What a fun read! The Reunion is a sweet, angsty friends to lovers/second-chance story. Co-stars on a well loved teen sitcom, Liv and Ransom were best friends, inseparable, all throughout filming. When the show ended, they had a miscommunication which meant they went their separate ways and were not really in contact. Fast forward 14 years, and the show lands a reunion special, bringing the cast together for the first time since the series finished. Can Liv handle being around Ransom for the filming? Will they be friends like they used to be? Or will everything fall apart and jeopardize the reunion special?

I really enjoyed this one. The characters felt real, and so did their relationships. I found myself invested in whether they would work out, how the filming would go, what would happen in their lives afterwards. It was an interesting look into the backstage lives of famous actors, dealing with agents, directors, and costars, and it felt familiar, like it nearly referenced a lot of the shows we watched growing up. That made it easier to feel a part of, like maybe we were talking about *that* actress from *that* show we loved. The nostalgia of it all really drew me in.

The Reunion is an adorable second chance romance about actors who reunite for a reboot of a teen drama they starred in during the early 2000s. The characters are charming, but the story is pretty little slow moving. It was very descriptive and focused on Liv's interior thoughts. I became frustrated by how little their relationship advanced through most of the book. I enjoyed the relationships of the cast members and nostalgic aspects of the novel.

Thank you Atria Books and NetGalley for providing this ARC. All thoughts are my own.

It’s been about 20 seconds since I last read a “celebrity romance” novel, what can I say I’m a whore for pop-culture and I’m a slut for romance novels. Put these two things together and it’s basically a brothel of happiness.

Liv is a Nepo baby, who starred in a popular, teen, sitcom, opposite, mega handsome, Ransom. (Ed note: Rhymed that on purpose #poet). The two were “best friends” but we’re actually just secretly in love with each other for years. When the show ended, they had a platonic friends “break up” and never spoke again.

The two meet again after years when their show films a reunion special and find their chemistry is still raging on. They also both have careers on the rise and have to manage them carefully. While this book is technically a romance, most of the book is really about Liv and her career. It’s more of a love letter to how the sausage gets made in Hollywood, which I found interesting and fun to read. Did it excite the slut receptors in my brain? No. But the celeb-whore receptors were very satisfied.

If you were looking for a hot and steamy Hollywood romance, you won’t find it here. I think maybe Liv and Ransom have sex? It’s unclear if they just have a heavy petting session or if the D actually falls into the V- fade to black has left me wondering. If you’re interested in a look at a few weeks inside the life of a Hollywood starlet and how she balances her work and love life this is a the book for you. Overall it was an enjoyable read.

Smut- 1.41 stars
Romance- 4.26 stars
Story- 4.17 stars
Satisfied celeb whore receptors- 12.78 stars

I kinda have mixed feelings regarding The Reunion. Like I enjoy reading it, but I kinda felt a little disappointed about this book. Let me explain.

The Reunion had potential in being a good romance book, but it felt lacking in the characters depth. Let me explain. The characters felt shallow in my opinion. There wasn't much to them when they were reunited again. Yes, they did not keep in contact for years, but immediately, they felt their love for each other. I'm not really into insta-love because I don't know how they did not keep in contact or why they still love each other. I just needed a little more depth about their self and their love for each other.

But let's focus on the positive; this romance read is a second chance romance trope with a bit of forced proximity. And we get all the feels when these two old friends reunite again. And they spark their romance again with a few complications along the way.

I love a good celebrity romance, and this book was no exception. Two formally inseparable child stars reunite decades after their falling out to film a reunion episode of their hit show. The resulting story is full of tension and longing, and I ate it up.

A few things 𝐈 𝐋𝗼𝐯𝐞𝐝: Each chapter starts with an article from a news or gossip site. Such a nice touch that made each character feel real. I also really enjoyed the sneak peek into the filmmaking side of things!

The only thing that I would have liked more of is scenes with Ransom and Liv together. I loved their banter, and their chemistry was palpable. I would have loved to spend more time with them!

3.7/5
I loved the dynamic between Liv & Ransom and how their connection was as strong from childhood stars to adults. This is a cute easy read story for anyone who loves childhood friends to lovers!

Not the typical second chance romance in my opinion as it seemed to be instant love for the couple. I liked Liv as a character a lot. Also enjoyed the celebrity gossip excerpts.

Thanks NetGalley for an ARC of The Reunion. I really enjoyed the first half, especially Liv and Ransom’s chemistry but the 2nd half fell flat for me. Cute story and loved the Hollywood setting!

