To Find Him and Love Him Again, Volume 2

Tyack & Frayne #11

by Harper Fox

This is Volume Two of Two in this tenth Tyack & Frayne story.

“There were three monsters here for Lee to unmask. One was a jackal, one was a snake. But the third – a handsome, virile werewolf – wasn’t wearing a mask at all.”

Things have gone wrong in the world. Lee Tyack can’t quite remember how it all began, how his solitary life diverged from a dream he sometimes has of perfect happiness with a perfect man. In the city, prey to terrifying visions, constantly on the run, he’s desolately alone.

London is broken, racked with race riots and food shortages as political tensions rise. One man trying hopelessly to stem the tide of violence is a copper called Gideon Frayne, reluctant recruit to the Met after a shattering career failure in his Cornish homeland.

When Lee is arrested for a murder he knows too much about, Sergeant Frayne is amongst the unbelievers. But there’s something about this fierce, fragile detainee that tugs at Frayne’s memories, as if he too once dreamed of better days.
Strange allies and old enemies emerge from the walls of this uneasy city as Gideon investigates the murder and then Lee Tyack’s sudden disappearance from the scene. With no-one else to care about a tormented clairvoyant on the run, Lee’s chances aren’t good – unless, by some miracle of faith and loving memory, Gideon can find him and love him again.

Genres: Paranormal, M M Romance, Fantasy, Mystery, Romance, Contemporary, LGBT

164 pages, Kindle Edition

First published August 15, 2020

About the author

Harper Fox is an M/M author with a mission. She’s produced six critically acclaimed novels in a year and is trying to dispel rumours that she has a clone/twin sister locked away in a study in her basement. In fact she simply continues working on what she loves best– creating worlds and stories for the huge cast of lovely gay men queuing up inside her head. She lives in rural Northumberland in northern England and does most of her writing at a pensioned-off kitchen table in her back garden, often with blanket and hot water bottle.

She lives with her SO Jane, who has somehow put up with her for a quarter of a century now, and three enigmatic cats, chief among whom is Lucy, who knows the secret of the universe but isn't letting on. When not writing, she either despairs or makes bread, specialities foccacia and her amazing seven-strand challah. If she has any other skills, she's yet to discover them.

Reviews

[Kaje Harper · Rating 4 out of 5]

This blurb is also wrong - this is not the conclusion, but book 2 of what's listed as 3 on Amazon. I missed that change, and read the first two - I'm not entirely sorry, but this ending is even more painfully tentative than the last, so if that's not your thing, be warned.

Lee's world is unravelling, and the cracks and fractures we saw in the first segment bring us to this dark point, where Lee is working solo in an urban world plagued with violence and pandemic. His dreams and flashes tell him there's something else, somewhere else, somebody else, that should be his element and his hope, but he can't put the pieces together.

This segment hurt to read, and the flashes of hope and possibility unravel, time after time. Having seen what Lee and Gideon are like together, this view of them apart is a rough road to follow. I hope the third installment comes along soon, and desperately need to see these men find a path back to love and warmth. For Harper Fox fans with strong hearts, read this now for the emotionally gripping middle section of this journey.

[Kit (Metaphors and Moonlight) · Rating 4 out of 5]

*This review contains spoilers if you haven't read the previous books.*

This was good in a painful but also sort of sweet way. The last book ended with the timeline having been changed so that Gideon and Lee didn't meet at the Kemp house, so that's what this book was about. And that hurt, for obvious reasons. These two are beautiful together, they should be together. And both their lives were worse without each other. But seeing Gideon and Lee find each other again, connect with each other, find solace with each other even when they didn't quite remember, that was the sweet part. It's not often you get to see two characters meet and start falling for each other a second time. Not to mention that passionate, needy first time sex ;-) I also enjoyed getting to see what Lee's relationship with his dad was like. These weren't things that actually happened, not in the original timeline, but it still showed what his relationship was like, I think. Overall, I really liked this one, and I have faith that things will work out.

