It was just alright... but the characters were okay..but nothing interesting wich made the chemistry fall flat. I really wanted to like it, but i did not.

Lost and Found is a book worth your time. It's themes - pain so severe that it blots out memory, the crumbling of faith as a generation falls into the abyss of WWI, the tensions between family and self-fulfillment, and the courage required to love - are beautifully interwoven. Set in 1920 Paris, it tells the story of Benjamin Holm, a doctor traumatized during the war by an attack on a battlefield hospital and now trying to find his best friend, and Louis Donadieu, a dancer whose career was ended by polio. There are diamonds scattered throughout in the form of compact sentences that take difficult thoughts and feelings, the kind experienced away from the eyes of others in personal, private moments, and condense them into small, sparkling revelations. Like aphorisms, these insights not only allowed me to reflect on my own experiences, and provided comfort that others shared them, too, but also opened up new possibilities for consideration. More than once I found myself stopping to unpack their nuances and implications.

I was surprised, in a good way, at how sexually intense the story became. There are writers who write erotic scenes that titillate and excite, and then there are those whose eroticism excites and reveals simultaneously - whose descriptive precision and observant acuity not only helps us imagine the feel and slide of skin as one thigh presses against another, but how such a transitory sensation, or a momentary emotion, echoes and ripples through the tributaries and currents of a life. This author's sentences do just that, with a startling economic efficiency. She uses condensed, direct words that pare an experience down to it's core. They resonate because they strike with precision, demonstrating that our most private experiences often find sympathetic echoes in the lives of others.

The first third of the book feels slightly disjointed, with some staccato, choppy descriptions, but afterward everything starts to fall into place. The disjointed feel might be calculated, as it gave me a sense of what Benjamin may be experiencing. At the halfway point, I ended up caring about the cast of characters, some of whom are cool and distant, with rough cut edges, while others are warm and charming, but all drawn with precision and an eye for detail. I also came to appreciate how the author captured century-old attitudes towards self-sufficiency, pride, and propriety, and also her skill in exploring the central role that manliness played in the lives of men.

I was positively surprised I liked this book as much as I did. See, I am not France's biggest fan, I blame my France teacher for that. This book however... This book was wonderfully written, the story kept me engaged and even though it had technically three sex scenes - one hand, one mouth, one actual penetration - I was mostly fine with reading them because they were well written and it wasn't too clicheed. Also, I've never been able to step out of a well written LGBTQ post war novel, so the history nerd inside me was overly satisfied.
Benjamin was such a wonderful character. He was real. Marked by the war, but with a purpose and an engery of life I enjoyed reading.
Louis was also absolutely perfect in every way - I picked up a crave for broken souls who are being mended again like Louis was. The ending almost left me in tears.
The plottwist however - I was not prepared for that one. Not at all and I really sat in front of this book with my mouth hanging open for a moment. What an amazing, yet sad addition to an already wonderful story! It lifted my spirits and broke them at the same time and I love it when a books touches my lile this one. I am so happy to have been able to read this book and to find it almost, almost perfect. I was a bit biased though, because of my loathing to my French teacher which sadly ruined the experience a bit.

I received a free ARC by Netgalley and the publishers in exchange for an honest review.

I enjoyed reading Lost and Found. A lovely, romantic, atmospheric , feel good story set in the most magical and beautiful - to me - city in the world, Paris .

I just reviewed Lost and Found by Liv Rancourt. #LostandFound #NetGalley

"Lost and Found" is set in post World War I Paris, with Rancourt beautifully recreating the mystique and magic of the era. Our characters briefly meet the Parisian avant-garde including Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas, and a newcomer, Ernest Hemingway briefly flits through the pages. While reading this book, I could vividly recall walking the streets of Montmartre in the shadow of the Sacré-Coeur during my trip to Paris.

Just as a perfect Paris afternoon must be slowly savored, you need to set aside any expectations of a quick read and just immerse yourself into the setting, and the slow careful reveal of American doctor Benjamin Holm and the enignmatic Louis Donadieu. Impeded by severe post-traumatic memory loss, Ben has returned to Paris to find his boyhood friend Elias; they both served in the war yet Ben returned home alone and has returned to Montmartre to track down Elias. He struggles to make sense of the war, make sense of his haphazard memories, and recall his fleeting memories. He is hampered by his inability to remember.

