Unabridged Bookshelf: Lost in Me Release Blitz: Guest Post, Review, and Giveaway

Welcome to Lost in Me Release Book Blitz! Today I have a Review of Lost in Me, a Guest Post from the author, Lexi Ryan and a tour wide giveaway for you to enter today!

About the Book

Title: Lost in Me

Author: Lexi Ryan

Series: Here and Now #1

Publication Date: April 7, 2014

Genres: New Adult, Romance,

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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.

About the Author

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.

My Review of Lost in Me

Lost in Me is an unexpected story about love, and how something as simple as losing your memory can change everything. I loved reading Lost in Me, and the cliffhanger ending has me holding my breath until the release of Fall to You. Normally I do not like a cliffhanger, but they do make you want to continue a series to find out what happens and this one is defiantly effective. I really like Hanna’s story, and I want to know more about the memories that have not come back yet. I have a feeling there are big reveal yet to happen, but there is plenty of surprises to leave readers interested and on their toes.

Lost in Me is a mature new adult novel, where amnesia causes Hanna to wake up to the perfect life. As her memories slowly come back, and she figures out details of her life before the accident, her life maybe not as perfect as it looks. Hanna is engaged to the man she always wanted, but she has no memory of the entirety of their relationship. Waiting for her memories to come back, Hanna begins to discover she has been keeping secrets and pushing everyone close to her away.

I will say there is a lot of insecurity and self-deprecation on Hanna’s part, because she is to use to being ignored or pressured because of her weight. I will have to say that I think she is harder on herself than anyone could have been. It may be a turn off to readers, but it is an accurate portrayal of someone who struggles with their weight, and the pressure to look a certain way. I think that Hanna has a long way to go in that aspect, but I still enjoyed reading her story. I know that some of these characters were part of Lexi Ryan’s New Hope series, but I have yet to read that series. It did not change any of the story for me, but it defiantly made me want to add them to me To Be Read List.

Lost in Me is great for fans of New Adult, and mature romance. I would also think it is safe to say that fans of the New Hope series would enjoy Lost in Me and the Here and Now series. I am looking forward to Fall to You, which releases in June.

**Unabridged Bookshelf received this book, in exchange for an honest review**

The Here and Now Series

By Lexi Ryan

“Do you know what retrograde amnesia is? Because I just learned about it and I have this story idea…” This was few years ago on call with my critique partner. The conversation was supposed to be about the book I was finishing, but I was distracted by this shiny new story idea.

The kernel of the idea was there, born from my fascination with retrograde amnesia. A woman wakes up in the hospital and is engaged to a man she remembers (though she doesn’t remember getting engaged…doesn’t remember anything from the last year, in fact). She’s in the days approaching her wedding…but there’s this other guy. This guy who seems to know things about her life that no one else does. This guy who’s in love with her and doesn’t want her to marry her fiancé. This guy she doesn’t remember and yet feels connected to somehow.

I carried this kernel of a story idea with me. I wasn’t sure what I was going to do with it or whose story it was. I never know much about my plot when I start writing. Instead, I start with emotion and character, and I was fascinated with how it would feel to wake up and think you had to perfect life, think you’d finally gotten everything you wanted…but have no memory of how you got there.

Meanwhile, I was also carrying the character of Hanna with me. Hanna who has struggled with her weight her whole life, who’s totally in love with a guy she grew up with but believes herself to be completely unworthy. I met Hanna while I was first writing Maggie’s story (now Unbreak Me), and I knew from the beginning she needed her own story.

Then, one day while I was writing a scene in Wish I May that had Hanna pining for Max, the puzzle pieces floating around in my head clicked together. Since I’d already written about Max and already “met” Asher’s musician friend Nate Crane in my mind (I know, writers are weird), the rest of the premise fell into place. I knew not only that I needed to write this sexy amnesia love triangle for Hanna but that it had so many twists and turns it was going to take me more than one book to tell it. And so the Here and Now series was born—a series where the main character has to choose between the two incredibly sexy guys that want her. How do you make the right choice for your future when you can’t remember your own secrets?

I hope you’ll check out Lost in Me, book one of the Here and Now series.