*Rating: 4 Stars // Read Date: 2023 // Format: Ebook via TTS*

Recommended For:
Fans of Books 1-10 in Harper Fox's Tyack & Frayne series. Anyone who likes loving and supportive m/m romance, clairvoyants, mysteries, and small English towns.

More Reviews @ Metaphors and Moonlight

[Beth doesn't write enough reviews · Rating 5 out of 5]

Harper! I never knew you to be so cruel!

Lee and Gid have been torn apart by a cruel curse. Reality continues for friends and family without Lee and Gid.

Lee is being torn apart by his monsters without Gideon to unmask them.

Evil still stalks Lee.

This is breaking my heart.

Will Gideon find his Lee?

[Ay]

I read this in the mistaken belief that it was the second half of a duology.

It is not. The (at present) final volume of this ?trilogy? Is to be released soon.

If you are not in a great place right now, I would advise against reading this book until the final book is released. The author is processing the times we are in, in this volume.

[BevS · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not my fave Harper Fox Tyack & Frayne read I have to admit, although I suppose it dovetails with the current dark, depressing climate, and the uncertain, worrying times in which we live. I can only hope that it helped Harper get rid of her lockdown demons, and put her in a better frame of mind to embrace the future. 4 stars.

This is sort of an allegorical story...what is happening in Gideon and Lee's 'life' meshed together with Harper's fictional take on the Covid pandemic; social distancing, the wearing of face masks, the Black Lives Matter movement and entitled white trash/supremacists [we went back to the 70's and *I* remember being frightened to death of skinheads roaming in packs trying to find any person of colour that they could 🤬🤬...God only knows what their 'prey' must've felt like...]. I was completely lost at first, and then I kept thinking 'well, what if'? Turns out my 'what if' was correct, and I can only wait and see whether the burgeoning hope I felt at the end of this particular story carries on into the next one.

Although I'm not a member of Harper's Patreon [and maybe I should be], I understand that there was so much for her to write, this 2 part story has turned into 3 parts, although no clue as to when the ending will appear...watch this space!!

[Elleh · Rating 3 out of 5]

I… don’t know how I feel about this? It felt... disconnected somehow. Yes, I could connect moments and people from the previous books but this one was... I seriously don’t know how to put it. It feels either unfinished or like it should have never been a book on its own. It could have perfectly well been a second part from the previous one, and it would have made much more sense as a reading experience that reading this after months from the other one. And still! I am a firm believer a *single* book should be able to stand on its own, no matter if it’s part of a bigger story or a series, but this one doesn’t quite feel like it does.

I am a bit mad about that ending, not gonna lie, and at this point I am not entirely sure if I will read the next one if there is one.

Giving it 3.5 stars because Gid and Lee still make me scream with how much they love each other, and because I love Lee as a character so damn much. But as a said, this book AS A BOOK just feels.... dunno, weird.

[JD Crittendon · Rating 4 out of 5]

In Sickness and In Health, or Misadventures!

In an alternative, alternative universe Lee Tyack is faced with flashbacks, debilitating visions, misaligned characters, and an ugly landscape all while fighting to connection to Gideon Frayne, again. It's a very disconcerting, heartbreaking storyline.
I had the fortune to read this saga straight through, all 11 books; I’m already missing these guys. So hang on, I’m betting the best is yet to come. As the Hare winks...

[Terri · Rating 5 out of 5]

How many parts are there to the tenth episode in this remarkable series? I don't know, but this is not the end. And it's shorter. And it hurts beautifully, like real magic. And I wish I could get the next one right now.

[Bronwyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Even though this is the shortest of the 3 stories that make up the 10th book of this series, it took me a long time to read. I thought the previous book was tough, but it had nothing on this one and I had to take frequent breaks. I’m not particularly happy with where this storyline is going. Part of me wishes the author didn’t mess with the MCs like this. Maybe I should have stopped after book 9, but there were still questions.

