Book Review – The Invitation by Vi Keeland

I ABSOLUTELY LOVED THIS BOOK!!!!! The writing was wonderful, the dialogue was amazing and realistic, and I could truly “see” the characters in real life, and the interactions. It flowed smoothly despite the bumpy ride. OH YES. What a tangled web it weaved and it had a bit of that soap opera drama but the good kind, ya know? I mean… when the reveals hit, THEY HIT BIG!!!

BUT ALSO… HOLY MOLY this book had so much heart. He might be a billionaire… or millionaire (and I haven’t read anything “billionaire-y” in ages) but this Hero was down to earth and so much fun (as well as super grumpy at times – which was also my favorite). Also… his moments of jealousy. YES PLEASE!! I always love when that happens. 😉

Single father, divorced but still wide open to love, close to his family, and totally smitten over the heroine (the nerdy-adorable-quirky scientist perfumist that can’t help but smell EVERYTHING and she has quite a gift for that!).

The story was told from both POVs and of course, while I would have suffered the angst and pining more had I been only in her head the whole way through (which is what I love), both POVs worked for me and I truly loved both main characters.

So what’s it about?

Stella, overcoming a recent breakup from her fiancé is on her own and trying hard to get her personalized perfume business off the ground, though her funds have dissipated (due to a few circumstances – including leaving her job at Estee Lauder to start her own business), so she’s struggling to get it going.

I looked around. My living room was a total disaster, which felt appropriate right about now since my life matched it. One year ago, I’d been engaged to be married, had a great job making six figures, savings most twenty-seven-year-olds didn’t accumulate until they were forty, and the dream of an exciting new business venture. Now my ex-fiancé was engaged to someone else, I was unemployed and broke, and my new exciting business felt more like a noose around my neck.

And to top it all off, her roommate just left her high and dry… but also left a certain HUGE wedding invitation behind, and Stella and her most loyal and devoted and hilarious gay best friend ever (Fisher), decide to take that invite and crash the wedding (and party!).

…after a couple of glasses of wine, Fisher had convinced me it should be me going, and not Evelyn. It was the least my deadbeat ex-roommate could do for me, he’d said. After all, she’d snuck out in the middle of the night, taken some of my favorite shoes with her, and the check she’d left behind for the two months of back rent she owed had bounced. At a minimum, I ought to get to attend a ritzy, thousand-dollars-a-plate wedding, rather than her.

And it all goes haywire from there (but in an amusing way – you’ll laugh for sure when she gets put on the spot), and that’s where she meets the Hero, and his sister (the bride). And at first, all is fun and flirty but then…

I saw Hudson and the groom talking to the maître d’ and pointing in our direction.

“Shit! We need to hurry.” I rushed the rest of the way to our table, grabbed my purse, and turned back around. After two steps I pivoted.

“What are you doing?” Fisher said.

I plucked an unopened bottle of Dom Pérignon from our table. “I’m taking this with me.”

Fisher shook his head and laughed as we headed for the door. Along the way, we swiped bottles of champagne from every table we passed.

And the Universe sure has its way of working its magic, because things start falling into place… and also of course… potential for all sorts of delightful (and messy) trouble.

“You know what this calls for?”

“What?”

“Dom. I’m going to go get one of those expensive bottles of champagne we have left from that wedding.”

“This calls for a celebration? Are we celebrating my loan decline, or the fact that my apartment is now a warehouse?”

Fisher kissed my forehead. “We’re celebrating that this is all going to work out. Remember, if you don’t think positive, positive things won’t happen.”

I’ll let you discover the rest, because trust me, while it seems like it will be a sweet and steamy contemporary romance (and it is), there’s a HUGE twist (a few… in fact) that slowly come to reveal themselves each step of the way. AND IT WAS SO WORTH IT!! So much OMG NO WAYYYYYYY *ooooomph!!!* I thought I saw something coming, but what it was… was so much bigger!

4.5 STARS!!! <— It was funny, it had that wonderful slow burn tension, and it had just that touch of jealousy that made me swoooooon. Hudson has my heart, you guys. This is a must read. I read it with a smile on my face the whole way through… well that is, until it got crazy and my heart was in my throat.  Oh and… umm… did I mention it was super steamy? And I read ALL the steeeeeeammmm. *fans self* OH YES I DID.

“Glad you finally listened to the whisper, sweetheart.”

“I didn’t really have a choice. My whisper has been more like a scream lately.”

Thank you to the author for sending me a review copy. I ABSOLUTELY LOVED your story.

➔➔➔  Looking for more of my must-read recommendations? Browse my 5 star and 4.5 star and 4 starreviews. 😀

➔➔➔  Love this author? Browse more Vi Keeland features and reviews on my blog. 😀

➔➔➔  Love this trope? Browse more billionaire features and reviews on my blog. 😀