Book Reviews

Book Blurb

What if going back was the only way forward?

Ten years after graduation, Blair Cohen returns to St. Ignatius Catholic Boys’ School for a high school reunion that promises nostalgia—but delivers reckoning.

Once expelled from his old life for being different, Blair found unlikely sanctuary at a strict Catholic school where friendship, first love, and fear intertwined. Now, as he walks the same halls with his former classmates, memories resurface—both the beautiful and the brutal.

When Blair unexpectedly comes face-to-face with Luke Roberts—the golden boy who once broke his heart—past and present collide. Luke is married with children, but the spark between them still lingers. Confessions are made. Truths are unearthed. And Blair must decide if forgiveness is possible, if healing is real, and whether love lost can ever truly be reclaimed.

A moving sequel to Catholic School Boys in Trouble, this story is a powerful exploration of identity, regret, and redemption. Tender, raw, and unapologetically honest, The Reunion reminds us that sometimes, the hardest person to come home to… is yourself.

 

Book Review

Book Two begins with, (surprise!) a recap to those who allowed too much time since completing Book One. After years of strong and passionate (but not explicitly detailed!) shared relations at the University of Missouri, and with the aggressive encouragement of his family, Luke Roberts has married Muffy (?) and has three boys – aged two, four and six. A mystery of writing or editing makes those ages factually problematic for those readers who try to reconcile any ages with the stated passage of time. Hooray for fictional allowance!)

 

It is now ten years later and post many afternoon soaps. But, dear readers, to preserve your interest, much of my review narrative will be curbed to preserve surprise!

 

Pickles has become the principal of St. Ignatius. Josh Alvarez still has unrequited feelings for Blair. And after ten years all the heroes – Blair, Luke, Pickles and Josh – prepare to reUnionize. Blair, a teacher, has suffered employment termination from budget cuts, joyfully coincidental to discovering his lover in bed with another man. Josh, still local to Congers, and still wishing for Blair, is a successful local realtor. Luke is not happy in his marriage which, as we become familiar with wife Muffy, is totally explicable – their match being the product of a cold negotiation. And a bargain she is not!

 

Optimistically, Blair hopes the people from his past will help him make sense of the man he has become. (A reference to Blair's “old Hebrew school picture, beside a cracked Elijah cup and a ceramic menorah he made on second grade,” recalls his Jewish background for us – though Blair seems quite comfortable attending the school's Catholic services. But, read on!) 

 

This installment is driven by competition between our familiar and even a few new principals. Blair and Luke promptly run into each other in the local diner – or as the kids today say: “Fer sure!” “A beginning” thinks Blair. “Not the old one he had run from. But a new one, waiting to be written.” With fondness they recollect their lives together at university, each agreeing that “it meant something.” Confirming the architecture of this second volume, Luke is forthcoming about how unhappy his marriage is, and that he should have fought harder for Blair. Without prelude, Luke admits his unsatisfied feelings to his wife, and we are off to races!

 

The characters are well developed. They face inner crises and, among them many conflicts. The author does well by them and the reader. To preserve this review's intended seduction, details await immersion into the text. But here's a smidgen: Muffy shows up to a St. Ignatius fund-raising dinner “(I)n a blood-red gown that clung to her every sharp angle.” A salute to Bette Davis in Jezebel?” Perhaps.

 

Now, oddly, the tale does not proceed forward but, rather, Book Three takes us back to elucidate the beginnings – that is, Blair in public school.

 

BOB spots occasional Platitudes

1. The school reunion – “It was nostalgia soaked in white wine and cocktail dresses.”

2. Liar Josh said smoothly“I've changed a lot. I just got better at pretending I didn't.”

3. “St. Ignatius still smelled like adolescence – old books, Pine Sol, and gym socks.”

4. “She's playing chess,” Luke said. “But I'm done being one of her pawns.”

5. Luke: “We don't get what we deserve. We get what we fight for.”

 

 

 

DISCLAIMER: Books reviewed on this site were usually provided at no cost by the publisher or author. This book has been provided by the author for the purpose of a review.

 

Additional Information

Format	ebook
Length	Novella, 106 pages
Heat Level
Publication Date	23-June-2025
Price	$4.99 ebook
Buy Link	https://www.amazon.com/Catholic-School-Boys-Trouble-Reunion-ebook/dp/B0FFDQKQFR