When the previous book ended, Alice Rawle had placed a curse on Gideon and Lee. You never met. From there, Tamsyn had placed some spell on Alice so she’d be catatonic and not able to hurt anyone anymore. On their way home, Gideon, Lee, and Zeke pulled their cars off the side of the road to look at a solar field that hadn’t been there the previous day. Time was starting to unravel. Gideon noticed that his and Lee’s wedding rings were gone and there was no evidence that they had been wearing them for years. Lee just wanted to get home because he was sure everything would be okay if they could just get there and be together. But before that could happen, Lee collapsed…and the book ended.

This second part opens at the time when Lorna Kemp had gone missing in book one. That’s how Lee and Gideon met. Well, that didn’t happen this time and now everything is messed up. This book is like we’re in topsy turvy world. Nothing is as it should be. Some people have different names, some people have different personalities, some have different jobs. I was constantly wondering what was happening. Then it was revealed at the end. After he collapsed, Lee was rushed to the hospital for emergency brain surgery to remove the tumor that we learned about in the last book. The surgery was a success! But for some unknown reason, Lee has been unable to waken and he’s been in a coma for six weeks.

The last chapter is everyone gathered around Lee’s bed at Chy Lowen waiting for him to wake up. Gideon is a mess and Tamsyn has stopped talking. Bills are going unpaid since Gideon hasn’t left Lee’s bedside and they’re in danger of losing their house. Zeke is doing all he can to try to manage Gideon’s household as well as his own.

This one ends on another cliffhanger since everything is still unresolved. Will Gideon and Lee fall in love in Lee’s alternate world? Is that what it will take for him to finally come out of his coma in the real world? Does Tamsyn once again set the timeline straight like she did before the Pride Parade bombing? Is this really all Alice Rawle’s curse or is something else happening? I need answers!

[Jax · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was settled in for a long read and a resolution, but that’s not what this was. It’s short-ish (compared to Vol 1) and leaves only a hopeful suggestion of what may happen/be happening/be about to happen. There’s a note on the Amazon page for the first book that says “Volume One of Two” and this one says “Volume Two of Two”, but there either has to be a Volume Three or a book 11. I enjoyed this installment, but not as an ending. I expect that Fox has more in the works for our Lee & Gideon and the real payoff to Volume One is yet to come.

Note: The blurb for Vol 2 seems a little off because there’s not really a murder ‘investigation’; there’s actually very little of Gideon in this. And, unless I’m already forgetting some bits (entirely possible), the stuff in London is all from Lee’s POV.

[Christine · Rating 5 out of 5]

GAHHHH!!!!!!

You'll love it when everything gets resolved at the end of book 2...;) HA!

Both Lee and Gideon are terrified of jeopardizing their little family, but they're both haunted by shadows. Gideon doesn't want to look too closely at himself and what he believes he's becoming; Lee is reluctantly keeping secrets of his own. When a grim threat from their past reappears and rips them apart, their world is fractured: their little family is torn from its moorings, and their friendships shattered. Both Gideon and Lee are left adrift.....

Stay tuned.....

They're both amazing books, especially the second one.

It's a thoroughly wrenching "Through the Looking Glass" kind of adventure, where everything we've come to know and love about our guys is now seen through an horrific distorted mirror. It's a deeply troubling exercise in What Might Have Been.

I went into it loving this author, and trusting that she will get through the story that she wants to tell, and out the other side to where Gideon and Lee get their long-awaited HEA. And...I still love this author..but would have appreciated knowing that what was supposed to have been a two-book story is now running into a third installment. It would be nice to know when the third book will be out.

[Ulysses Dietz · Rating 4 out of 5]

To Find Him and Love Him Again (Parts 2 and 3)
BY Harper Fox
FoxTales publications, 2021
Four stars

If these two books get just four stars from me, it’s because only readers familiar with—and in love with—the Tyack and Frayne stories could make any sense at all out of them. I’m reviewing volume 2 of book 10 (a short one) and volume 3 of book 10 (a long one) together, because I purposely read them together so as to spare myself any undue agony.

