Blue Reynolds is one of the most recognized people in the world. Her daytime talk show, The Blue Reynolds Show, is the show to watch and be a guest star on. Blue seems like the perfect woman – wildly successful, beautiful, and completely put together. But Blue is hiding some secrets from her past: when she was just nineteen years old, Blue – then Harmony Blue – got pregnant. The father was a man she was just having a fling with; she decided that she had no choice but to give the baby up for adoption. Now she wants to find her son, but she can’t risk getting a court order to have the adoption file opened because of her celebrity status.

If things weren’t already complicated enough for Blue, she runs into Mitch while filming her show in Key West, Florida. A man she loved once upon a time and who broke her heart, Mitch has some issues of his own – namely his son, Julian, with whom he simply doesn’t see eye to eye. Mitch is trying to reach out to Julian with his new project but doesn’t know if they can bond as father and son. Will Blue and Mitch be able to help one another face their issues, or has too much time passed for them to be able to connect once again?

Reunion is a sweet novel how we live our lives with the choices we’ve made. Blue is an endearing character, and it’s a little sad how some of the other characters write her off as some shallow, vapid celebrity. She is definitely a layered and complex character. It’s clear that she has endured many hurts in her past and hasn’t been able to bounce back from them as well as it seems to the public eye. This book reminds us that we are all entitled to our privacy, even celebrities, and that not everyone is as smooth as they seem on the surface.

Julian is a little more complicated. It’s frustrating how he automatically passes judgment on Blue just because she’s a celebrity. He feels as if he knows her motives, knows exactly what she’s like and what’s going on underneath her cool exterior just because she’s famous. It’s satisfying to see him realize how wrong he is about Blue.

Mitch is slightly less developed than Julian and Blue. Feeling one way or another about his character is difficult; it seems like he’s just there, not really doing anything. Had he been fleshed out a little more, the novel would be an even more satisfying read - to see what Blue saw in him in the past, to understand why she felt so passionately about him.

As to the issue of Blue’s son, it’s not clear why she doesn’t want the public knowing that she had an out-of-wedlock son before she became famous: it’s simply not anyone else’s business. What happens at the end of the book is difficult to believe, though I do understand Blue’s reaction. (It’s difficult to discuss without giving the ending of the book away.)

Reunion is an enjoyable read with endearing characters and a solid storyline. For fans of women’s fiction, I recommend this as a laid-back beach read for the summer.