I started reading this on Kindle, and did pause to wait for my BOTM copy (I do love my physicals)! This was SUCH a cute fast read. I like that there was not too much wait time for them to get together, if you love each other since childhood then you know! I liked how fast paced the story was and the cute romance between Liv and Ransom. Sometimes second chance romances are hard to pull off but this was so fluffy it was fun to read. So glad I got to enjoy this book!

Who doesn't dream of a reunion of their favorite show? An ode to the 90's babies, during our reunion era, I could not wait to read this book, and it ended up being everything I was hoping for and more.

"I've never felt more like me than when I'm with you. You make my world make sense."

Liv and Ransom were the second-chance romance I felt like we deserved as readers, and THE REUNION made for such a quick and easy read with characters that were easy to fall for. The side characters (especially Bre and Ford) made this cast one I could've kept reading about, a great mix of behind-the-scenes and celebrities in real-life vibes that made me happy, and could easily have been any of my favorite actor couples over the years. Give me the sneak peeks and what happened then vs now, forever, I need more of Olson's books for sure after this fantastic read.

For me, the addition of the news articles and social media updates went so well with the celebrity lifestyle, and added a fun medium to the story that reminded me all my favorites -- Gossip Girl , 90210, Dawson's Creek vibes a plenty, it was so easy to get into this story especially with the dual timelines!

Thank you NetGalley + Atria Books for the advance copy of this book to read and review!

Read if you like:
❤️ Celebrity Couples
❤️ Boy Meets World
❤️ Friends to Lovers
❤️ Coworkers to Lovers
❤️ Second Chance Romances
❤️ Closed Door/Clean Romances

This one had me absolutely swooning for these characters. It took me back to watching Cory and Topanga, DJ and Steve, and all the other television teenage couple goals of my childhood fall in love and wondering if the actors would really fall in love in real life because it just felt so real.

I absolutely loved the building blocks put in place for the past and present colliding with the big show reunion episode to wrap up the loose ends from the series finale from 14 years previously. It truly felt like reading about the actors from halloweentown announcing their relationship and how my heart awwwwed over them being together in real life as adults who randomly came back together years later and happened to fall in love.

I also loved the cut scenes with the gossip rag articles and social media commentary as that really added another layer of feeling like I was with them hoping for this relationship to go off screen.

If you are looking for your next romance book, I highly recommend picking this one up as it had me swooning!

The Reunion by Kayla Olson follows two of Hollywood's beloved actors, Ransom and Liv. Once childhood co-stars, they have reunited for a reunion episode of their show Girl on the Verge. They deal with lingering feelings, pressures of all things Hollywood, and friends who could really get their own book next...FORD!

We follow Liv and Ransom on their path back to one another. Lots of chemistry between the two. The book was a bit predictable and I could do without the girl drama. But, a good and easy read.

Let me start by saying that I read this in ONE sitting, under a 6 hour span. It instantly drew me in and I found myself falling in love with the male main character through the eyes of the FMC.

This story follows Liv, who was kind of a child star - she was the main character on a sitcom that blew up. It’s 14 years after the final episode, and they’re putting together a reunion episode to see where the characters might be at during this point in their lives. The guy that starred opposite to her, Ransom, ended up being her best friend and they were close until their final season when they slowly had a friendship break up. Now, in the present, it’s their first time seeing one another…. SPARKS FLY. Is it possible she wasn’t the only one who had feelings years ago?!

And ya’ll know I’m a sucker for friends to lovers. And it’s low-key like secondhand since they’re coming back together after 14 years apart… just freaking perfection! This was the perfect romcom, completely fantastic, and it literally had my heart happy the entire time. And Ransom?? If you’ve seen my stories, you know that I’ve had phases where I only pictured Miles Teller or Adam Driver as the male main characters in soooo many books a couple months back. Well, it’s safe to say that it’s kind back because I pictured Miles Teller as Ransom and I was in heaven.

3.5⭐️ rounded up to 4! I enjoyed my time in this universe and will happily go back for more. Bee and Ford’s story???

This was such a cute book! The Reunion follows Liv Latimer, an actress who has just signed on to do a reunion special of the television show that set her career on its path to success. But it’s not just the show she’s reuniting with. She also has to face Ransom Joel again, her best friend turned stranger of a costar who played alongside of her.

While I did enjoy this book, I wish it had more emotional depth. I wanted to know WHY these characters fell for each other but everything felt surface level between them. Still a good read though! A solid 4/5.

I loooove a good Hollywood centered novel, and I was super excited about this one once I heard the premise: the stars of a beloved TV show who always had a little something between them are brought back together to film a reunion episode, forcing them to confront their feelings for each other. This was fab! I really loved how this felt balanced between the romance between Liv and Ransom and the careers of the characters. I actually think the sections where Liv considered the future of her career were my faves! The gossip columns and articles throughout were really effective in helping to propel plot lines (and we all know that I loooove a mixed media element!). I definitely recommend this one if you like Hollywood romances!

