after You : Discover the love story that captured a million hearts

After reading Me Before You, this book is another pleasant surprise. Jojo Moyes continues to give the readers exactly what they want, all those people who were masochist enough to read the second book after spending half an hour bawling at the end of the last one. Louisa's character has grown so much. Whilst we supported Will Traynor and his ability to choose his own destiny in the previous book, even though we hated that he died, this book shows us exactly how his death impacted those he surrounded with in his last moments. Camilla Traynor, mother to the quadriplegic who took his own life, is understandingly devastated. She lost her son, and with it, also dissolved her marriage, her job and her reputation. Will's father married the red-head who we've briefly encountered in the previous book, and is now expecting a daughter. Nathan is working for a big-shot in New York. Louisa seems to think that everyone has moved on, and after doing absolutely nothing for eighteen months, living in London and working as a waitress at the bar in the airport, she cannot stop feeling miserable. She's angry at Will, and she's afraid of meeting people and she's guilty for using the money Will gave her. One night, when she's had too much to drink and is standing too close to the edge of her balcony, screaming at the sky to Will, she hears a girl call out, but is so surprised she falls. Off the balcony. And breaks her hip. Literally.The paramedics are called and one of them is vividly imprinted in her brain.I don't want to give away details of the book but what I'm trying to say is, you won't be disappointed. It'll be a great experience, reading it, but I must tell you, "Waterproof mascara required." Just kidding, the book is great. And you'll give your heart away to the female characters *cough cough* again. You can't help it.

Good sequel

Well, after I cried a thousand time over the movie and the book itself, I decided to try this one. It shows a little bit about how her life is now without him in her life physically, but emotionally he is almost everyday. We see her struggle to try to outcome what happened to him... If you’re the kind of person who just needs to know what happened after, read it and you’ll get a jist of it all ! ❤️

It is not everyday that you get to read a sequel to a book, which you never expected to happen nor wanted to happen.'After you' by Jojo Moyes is a sequel to one of her previous books 'Me before you'.Me before you was one of a kind. In the end it made the reader both laugh and cry. But, the story of Lou Clark continues beyond 'me before you', in this 'after you'.Losing a loved one is not so easy to deal with. It takes time to heal, and though it is difficult to forget, it might take years just to make you smile at those memories, rather than shed a tear whenever you hear the name.Now, let us go into the review of it.When i started reading this book, what i expected was another story similar to P.S I love you by Cecilia Ahern. But, it was not going to be.Lou Clark still hasn't recovered from what she has witnessed and what she has been a part of. She made a promise to live, but she is yet to start living. And she looks like she still hasn't started working on the promise.After Will, she is on her own. It had been 18 months, but she is still not over to it. And she still has plans to start over, but she herself doesn't know when. All she does is sleep, eat and her job at the airport bar. She slips and falls from her building. But, she lives with just a few fractures.Her parents are worried and during her stay at her parents home, she feels that she is slowly being sucked back into her former world, which was very small until Will came.One might say that she is still getting over it. Yes. She is getting over the tragedy. So, this novel should have been about her. About how she kept up her promise that she made. But, this is not about that.Though the novel totally does become an antidote for that sore disappointment, it might have done better without Lily. The character of Lily looked like an unwelcome addition.Apart from that, the book was a breeze. It took me one night to complete it. All the new characters and new budding romantic plots takes the story to the heart of the readers.

Let’s face it: Sequels can be tricky things. While in theory they are wanted/needed and seem (at the time) a good thing, the reality doesn’t always pan out. The ones that do lean more towards the “exception to the rules” spectrum. And even then, that opinion can vary from person to person. With that in mind, I give you After You by Jojo Moyes.I loved Me Before You (it’s part of my Favorites shelf), so when I heard that a sequel was coming I was excited. I was interested to see where Moyes took Lou’s story. But amidst my curiosity and excitement hovered some trepidation. Considering how beloved Me Before You is, it is one hard act to follow. It will have to take on the risk of always having it compared to its predecessor (fair or not). And I’m not going to lie. As I started to read, that automatic reaction kicked in and I found myself waiting for that exact moment when I would start having the emotional response as I did with Me Before You. But as I continued reading, a funny thing happened. I stopped doing it because After You, while continuing Lou’s journey, is a completely different animal.The book is a separate entity on its own, with different (but familiar) themes and concepts. The one thing that remains constant is the wonderful writing of Moyes. Moyes manage to beautifully capture the aftermath of Lou’s experience with Will which you soon find is not in the warm and fuzzy place that she left you with at the end of the first book. It would’ve been easy just to leave it off that way, with Lou at a Parisian cafe and finding some peace from Will’s last message to her and riding off into the sunset. But I admire Moyes for taking the other road. After You examines the concept of grief and how it can pull us back, leaving us in a state of suspended animation. Grief is not an exact science with certain rules and expiration dates. Through Lou’s attempts at “living”, you see how devastating loss can change a person. It’s not pretty. Lou often leaves you feeling just as exasperated with her as her sister, Treena. And yet, there’s a part of you that can sympathize and understand her plight because you were there with her as she tried to save Will. I loved how the rest of the book’s plots radiated from Lou’s grief and created layers to the story revolving around family, loss, love and change. The story examines what defines “family” and the different forms it takes. You read how Will’s death left a hollow space in other people’s lives besides Lou. While Lou seems to be stuck in a proverbial vortex of grief and loneliness, her mother, Josie Clark, is exploring changes in her life that threatens the status quo in her marriage. While each story seems different, they all connect and ultimately come back to Lou and her learning to carry her grief while still moving on.This is not Me Before You. I can imagine you rolling your eyes and saying “Duh!” as you read that. It’s not meant to be an insult to you or anything of the sort. It’s more of a reminder to you that this sequel will never be on the same level as its predecessor. However, there are still aspects that make this book as compelling a read as the one before. The writing is still as smart with self-deprecating humor and enjoyable as ever. The characters, both old and new, are just as complicated and sympathetic as before with a story that is just as engrossing. This book may not have the same emotional punch to the gut that Me Before You provided, but it still contained a story that moves you and resonates with you. Just on a different plane. You deprive yourself of a wonderful read if you keep it overshadowed with its predecessor’s presence. Hmmm...that sounds familiar doesn’t it?