had made a plan for Kaavi to escape. When Amaya went looking for Kaavi, she found her in a shed with Spencer. Amaya ended up shooting Spencer with Kaavi’s gun.
Kaavi’s mom had supplied the gun and helped Kaavi with the real plan. Amaya was their backup plan for a scapegoat.
Tahani had invited Amaya to the wedding because she was sick of Kaavi being the perfect daughter. She hoped that Amaya being there would stir up some drama (she thought Nadia might be the daughter of Amaya and her father, but thankfully that relationship was just rumored).
The Review:
Who wouldn’t want to travel halfway across the world to attend their ex-boyfriend’s wedding?
I chose You’re Invited as my BOTM pick after giving a five-star review to My Sweet Girl last year. I’m a big fan of thrillers where weddings go wrong, and this cover sold it for me!
My favorite part of You’re Invited, similar to My Sweet Girl, was reading about Sri Lankan customs. I especially liked how it was applied to wedding etiquette in this case–I learned a lot about this multi-day affair that sounds like a blast!
Amaya is certainly an imperfect main character, and some may find her hard to like at the beginning of the book. She is obsessed with her ex-best friend and her life revolves around stalking Kaavi on her various social media platforms. She self-harms, which is described but never addressed. Rest assured, though, that her actions begin to make sense as the story progresses!
This book starts off slow, but a whole bunch of twists unravel at once in the end. Amanda Jayatissa certainly has a lot of skill as an author, and I will certainly be picking her books up again in the future.
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