After You

Title: After You
Author: Jojo Moyes
Published: September 29, 2015 by Penguin
Pages: 352
Source: Purchased
Rating: 3.5/5
Goodreads

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.

My review:

My most anticipated novel of the year! A sequel to one of my all time favorite books Me Before You! Unfortunately, sometimes a buildup to an event can lead to inevitable disappointment, which happened in this case 🙁 I was so interested in finding out what happened to Lou, and I wasn't all that happy with the direction her life took. She spent too much time wallowing in grief (exactly what Will did not want her to do), and I felt that didn't really fit her personality. Sometimes the old Lou would come through, but it was almost as if without the Will dynamic, she just wasn't the same. I wasn't crazy about the parallel story regarding Will's past (no spoilers here), or the kind of off-the-wall antics of Lou's mum. I couldn't connect to Lily at all, it got somewhat better as we find out some key facts about her, but by then it was kind of too late. So.......what did I like? Honestly, if this had been a stand alone novel, I probably would have given it 4 stars. It was well written, had good characterizations, definite plot points, yes.....Jojo Moyes is a great storyteller. I thought the author did an exceptional job with the grief of Will's parents. I was completely drawn in by their parts in the book, I wish we had seen more of a storyline about them. To her credit, Moyes was never planning a sequel to Will and Lou's story until her fans begged for one. Sometimes you don't always like what you asked for 🙂

Bottom line....if you read this as a standalone novel, it is enjoyable. If you have read Me Before You, and were completely moved by the story (seriously the most I've cried over a book, EVER), you may not want to find out what happens.