Louis Donadieu is hampered by a physical impairment that has left him as a dance instructor instead of a premier performer. He lives in the shadow of what he has lost, and that commonality draws Louis and Ben together. Their relationship slowly develops and as with most things in this book, it's a bit slow and a bit hesitant, but it's definitely worth the wait.

But while I appreciated the slow course of their relationship and the gradual unfolding of Ben's truth, toward the end of the novel the author takes a direction that did not work for me, personally. I don't want to reveal too much, but I felt the final 30% of the book could have been tightened up. But again, your mileage may vary.

Overall, I give Rancourt kudos for a wonderful setting as well as Ben's journey to uncover his past, and give "Lost and Found" 4.5 stars.

3.5 stars. The setting was great and you could really feel the city of Paris, but it was a sweet story with a lot of history. The biggest "twist" for Benjamin isn't as much of one for the reader, I think, but it is interesting to get an insight into his shell-shocked mind.

Lost & Found is a gripping story about loss and grief, secrets and trauma in the aftermath of WWI. American doctor Benjamin is searching for his lost friend in Paris, but when his neighbor Louis volunteers to help, the search becomes a journey into lost memories and to self-discovery. It’s also a story about the healing power of love, and to find beauty and hope even though you’ve lost everything you thought was worth living for.

Seeing this beautiful cover and learning that this was a story taking place in 1920s Paris about “a dancer who cannot dance and a doctor who cannot heal”, who in each other finds the strength to love again, I was so sure I would be blown away by this book. It sounded exactly like my favorite kind of gripping, forbidden and life-changing romance. But sadly, my high expectations were not fully met.

I really enjoyed the Paris setting and the sweet romance, but the story was a bit too slow for me, and I didn’t root for the characters as much as I had hoped for. I think the main problem was that the story was told from Benjamin’s POV, since his mind and memories were shattered from the war trauma, and he’s so closed off from his own feelings (and in complete denial when it comes to his desire for men). All this made the story itself feel subdued and made us reader distanced from Benjamin himself. I also found it a bit hard to take Benjamin to my heart when he was denying his own feelings so hard, and was so disgusted with other men’s affection.

Things just don’t make sense for Benjamin, until Louis unlocks something in him. After that, about halfways when Benjamin started to open up, so did the book, and I could relate much better to both Benjamin and Louis.

So, even though I wasn’t blow away, it was still an enjoyable and sweet read that I definitely recommend. All in all, Lost & Found is a sad and gripping, yet hopeful story about accepting your true self, and learning to live a free life.

3.5 stars rounding up to 4.

Thank you NetGalley and Xpresso Book Tours for the ebook copy in exchange for an honest review!

Taking place in Paris 1920 the setting is magical. The City of Lights shines brightly with the descriptions given. Times are more formal during this time and we can see this in the mannerisms of the characters.
Benjamin is one of the walking wounded after the Great War not in body but in mind. PTSD has left him a broken bitter man struggling mightily to regain his mental capabilities.
This war doctor returns to Paris to find his closest friend, Elias.
It haunts him greatly that no matter how much time he spends searching Paris or how many people he asks about him he still remains clueless.
He meets a man in Paris, Louis who helps him search Paris high and low to no avail.
As they spend time together searching for Elias a passion develops between them.
The book is a bit angsty and the relationship has it's ups and downs.
What will happen as Benjamin's memory slowly returns? Each man has an issue holding them back mentally and physically they are trying to desperately to work through . Benjamin must go home to his family, how will this affect things?
Wartime trauma,layered characters and descriptive scenery.

Published October 4th 2019
I was given a complimentary copy of this book. Thank you.
All opinions expressed are my own.

