Title: Lovers, Losers and You
Series: Sunshine and Happiness 2
Author: Skylar M Cates
Narrator: Hugh Bradley
Genre: Contemporary
Length: 8hrs, 7 mins
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press LLC (12th September 2016)
Heat Level: Low
Heart Rating: ♥♥♥♥♥ 5 Hearts
Blurb: How can you lose one dream and still find another?
Owen King is a lonely history teacher who wants to be braver. So when Owen learns about the deceased brother he never met, he breaks free of his safety net and risks answers. Despite his loving, adopted family, Owen wonders if there are missing pieces inside of him. Visiting the seaside town of Ocean Vista, where his brother lived and died, will be no vacation.
Andrew Teagan wants to be a winner. After being dumped by his last boyfriend, Andrew is through letting others dictate his life. To prove that dreams are possible, he’s going after his ambitions full force. Having signed on for a cooking reality show, Andrew’s ready to make his small café into a sizzling success.
When Andrew aids Owen on the beach, what starts off as an act of kindness turns into a hot temptation. But can a sweet budding romance survive when the time comes for Owen to leave town? Both men must learn to trust each other if their love will conquer the miles between them.
Product Link: Audible US | Audible UK
Reviewer: Prime
Review: Lovers, Losers and You is the second book in Skylar M Cates Sunshine and Happiness. You don’t need to have prior knowledge or to have read/heard the first book, but if you have all power to you. If you haven’t, like me you probably want to go back as well as going forward to the third book. Which taking into mind that this is also the first book I’ve read by Cates, then I am quite happy to recommend this book and author – as well as being totally keen on seeing more.
The story itself is really one that tugs at the heart strings.
Owen King is lonely, mostly because the prestigious school where he teaches history – the very same school he attended as a child – means that he can’t have anything more than the random hook up with a strange man. He’s also the adopted son of a famous ex-baseball player and his sporty wife, but despite the unconditional love he has wanted to know about his biological family.
Unfortunately, he never knew about his brother until his brother’s untimely death. After constant communication with one of his brother’s friends, he finally makes the decision to go to Ocean Vista, where his brother had lived to find out more. It’s a difficult journey, for him and his adoptive parents, who have their hands full with his handicapped adopted sister. It’s complicated I know, but this is a superbly written book with a lot of depth to plot and characters.
In his quest to learn more about his brother and live in the house with the same friends his brother lived with, we meet Andrew. He’s also lonely in his own way and shoulders the burden of being the grown up for his younger half brother and sister, as well as his emotionally needy mother. But he also takes pride in the café which he owns and runs in Ocean Vista. He moved into the house where Owen’s brother had lived after another housemate had left to be with his boyfriend (the plot of book 1). Now he has entered a reality TV show contest in an attempt to make money to expand his café more. He wants to show his siblings that dreams are possible. It is he meets Owen he is the only one able to see him for himself, not as the replacement of a dead man.
I really love these two guys together. Andrew and Owen make a wonderful couple and it just so easy to not only relate to them but to also empathize with them. Not only that, there are so many details that come from all the minor characters in the house. This is a group of friends whose story are told through tragedy. One got his HEA, we are reading the current HEA and there is the couple of book 3 (Mark and Tomas).