Review: 'The Reunion' by Amy Silver (2013)

They thought they'd be friends forever.
Jen, Andrew, Lilah, Natalie and Dan were inseparable at university, but in the seventeen years since they left they have hardly seen each other. Until Jen invites them all to stay at her house in the French Alps. The house where they once spent a golden summer before tragedy tore them apart.
When a snowstorm descends, they find themselves trapped and forced to confront their unresolved issues, frustrated passions and broken friendships. And as relationships shift and marriages flounder, the truth about what really happened years before is slowly revealed. And Jen realises that perhaps some wounds can never be healed...
Amy Silver’s novel ‘The Reunion’ has been on my to-read list ever since its release in September 2013. I hadn’t read anything by Amy Silver before (she has written books like ‘One Minute to Midnight’ and ‘All I Want for Christmas’), but I was immediately intrigued by the description of the story and the need to get my hands on a copy of the book only increased after hearing positive things from other readers and bloggers. Unexpectedly, I won a copy of ‘The Reunion’ through Twitter (thanks so much, Amy!) and a few weeks ago I finally decided to sit down and be introduced to Amy Silver’s work!
During their time at university Jen, Andrew, Lilah, Natalie, and Dan used to be the best of friends. They spent all their time together, enjoying their student years and sharing every moment with each other. Until one summer at the house of Jen’s family in the French Alps; that one summer that drastically changed every single one of their lives. Seventeen years later, Jen invites her old friends back to her family home in the hope of rekindling their friendship. Yet, when a snowstorm arrives and they find themselves stuck in the house, hidden memories and emotions are brought to the surface and slowly everything that happened during that fatal summer is revealed.
I’ve been staring at my screen for quite some time, trying but not being able to find the right words to do justice to this amazing book. I absolutely loved it and I already know it will most likely be one of my favourite reads of this year. At the centre of the novel there are five main characters: Jen, Natalie, Dan, Andrew and Lilah. Each of them has their own intriguing story, linked to the main plotline of the novel. Keywords such as family and friendship combined with hidden secrets and conflicting emotions are all at the core of the story, turning it into a captivating read I simply didn’t want to put down.  
Amy Silver has an enchanting way with words; the use of different points of view (each one just as fascinating as the other) and different time periods, both in the past and the present (bringing back both blissful and poignant memories), challenges the reader to collect the different pieces of the puzzle and bring it all together. I specifically loved the way personal letters and e-mails played a role in the book, showing a more personal and intimate side of the characters’ lives and relationships. ‘The Reunion’ is a brilliant, beautifully melancholic and captivatingly well-written novel with a story at its centre that will stay with you for a long time to come.   
Rating:

10/10

For more information about this book: Amazon UK / Amazon US / Goodreads