Tommy Dees is in the weeds - restaurant speak for beyond overwhelmed. He's been working at Sunset Estates Retirement Community to get the experience he needs to attend one of the best culinary schools in the world. And he also needs a letter of recommendation from his sadistic manager. In exchange for the letter, Tommy has to meet three conditions - including train new-hire Gabriel.
Gabe, with the dimples and kind heart, who Tommy crushed on during summer camp at age ten and then never saw again. Unfortunately, Gabe doesn't remember Tommy at all. The training proves distracting as old feelings resurface, and the universe seems to be conspiring against them.
With the application deadline looming and Gabe on his mind, can Tommy keep it all together or is it a recipe for disaster?
Erik's first book, All that's Left in the World, was a surprise hit last year. When that happens, the second book is always a bit uncertain; is it going to be just as good, or was the author a one hit wonder?
Luckily, in this case, it's definitely the former. Lose You is even more intricate than All that's Left; although some of the same threads run through it, everything here is much more mature. This is loosely a romance, but it's also about nostalgia and how it can poison the present, about learning from the past, about finding your people and enjoying new things and spreading your wings and finding out who you are...and it's all wrapped up in a pretty good story, too.
BE AWARE there is a scene involving a medical emergency, with blood involved, and some scenes of the recovery from that emergency.
This is a wonderful story of teenage love and found family - one of my favourite tropes - and I think it's going to do just as well as, if not better than, Erik's first. He's quickly becoming an author to watch.
Lose You to Find Me publishes on the 2nd of May, 2023 in the UK (top image) and on the 16th May, 2023 in the US (lower image). I received a free copy and am giving an honest review.
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