First of all, the book is a great example of a thriller. The plot was well executed, and there was great use of imagery. ⁣⁣
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The MC Cath is a lonely girl trying to survive amongst new faces - Irene,  Dan,  Nathan and Jules.  I always thought there was something odd going on at The Event.  All the personalities seemed weird and were definitely hiding something. But I certainly didn't expect it to be Irene. ⁣⁣
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The book gives a wonderful insight into Bulgaria and its beautiful scenery. The Monastery, looking like a safe haven became a nightmare for all the attendees of The Event. I didn't like how none of them left as soon as the apparition was seen in the camera. But i guess it was because of the money that they all stayed. And when they decided to leave, it was too late.  ⁣⁣
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The pacing in the book was steady, there was lots of confusion and drama throughout. Towards the end, it became really creepy and scary. I don't still understand what evil apparition it was that made Nathan become crazy. I understand that Cath's medication was messed up with, making her distraught. ⁣⁣
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It was sad that some of the characters had to die, but I loved how Cath finished writing her book and finally got rid of the voice in her head. ⁣⁣
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This book comes out on 16 Sept,  so grab your review copy now! I recommend this book to Thriller and Mystery lovers 💛⁣⁣

As someone who loves horror stories involving modern technology, I absolutely loved the premise behind this novel. Furthermore, as someone who uses Patreon and other social media platforms, this book had a lot of personal appeal. I loved the beginning, which painted a very atmospheric scene despite the ultramodern premise. However, as the story progressed, I felt that the narrative lost its way as the story became more about the interpersonal drama than the possible haunting. This horror thriller read more like a thriller when I wanted more of the horror. So I was left a bit underwhelmed by the end.

Still, I enjoyed this enough that I would recommend it to readers who enjoy contemporary horror that incorporates social media and modern technology into the genre.

Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book from the publisher via Netgalley.

Does a building become malevolent because of the terrible crimes committed there? Or was tthe malevolence there to begin with? Does the energy remain? Or do we project our fears onto that building through rumours and curses?

Gothic meets Modern when past and present collide in this chilling tale.
Set in the remote Carpathian Mountains of Romania, five social media celebrities will be streaming everything about their stay in partially renovated monastery, Sfântul Mihail. For four weeks, they will be isolated from society while chatting with paying viewers and increasing their online stardom.
But Sfântul Mihail has a very dark history. Many years ago, thirteen nuns were slaughtered in the night after inviting in a mysterious stranger. Legend says they were drained of blood and still haunt the corridors of the monastery as ghosts...or something far worse. When the influencers and the viewers catch sight of dark shadows, they begin to wonder if the legends are true.

I'm a sucker for a ghost story, even better if it's set in a decrepit old building. Add in a dash of vampire lore and I'm living my best life while reading this story!
There's so much to love in this atmospheric tale. It's told through the perspective of one of the influencers, Cath, and she is such a great and endearing character. She suffers from schizophrenia and loses her medicine shortly after arriving. As she ingratiates herself into the history of Sfântul Mihail and the story of one of the nuns, her paranoia starts to slowly takeover. Are the shadows in the corners real or part of her hallucinations? She can't trust herself and, with tensions rising with the other influencers, she's not sure if she can trust them either.

I loved everything about this book! It's one of those story that I didn't want to end. I could have crawled inside this book and lived. This is the first book I've read by Sarah A. Denzil, and I'm looking forward to reading many more.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Well written and thoroughly engaging thriller. Kept me fully enthralled and entertained, waiting for more. Loved the way the storyline swayed but always stayed on track.
Cracking book, would definitely recommend and buy,

absolutely fab read, i havent been able to put this one down.
i was attracted by the cover but this one has completely gripped me from the very beginning and been impossible to put down.

Thank you NetGalley for allowing me to read an advanced reader copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. You Are Invited by Sarah A Denzil tells the story of six social media influencers who have been invited to take part in The Event. The Event is a monetized four week long experience taking place at an old monastery in the Carpathian Mountains in Romania. The monastery is rumored to be haunted/ cursed because of a tragedy that occurred there many years ago. The monastery has been partially renovated by the Loup Corporation for The Event and will be converted into and Airbnb after The Event concludes. There are sponsors who are advertising their products as well as tiered paid subscribers/ patrons who can make requests of the participants in exchange for "donations." There are cameras throughout the monastery excluding the participants' bedroom/ bathroom and there will be live streaming throughout the day and night. It sounds similar to the reality show Big Brother , but the participants are free to still communicate with the outside world and are encouraged to interact with the subscribers. Unfortunately, things begin to go wrong for the guests rather quickly. Things begin to go missing and tensions flare up between the housemates. Is the monastery haunted or is there someone who is deliberately sabotaging The Event for higher ratings and a bigger payout?

