Imagine the worst thing a friend could ever do.This is worse.When Mel receives an unexpected email from her oldest friend Abi, it brings back memories she thought she had buried forever. Their friendship belonged in the past. To those carefree days at university.But Abi is in trouble and needs Mel’s help, and she wants a place to stay. Just for a few days, while she sorts things out. It’s the … to stay. Just for a few days, while she sorts things out. It’s the least Mel can do.
After all, friends look out for each other, don’t they?
I Invited Her In is a blistering tale of wanting what you can’t have, jealousy and revenge from Sunday Times bestseller Adele Parks.
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It was a good read. I had guessed some of the ending but there was a nice twist. Definitely would recommend this book. The characters had a lot of depth.
Thank you to NetGalley and Harlequin-Mira publishers for the ARC of this book for my honest review
I highly recommend this book to everyone.
When you think someone is your friend you better think again. Mel and Abi were friends at University and shared everything. When Abi seeks help from Mel she will find out the extent of their friendship.
This book kept me turning pages and wanting more. Definitely had me questioning who you can or can not trust. I have to say that sometimes people you believe are your friends sometimes are your worst enemies. Sometimes it’s best to walk away and do the best you can.
Great characters, except for Abi. Abi was horrible and I did not like her through this whole book. She was just horrible.
I highly recommend this book. It’s full of drama to keep you wanting more and turning pages until the very end.
I gave it a 4.5 star rating.
Great read, all the way to the last chapter, and then BOOM. The end was a let down, but some may be totally cheering. Melanie and Abi were great friends in college, and once Melanie became pregnant from a one-night-stand, things had to change between the two. Out of the blue, nearly 18 years later, Abi wants to reconnect. The events once Abi comes to visit are outrageous. I had many back and forth emotions throughout this book, and you will enjoy the ride too.
This novel got a 4 star, as it was well written. That said, the two main characters were not likable to me. Mel is a doormat. Ali was an immoral dirtbag. I did want to read through to the end, but did guess two major plot points that were likely supposed to surprise the reader.
E-mailing a long-lost friend about getting together seemed like the right thing to do, and Abi knew Mel wouldn’t resist her plea about needing her.
Abi e-mailed Mel with her story of how her husband had cheated on her and how she wanted to re-connect.
When Abi arrived, it seemed she had more on her agenda than getting re-connected with Mel. I actually sensed the true evilness of her plan. She definitely was an excellent actress.
Abbi kept up her plan since it was working and didn’t seem to want to change anything. She was in a friend’s house with a lovely family. She was away from her ex-husband. She had Mel, the all-trusting friend, and there was no reason to leave this cozy, rent-free existence.
Mel made me want to tell her to open her eyes and see what Abi was actually doing.
We follow Abi and Mel in alternating chapters that tell of their present and past lives as we piece together what had happened and why Abi pretended to be a friend when in fact was seeking revenge and was jealous of Mel.
The more I read about Abi and what she was doing, the more I disliked her. She wasn’t a friend at all.
When the reader finds out just what is actually going on, you will question if that had been Abi’s plan from the beginning or if it was something else that brought her to Mel’s doorstep.
She did things to destroy Mel’s life. She ruined the family life that Ben and Mel had carefully put together, cherished, and enjoyed.
I INVITED HER IN pulled me in from the beginning, and the intrigue didn’t stop as the twists and revelations came to the surface.
If you enjoy tension, a conniving main character, and secrets many characters are keeping, this book is for you. 5/5
This book was given to me by the publisher as an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Popular author Adele Parks examines the over-glamorization of wealth and fame, and the consequences of family secrets in I Invited Her In, a novel released in early 2019. When Melanie is contacted out of the blue after sixteen years by her now-famous friend from University, she is thrilled but uneasy about the reconnection. Ever since dropping out of school due to an unplanned pregnancy, Melanie has felt alienated from those she left behind. She imagines that they have moved on to bigger and better things with more exciting lives than her own. She had been feeling settled and content after her struggles as a single parent, now blessed with a loving husband and two additional children. Her oldest, Liam, has grown into well-adjusted, promising young man due to Mel’s earlier sacrifices. When she hears that t.v. personality Abigail Curtiz is undergoing a very painful and public divorce, Mel invites her old friend to come stay with her family. Abi is as charismatic and gorgeous as Melanie remembers, and Melanie is dazzled by her incredible lifestyle as a wealthy celebrity. Mel’s husband, Ben, is not quite as impressed when he is forced to watch his wife cater to Abi’s every need and defend Abi’s selfishness. Ben is tasked with running the household alone while the two women revert to the irresponsible days of their youth. What Ben doesn’t know is that Mel is motivated to accommodate Abi due to a hidden wrong-doing she has felt guilty about over all those years. Abi also has ulterior motives for their reunion, and it soon becomes apparent that Abi may be purposefully ripping apart the family bonds that Mel and Ben had believed impenetrable. Parks’ novel notches up the tension in the second half when the focus turns to revenge and betrayal, culminating in a violent act that exposes the women’s secrets. I Invited Her In starts slowly and the female characters border on one-dimensional, but the plot accelerates quickly to a neat conclusion. Fans of Parks and contemporary thrillers might enjoy her new offering – it is not very original or deep, but it certainly is an entertaining read.
I Invited her in by Adele Parks a five-star read that will divide opinion. Wow what can I say about this book without giving the game away, I have been a fan of the author for a while, but I can honestly say the last few reads haven’t blown me away, this one put me back on the path. This book was a brutal reminder for me as I left most of my strong female friends at 17 and moved to a different country alone, so although I made good female friends none that felt like the childhood friends that I had left behind and this was back before mobile phones were all the rage so I had the weird position of understanding Abi, to a point. But I also could get behind Mel, there is a twisted history and it will all be revealed as you read, and I promise you, you will be so hooked on this story that you will not be able to put it down, so cancel plans and get reading, be warned you will not be able to sleep until you have finished this, this book will suck you in and you will feel the overcrowding of the house, you will feel the need get out and breath fresh air. When things in the book develop and come live you are so into the story it will be feeling like its you in the room as a character not just reading a page of a book. This is I am sure going to be one of the best books I will read this year.
