Release Event and Reviews: Lost in Me: Lexi Ryan
Get ready for NYT Bestselling Author Lexi Ryan’s new series Here and Now! The first novel in the series, LOST IN ME, is a sexy New Adult contemporary romance released April 7th!
LOST IN ME is on SALE for just .99 cents the first week of release as a fan appreciation from the author!
LOST IN ME
(Here and Now #1)
spin off of New Hope Series
LOST IN ME is the first book in the Here and Now series, a spin-off of the New York Times and USA Today bestselling New Hope series. This sexy amnesia love triangle is intended for mature readers.
The last thing I remember is having
drinks at Brady’s and trying to avoid eye-contact with my life-long crush—the
gorgeous, unattainable Maximilian Hallowell. They tell me that was a year ago,
but I have no memories of anything since then. What I do have is this ring on
my finger that Max says he gave me, and this much-thinner body I’ve dreamed of
most of my life. Aside from a case of retrograde amnesia, everything seems
almost…perfect.
But the deeper I immerse myself into
this new world of mine—planning a wedding to a man I don’t remember dating,
attempting to run a business I don’t remember starting—the clearer it becomes
that nothing is as it seems. Do I have the life I’ve always wanted or is it a
facade propped up by secrets I don’t even know I have?
I need answers before I marry Max, and
the only person who seems to have them is the angry, tatted, sexy-as-sin rocker
Nate Crane. And Nate wants me for himself.
LOST IN ME is not a standalone novel, as the story continues in Here and Now book two, FALL TO YOU, releasing in June.
When Asher leaves the stage, Nate stays behind, strumming chords to a song I don’t recognize. He lifts his gaze. For five painful beats of my heart, our eyes lock. There’s so much in his eyes. Pain, anger, frustration. I see it all there before he refocuses on his fingers and starts to croon the lonely lyrics of his song.
I’m nobody’s hero, baby. Try not to fall too deep.
I’m nobody’s angel, love, but you were crying in your sleep.
I’m useless, empty, nothing, sugar. Wait around and then you’ll see.
You thought you’d find your answers, but now you’re lost in me.
The words tap into me, loosening something in my chest until I feel like anyone looking at me can see my confusion and the inexplicable aching of my heart.
And when he lifts his head and watches me as he sings the last verse of his song, I don’t move. I don’t hide from those eyes that know too much. I don’t run from that face that could destroy my whole world. I stand transfixed, the words rolling through my veins like they’re part of my blood.
After he strums the final chords, he puts down his guitar and leaves the stage without explanation or promise to return.
My feet are following him before I’ve decided what to do. He heads up the stairs and out back, through the French doors and onto the patio, where he keeps going until he hits the path in front of the river.
He’s trying to escape me. I should be happy, right? The past can stay in the past, and whatever mistake I made with this rocker can be left behind with it. But I can’t let him walk away without answers.
“Stop!” I rush down to the river, my heels sinking into the rain-softened earth. “Who are you?”
He turns slowly, the confusion back on his face. “Is that supposed to be funny? Pretending there was nothing between us wasn’t enough? You need to pretend you don’t even know who I am?”
“I—” Oh my God. The hurt in his eyes. “I don’t know who you are,” I say carefully. “But maybe I should? I was injured and I have amnesia, so I honestly don’t know you.” And if that doesn’t sound like a line from a Lifetime movie, I’m not sure what does.
“Amnesia? You’re kidding me.”
“I’m not.” He starts toward me, and I hold out a hand to stop him. “I’d prefer you to stay over there. Please.”
He pulls back, watching me. “Amnesia,” he repeats.
“Yeah.”
“You don’t know who I am.” It’s not a question—more a realization.
“I don’t know who you are or why you would crawl into my bed in the middle of the night. I don’t understand why—” My breath catches and fat, hot tears spill onto my cheeks. Suddenly this is just all too much. “I don’t understand,” I repeat, and leave it at that.
“You don’t remember anything? Do you know who you are?”
“Yeah. I remember everything up until about a year ago, but the last eleven months are just…gone.”
He drags a hand through his hair, and I’m struck again by how gorgeous he is. Dark messy hair, dark intense eyes. His T-shirt clings to his sculpted arms. Tattoos peek out from the sleeves. No matter how hard I look, I can’t remember being with him. So why do I have this feeling in my chest like my heart knows something I don’t?
“Do I know you?” I ask.
He lets out a huff and stares at the starlit sky. “Yeah. You do.” When he drops his gaze back to meet mine, his eyes are moist with unshed tears. “I’m the idiot who’s in love with you.”
In love with me? “But I’m engaged.”
“I saw that,” he whispers, his gaze flicking back to my hand. “Can I ask? Did that happen before or after the amnesia?”
“Before.”
“Fuck.” The word isn’t screamed or thrown like a stone. He breathes it—exhaling the sound like so much disappointment.
To me, Nate’s a stranger, but to him, I’m…what?
We just stare at each other, him looking heartbroken and angry, me trying to piece it all together in my head and make some sense of this. I’m engaged to Max Hallowell. I’m not the kind of girl who would get engaged to one guy when she’s been sleeping with another.
Am I?
We were introduced to these characters and the town of New
Hope in Unbreak Me and Wish I May. Hanna and Lizzie are Maggie’s twin sisters. This is Hanna’s story.
This story first grabs you in the past and then hits you with the
present. Hanna wakes up in a hospital with no memory of the last eleven months
including her engagement to Max, the man
she has been crushing over since she was a teen. Apparently she had made great
progress in her life in the time she cannot remember...personally, having a
relationship, and a business. But gradually she begins to see that there may be
more complications lurking under her new picture perfect life.