Overall, I enjoyed the book. The story flowed nicely. I liked the concept of The Event and could almost picture something like this happening in the real world. The characters were not very likable and were all pretty self centered, but they were participating to try to make as much money as possible and not to make friends. I wanted the story to be creepy/ scary, but it was not. There was also the trope of having a character who is mentally ill who cannot tell if their mental illness is making them see things a certain way or if those events are actually happening. This has been done so many times in books and in movies.

Cath, a self-publishing fantasy author, is chosen among thousands to join four other "influencers" in a remote former monastery in the Carpathians in Romania for something called "the Event". For four weeks, the five social media celebrities will be streaming everything about their stay in Sfântul Mihail, chatting with paying viewers and increasing their online stardom. But there is a legend about the monastery: it is said to be cursed and soon it seems as if this might not be just a legend at all...

What I really enjoyed about "You Are Invited" is the setting: late autumn in Romania, deep woods, the remote Carpathians... Can it get more atmospheric than that? I don't think so.
But I somehow struggled with the story. To me the whole idea of "the Event" seems a little far-fetched. Who would be willing to pay a lot of money to watch more or less famous influencers for four weeks basically doing nothing?! But well, aside from that I liked the atmosphere throughout the first half of the book: the feeling that something might not be right, that there might be something or someone who doesn't mean well, that not everybody might be who they say they are.
But as the story progressed, it lost some of its appeal, as it became more and more repetitive and predictable. The ending felt really rushed and didn't make a whole lot of sense to me at all.

My ranting aside, I flew through the book and I did enjoy it. So despite its flaws, it's still an enjoyable, partially spooky read, albeit not very memorable.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the eBook!

It couldn’t be more timely- a novel dealing with the dark side of internet fame and the phenomena of the influencer. Building a brand is a full time occupation these days, but here the gilded world of content creation becomes dark and sinister.

‘You Are Invited’ packs a lot in. There’s little doubt here that plot development is important to Sarah A. Denzil, and it certainly shows. There is almost a palpable anxiety in relation to holding the reader’s attention, but this isn’t helped by prose that often feels clunky and overstated. The influence of Bram Stoker looms large, but ‘You Are Invited’ lacks the lightness of touch found in Stoker’s works and the plotting is nowhere near as convincing.

It’s a thriller far more than it is a ghost story, but one which misses the mark and sadly ultimately feels inelegant and unsatisfying.

Five social media influencers are invited to a monetized event held at a secluded Transylvanian monastery, rumored to be cursed after the chilling and unsolved massacre of the nuns years ago.

A'ight, if that isn't the perfect recipe for a ghost story, I don't know what is. It's thoroughly atmospheric, eerie, spooky, and creepy. It's like one of those movies where there are subtle hints that something wrong is about to happen but the characters carry on just the same, putting you at the edge of your seat throughout. The protagonist here got very clear hints too but she had her reasons to ignore all the warnings.
At times though I felt like it was a bit dragged and the characters weren't so much in their game as one'd hope them to be given they were 'social media' gurus and were being aired to the world in real time.

But all in all it was quite a ride, what I really appreciate about this story is that you can perceive it any way you want, as a straight up ghost story, or just chance, fate, and inexplicable wonders of the human mind, if you prefer.

Thanks to Netgalley and publishers for the review copy.

Okay, guys, this book was GOOD! The writing, the atmosphere, something else about it just kept me turning page after page and I literally couldn’t stop until I finished.

<b>”The wolves are at the door...”</b>

One thing I love about reading is that no two readers read the same book. There’s a lot in this book that could be misconstrued or viewed differently from one person to the next.

The mind is a tricky thing. It sees things that aren’t there. Hears things that we can’t see.

This long abandoned monastery in the creepy Carpathian Mountains with legends of vampires and wolves, and nuns and ghosts hanging dreadfully in the misty air.

The setting and plot of this book is probably one of my favorites I’ve read in a while. The ending is a little less anticlimactic than the first 90% but I didn’t even care because the rest of the book captivated me so.

Mental illness, death, ghosts, money, fame. It’s all here and it’s all real. Or it seems to be anyway. There’s a fine line between the reality and the truth and the characters walk it so well!

Now all I want to do is read the rest of this authors work!

*Thanks to the author and Netgalley for the early ARC edition of this book. Review to be posted on the blog closer to release day.

This.book.is.amazing!

