Author: Adele Parks
ISBN: 9780008302733
RRP: $29.99
Publication Date: 24 September 2018
Publisher: Harlequin – HQ Fiction
Copy: Courtesy of the Publisher
Adele Parks is a Sunday Times bestselling author and she’s back with a gripping tale filled with betrayal, secrets and suspense.
Mel doesn’t hesitate to offer help to a long-lost friend in need. She and Abi were best of friends as students until Mel fell pregnant and dropped out.
Seventeen years later and their lives are very different. Mel raised her son on her own before meeting her husband Ben and now they share a chaotic and happy home with three children.
Abi headed to LA for the high life of indulgence, parties and celebrity. All was perfect until she discovered the cheating and waste of seventeen years. Now Abi needs a real friend to lean on and a place to heal, someone to share her grief with; what better place than Mel’s, with her supportive hubby and lovely children.
I Invited Her In is a dark tale of reunion, revenge and jealousy that sounds captivating. I can’t wait to hear what our readers thought.
Adele can be found at AdeleParks.com, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.
Thanks to Harlequin 20 of our Beauty and Lace Club members will be reading I invited Her In so please be aware there may be spoilers in the comments below.
I devour books, vampires and supernatural creatures are my genre of choice but over the past couple of years, I have broadened my horizons considerably. In a nutshell – I love to write! I love interacting with a diverse range of artists to bring you interviews. Perhaps we were perfect before – I LOVE WORDS!
I enjoyed this gripping tale of jealousy, friendship, revenge, regret, heartbreak and forgiveness. A nice change from my usual preferred genres, I found myself captivated with this psychological thriller, it was a real page-turner and quite believable.
It’s my first Adele Parks read and I thought it was well written and I enjoyed her writing style and the use of mixed perspectives. Will definitely read more of Adele Parks in the future.
Thanks Beauty and Lace and Harlequin for the opportunity to read a copy of I Invited Her In for an unbiased review
I found the second half of ‘I invited her in’ quite gripping and interesting, and fast moving. The first half was an introduction that potentially could have been shorter as I struggled to get into the book but once it got there, it was great
The beginning of the book was a little bit slow and had me not really wanting to go on, but boy am I glad I did. The second half of this book had me up until late at night trying to squeeze in one more chapter.
Great book. Gets a 7/10 from me
Thank you to Beauty and Lace for giving me the opportunity to read this book. This book is about revenge and definitely not forgiveness. I have not read a book in a while covering this story line, which at times I found difficult to read especially the affair between Liam and Abi.
You have to help your friends right? Even ones you haven’t seen for what seems like another life time? Oh my goodness the complexities of friend ships, people aren’t always who they seem this book has so many emotions on so many levels and with so many characters how deceit can destroy many lives.
A really powerful book with an unexpected outcome.
A really great book enjoyed reading it
I Devoured this book! Talk about a page turner.
Friendships from the past, and relationships in the now, are really put to the test in this novel, filled with betrayals and lies from the past, a loving relationship tested in the now, and a scorned woman out to get the ultimate revenge, on her supposed best friend.
Lot’s of twists and turns, and a surprise ending, kept me glued to the pages for 2 days.
One of the best books I have read in awhile, and one I recommended to friends to purchase as Christmas gifts.
Sincere thanks to Beauty & Lace, and Harlequin _HQ for allowing me to enjoy and review this book.
Quite the psychological thriller!
I Invited Her In is the story of Mel and her family, and how her life is thrown into complete turmoil from offering her university friend Abi to stay after hearing of Abi’s marriage breakdown. Abi brings with her a storm full of trouble for the family and creates absolute chaos for Mel’s family.
This is the first book I have read from Adele Parks although I am aware that she has written quite a few others. I enjoyed that this book was set in England as books overseas are always interesting because they are different from my everyday life. This story was pretty engaging and also absolutely infuriating. The story starts out quite slowly as we get to hear the whole backstory of all of the characters and get to know them. It doesn’t take long however to start to feel completely outraged at mel’s actions once Abi comes to stay. Mel begins to neglect her family and particularly her poor husband Ben in favour of drunken nights out with Abi. Conversely Abi begins to form relationships with Mel’s family leaving Mel to feel quite isolated as she realises the consequences of her actions.
