The Invitation
Vi Keeland
Stella’s roommate bailed on her with a bounced check for the last two months rent, so Stella feels as if Evelyn owes her something… an invitation to a swanky wedding at the library?! Stella and her bestie crash the wedding, enjoy the food, and then Stella is caught out by the bride’s brother. Uh oh! Little does Stella know that this chance invitation could help her get her startup off the ground.
Many reviewers hated this book for the same reason I liked it! Thankfully, a lot of the text was dedicated to how the venture capitalists could support Stella’s Signature Scent start-up. There aren’t too many loooonnnngggg sex scenes that have them going at it like bunnies all night (and getting a blow by blow of the action). Does anyone read those $3X scenes and actually enjoy them? I’m also very over people saying ‘is it spicy?’ No, there’s no delicious cooking in this novel, just home-made mac’n’cheese.
Is there anything more stereotypical at the moment than the female male character having a gay male bestfriend? I feel like this trope is one of the top picks of the season (yes, I realise that it’s a 2021 book). There’s a bit of #enemiestolovers, but it’s not like you don’t already know how a romance is going to work out. I did like the slight twist, but again, I saw it coming from a while off and I knew that Stella and Hudson would make it up anyway.
This shouldn’t have been called ‘The Invitation’, it should have been titled Signature Scent! The business idea behind this book, which is for someone to answer questions and decide how much they like each of 10 scents to create their own scent, is brilliant. In fact, I could have sworn that I’d read a book on that premise before… anyway, I enjoy reading about chemistry and perfumes, and anything with at least a bit of science I can get excited about.
Given that other reviewers give this book a bad rap due to the lack of sex, I’m not going to be reading any more of this author’s novels. I’m giving this one a solid 3 stars – an enjoyable way to pass the day, but not really nailbiting or rereadable.