Yikes. Part 2 was, as the UK says, disorientating. From page one. Suddenly we have Lee living and struggling along as a barback in London; while Gideon is, quite randomly, also in London, working as a policeman and living in a basement apartment near the police station. Things seem off, both with our familiar characters and with London in general. It is a post-Brexit city, rattled with racial and economic hostilities. There is even one disquieting reference to COVID-19, but that slips by with barely a mention until it reappears in volume 3. Is that part of one of Lee’s visions? Lee’s visions seem to be out of control, for all that he’s hundreds of miles away from Cornwall. He also, very clearly, doesn’t know Gideon, although they keep crossing paths in ways that seem weighted with Destiny trying hard to correct the nasty machinations of a third party. And we know who that is, right?

One of the lovely surprises in this book is that we meet Lee’s father, Caden, I think for the first time (but honestly I didn’t check back through all the other books). He is every bit as appealing a character as Lee, but living on borrowed time. Which, you know, is apt. Given the circumstances. Right?

The only rational hook I had on which to hang my understanding of this book’s “Ulysses in Night Town” surrealism is the sense that Lee and Gideon are struggling to find each other, even if they don’t know it, and they’re being helped by something beyond human comprehension. Oddly enough, that was a comfort to me, as I simply let myself go with the flow, tears almost constantly gathered at the back of my eyes. Harper Fox’s skill at poking tender spots and creating vivid imagery that heightens every possible emotion is working at full force.

Lee’s immediate understanding of Gideon’s true nature is also a first—something we’ve all been bobbing and weaving around since it first popped up way back when. Lee truly sees Gideon, because he doesn’t know him and therefore has no reason to spare him any scrutiny. A long feverish night in Gideon’s bunker-like flat is another gorgeous romantic scene that comforted me profoundly, and made it clear that Ms. Fox is not just winging it. There is a plan, and it will be a good one.

When the scene shifts back to Bodmin and the town of Dark in the second part of the book, the flipside of the London nightmare is revealed. My memories of the previous book began to fall into place and the way forward became clear just in time to end book 2 and move into book 3.

The last book, the extended finale—which surprises us with an unexpected paranormal event at the end—makes no sense if you don’t know the entire series. It is an exercise in spiritual re-capping of what went before, in order to reweave the torn threads of Alice Rawle’s destructive attempts to force Destiny to her will. What Fox does so cleverly is to use this as an opportunity to remind us of all the weird little things we might not have quite understood in the previous nine books, or might have even purposely set aside because we found them disturbing. Aside from simply repairing damage done, this book is also, somewhat to my surprise, a corrective for Lee and Gideon. For all the idyllic romance of their relationship, there have in fact been all sorts of awkward things left unexplored, as well as conversations left unspoken. These, too, get investigated, bringing all of us into a fuller appreciation of the complex narrative the author has woven, as she takes us warmly by the hand and brings us home.

The final finale, so to speak, threw me for a loop, and yet ultimately made me very happy. Two little girls, one abandoned to clinical brutality, one nurtured with loving tenderness, are offered up as the final counterpoint and as the last, unanswered “what if?” There is, in the end, nothing more than good and evil, and the world’s inherent magic. Good and evil are relative, while magic is impossible for humans to fully comprehend or control.

Harper Fox leaves us with no guarantees at the end of the Tyack and Frayne series; but in the end we at last know who everybody is, and thus we can pretend that we have a pretty good idea.

[Arch Bala · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the second out of the three volumes of the tenth Tyack & Frayne story. If you’ve not been following the series religiously, you have got to stop reading this volume now because it won’t make sense. You really have to start from the very first book.

I thought this second book was quite interesting. Due to the events from the last volume, Lee and Gideon found themselves in London, albeit not together and living their individual lives in a pandemic, post-Brexit London that is. The whole thing was just disorienting. There was like this magic casted into their universe that resulted to major changes in their lives. It was interesting witnessing the what-ifs and what could’ve been but also a bit confusing because of the intersecting timelines of each character, not just for Lee and Gideon but old characters from the earlier books – it made Inception way easier to decipher.

