“Are you really all that surprised, Kaavindi?”

I suppose she had managed to get a gun, help me kill my fiancé, and pin the blame on someone else. Maybe I had to give her a little bit of credit.

“So why do you hate Amaya, then?”

“Come on, Kaavindi. I didn’t hate Amaya. It was actually quite useful having her around when you were younger. She always took all the attention away from you in the best possible way. But when she showed up pregnant, well, your father took pity on her, and my astrologer always did say that it would be lucky for me to have three children, so it all worked out. I just wanted her out of our lives. She’d served her purpose.”

I wanted to be angry. I wanted to be outraged.

But how different was I from her, actually?

They say we all eventually turn into our mothers. I was well on my way there.

We heard drums beating in the distance, and someone blowing a conch shell horn.

“Oh look,” she said, standing up. “Seems like there’s a wedding happening. Let’s go take a peek at the bride. At least some daughters know how to make their mothers happy.”

Acknowledgments

To my friend and agent, Melissa Danaczko, whose support and advice has always been invaluable. Thank you for all your encouragement and for always believing in me and, most importantly, in my thinking couch!

To my amazing editor, Jen Monroe, whom I can always count on for the best ideas! Thank you for being so wonderful to work with, and for not being (too) disturbed by all my strange suggestions.

To my brilliant marketing team, Jessica Mangicaro and Elisha Katz—and to my rock star publicity team, Loren Jaggers and Stephanie Felty. I was so thrilled when I found out that we would be working together again that I did a (terribly uncoordinated) happy dance. Thank you for working so hard to get this story out into the world.

To Candice Coote for all your help in bringing everything together!

To Emily Osborne for, once again, creating such a beautiful cover that I can’t stop staring at.

To my production editor, Jennifer Myers, and copyeditor, Marianne Aguiar: I know it couldn’t have been easy navigating around all the Sri Lankan–isms in this book. Thank you for your sensitivity in making my character voices as authentic as possible.

And to everyone at Berkley and Penguin Random House who helped bring You’re Invited into the hands of readers. I’m so grateful for you!

To the wonderful team at Hodder & Stoughton, especially Bethany Wickington. Thank you so much for all your support and hard work across the pond!

To the lovely team at Stuart Krichevsky Literary Agency for being such a pleasure to work with.

To Crystal Patriarche and the team at BookSparks for all their help in getting the word out about this book!

To my ever-supportive Berkletes, who have cheered me on every step of the way.