Plenty of twists and turns. I enjoyed the back and forth of then and now. I didn't see the twist coming and thoroughly enjoyed the reveals as they came about. I would recommend.

Emily is married to Nick. They live in a beautiful house and have twins. Emily wants for nothing.
But something awful happened at university which she hasn't really gotten over.
A reunion after fifteen years gives Emily the chance to get back her life and avenge those that did her wrong.
This is told from the evening of the reunion, a count down to midnight and we go back to then when Emily was as Cambridge and what unfolded.
This was really tense due to the countdown because it doesn't really tell you what she has planned.
Gripping as what unfolds is totally unexpected. There are plenty of shocks and loud gasps. Twists that I really didn't see coming. I loved it!
Thanks to Netgalley and Simon and Schuster UK for the ARC in return for an honest review.

Lately there have been many a book published on the topic of reunion and in all of them the past catches up with the main protagonist in the most unpleasant manner. This one is no different.

We meet Emily who prepares for a class reunion at Cambridge, together with her husband Nick who is also a Cambridge graduate. It becomes clear from very early on that there are scores to be settled and revenge to be taken. Emily left Cambridge - although a good and diligent student - without graduating due to an event that derailed her badly just before her final exam. She is supported by her sister Helen, a high achiever and role model to her, who seems to be so different to herself that she wonders whether they share the same DNA. Emily makes Helen a solemn promise to put things right and to stand up to her previous fellow students who she thought were responsible for her inglorious exit from this treasured place of learning. And things go wrong. Badly.

Oxbridge gets an incredibly bad press here. The plot, in a hyperbolic manner, plays to all the cliches of what happens behind the sacred walls of one of the most prestigious universities in the country. Yes, it is not beyond my imagination that all of these things could have happened there – but all of them to the same person?
I felt myself doubting the authenticity of this story but if you are able and willing to suspend all disbelief, this could be a right page turner.

I am grateful to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster UK for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This was very nearly a five star read for me, but the ending just fell a little flat. After the fantastic build up throughout the book I think I just had quite high expectations for the big reveal, so felt a little disappointed by the ending. However, I've read so many thrillers now that it really takes something spectacular to shock me, making me very hard to please. Overall I really enjoyed this book. The tension build up throughout was great!

This is a cracking story; one of revenge and retribution and with so many twists, it kept me reading well into the night. The premise is straightforward. A reunion is arranged for a group of Cambridge university graduates. Emily, married to Nick, were students together. Emily was the only one of a close knit group who didn’t graduate and it’s payback time.

The plotting is intricate and really skilled. With a dual timeline of past and present, Emily narrates events that lead to her reason for not graduating alongside her plans to expose those responsible. I loved the set up. The characters are plausible; mostly privileged rich kids with expectations and Emily who was embraced into the circle for a number of reasons.

This is a story on a knife edge; the build up in both timelines is intense and I was racing through desperate to know how it was all going to end. And I didn’t expect most of the final twists! Blown away by a thrilling read and I’m keen to read more by Polly Phillips

My thanks to the publisher for a review copy via Netgalley.

This book is seething with bitter resentment and hints at an event that has brought on Emily’s lust for revenge. It is those hints that make this an absolute page turner as you are frantic to know what happened and what she has planned for the reunion.

The start had me as gripped as the hands that are around a throat. But whose are they?

We then go back in time to university and learn about a group of friends. With Emily finding herself surrounded by students from legacy families who emanate wealth, influence and power. They always say it’s not what you know but who you know!

Using a dual timeline of then and now to great effect, I really didn’t have a preference as both were equally nail biting. The heart of this story is Emily, a young woman with the world at her feet who had it all snatched away and now wants to take back the power she lost.

I’m all for women not being victims/doormats and if there is one thing that Polly does superbly it is create great female characters. Whether they are good or bad you can’t help but like them. Lyla was glorious in all her abysmal glory and I was longing for her comeuppance.

I really enjoyed her last book My Best Friend’s Murder but this is on another level. Fast paced, shrewd plotting, devious twists and cunning characters this is one thriller to get your hands on!

The Reunion is a tense psychological drama. It is written from the point of view of Emily who is not happy with her life despite her happy marriage and her children. She is the lens that the reader has and trusts. She has not been back to university for many years due to an event that took place in her last days there.
Emily is clearly a distressed and unfulfilled woman and yet as we learn more about her it appears that she used to be confident and popular.
At university she gets in with a crowd of wealthy and entitled students and ends up dating one of them. Then the 'bad thing' happens and her world falls apart.. Fast forward to present day and Emily is attending a reunion and knows that all those responsible for her trauma will be there.

The book follows Emily in the build - up to the reunion and also uses flashbacks to reveal what actually happened all those years ago. The tension rises as the date gets closer. The big reveal does take time and there is a twist after it which I wasn't expecting. This makes for a slower pace than a traditional thriller type book but also increases the empathy with the character and the desire to know the full story.

I enjoyed this book. It kept me reading to find out what finally takes place at the long-awaited reunion and also what the full extent of what took place many years before had been. I was invested in the characters even if I didn't much like some of them . I recommend.

This wasn't a massive hit for me. Whilst I felt the story moved along at a decent pace, the story didn't really grab me despite an interesting premise.

The ending was unexpected however was a bit too outlandish and unbelievable for me.

