Everyone was a mess I couldn’t look away 🤭

 

Energy: Frenzied. Brazen. Lively.

 

Relies a little too much on ‘this story would be over if people just communicated even a little’, but that’s also life. 

 

Hooked by the Prologue. Thrown into the story style. Withholding that works, since it adds intrigue and we get the tea from interviews between chapters. Sprinkling nuanced clues we can use to make predictions and piece together the story (but can also go with the flow and still enjoyable). 

 

Scene: 🇱🇰 A historic and luxury beach hotel and the Colombo 07 district of Colombo, Sri Lanka

Perspectives (2): The bride’s childhood friend on the morning of the wedding and leading up to the wedding. The bride leading up to the wedding. 

Interview transcripts with police speaking to wedding guests and family/friends. 

Timeline: 2020 (no COVID). 

🔥 Fuel: Withholding. Starting at the End. Revelatory backstories. Unreliable narrator. Why is Amaya so intent on attending the wedding? Why does something seem so off about her invitation? What is Plan A,B,C? 

📖 Cred: Plausible to suspended disbelief

 

Art deco. Instagram likes. Avocado toast. Email notifications. Humidity. Car horns. Aftershave. Araliya tree flowers. Cocktail dress. Fairy lights. 

·       Past friends, past romance rivalry

·       Revenge fantasies and scheming

·       Getting the tea, scandals, cons, gossip

·       Unhinged, desperate, or hopeful?

·       Insufferable influencer

·       Sri Lankan culture and insight

·       Rich family drama and secrets

·       Weddings gone wrong

·       Whodunnit, whatisit mystery

·       Red herrings and multiple suspects

·       Nuanced clues, hints and puzzles

·       Good for Them Revenge

·       Interview transcripts, eavesdropping on thoughts, characters diretly musing to the reader

·       Easy to imagine settings and somewhat explorable with Google Earth (some real addresses/places given)

 

Content Heads-Up: Obsessive, intrusive thoughts. Sexual content (off page; consenting, sub-dom). Jealousy. Class divides. Impacts of colonization. Loss of parent (as child). Parental rejection. Cancer (brief mention, terminal). Self-inflicting pain. Fatphobia. Body shaming (clothing, size). Relationship shaming/pressure (marriage, children). Forced gender roles. Patriarchy. Toxic femininity. Outing, possible sexual assault/rape. Blackmail. Domestic abuse (threats, violence, controlling). Cocaine use (off page). Pedophilia (off page). Guns.

 

Rep: Sri Lankan, Sri Lankan-American. Sri Lankan/British ancestry. American. Cisgender. Hetero. Sinhalese Buddhism.

 

📚 Format: Kindle