Lose You to Find Me

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A music video was released alongside the song. The music video was shot completely on an iPhone for Apple’s “Shot on iPhone” campaign; these words and the Apple logo can be seen in a promotional video posted by Apple. I read an eARC of All That’s Left In The World last year and i absolutely loved it, so of course i jumped at the chance to read this one and i’m so glad that i did! Lose You to Find Me absolutely exceeded my expectations in every way. Tommy Dees is in the weeds—restaurant speak for beyond overwhelmed. He’s been working as a server at Sunset Estates retirement community to get the experience he needs to attend one of the best culinary schools in the world. And to make his application shine, he also needs a letter of recommendation from his sadistic manager. But in exchange for the letter, Tommy has to meet three conditions—including training the new hire.

Erik Brown has this intriguing ability of making his characters so different from each other yet relatable all the same. Erik Brown has this intriguing ability of totally getting what I want from a book and delivering every time. (well, two times, as of now, but I bet there's gonna be more.) A romantic, heartfelt, and hilarious queer coming-of-age story from All That's Left in the World author Erik J. Brown, perfect for fans of What If It’s Us and If This Gets Out. When Tommy is thrown together with his childhood crush after they both get after-school jobs at a retirement home, can the two boys get a second shot at first love, before life boils over? After four years of releasing droplet singles, Selena Gomez released “Lose You To Love Me,” a self-love anthem featuring melancholic lyrics about discovering her true self through the difficult process of losing a lover. Usually my favorite character of every book is the female lead, because the book is usually written from their perspective. And so it sort of is here, too. B’s written from both Raine & Caleb’s POV, and this time, I am so, SO much on team Caleb that it’s hard for me to see past his pain. Not that I am not team Raine, but oh my heart hurts so bad for Caleb. (And here come those pesky tears again) This song was inspired by many things that have happened in my life since releasing my last album. I want people to feel hope and to know you will come out the other side stronger and a better version of yourself.

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His debut, ALL THAT'S LEFT IN THE WORLD, won the UK reader's Choice Books Are my Bag Award, was nominated for a Goodreads Choice Award, the Waterstone's Children's Book Prize, and 2023 Yoto Carnegie Award, and was selected as a Junior Library Guild Gold Standard. Tommy is going into his last year of high school and it’s time to plan out his future. When he asks his boss at the retirement community to write him a recommendation for culinary school, she tasks him with training a new hire… who is he? None other than the boy that he fell in love with at summer camp so many years ago, Gabe. BUT HE DOESN’T REMEMBER HIM?!?!? Usually I talk way more about the plot, but in this book it was different from what I'm used to–which is mainly why I don't want to spoil it for anyone. All I will say is, so realistic. And that REALLY rarely happens in YA romance. Especially gay ya romance. Which I can't blame the authors for–some of us suffer enough in real life and we don't need that on paper–but it's nice to have something that feels like a thing that could happen and not another fairytale where everything always goes according to how the main character wants it to be, even if they come across some hardships along the way.

Al and Willa aka 'the fairy grandfather and badass lesbian grandmother' were also the highlights of this story. I loved their no-nonsense attitude and their constant attempts to make Tommy see the error of his ways and the fault in his thinking. Ava was also a wonderful friend - the entire staff at the home were a fun lot, and I enjoyed reading their interactions and the ease in which they navigated themselves around the kitchen.

As for the narration, I'm not sure -- I've listened to other stories performed by Kirt Graves and thought he did just fine. Perhaps it was a technical thing for this book but he didn't speak the words as "crisply" as he normally does, and overall he sounded very breathy, ending every sentence on the same note. I really liked all of the characters, they never felt flat or boring. I think James was one of my favorites, he reminds me of a friend I had in school who was so loud and crazy but the most fun. Erik did so amazing at making us love both Gabe and Brad that you could truly feel the conflicting emotions. And they made me sad! Don’t get me wrong – I was truly rooting for Brad as soon as I realized what was happening, but at the same time – part of me wanted the stereotypical, predictable route of Tommy and Gabe ending up together. [ But the book has its title for a reason, we have learned! ]