Here, we get more insights about Gideon’s character being a ‘beast,’ we see Lee’s life pre-Gideon and without Gideon. It’s basically an alternate reality but we also get some answers to some questions, particularly about Gideon as mentioned above.

The first volume ended with a cliffhanger and this one did too, so I think I made the right choice of waiting for the third and final volume to be released. This may not be as engaging as the previous books in the series, but I liked that it’s different and very on-brand and consistent with the tone of the series. The whole paranormal stuff just gotten way over the top and I live for it!

I’d of course recommend this to the followers of the series but please be reminded that you’ve to get the rest of the volumes first!

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

[PaperMoon · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm hoping no reader had embarked on this unless they'd read all/most of the preceding series volumes; if they did - they would probably feel as if they were trapped on a Holodeck, living out a dystopian nightmarish life of a crazed psychic. As is, for the first sixty-five percent of the book, I found myself floundering about in a fevered 'lost in Oz' alternate universe where familiar MCs appear in altered roles and identities. Several times I wanted to 'down tools' in sheer frustration but couldn't because I just had to know where the author was taking Lee and Gideon.

Story-lines redacted from previous titles flashed by in re-worked plot segments. 'Monsters' and antagonists make sudden appearances - chasing after and ensnaring a frightened Lee situated in a 'Gotham-city like' London ... I was half expecting Lee to bump into John Murdock from Dark City (1998). The slow addition of Gideon and then several recurring secondary characters did not help my reading re-orientation and in fact exacerbated the confusion as most were not being featured as their usual selves.

Everything led up to the crucial final chapter, which clarified so much and yet ... didn't address some of my questions, leaving things completely 'up in the air' for the next volume - aargh!! 4 stars because I just love these characters but minus half a star for the frustrating ending.

[Simon · Rating 4 out of 5]

I waited for Book 2 to be published before buying Book 1, as Harper warned us that if we didn't like cliff-hangers, be warned, Book 1 ends on a cliff-hanger.
To my dismay Book 2 also ends on a cliff-hanger and it seems there is now a Book 3, with no date for publication.
My least favourite novel of the series to date. Having escaped from London myself twenty-five years ago and never having returned since, this story set in present day London with social distancing, mask wearing, fighting between ethnic groups, food shortages and the Brexit challenges depressed me no end.
Let us hope Book 3 rises to today's challenges and Lee and Gideon return Home.
3.5 marked up

[John · Rating 5 out of 5]

Part two, though fairly short, was even better than part one. Loving this series within a series.

[Gillian · Rating 4 out of 5]

ETA: I originally said this was a 4.5 star read rounded down to 4 but now that I think about it, I'm going with 3.5 stars rounded up. I feel cheated by ending.

3.5 stars

I would give this 4.5 but that ending was a little cruel. I had assumed, like many others, this would conclude things from Vol 1 but it seems we were all mistaken.

Aside from that, I felt discombobulated throughout the whole (too short for the money I spent) book..well, novella, really. I do believe that was the intent though, because everything *is* out of order and out of sync thanks to bloody Alice. Things are falling apart in Dark and Lee and Gideon need to work some magic to get things back to where they should be. I very much don't like this alternate reality Lee is finding himself in, nor the actual reality that Gideon and his family and friends are finding themselves in. It's going to be a long wait to for the next book to hopefully see the world put back in proper working order again.

[Bookworm · Rating 2 out of 5]

M/M paranormal crime mystery and romance series.
This is book 2 in this (final?) trilogy.
It reads like the hallucinations of a mad Lee who keeps referring to events from previous books that will be hard to follow if you are not familiar with the rest of the series.

