Title: What Remains
Series: N/A
Author: Garrett Leigh
Genre: Contemporary/Disability
Length: 283 pages
Publisher: Riptide Publishing (July 4th 2016)
Heat Level: Moderate
Heart Rating: ♥♥♥♥♥5 Hearts
Blurb: Web designer Jodi Peters is a solitary creature. Lunch twice a week with his ex-girlfriend-turned-BFF and the occasional messy venture to a dodgy gay bar is all the company he needs, right?
Then one night he stumbles across newly divorced firefighter Rupert O’Neil. Rupert is lost and lonely, but just about the sweetest bloke Jodi has ever known. Add in the heady current between them, and Jodi can’t help falling hard in love. He offers Rupert a home within the walls of his cozy Tottenham flat—a sanctuary to nurture their own brand of family—and for four blissful years, life is never sweeter.
Until a cruel twist of fate snatches it all away. A moment of distraction leaves Jodi fighting for a life he can’t remember and shatters Rupert’s heart. Jodi doesn’t know him—or want to.
With little left of the man he adores, Rupert must cling to what remains of his shaky faith and pray that Jodi can learn to love him again.
ISBN: 9781626493971
Product Link: http://riptidepublishing.com/titles/what-remains
Reviewer: Aerin
Review: This book has been a surprise from the very beginning, because it didn’t start with Rupert and Jodi meeting each other and falling in love. This book starts with an established couple who has been happy for the past 4 years. Rupert and Jodi are everything to each other. That happy couple you can’t help but envy. By the end of the prologue, Rupert and Jodi’s world crumbles around them as Jodi fights for his life and Rupert prepares himself for the struggles ahead.
The next few chapters alternate between Jodi’s recovery and amnesia, which was heartbreaking, and flashbacks from the time Jodi and Rupert met and fell in love. I can’t tolerate flashbacks at any time, and god knows I tried! So I skimmed through the flashbacks and devoured the present. What a complete contrast, isn’t it?
This book was painful, especially when we get Rupert’s POV. Because it hurts so much when the person Rupert loves more than life itself looks at him like he’s a stranger. This book is full of feels, emotions, and angst (although not as bad as it could have been) and once the flashbacks stopped completely (after 10 chapters or so) I couldn’t put this book down.
I have a weakness for books with characters who suffer from illnesses/disabilities, be they temporary or permanent, and this has become one of my favorites. I think my absolute favorite thing was the fact that we get Jodi’s POV throughout his amnesia and the recovery period that follows. It was absolutely fascinating to get a glimpse of how Jodi thinks and how he feels, because it made the difference between grudgingly accepting his condition and being absolutely fascinated by it.
There’s also the duality of feeling Rupert’s angst, desolation, depression and sadness while understanding and making sense of Jodi’s actions and the reasons he’s acting the way he is. Absolutely fabulous and the best kind of mind-fuck, one I thoroughly enjoyed! To make everything even more perfect, Rupert’s endearment for Jodi boyo made me melt into a puddle of goo.
I don’t want to give any spoilers by telling you how Jodi’s amnesia progresses. But don’t make any assumptions, because I assure you this will not go the direction you’re thinking. Rupert and Jodi do get their HEA, and it’s absolutely beautiful. Any book that ends like this deserves to be read:
“I fucking love you, boyo, you know that?” Jodi looked up and grinned.
“Course I do, knobhead. That’s why I made it this far.”
“Knobhead?”
“Yeah . . . knobhead, my whole fucking world, whatever I call you, it all means the same, ’cause I love you too, Rupe. More than you’ll ever know.”
* I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review through http://mmgoodbookreviews.wordpress.com *