‘I invited her in… and she took everything.’
When Mel hears from a long-lost friend in need of help, she doesn’t hesitate to invite her to stay. Mel and Abi were best friends back in the day, sharing the highs and lows of student life, until Mel’s unplanned pregnancy made her drop out of her studies.
Now, seventeen years later, Mel and Abi’s lives couldn’t be more different. Mel is happily married, having raised her son on her own before meeting her husband, Ben. Now they share gorgeous girls and have a chaotic but happy family home, with three children.
Abi, meanwhile, followed her lover to LA for a glamorous life of parties, celebrity and indulgence. Everything was perfect, until she discovered her partner had been cheating on her. Seventeen years wasted, and nothing to show for it. So what Abi needs now is a true friend to lean on, to share her grief over a glass of wine, and to have some time to heal. And what better place than Mel’s house, with her lovely kids, and supportive husband…
This dark, unsettling tale of the reunion of long-lost friends is thoroughly gripping exploration of wanting what you can’t have, jealousy and revenge from Sunday Times bestseller Adele Parks.
When Mel hears from a long-lost friend in need of help, she doesn’t hesitate to invite her to stay. Mel and Abi were best friends back in the day, sharing the highs and lows of student life, until Mel’s unplanned pregnancy made her drop out of her studies.
Now, seventeen years later, Mel and Abi’s lives couldn’t be more different. Mel is happily married, having raised her son on her own before meeting her husband, Ben. Now they share gorgeous girls and have a chaotic but happy family home, with three children.
Abi, meanwhile, followed her lover to LA for a glamorous life of parties, celebrity and indulgence. Everything was perfect, until she discovered her partner had been cheating on her. Seventeen years wasted, and nothing to show for it. So what Abi needs now is a true friend to lean on, to share her grief over a glass of wine, and to have some time to heal. And what better place than Mel’s house, with her lovely kids, and supportive husband…
This dark, unsettling tale of the reunion of long-lost friends is thoroughly gripping exploration of wanting what you can’t have, jealousy and revenge from Sunday Times bestseller Adele Parks.
What did I think?
As a long time fan of her writing, I haven't read an Adele Parks novel for a while but there was something so very 'inviting' (sorry!) about her new book, I Invited Her In. As soon as I picked it up, I remembered why I love Adele Parks books so much: the writing is so descriptive and the characters are so very 3 dimensional that it's like watching a soap opera created with wonderful words.
Mel and Abi were friends at university who lost touch when an unplanned pregnancy caused Mel to drop out of her studies. Many years later, Mel is surprised when Abi contacts her out of the blue and before she knows it she has invited Abi to stay at her house. Mel's house reminded me a bit of the TV show Outnumbered: always busy and a little frazzled with children at the heart of it. Just how will childless Abi fit in? Oh she fits in alright, she makes herself quite at home and I even exclaimed out loud at one point 'what a bitch!'
As Abi makes her intentions clear I was absolutely fuming! How dare she! I knew she had an ulterior motive but I didn't realise just how devious she was. As the cracks in Mel's family spread like a broken eggshell, I was firmly on Team Mel and hoped that blood proved to be thicker than water. With a bitch like Abi around though, anything could happen.
I loved the way that I Invited Her In put a friendship under the microscope. Mel considered Abi a friend at university but it's true that you never really know how the other person feels about you. So many people are fake and it seems like some of us are forever destined to get burned.
This is one of those books that I would place in my bitch-lit genre; Abi really grated on me and made me so mad whereas Mel was so trusting and honest. I'm even feeling mad just writing about it! As mad as I was, I couldn't read it fast enough so see if Abi's true colours would be revealed before it was too late. All in all, a very enjoyable read.
I chose to read an ARC and this is my honest and unbiased opinion.
Buy it from Amazon
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