Having ‘not met’ Gideon due to the curse, we see an alternate universe only from Lee’s unhinged POV.
Everyone has different jobs, attitudes and places to live including Lee and Gideon. Some people had even different names like Ravi/Cosmic Ray.
Lee is unraveling in this maddening plot until he finally meets Gid. Their second ‘first’ night is not as explosive as their first one but it was a nice sanity break.

However, their meeting again hinges on a plot hole made by having Cadan alive! If Cadan is alive then Lee shouldn’t have been haunted by Hawke who wasn’t released until Cadan died! And then Lee wouldn’t have lost his shit and got arrested! . I guess it is in vogue to adopt the Marvel multiverse solution by twisting the timelines and burying all the plot holes such as Alice’s inexplicable failures at getting Tamysn or Lee’s telekinesis that should only be possible in the offsprings not the ‘carriers’ or Gideon becoming a werewolf even though he isn’t a Guardian, doesn’t even live on the moors anymore or ever lived in the house of Wolves .

I wasn’t particularly looking forward to the last 3 books but it is tedious to keep trodding the same grounds.

There are no laws in this paranormal world or even consistent timelines. What was once intriguing and mysterious is now plain over the top and full of plot holes.

I am not looking forward to the final book that will continue to bludgeon two great characters. But too late to stop now.

I just wish the series stayed in the lane of the first 3 books and didn’t take this sharp weird direction that is drowning in a confusing paranormal world that lacks a framework and with an unrealistic child thrown in the mix!

[Suze · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well, another through the wringer book!
And not the end, there are three with the next due November 2020.
This is one where parallel alternate worlds collide, with an alternate view of the lives of Gideon and Lee, with many familiar names now in London. I had to pay particular attention as we get way into the ‘otherness’ that often happens in HF stories.
In this we actually learn more about Gideon’s inner beast than we have in the other books, where his differences were more alluded to.
At the end we get to see what is happening in Cornwall, with those left behind.
Definitely this set of 3 books needs reading close together I think.

[Susan Scribner · Rating 4 out of 5]

If my primary emotion reading part 1 of this trilogy was dread, for part 2 it was just sadness. But although there's another cliffhanger ending, there's more hope as Lee and Gideon start to demonstrate that they will always find each other. Also we get to meet Lee's father Caden, who is a lovely person. And a chapter from Zeke Frayne"s point of view is proof of how far he's come from the grim, judgemental man we first met. On to part 3, I just hope Harper Fox doesn't keep our true lovers apart for much longer.

[Cariad Dussan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Harper, Harper, Harper, what have you done! London is burning, the beast is locked away in the bunker and child is trying to unravel this mortal coil and reverse what has been done. Too many are sleeping and won't wake up.
A darkness is descending but Lee and Gid have always brought in the light.
But where has Lee gone?

[Warren Rochelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Big Harper Fox and Tyack and Frayne fan here. Dark, lovely, well written, selfishly wanted a more definitive ending, but still hopeful, sweet, and ....

[A.J. Lange · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wtf.

Abruptly ended. Cliffhanger? Pseudo mystical revelation? Whatever it was it was completely unsatisfying. I’m annoyed. There had better be something else.

[Lotta · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hm, this ended on sort of a cliffhanger, in that there is no conclusion to the conflict in the story. Just a headsup.

[Wangari · Rating 4 out of 5]

Please save Lee! I was so happy to learn there is a 3rd Volume otherwise I would have been in a rage.... on to the conclusion. Better be a happy one!

[Kaetrin]

20% off with Kobo voucher

[Katherine · Rating 3 out of 5]

The saga continues.

[Grace]

Thank you to my Secret Elf for gifting this to me during the 2025 Secret Santa Book Exchange!
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[Sue · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent writing but a difficult book to read at the beginning, at least. It's hard to see our two favorite characters without each other for support but it's wonderful to see them fall in love all over again.

This is a dark book, filled with pain but still worth the read.

[emily curtis · Rating 5 out of 5]

A well written Paranormal mystery series set in Cornwall. The characters are likable and the stories well researched.