lapetitepritt posted: " Hello, bookworms! TGIF, I am exhausted and I can't wait for the weekend. Since on October 31st I am not going to be at home, Juls, Syl and I are going to celebrate Halloween in advance tomorrow, and I am so excited. We have been trying to have an " La Petite Pritt
TGIF, I am exhausted and I can't wait for the weekend. Since on October 31st I am not going to be at home, Juls, Syl and I are going to celebrate Halloween in advance tomorrow, and I am so excited. We have been trying to have an Halloween party for years now and finally we are going to make it! Juls said they are planning things and I am curious. I think we are going to watch a horror movie and, since Juls is a horror connaisseur, I can't wait to see what they pick for us to watch, considering Syl is a bit of a scaredy cat (love you, Syl).
Anyways, today I am here to review the Literally Dead Book Club pick for October, You're Invited by Amanda Jayatissa, a thriller I had requested on Netgalley.
Disclaimer I received an e-ARC of this book from the publisher (which is now available in its final and corrected form) in exchange for an honest review via Netgalley; this does not affect my rating nor my opinions in any way. Everything you'll find in this review is what I actually think and it wasn't influenced by anyone. Thank you so much to the publisher and Netgalley for the chance to read and review this book.
About the book Title: You're Invited Author: Amanda Jayatissa Publisher: Berkley Books Publication date: 9 August 2022 Pages: 384
Plot, as stated on Goodreads 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 rating: 2 out of 5 stars
Review I don't know if you felt my deep sigh. This month is going downhill and I am not liking anything I am reading. I was very intrigued by You're Invited, it sounded like something I would love, since I love wedding drama and thrillers set at big events, but unfortunately it was a huge disappointment and I was bored for most of it.
But let's start from the good thing: the setting was amazing; I'd never read a book set in Sri Lanka and I think the author was able to convey both the culture and the setting really well. I felt like I was there alongside out characters, and this is the only reason I gave this book two stars instead of one, because otherwise it was a complete disaster.
Make a list of all the thriller tropes you can think of. Good. More than half of them were in this book, probably. I swear to you, the plot was so predictable because it was only made of overused tropes and I had predicted from page one almost the entirety of it. The only "unexpected" thing was a small reveal at the end, but apart from that, it was basicness galore.
The characters were not interesting enough to make up for it, as far as I am concerned. You could tell that the author was trying so hard to give you an unreliable and unlikeable narrator and make you assume certain things, but I don't think the hints were placed well, because even by the way Amaya talked and thinked you could figure out almost all of it.
Also, I don't know why the author though it was a good idea to switch up the point of view at the end. It felt like a cheap and easy choice, I would have loved to learn the things that were revealed in the last chapters in a different way. I don't know how to explain it, but since they were supposedly big reveals, either the book should have been told in alternating POVs from the beginning. Having only the last 15% of the story being told by Kavi.
In general, however, my main issue was with the writing style. Aside from the setting, I didn't really like how the book was written and it was both boring and annoying; the dialogue felt stilted and the description were weird. I must say I read an ARC of the book and it really felt like an early draft to me, so maybe some of the issues I had with it were due to this and have now been corrected, but in general I don't think this author is for me. Which is really sad, because I am always looking for more POC thriller authors and I hoped Amanda Jayatissa could be one. I am still willing to read something more from her, maybe a finished copy of her next book to see how it goes, but I truly did not like You're Invited.
I do think that if you are new to the mystery thriller genre and not well-versed in its tropes, you could definitely enjoy this book, especially if you are not someone who cares a lot about the prose style (I envy you so much, people who don't care about that). It wasn't the worst book I've read this month — I've read three one star books, ugh — and aside from being boring and disappointing it didn't do anything truly wrong.
This is going to be all for today, I will talk to you soon with the review of one of the infamous one star books I've read this month. We are having a fun time lately, are we not?
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