"Lost and Found" was absolutely lovely.
I requested it because I love the 1920's and I love stories about the aftermath of WW1. A love story between a soldier and a wounded ballet dancer in Paris during the roaring Twenties sounded just like my thing but I definitely wasn't expecting this book to be so lovely and warm but also bittersweet and hard.
Benjamin, our main protagonist, is a complex man, full of self-loathing and shame and a desperation that makes him hard to like at times. I did appreciate him though, his tenacity and sweetness, and I found the author's portrayal of his memory loss and his shell-shocked mind very realistic.
Louis, on the other hand, I loved with my whole soul. He's snarky and tough and resilient and sweet and vulnerable. He blew my mind and broke my heart.
The whole cast of side characters were lovable and wonderful and they made Paris feel like home to me too.
I loved the setting. Liv Rancourt has a gift when it comes to painting Paris with such vividness: you can actually feel and see the light and darkness the city is full of.

If you're looking for a lovely '20 atmosphere, lost and broken souls that find each other (and also lots of descriptions of food and wine!) "Lost and Found" is the book for you.

A wonderful story set in Post WWII Paris with complex characters and an entertaining storyline. Benjamin and Louis started off on the contentious side but their connection slowly evolved into something more as Louis helped Benjamin search for his missing friend. Wartime trauma and a life interrupted by disease, these characters were anything but simple and their journey made for a engaging read.

*I voluntarily reviewed a copy of this book provided by NetGalley*

Thanks to Netgallery and the author/publisher for this ARC!

I really really wanted to love this book and although I enjoyed it, the pacing left me feeling a little flat and disconnected to some fairly decent characters and narrative.

The basic premise: struggling with memory loss and trauma from the war, Benjamin, a doctor, finds himself wandering Paris in the 20s searching for his best friend, Elias. He meets ex-dancer, Louis, and a handful of other characters who aid in his search, which becomes more about Benjamin rediscovering his memories and embracing new romance and his sexuality. It's a relatively quiet story with a lot of emotional punch and internal development, tackling themes of internalised homophobia, PTSD and disability.

Lost and Found is heartfelt, lonely and at times, romantic, but I think this book could benefit from some pacing changes and structural edits. The romance is solidly built and grows into something you really start to root for, but the problem lies within the lack of grounding in the writing; Benjamin's wandering self makes you feel at times bored and wanting to skip sections until you get to some interesting dialogue and actual development.

On the one hand, I want to praise the author's intent; I appreciate there must be a struggle in creating a mood of inner development and poetic sadness without pushing the reader away. On the other hand, I personally couldn't quite ever fully connect to the characters or the story fully. It's a good read, but I found myself skipping bits or cringing at the over-use of the word 'organ'.

Depending on personal taste I think this story will either be an easy but forgettable read or something you could lose yourself in.

Set in early 1920s Paris, Benjamin is on a mission to find an old flame and memories he has lost.

This was an interesting read, however, I had mix feelings reading this story.
Some parts I enjoyed. Like how Liv portrayed Benjamin's PTSD and memories loss through out the story. And Louis kept me coming back for more. (More Louis wouldn't have hurt)
But also didn't enjoy the writing style and found it to bland at times or me rolling my eyes at some choice in wording.
"The water barely covered my lap, doing little to disguise the swelling of my organ."

The story is definitely worth reading and hard to really put into words.

Was giving the Arc from Netgalley for an honest review

Benjamin lived through war, survived to Armistice, but cannot remember so much of what happened. Clinging to what he does know, he travels to Paris in an attempt to find his best friend Elias, who also fought in the war. In Paris, he meets Louis, a dance teacher who can no longer fully dance, and Louis offers to help him in his search. As they travel around Paris, they find themselves falling for each other, but Benjamin must reconcile what he's been taught and what he can't remember with what he truly feels.

With not being able to travel right now, being able to read about Paris like this was wonderful. The descriptions really come alive and, though I visited in a different time period, it made me remember what it was like to be in that amazing city.

Benjamin and Louis's romance is definitely a slow burn, but it makes complete sense given their backgrounds and what they are going through. I was rooting for them both as individuals and as a couple the entire story, and was very happy with where they ended up.

This book does not pull punches when it comes to sorrow and loss, but there is so much love and life in the story as well.

I received this book in exchange for an honest review.
Such a beautiful story. It was so great to see Benjamin find someone to love after he lost so much in the war. There really isn't much to say because the book should rather be read. The only thing I sort of want to "critique" is that I would have liked to spend a little more time with Louis. I think he had a lot more potential to show his full character and why he and Benjamin fit so well.