Outstanding read! I wish I could read more like this one. I like how the thrill builds along with the story.
Predictable and characters I just couldn’t like. I’d skip this one.
Loved the book first time reading this author and will be reading other books by this author.
Interesting and unpredictable throughout
Rather a disappointing book. One would need to be as clueless as the Mel character not to anticipate every single thing that happened in this book. Don’t waste your time, find a good book instead.
I’ve enjoyed all of Adele Parks novels. This wasn’t my favourite as it felt a little rushed. The sub-title kind of gave it away – “I invited her in: and she took everything!” Melanie was a bit wet to let Abi take over her family so completely. I get that she felt guilty about the past but she could’ve been friendly and offered help from a distance. Poor Ben, what a saint! I still enjoyed it though. It was a good read. And I’d recommend it to anyone who’s a bit more forgiving than I am.
Could not put it down just wanted to know what happened next.
This was the first novel that I had read by Adele Parks, and I definitely plan on reading more!
I thought I knew what was going to happen, I thought it was apparent from the title, the cover, the synopsis, and the beginning of the book, and some things I did guess right but most of this book I never saw coming.
As Melanie Harrison would say, “BRILLIANT!!”
Favorite Quotes:
Some people whispered that she was pretentious; they resented the fact that she only enjoyed listening to music on vinyl and was fussy about the strength of coffee beans; she refused to drink beer, sticking exclusively to French red wine; she rarely ate. She was, by far, the most interesting person I’d ever met.
“You’ll still get the fairy tale,” Abi said with her usual cool confidence. “I mean Snow White had seven little fellas hanging off her apron and she still netted a prince.”
Her body leaned into his when he walked into a room, like a compass pointing north.
He’s lucky if I pluck my eyebrows. I just find life busy and tricky enough without having to inflict extra pain on myself for an aesthetic that precisely one person is going to benefit from. I mean, I’d never ask him to put hot wax on his best bits. Ben has never complained about my lack of grooming in that area; it’s not as though he needs help finding his target.
I’m not the sort of shape that’s considered typically desirable. I only stop traffic if I press the button and the lights change.
I throw the phone at the hall wall. It makes a satisfying dent. I can’t believe I once painted that especially for her arrival. More sensible preparation would have been barricading the door, heating tar, sharpening knives.
My Review:
This stunning book was highly addictive and totally consuming; once I got my teeth into it I couldn’t seem to put it down. The writing and storylines were simply phenomenal as start to finish the multiple POV narratives were intensely intriguing, well-crafted, cunningly paced, and just crazy good with jaw-dropping twists that had my digestive system in knots. I was taut with tension, deeply invested and couldn’t read fast enough while also wanting to fully relish every tantalizing detail and shocking revelation. The compelling characters were irresistible, uniquely flawed, and captivatingly nuanced. I was absorbed, fascinated, annoyed, beguiled, frustrated, and horrified, yet I remained overwhelmingly curious while cycling through a variety of reactions to their encounters, inner musings, and shrewd insights. I didn’t think I could have been more impressed or profoundly engaged when an eye-popping and breath-stealing disclosure halfway through actually caused me to gasp, wobble, and nearly fumble my Kindle. I was rocked, and it was sensational! Adele Parks has mad skills and new fangirl.
I don’t even know if there is a word to describe Abi. Terrible, evil, and others I can think of just don’t seem to be dark enough. And Mel? Well Mel was kind of a doormat in that she even ignored her husband’s wishes and allowed Abi to stay and stay and stay…..
While I enjoyed this book, there were things I think could have been done better. The story did tend to drag a bit and at one point, I was wondering how many more scenes of Abi walking all over Mel we’d see before Mel’s husband up and threw her out.
There were some very graphic descriptions of sexual related things that may bother some people. I wouldn’t have been disturbed had one of the main characters been slightly older. That bothered me and while I realize things are looked at differently in the UK as to how they are here, it did bother me.
Mel and Ben did seem to be rather permissive and ultimately I think that is what led to their downfall.
This is definitely a good read and I will look for more work by this author in future. I just think parts could have been cut out to make the story move quicker.
Thank you very much to Netgalley, the author and the publisher for approving my request for an ARC. My thoughts in this review are my own.
My first Adele Parks novel and most certainly not my last! I happened upon this on NetGalley by chance, when browsing Psych Thrillers. When I read the description I knew I had to have it. I’m glad I did because wow! I read this in less than 24 hours! It was just that good.
Melanie’s character was a little iffy for me at first. She seemed kinda dull. But, the more I read, the more I was glad to get to know her character. Abigail, on the other, is one I loved to hate. I loved her so much for her role but I hated her so much, too. I love those kinds of characters.
The plot line was the best. Just when I thought I had it figured out, Parks would throw in something that left me jaw dropped and rethinking my own steps while reading this book. By the end, though, I was so glad with the gripping twists that she threw her readers!
This is definitely a keeper for me. Four stars, two thumbs and high praises to this new-to-me author. I am absolutely looking forward to going back and reading more of work. Well done, Ms. Parks!
*I received a complimentary copy of this book from NetGalley and was under no obligation to post a review, positive or negative.* Adele Parks
Fairly predictable suspense thriller that gets better as it goes along. The ending is trite and not true to the story but still an interesting and imaginative read.