It is told in Hanna’s point of view in real time and
flashbacks so we unravel her secrets just as she does…slowly and in flashes. We are just as confused and intrigued as she
is. There are things coming to her
attention that do not seem logical to
her and she cannot figure out why she would have done some of the things it
seems that she has. There is another man in the mix that seems to know way too
much about her life. But she does not know him at all.
I'm nobody's hero, baby. Try not to fall too deep. I'm nobody's angel, love, but you were crying in your sleep. I'm useless, empty, nothing, sugar. Wait around and then you'll see. You thought you'd find your answers, but now you're lost in me. (Nate's song lyrics)
I really liked the character of Hanna. I could identify with
her insecurities about being the overweight, plainer, more shy twin. How she
felt that she lived in Lizzy’s shadow, and then awoke to a new person with men in
her life, new confidence, and success. It was quite a confusing time for her.
I liked Max. He seemed perfect, sweet, loving and devoted.
He was like her dream finally come true. I started out thoroughly Team Max.
"I don't think you believed I was in love with you...But I was in love with you, Hanna. And I am. Desperately, hopelessly, helplessly in love."~Max
But Nate was hot, sexy, and vulnerable. A tatted rocker with
deep feelings. It was a bit of an enigma as to how he fit in. But darn if I did
not like him too. He intrigued me and he started to win me over to Team Nate.
"I'm the idiot who's in love with you."~Nate
But Why would she have been involved with Nate if she had Mr.
Perfect Max already?
Lexi Ryan’s books always draw me in. Her writing style flows
well, the plot lines have twists, and
her characters have depth. They are not
perfect, they have flaws, they make mistakes, but are likable. There are
mysteries, lies and secrets waiting to be uncovered. And it all unravels slowly
so there is tension, suspense, confusion, and hidden agendas. I enjoyed getting more with their friends
Cally and Will (Wish I May) and her sister Maggie and Asher (Unbreak Me). Hanna and her
relationship with her twin Lizzy is also a focal point of the story. The town
of New Hope is full of interesting characters and their stories are interwoven.
They are a tight knit group that is there for the others when needed. I enjoyed
trying to piece it all together to form the big picture just as Hanna was.
This is the first book in a trilogy so we do not have all of
the answers yet. But we were given some. But the more answers that were
uncovered, the more interested I was to know even more. I am totally invested in this story and my mind is full of more questions and musings. I am looking forward
to more of the story and seeing how it all plays out in Fall to You and All For This.
Thanks to Lexi Ryan for providing me with a complimentary copy in exchange for an honest review.
When Hanna wakes up in the hospital with no recollection of how she got there, she also has no memory of the previous year. Unfortunately it was an eventful year: she opened a business, got engaged to her teenage crush, and lost a lot of weight. But she can’t remember any of it. How did she lose the weight, gain the confidence, and the get the guy? And why does it seem she became a different person in those missing months?
The story unfolds in alternating present and past scenes, with the past scenes appearing as Hanna remembers the last year. The format was engaging and kept the mystery about the previous year just as shadowed for readers as it was for Hanna. As her memory comes back in bits and pieces, more questions arise than are often answered, which kept me reading and guessing throughout.
I loved Hanna right off the bat. She seemed so lost in the life she finds herself that I couldn’t help but feel sympathy for her as she unravels the truth about her last year. I found myself on the edge of my seat wondering what discovery she would make next and how that would influence her present decision making process. The whirlwind she finds herself upon waking would certainly be disorienting without the fog of amnesia hovering over her head. I couldn’t help wishing she would slow down and wait for her memory to come back before making huge decisions.
Max is the boy Hanna has had a crush on since she was 13 years old. He is attentive, considerate, and concerned that she gets back on her feet. He looks like the perfect boyfriend. But I couldn’t help wondering even from the beginning what was going on with him. He seemed overly relieved and surprisingly unconcerned that Hanna couldn’t remember anything about dating him, the proposal, or their life together and was all too happy to get the wedding planning underway.
When we meet Nate, a rocker-bad boy who is friends with Asher, the questions started piling up faster than Hanna can uncover the answers. I was immediately drawn to him, whether it was the bad-boy persona he put out or something deeper, I couldn’t help but hope something would happen between Hanna and Max and that Nate would shine some light on Hanna’s last year.
I retract my previous statements regarding cliffhangers. I do not hate cliffhangers. Ok, I still don’t like if I know it’s not coming, but it has always been very clear that this was a trilogy following the same couple. And surprisingly, I am absolutely ok with that. I’m so hooked on Hanna, Max, and Nate that I’m ok, if not a little impatient, waiting to read more of their stories. The answers we have so far were enough to hold me for the time being, but I can’t wait for what we learn in Fall to You and All for This.
Thanks to Lexi Ryan for providing me with a complimentary copy in exchange for an honest review.
FALL TO YOU
(Here and Now, #2)
Expected release June 2014
ALL FOR THIS
(Here and Now, #3)
Expected release August 2014
Once a college English professor, I now
write full time. I live in rural Indiana, where, when I’m not writing, I get to
hang out with my husband and two kids–a six-year-old boy and a two-year-old
hellion, er, girl. Not surprisingly, reading and writing remain my favorite
activities, though both come in bits and pieces these days, not the big hunks
of time I enjoyed before I had children. When I’m feeling virtuous, I like to
go running (I use that word liberally. I’m really, really slow) or do yoga.
Don’t worry, I’m always careful to balance out such activities with a hearty
serving of ice cream or a chocolate martini.
1 comments
I definitely want to read this one - great reviews! I saw Kendall Ryan highly recommending the book and it made me even more curious!
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