The Most Anticipated Contemporary Romance Books of 2023

While it’s easy to recommend contemporary romances based on various combinations of shorthand tropes and archetypes, it’s equally fascinating to pick up on the common themes in a year’s crop of new romances.

In 2023 expect more than one ghostwriter falling for her client (because what’s more intimate than learning someone’s voice) and plenty of author crushes in the flesh. Yet there’s also the themes of writing ourselves into fantasy scenarios or idealized versions of ourselves—or if not writing, then taking the cannonball plunge into summer camp or other group getaways in the sunshine, when we can be freer versions of ourselves not weighed down by expectations or exes. Or if you’re looking for a sharper edge to your contemporary romance, get ready for books that amp up the archetypal enemies or rivals into witch-versus-witch-hunter or competing con artists. This list has new books from Kate Clayborn, Emily Henry, Taj McCoy, Christina Lauren, Tehlor Kay Mejia, and many many more. Truly, it was difficult to narrow down, and this is just the first half of the year.

The Reunion by Kayla Olson

Release Date: January 17 from Atria Books

It’s really fun to see contemporary romance authors tap into millennials’ nostalgia for early-2000s TV, like in last year’s How to Fake It in Hollywood and now The Reunion. Both books seem to wink to stalwarts like One Tree Hill or The OC as the inspiration for fictional teen dramas that made the careers of female Hollywood stars who are now looking for a second act in their thirties and forties.

Here, Liv Latimer never quite got out of the shadow of the show that made her a face of primetime, yet she can’t say no to participating in a reunion special. But when she’s paired back up with her former best friend Ransom Joel, who betrayed her despite their on-screen chemistry, she’ll have to contend with balancing the smooches for the camera with potential real-life attraction and baggage. Then there’s whispers of a reboot…! A great mix of looking back and looking forward to kick off the year of romance.

I'm going to have to avoid slow burn reads after the last couple I've read! This follows Ransom and Liv two former best friends and co-stars as the show the starred in films it's reunion. Liv had always loved Ransom but something went down when they were teenagers and they haven't talked in years. As the show starts to film and they end up back in each others lives seamlessly it all seems to good to be true. But with Hollywood and rumours abound can these two make it stronger than before? I enjoyed this one from Kayla Olson and would like if Bre and maybe Ford got a story??

Thank you to netgalley and the publishers for providing me with an arc for an honest review.

Secondary characters friendships were a highlight to me. Hollywood isn’t my go to setting, but it added a unique element to the romance.

This was a cute and easy read that really satisfied my need for celebrity gossip, even if it was made up lol!! There wasn’t a lot of drama, and the relationship between Ransom and Liv happened quickly, so we got to see a lot of them being together and not just buildup.

I really wish Girl on the Verge was a real show. As a teen drama series enthusiast, I’d watch the heck out of that. I loved that parts of the script for the reunion episode were included in the book!

Between each chapter there were news stories and magazine articles about the characters. As a nosy, gossipy, celebrity obsessed gal, I thought these were SO fun! I loved how the book started with an article the quickly recalled Girl and the characters, and then set the scene for the reunion; I thought that was a great way to start the book and introduce us to the past and the characters without feeling like an info dump and without glossing over the past too much.

I would really like to talk about the absolutely ridiculous names of the characters in this book though……. They’re bad. So bad. Like SO bad. They’re almost all two alliterative, often geographical or colorful, first names put together and sound like the names of modern day kindergarteners. Here are some of my favorites:
- Ransom Joel (like … ransom money for a hostage?)
- Jade Johnson (color)
- Gemma Gardner
- Sasha-Kate Kilpatrick
- Honor St. Croix (island)
- Hunter Drew (…. What)
- Ford Brooks (a truck and half of a 90s country band)
- Duke Beaufort (this cannot be real)
- Ithaca Alexander (I don’t hate this one)
- Vienna Lawson (capital of Austria)
- Mars Heath (the love child of a planet and a candy bar perhaps?)
- Caroline Crenshaw (the city that the kid from that football show All American is from)
- Edna Arcadia (a generic old person name and almost a national park)
- Lila Lavender (color)

Aside from the dreadful names (that I just laughed about the entire time), this was a decent book! I thoroughly enjoyed reading it, and it went by in a blink because I was so engrossed in the celebrity-ness of it all. This would be a good one to get you out of a reading slump because it’s short, straightforward, insta love romantic, and will speak straight to your celebrity obsessed nosy soul if you’re anything like me.