Gossip, Secrets, and Murder at an Upscale Wedding in “You’re Invited”

In You’re Invited, by Amanda Jayatissa, Amaya feels strange about receiving her invitation to her ex-bestie Kaavi’s wedding. First, the former friends haven’t spoken in years, and second, Kaavi’s engaged to Amaya’s ex. But, after a personal invitation from Kaavi’s family and encouragement from her new bestie, Beth, Amaya decides to return to Sri Lanka for the massive wedding celebration, and find a way to stop the wedding.

The wedding is a massive, multi-day party, creating a luxe background for Amaya’s secret mission to stop the wedding, and not-so-secret mission to get her bestie back. The red flags start almost as soon as she arrives and Kaavi’s family knows nothing about the invitation they sent her.

Sadly, I didn’t discover You’re Invited until after my influencers fiction roundup. but you know I just love when Instagram and social media is used to develop a plot and increase tension. Here, Amaya stalks Kaavi’s Instagram, watching carefully for her favorite brands and hints of her personal life, and then leaving affectionate, supportive comments from a series of puppet accounts. It’s great, when it starts, readers don’t know if these alts are Amaya telling Kaavi all the warm, sweet things she really wishes she could say, or if she’s just messing with her.

Later, Kaavi uses her influencer platform to, uh, tell her own side of the story. Or part of it. Or what she wants other people to see. I don’t want to reveal any of the twists in this one, but there’s some clever use of Instagram reality to obfuscate some facts. Of course beautiful Kaavi is an Insta influencer, which adds another layer on the performed perfection in her family. There’s a clever use of texting and social media overall.

Everyone in Kaavi’s life, everyone in Amaya’s life, basically everyone at the wedding, was keeping huge secrets. I liked this because there was no shortage of suspects and motives, and I also liked how some of the secrets intersected. Everyone had a secret, but is an everyday cheating secret or a little financial irregularity….  or is it murder?

I felt like Amaya was fully developed and lively, while some of the other characters felt a bit flat, like their whole purpose was a specific piece of plot exposition. I’m afraid the investigation transcript scenes detracted from any character development of the secondary characters for me.

You’re Invited was still a great thriller with multiple twists, surprising villains, and a complicated friendship at the center.

Look, I know everyone’s gonna reference Crazy Rich Asians with this one, and there is a good amount of upscale wedding drama, so I get it. But I’d also recommend it for fans of OTT wedding drama with a body in Dial A for Aunties, for the twisted family secrets of The Majesties, or the classic Agatha Christie Endless Night for a total WTF in a gorgeous, upscale setting.

You’re Invited is written by Amanda Jayatissa and will be published by Berkley on August 9, 2022. I received a copy of this book to review, opinions and reactions on my book blog are my own, as always.