Book Review: “After You” by JoJo Moyes

Hello!

For Christmas, I was gifted with a card from my aunt and uncle. It was a beautiful card! It was painted like a present perfectly wrapped along with these brown strings that looked like they were real, so much that I almost attempted to undo it! Inside was a nice little message, wishing me a nice holiday and new year, and finally a $50 gift card for Amazon.  I actually didn’t use it right away, I wanted to wait just in case Santa Claus didn’t get me a pillow, which he didn’t…. but neither did I! Haha!

Since I was given a new tablet for my birthday from my lovely nana, I’ve been reading a lot more, and it’s mostly because I don’t have to wait until it’s fully lit in my room. It has a light built into it and that means I can read it at night!. So, when I got the Amazon card, I knew I would buy some books that I desperately wanted to read before watching their films. I’ll explain later in another post I promise!

A couple of years ago, I read the book Me Before You by JoJo Moyes, and after finishing it I actually went ahead and watched the movie and was semi-impressed with it. I still stand by what I said in my review for the film, it had the important things of the book they could fit into the two hours of content.

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Here is the description of it on Goodreads.

“You’re going to feel uncomfortable in your new world for a bit. But I hope you feel a bit exhilarated too. Live boldly. Push yourself. Don’t settle. Just live well. Just live. Love, Will.”

How do you move on after losing the person you loved? How do you build a life worth living?

Louisa Clark is no longer just an ordinary girl living an ordinary life. After the transformative six months spent with Will Traynor, she is struggling without him. When an extraordinary accident forces Lou to return home to her family, she can’t help but feel she’s right back where she started.

Her body heals, but Lou herself knows that she needs to be kick-started back to life. Which is how she ends up in a church basement with the members of the Moving On support group, who share insights, laughter, frustrations, and terrible cookies. They will also lead her to the strong, capable Sam Fielding—the paramedic, whose business is life and death, and the one man who might be able to understand her. Then a figure from Will’s past appears and hijacks all her plans, propelling her into a very different future…

For Lou Clark, life after Will Traynor means learning to fall in love again, with all the risks that brings. But here JoJo Moyes gives us two families, as real as our own, whose joys and sorrows will touch you deeply, and where both changes and surprises await.

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I honestly can’t say why I felt the need to continue reading the series. I was tempted to see Lou’s journey to Paris, but once I started on After You, I was kind of sad that it wasn’t the focal point of the story, but as I went on I began to feel happy that the author went in another direction.

Several of the characters are still in the process of grieving and dealing with the aftermath of everything that happened with Will and his family. As much as I loved the funny, loving, comical Louisa Clark from the first book, I wasn’t too sure how I would feel about the bitter, almost faded version of this beautiful person. The events that take place after she comes home is really rough but I think it was very powerful to see what happens to a person after someone they loved dies, even at their own accord. I’m trying not to spoil things, but I wanted to include the fact that Lou goes to counseling sessions and I felt this was so important for anyone that is dealing with anything going on in their life but have no one to talk to.

There was one thing that kind of bothered me towards the middle of it. I started to think of the film of the first book, and I thought if they would continue doing the series? I know the backlash of the disability community wasn’t pretty, but a part of me was curious on how they could make this story work on film. Also, who would play both Sam and Lily too? I’m not going to lie, I still had Emilia Clarke in my head the whole time and I felt like she was perfect for the role anyways, so I embraced it as much as possible, but picking out who I thought would play Sam and Lily, are still on in the air.

I really enjoyed this book, but I will have to wait some time to be able to purchase the next one because as my mom told, “Meghan, you have seven others books. Why don’t you try to get through those before you go asking to buy more.” As much as I don’t want to admit it, she does have a point, but I’m going to miss reading up on Louisa’s life!

Have you read Me Before You and its sequel After You yet? What were your thoughts on both novels? Would you like to see it in as a film and would you keep the same actors or exchange them?