The Reunion

by Polly Phillips

A chance to reconnect.
A chance to get revenge . . .

Emily Toller has tried to forget her time at university and the events that led to her suddenly leaving under a cloud. She has done everything she can to forget the shame and the trauma – and the people involved. She has tried to focus on the life she has built with her children and husband, Nick.

But events like that can’t just be forgotten. Not without someone answering for what they’ve done.

When an invitation arrives to a University reunion, everything clicks into place. Emily has a plan.

Because if you can’t forget – why not get revenge?

349 pages, Kindle Edition

First published April 22, 2022

About the author

Polly is originally from South West London but after visiting Australia in 2011, she fell head over heels for the lifestyle, even though she doesn’t drink coffee and rarely goes to the beach! Polly currently lives in Perth with her husband, daughter and much-loved dog. My Best Friend’s Murder won the writing prize at the Emirates Literature Festival and is her debut novel. She hopes that after they read it, her friends will still be talking to her…

Reviews

[Jennifer (Jaye) · Rating 4 out of 5]

*Choices*

Emily Toller has always dreamt of being a lawyer, she ended up at Cambridge university and was doing well. Her older sister Helen did extremely well and ended up with a first. They both have each other with Helen a highly rated newspaper editor always on the end of the phone.

At university she meets who she thinks is ‘the one’ and all is going well until one fateful drunken night feeling humiliated she her so called boyfriend and best friend are an item she never saw coming. She makes one bad decision after another, which leads her to leave Cambridge on the day of her final exam in shame. Someone has taken a photo of her in a indecent state of undress and it goes viral 😱 she knows exactly who is to blame, or does she? She was so close to the life she could have had….

Years later, now a mother of twins with her husband who she never mixed with at Cambridge, she decides to attend the reunion she usually swerves but her husband always attends. This year is different a terrible personal tragedy has spurred her on.

Now, with some clever digging on the guilty players with the aid of a private investigator, she feels armed with the ultimate revenge. She has not discussed it with her husband, but with one secret after another being revealed, are her cards about to come tumbling down? She drips feeds the secrets with the ultimate email set to be released at midnight? Has she remembered things correctly? Is there a reason why things were so hazy?

This was quite the story, the main character Emily astounded me. For someone wanting to do law she did a lot of assuming without all the facts. Will this come back to bite her?

[Mark · Rating 5 out of 5]

I know, I know…another book with Reunion in the title but then I guess there’s quite a few as it’s a good base for a story, characters, revenge and the like…I think now though there has to be something’different’ to make us connect with the theme…and it’s a risk when you decide on a book but with this, for me, it was a good risk that managed to have all the elements expected; revenge, secrets, obnoxious characters, comeuppances a plenty BUT did have that extra ooomph to make it stand out, and a pretty big ooomph it is too
There is also a really touching look at sibling support and love which then hits like a sledgehammer towards the end
I was dubious to pick this but even though as say am wary of how many reunions there are in books at the mo but the theme is still a draw and am really glad I did as its a well written polished read with surprises and a victory to relish!

9/10
5 Stars

[lovisa · Rating 2 out of 5]

slutet var det värsta jag någonsin varit med om. vill ha en epilog😐☝️

boken va så långdragen, för på vilket sätt var det nödvändigt för mig att veta vad de gjorde på deras semester i europa för några år sen???

i slutet var det oxå plot twist efter plot twist. allt som skulle kunna twistas gjorde en 360 det var nästan löjligt liksom inget som var med i början var sant

[Renita D'Silva · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wonderful

[Kate · Rating 4 out of 5]

Best thriller I’ve read in a while!
It is a bit slow to get going, so persevere and then you won’t be able to put it down!
Emily Toller is out for revenge (not to be mistaken for the Emily of the TV show ‘Revenge’ but honestly in my head this is what she looked like).
It’s been 15 years since Emily experienced a shocking (very public) ordeal, which resulted in her not graduating college and has dictated so much of the course of her life.
And now, with a conveniently timed la di da Cambridge University school reunion, Emily is ready to face up to her old nemesis’s and exact her retribution.
A delightfully twisted romp into the pitfalls of power and privilege.
But um, it did lose me a bit at the end. There was just a certain confusing contradictory behaviour that was part of a plot twist that made absolutely no sense with everything else I’d just read.
And then the ending was a bit abrupt. It’s not often that I turn the page expecting another chapter and get hit with the acknowledgements. Perhaps a tidy epilogue would have wrapped it up nicely.
Well worth a read

[Billie · Rating 5 out of 5]

A chance to reconnect.
A chance to get revenge . . .
Emily Toller has tried to forget her time at university and the events that led to her suddenly leaving under a cloud. She has done everything she can to forget the shame and the trauma – and the people involved. She has tried to focus on the life she has built with her children and husband, Nick.
But events like that can’t just be forgotten. Not without someone answering for what they’ve done.
When an invitation arrives to a University reunion, everything clicks into place. Emily has a plan.
Because if you can’t forget – why not get revenge?

This is a brilliant read.
Wonderful well written plot and story line that had me engaged from the start.
Love the well fleshed out characters and found them believable.
Great suspense and found myself second guessing every thought I had continuously.
Can't wait to read what the author brings out next.
Recommend reading.

I was provided an ARC from NetGalley and the publisher. This is my own honest voluntary review.

[Jessica · Rating 3 out of 5]

So I got this book from an event where the author did a talk/reading, so it pains me a little to write this review because she was very sweet. I did like the book, I read it in like 2-3 days because it did keep me gripped to the story, but ugh. The ending. Always the damn ending! Authors try too hard with adding unnecessary twists. Just make it a good story. Give it a plausible solid ending. One of the twists was sooo stupid and gratuitous and made absolutely no sense and added nothing to the story except confusion and tbh was completely out of line with where the main character was at with her character development. So all that build up and then disappointment. I don’t want to be rude at all but she made a comment during her talk and said she can be a lazy writer at times and I kind of thought that showed at the end. But she was so close. It was a good story up until then.

[Kitty Kate · Rating 5 out of 5]

I liked it. The flashbacks were constructed in a way that was informative and didn't disturb the present story. I liked how the plot twist was constructed and the ending wasn't rushed.