I had found the premise intriguing: the heroine, Hannah Thompson wakes up in the hospital after having had an accident, and has quite a few surprises waiting for her. She is about to marry a guy on which she's had a crush since she was a teenager but doesn't remember ever going out with, is all slimmed down whereas she had been overweight all her life, and is the owner of a brand new business and doesn't know how it happened. She remembers everything but those past 11 months of her life.

Since I love a good amnesia trope, I couldn't pass up LOST IN ME. Hannah also has a gorgeous fraternal twin sister, Lizzie, who has always eclipsed her. Yet, the sisters have always been very close, but now the relationship has changed: Hannah senses a distance between them. Hannah's fiancé, Max Hollowell, is the ideal boyfriend: patient, loving, understanding but she doesn't grasp how he could love her. She eventually discovers that she knows the local rock star, Nate Crane, much better than she ever wished she could, and who behaves strangely towards her. I did have a problem though with Nix, Hannah's doctor ... and friend; there was a definite a breach of doctor-patient confidentiality.

Lexi Ryan uses a technique I'm not usually very fond of, that is alternating between the present and the past, but she did a great job and contributes to the suspense. The reader gets to know things at the same time Hannah does, recovering her memory one event at a time. I was looking forward to discovering what had happened and how it will affect all the players in the story.

The characters are complex, well-rounded; nothing is black and white. LOST IN ME is very well written, everything flows smoothly, although there are 5 or 6 unfortunate typos, but it's a real page-turner. LOST IN ME is an unusual romantic suspense that deals with serious issues as well: body image and anorexia are key players in this story and the author handles them in a most realistic manner and is heart wrenching at times.

LOST IN ME ends on a cliff-hanger, and what a cliff-hanger it is, and this should definitely not deter anyone from reading this book. LOST IN ME was definitely a most pleasant surprise, and I am very much looking forward to the second instalment, Fall to You, which releases in June 2014.

Book Summary

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.