You Are Invited features 5 influencers who were invited to The Event in an old and thought to be haunted monestary where they would talk to their viewers and take part in tasks and challenges to receive donations. However all is not what it seems when Cath’s schizophrenia medication goes missing and the story begins to take its turn.

Sarah Denzil (author) absolutely nailed this as a ghost story and I cannot speak highly enough of this book.

It intrigued me straight from the first page and I couldent put it down! It has a lovely writing style which flows and is so easy to read. Along with this, the characters and settings were described beautifully and in-depth.

Due to its nature, and clever writing, it was a chilling read from the start to the end, throughout which I had no sense of what was coming in the slightest! The writing style is unique, with commentary from viewers of “The Event” which too freaked me out (particuarly lupo). The atmosphere was eerie & there were some really chilling moment.

All in all this book is a unique thriller/ghost story with an excellent plot and writing style. I will definately be purchasing a physical copy once published.

Sarah A. Denzil is one of my favourite authors. Her writing is always tight and gripping, with no words wasted. You Are Invited is a creepy, chilling novel that also looks at the lives of influencers, and how we all construct careful personalities to share on social media.

I thought the use of Cath's mental illness was cleverly done, making the point that sometimes we are not the problem. That others can influence us in drastic ways.

A well-written, thrilling novel to keep you up at night.

So picture this. Rachel Hollis, Jenna Kutcher, PewDiePie, and I dunno, Richard Simmons( I don't do fitness) are all invited to live a supposedly haunted monastery. Ok sounds good!

Sadly, was let down right off the bat. I am somewhat of a social media person. Not an influencer, because I'll be honest...they sometimes piss me off. The real world is not perfect and people that earn money for doing mundane things that would've gone unnoticed twenty years ago kinda ticks me off. Sorry rant over. Needless to say I was already in pessimist mode when hearing all about the invited guests, especially Irene. However, I was eager to see if this would scare me and make me change my mind.

It didn't happen. A lot was so predictable (Irene's backstory I called right away) and there was so much going on that it didn't feel like a ghost story about nuns...more like Twilight meets The Real World. Wolves, vampires, mental illness....just too much going on and I don't like when mental illness is almost used as a bad thing. Thank you to Netgalley for the arc. I sadly didn't like this one that much and would much rather recommend Silent Child

I WAS INVITED TO THE EVENT, and I bloody well freaked out. The atmosphere was eerie and spooky, and the characters saw shadows in every corner. Author Sarah Denzil had nailed the ghost story making a shiver go down my back. Or did someone walk over a grave or two?

5 influences invited to the Event at the Sfântul Mihail, a monetized reality show where they would talk live to their followers among other tasks. Cath was one of them. This was her tale as captured live from the place where the nuns had died decades ago, drained of their blood. So the story went. Sounded scary, didn't it?

Oh my! Sarah had done a fantastic job bringing her characters to life. Their idiosyncrasies, their flawed nature, their ways to manipulate their followers, each was right on point. It was the beginning of a horror fiesta. Add to it, cold drafts and evil vibes, a wolf or two and the plot turned wicked. I read the book slowly, savoring it as the pages turned to reveal a fear so deep that it couldn't be assuaged.

The story took some turns; none of them was expected. I couldn't even begin to predict where the author would take her plotline. I could only liken it to entering a foggy abyss where I couldn't see beyond my hand.

This was a detailed prose where every nuance, big and small was emphasized. Each character made the other jumpy, and it was fun to see their reactions. The author sure had a wicked mind to show the darker shades of human. Did that make them inhuman. Go figure, rather read the book.

A dark read with some nuanced writing about flawed character, set in the Carpathian Mountains, this book was a complete spooky thriller. Yet not a horror.

Thank you to NetGalley for allowing me to read this book in exchange for my honest opinion.

A mysterious invitation is sent out to several social media influencers to attend “The Event”, a retreat in Romania inside a creepy old monastery with an ominous history. After strange things begin to happen and followers of the live stream start warning the influencers about shadows they see on the camera feed, things take a turn for the worse. A very interesting premise with a twisty conclusion and some genuinely scary moments. 4 stars.

I expected to be spooked by this, but it felt very predictable to me. I thought it was an overall interesting premise, but played out like a cliché. I also don't appreciate the use of Cath's mental illness as a plot point in the way that it was - it's dehumanizing to those that experience mental illness.

I really enjoyed this book, it was different than this author's typical stories as it has a twist of the supernatural. The main character is a writer named Cath, who along with 3 other social media influencers have been invited to The Event, a live streaming happening in the Carpathian Mountains. The Event is hosted by Irene Jobert, one of the most famous influencers, and they are staying in an isolated mountaintop former monastery for nuns called Sfântul Mihail. It has a reputation for being cursed and haunted, as all of the nuns save one were killed one night many years ago. Now it's rumored that the victims walk the halls as ghostly forms, or perhaps even as Strigoi - vampires. It's a great location for this occasion and will doubtless bring much publicity, but exactly how much truth is there to the local legends?

