I Invited Her In - Adele Parks // Netgalley Review

They were best friends once, or so she thought… Single White Female meets Big Little Lies as two women who were close in university are reunited and one will stop at nothing to take everything the other has.

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 university.

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 husband 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.

Review

When i was younger i read every Adele Parks book there was, i was obsessed and if you were to look through all my packed up book boxes you would still find them all. I must admit it has been a while since i read any of hers but i spied all the hype on twitter about the launch of this book i knew i had to give it a go.

Mel was happy enough with her family life and then one day she gets an email from her old best friend Abi. She should of ignored it, she should never of invited her in. However Abi is in need, she has a glamourous life but its all about to come falling down around her and she needs somewhere to heal herself for a while, away from the public eye.

Mel hasnt seen Abi since they were at uni and when Mels unplanned pregnancy forces her to leave uni, whilst Abi did visit once, the pair never remained in touch. So this seems both a bolt out of the blue and a chance to catch up. 

Abi has deeper motives though, and all Mel can do is stand by as everything unfolds. There is a few layers to this narrative and whilst pretty early on i figured out where it was going and what was going to happen. It non the less stopped me enjoying it the read and i don't want to discuss what actually happened because it would totally take the shine of the book.

What i will say is I felt for the characters. I felt they all had their reasons for the way the behaved and acted out. A story of reunion that takes on a deeper twists. I loved the concept and the title literally says it all. I would certainly reccomend this and it reminded why i have always loved and read Adele Parks.

Author Info

Adele Parks is a women’s fiction author from the UK.

Adele Parks

Parks was born in 1969 in north-east England and studied English at the University of Leicester. She has sold over three million UK edition copies of her novels^[2] and her books have been translated into over 26 languages. Husbands has sold over a quarter of a million copies. Every one of her 15 novels, have all been bestsellers in the UK.

She was a judge the Costa Book Awards in 2010. In 2009 she was awarded an honorary doctorate, a Doctor of Letters, by the Teesside University. Her Quick Read book, Happy Families won the Learners’ Favourite Award. She an ambassador for literacy charity The Reading Agency and a supporter of the National Literacy Trust. She a Patron of The Guildford Book Festival.