BOOK REVIEW: The Reunion

The Reunion by Meghan Quinn
Publication Date: February 22, 2022

This was my first Meghan Quinn book and if I’m being honest I only downloaded it from KU because of the cover and I was going to the mountains that week.

Also, this might be the first KU title to get it’s own full review? Unless we count books I’ve reread via KU like Wait For It by MZ (review) and Luck of the Draw by Kate Clayborn (review). But, exciting times.

This is unlike any romance novel I’ve read before in that all three siblings get POVs and so do their love interests. So it’s basically three romance novels in one. Each relationship feels a bit like a novella, in that the stories/relationship but since they are all interspersed with the main plot being the same it works. You very easily could make the argument that this is not a romance since the main plot is the family dynamic and struggle, but if I look at the three love stories as individual novellas I think it works a bit more for me.

TW: Death of parents, drug overdose (mention; past), fire
CW: Parkinson’s Disease, divorce

WHAT I LIKED

This is definately a rom com with some LOL moments and plenty of awkward ones too.
- The whole cake switching thing was hilarious.
The parents. Romance novel parents really fall into two buckets, not great or excellent (or off page so I guess three buckets?) and the Chance parents were the best. Quirky, funny, and full of love.
- They were probably my favorite.
Since there are three relationships there are so many types of tropes in one book.
- Boss/assistant, one night stand, & reconnecting with high school crush as adults are the three tropes.
- But obviously the sibling relationships are the standout here.
  - Maybe I just could relate because I have three siblings.
I am a sucker for the Pacific Northwest and this is set there so
I liked how the siblings stories paralleled each other (until it became a tad too much).
Some of the dialogue was hilarious.
I weirdly teared up a few times reading this, but I’m going to blame that on hormones.
I just had a fun time reading this.
I’m going to just say it, but Cooper was my favorite.

WHAT I DID NOT LIKE

Honestly some of this felt kind of dumb and over the top. Which I do recognize could be due to the rom com nature of the book.
- But that dinner…ooof.
I am not a fan of when books rely on secrets and then are in first person POV as then the author has to keep secrets from the reader which does not always work for me.
The sibling story lines paralleled a little too much.
I honestly wasn’t the biggest fan of Palmer in the beginning. Her reaction to something her parents told her was very entitled and it wasn’t fully explored. I think I would’ve liked her more if she got a whole book so we could explore more of her nuance.
I didn’t like the ending and felt like everything was wrapped up too much.
The whole conflict was not built up enough for me. I felt the tension between the siblings, but it didn’t seem as deep as it ended up being.
- And some of the tension/conflict felt like it was just thrown in.