The interactions between the influencers is what you'd expect from 5 very different people being paid for the quality and amount of content they upload,. The drama between them is never ending for the viewers at home. They argue and bicker, get drunk and party, but no one is without reservations about the mysterious vibes of the monastery and the eerie happenings. They wear body cameras wherever they go and often find out afterwards that strange visions appeared, or that everyone's cameras went out at the same time. The spookiness starts wearing on everyone and when they hear a severe snow storm is coming their way, they have to decide if fame and fortune is worth never being seen again..

As a fan of Romanian folklore and the Transylvanian legends, I was so excited that this was the setting for the story. It brings an old world atmosphere that's quite at odds with the twenty-first century nature of the round the clock live streaming and viewer interactions. Much of the suspense involves the strange happenings and trying to figure out if there's an earthly explanation for what's going on or not. On top of that, Cath suffers from a mental health condition that can make the line between real and unreal blur into a murky haze. It's a creepy tale that will have you reading with the light on, just in case.

As always with Sarah Denzil, this book was very well written. A great and really scary story. Perfect. A creepy old scholl horror story xx

You Are Invited is a ghost story about five characters living in a haunted monastery where they are live-streaming for millions of viewers. Cath having fewer followers than the others doesn’t understand why she was invited. After all she is a writer not a social media sensationalist.
During the night of her arrival a Dracula Event is taking place giving a dark ominous setting to this ghostly legend. The legend of cursed nuns in this monastery draws tourists from all over the world. Not that long ago a company came and renovated the monastery in hopes of drawing more tourists for the gothic haunted experience.
Nestled in the isolated Carpathian Mountains lies a monastery known as Sfântul Mihail where The Event was taking place. A group of five social media individuals were invited for a live-streaming event where subscribers can watch the show and interact with the cast using chat platforms.

Overall:
Sarah A. Denzil is a British suspense writer. Her subtle use of the British words were limited in this book. I appreciate the limited use as it allows for the story to flow naturally without getting hung up on dialect.
It’s certainly a clever and original ghost story. The concept of live-streaming the five characters lives inside the monastery was interesting. Sarah tells a compelling ghost story. She factored in all the cliched factors leading to a scary haunting. She set the stage with all the essential instruments fully preparing her readers for a spectacular experience.
This was very thought provoking. Sarah mentioned every possible scenario my mind could conjure to dispute the haunting of ghosts. I looked for ways to pick apart the characters, the viewers, and the disturbances. She covered all her bases and provided logical explanations.
The story follows five characters, but the primary character is Cath. It’s written from her perspective. When she interacts with the other four characters it’s from her perspective.

Break out the Ouija board and call me spooked. Nothing creeps me out more than calling spirits on Halloween night. Unless your doing a seance of Bloody Mary in the mirror.

Everything has a meaning and a purpose: the five characters, the monastery, The Event, the subscribers, and the location; all these components worked seamlessly together. Every part of the story transitioned into a sensational experience.

This book is the perfect blend of mystery, thriller and the supernatural. I enjoyed this book a lot. It kept me on the edge of my seat throughout.

Four social media stars are chosen to spend time living in an old monastery Called Sfantul Mihail, situated in the Carpathian Mountains. This “Event” would be live streamed and the participants would have to interact with their fans to earn donations. The whole thing is a bit like the show Big Brother.

Beautiful and popular Irene is the leader of the group. The narrator of the story is the shy and withdrawn writer Cath who also suffers from schizophrenia.

The characters in the story are very well drawn out. None of them seemed superficial to me. They all seemed like compelling and complex Individuals.

Early on we are told about the extremely creepy and horrific incident that took place in the monastery in the distant past. All the nuns living there were found brutally murdered. Rumors abound that there is a presence of Strigoi (vampires) In the old monastery.

As the live streaming event unfolds, the participants notice eerie happenings and they’re rightfully creeped out. People watching online see human like shadows lurking in the dark as well.

Dark secrets are unveiled and things start to go downhill from there. We learn that on social media, everyone is not who they pretend to be.

The merging of the supernatural and real life horrors kept me hooked to this book. A perfect mystery for the contemporary social media crazed generation.

I would recommend this book for all horror, mystery and thriller fans.

Thank you to the author, the publisher and NetGalley for providing me with an advance reader’s copy for an honest review.