I found it difficult to relate to Mel’s character, but I have not yet had children, let alone been a single parent at 19 so that is understandable to me. I thought the author did a good job of creating characters which the reader is able to form attachments to and therefore become invested in what was happening to them.
The book seemed to be quite long to me and at times I thought the story was drawn-out. There were scenes and particular elements to the story that I thought might have been excluded. In particular I thought the author could have streamlined the sequences between Mel beginning to neglect her family and the reader becoming very suspicious of Abi’s true intentions to the part where we finally find out exactly what is going on with Abi and what her plan is.
This story dealt with the themes of friendship, family and revenge at length. I thought the theme of family was best explored and developed through each character being able to share what family means to them. The theme of friendship I felt was evident throughout the novel but really only in relation to Mel. We never discover whether Abi, Ben (Mel’s husband) or even Liam (Mel’s oldest son) even have any friends at all. As for the theme of revenge I felt that this was used by the author to justify a lot of the unrealistic events which took place in the story without really being thought through as to whether revenge would truly be a big enough motivator to inspire the events which unfolded, and I’m not sure that it is.
Overall I did find the story to be quite unbelievable and unrealistic. I did enjoy reading the novel and thought it had some quite good elements to it. However, on the whole I would say there was nothing very extraordinary about the story and whilst it was entertaining it’s not one of the best books I have ever read. I would still recommend this as a nice, relaxing, easy read full of drama.
I Invited Her In by Adele Parks had me intrigued from the start with the line ‘and she took everything’ following the title. Then when I read ‘Imagine the worst thing a friend could ever do. THIS IS WORSE.’ I was ecstatic and couldn’t wait to get started! But… yes it is a great book, yes it is well written and yes it’s a fantastic and suspenseful story-line however, I just didn’t feel the ending lived up to the aforementioned taglines!
The story is about 2 women Mel and Abi who used to be best friends in uni some years ago. Mel receives an email from Abi one day out of the blue asking for support as she is separating from her husband Rob. Mel is flattered to be asked and proceeds to bend over backwards to accommodate Abi into her family.
As soon as Abi arrives things start to deteriorate in Mel’s little family (husband Ben and children Liam, Lily and Imogen). Its so sad to read how much Mel tries to be someone she’s not just to get Abi’s approval. Abi is the most awful and sick person you could imagine but it’s fascinating how she manages to twist everything to suit herself and get people to do what she wants.
I really enjoyed reading this book but is it wrong to say I wanted things to end up worse than they did?! I was expecting a much worse outcome so even though the loose ends were all wrapped up, I just felt a bit let down after anticipating a much more horrific ending.
Thanks Beauty & Lace and to Harlequin for the opportunity to read this book and to discover Adele Parks.
Thank you Beauty and Lace for the opportunity to review I Invited Her In by Adele Parks. This is the first time I have read one of Adele’s books.
it has a lot going on like heartbreak, friendship and jealousy amongst many other emotions.
It centres around Mel who is the wife of Ben and mother to a son Liam and two daughters.mel and her longtime friend Abi come together after years of separation and that’s when the fun and games begin.
I really enjoyed this book and would recommend it to anyone who loves great fiction.
The grass is always greener on the other side! Or is it???
I loved this book because in essence, this is what was being captured with the two main characters and their very different lives.
Mel is a typical wife and mother of 3 children and works part time. She has been content with the way her life is until her best friend Abi from uni sends her an email.
Abi is beautiful, confident and free as she has just split up from her husband. She comes and stays at Abi’s house and they spend many hours together drinking, staying up late and going out as if they were back at uni. Mel is thoroughly enjoying this because at the age of 19 she fell pregnant and had a baby. This forced her to grow up fast! She quit uni and moved away to bring up her son on her own until she met and married Ben.
After a while, Mel slowly starts to neglect her family. She’s more interested in being someone that she’s not so that she can fit in with Abi’s life. Abi has no children and is completely opposite to Mel..
What happens next is jealousy and revenge, Abi does the unthinkable and Mel’s world comes crashing down around her.
I really enjoyed reading this. I thoroughly recommend it. Thank you Beauty & Lace and Harlequin for giving me the opportunity to read one of Adele Parks books.