Thanks to Netgalley and Simon & Schuster UK for an ARC in exchange for an honest review,

So confused as to whether I loved this or hated it as the characters are all just SO unlikeable! Obviously it's the sign of a great author but it left me feeling a bit uncomfortable

A great read from Polly Phillips,Emily is married to Nick and rather Nick to a university reunion on his own like he usually does Emily decides to join her husband for the trip.And she comes with a plan to exact revenge for being leaving university under a cloud years ago.With plenty of sub plots to keep you guessing The Reunion is a book that will surprise you when the truth finally emerges.It’s first book I’ve read from Polly Phillips and was a great 5 star read for me.I’d definitely recommend this book to anyone who enjoys this genre.

The Reunion is a fast paced thriller which brings to the forefront the idea of obsession and longing - for popularity, for money, for prestige, for belonging, for love, for revenge - and how this obsession can destroy not only the life of the person feeling it, but those around them too.

Emily is an intelligent, ambitious working class student who is overawed when she attends Cambridge university, and has big plans to become a hot shot lawyer. However, she very quickly falls in with a popular group of students whose money and influence allow them to live a very different lifestyle to hers. Events come to a head just before final exams, and Emily becomes a victim of the lifestyle she craved so much.

The story is written through a then / now perspective through alternating chapters, which gives the reader a sense that they know what really happened all those years ago - but how reliable is the narrator?

Fifteen years later, Emily decides to attend the dreaded university reunion, along with her husband Nick, another Cambridge alumni. Drinks are drunk, uncomfortable truths come to light and the glamour of the Cambridge lifestyle starts to look tawdry and cheap under scrutiny. Throughout the book I thought I had a good grasp on what had happened all those years ago, but as with all good thrillers I did not see the twist coming and couldn't put it down, staying up much later than I should have done to finish it! The book definitely raises the question - do we ever really know anyone, and how much can we trust our own memories?

This is a great book. I have never been to a reunion and they don't appeal to me! Safe to say that my mind hasn't been changed after reading this.

I thought this sounded promising. However I didn't take to the main character, and found it difficult to really get into. Sorry but not for me.

Dark, twisty, suspenseful and excitingly engaging. This was such a great read and one I’ll definitely recommend.

Rating: 3.6/5

I enjoyed "My Best Friend's Murder", the debut novel from Polly Phillips, and thought it suggested a promising future for this author. Book number two, "The Reunion" confirms that promise. Polly Phillips builds on the strengths she exhibited in her first publication and smooths out some of the less appealing rougher edges.

"The Reunion" is a revenge thriller set within the hallowed walls of an unnamed college at Cambridge University. Emily was badly wronged during her time at the revered educational establishment and has spent the years since she left university feeling bitter and unfulfilled. But, spurred on by her successful elder sister, she hatches a plan to get her own back on those she views as responsible for ruining her life.

As in her previous novel, the theme of "frenemies" features strongly as Polly Phillips highlights the toxicity that can exist beneath the surface of certain relationships. One of this author's great strengths is her ability to make astute real-life character observations and apply them fittingly to her fictional creations. The successful execution of this skill really does breathe life into the protagonists and the setting.

If, like me, you read a lot of this type of fiction, then you may well not be blindsided by the key plot twists, which is one of the elements that hold "The Reunion" back from being amongst the very best in the genre. It could also be said that that there aspects of the narrative that require the reader to suspend disbelief to a greater degree than would be ideal. But, in spite of that, Polly Phillips has succeeded in creating a novel that has a decent premise, with engaging, well-depicted characters and it makes for a fun read.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for supplying an ARC in return for an honest review.

An interesting turn which reignited my interest but also made me hate the main character. Nevertheless an easy weekend read. Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This is a then-and-now narrative that barrels along from chapter to chapter. As per the genre, there is a wide cast of characters the author deploys in both timelines to keep you guessing. The setting is Cambridge (then) and a Cambridge reunion (now). Taken together, I would say these elements are used to good effective and I am very sure this will be a bestseller.

Very Good
A fine example of toxic relationships
How easily things can go very wrong!
Its not clear cut though there is a measure of selfishness to all the characters in this cautionary tale
I loved it!!!

I don't really think that this book was what I thought it was going to be, but I think that's a good thing; I ended up really enjoying it regardless. I think if you go into a book thinking one thing but getting another, it is only proof of how the author can change your perspective.

Everything I have been reading lately have been such immersive reads, and this one was no different. I managed to finish it in about 3 days, and after, I can say that I am keen to read more of Polly Phillips' work.

One thing that I didn't expect with this book was the sort of dual perspective. Yes, both perspective's are from main character Emily's point of view, but one of them takes place in the present day, and the other when she is in university, so it was nice to see the two sides to her, as well as how she has grown as a woman since her days there. And the days weren't great, let me tell you that.

The plot twist took me by surprise, as I had guessed it when a certain character started to act suspicious, but because of who they were, I thought 'surely not', and I managed to convince myself that they weren't a part of what happened to Emily back in the day.

I'd highly recommend this read to people who love suspense filled novels. It definitely kept me guessing.

(Will update with social and blog links when live)

THE REUNION by Polly Phillips
Published Date: 8 April 2022

WOW! What a beginning few pages of this novel! I was so looking forward to reading this book especially with the fabulous beginning. I continued, skim reading to the end but, unfortunately the writing style was not for me.

This novel will be enjoyed by fans of Polly Phillips

I give a 3 star rating

I WANT TO THANK NETGALLEY FOR THE OPPORTUNITY OF READING AN ADVANCED COPY OF THIS BOOK FOR AN HONEST REVIEW.