Reviewed by Valerie 

TITLE:  What Remains

AUTHOR:  Garrett Leigh 

PUBLISHER:  Fox Love Press, 2nd edition

LENGTH:  290 pages

RELEASE DATE:  May 11, 2022

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 cosy 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.

REVIEW:   

The accident had nearly killed them both— in different ways—but what they had now was as imperfectly perfect as it had ever been, and he wouldn’t change a thing.”

I’ve never read a book written by Garrett Leigh that I didn’t like. She continues her winning streak with What Remains, a book with a well-written amnesia trope about two men struggling to find their way back to each other when one can’t remember any of their life together. This compelling novel is two beautiful love stories in one: when Jodi and Rupert first meet and fall in love before Jodi loses his memory, and four years later when Jodi is suffering from amnesia and he and Rupert slowly rebuild their relationship deeper than before.

The first part of the book is told in a non-linear format: flashbacks are interspersed with the present-day storyline. (I never found it confusing.) The flashbacks lay the foundation for how happy the men had been – how in love they were – before Jodi lost his memory.

When Rupert first meets Jodi, he has never been with a guy before, not even on a date. Jodi helps Rupert explore his bisexuality and they fall in love quickly. Jodi also falls in love with Rupert’s three-year-old daughter, Indie, who takes to Jodi as if he was her stepfather.

When Jodi wakes up in the hospital with no memory of the past five years – including the entirety of their relationship – he’s angry at Rupert, whom he doesn’t know, and only wants his ex-girlfriend, Sophie, whom he thinks he’s still dating. Rupert is despondent, not knowing if Jodi will ever regain his memory and ever love Rupert again. My heart broke along with Rupert’s. It doesn’t seem like Jodi even cared if his partner existed.

When Jodi leaves the hospital, he doesn’t recognize his home. He’s agitated he has to live with a man he doesn’t know and doesn’t trust. They live like strangers. Jodi also doesn’t remember he’s bisexual so when he starts to take notice of Rupert’s physique, he’s alarmed and hates himself. But once he accepts his sexuality and realizes he desires Rupert, he worries that Rupert won’t be attracted to him anymore.

Rupert is hurt and sad but regardless of the anger Jodi sends his way, Rupert never wavers in his dedication to taking care of Jodi during his long, painful recovery. He knows Jodi may never remember him, and although he grows hopeless as time goes on, he never leaves Jodi’s side.

Living in limbo had left Rupert a broken man, but with no end in sight, it had been too easy to imagine another world, a world where Jodi had woken up remembering how much they loved each other.”

I enjoy amnesia tropes and this one is incorporated very well. It reads realistically, as though Ms. Leigh has done her research. Both men are highly likable and sympathetic characters. I don’t know which I felt more sadness for – the one in distress because he can’t remember, or the one in pain because he can remember what he no longer has. Indie is a darling who also suffers but serves as a turning point in Jodi’s recovery. She’s eight by the end of the book. Sophie is likewise a wonderful character who loves Jodi deeply (as a best friend) and never gives up on him.

The story wraps up nicely with a happy ending. This is a second edition re-release and Ms. Leigh has given it an updated cover and included an extended bonus epilogue. It serves as an introduction to her book, Misfits, rather than as an extension of Rupert and Jodi’s story. Overall, this is a lovely novel and I highly recommend it.

RATING:

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