[Review] After You by Jojo Moyes

After You by Jojo Moyes
Series: Me Before You, #2
Publisher: Pamela Dorman Books
Publishing Dates: Sept 29, 2015
Format: ARC, hardcover
Pages
Links: Goodreads | Amazon | B&N
Goodreads rating: 5 stars

Synopsis

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.

After You is quintessential Jojo Moyes—a novel that will make you laugh, cry, and rejoice at being back in the world she creates. Here she does what few novelists can do—revisits beloved characters and takes them to places neither they nor we ever expected.

My Review

I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. 

I had a bad book hangover after reading Me Before You (first review here; second here). I couldn't get over how amazing Lou and Will's story was, and I didn't want to to be over. Once I found out there was going to be a movie, it helped my hangover a little. And then I saw there was this sequel. I couldn't wait to get a copy of it! It did sit on my shelf a little longer than I wanted it to, but I had to get to some others first. Plus, let's be honest, I was a little nervous about starting this. I loved Me Before You so much that I was really worried this wouldn't be as good. 

Thankfully, my worries were unfounded. I really, really enjoyed After You. It was slower paced than Me Before You, but good nonetheless. I enjoy Lou as a character and I liked finding out what happened to her after the end of the last book. We saw her grow so much in Me Before You and in After You, she regresses a little. But I think that's to be expected after you lose someone you love. But as the book, and her life, moves on, she slowly starts coming out of her depression and living a little more. There are certain characters that help her with this and it's interesting to see how they all interact. 

I know some people felt this book wasn't necessary, but I'm glad it was written. I like Lou as a character, I wanted to find out what happened to her after, and I really like Moyes' writing. I thought she did a good job of giving the readers more info about Lou without taking away from the story in Me Before You. Very much enjoyed this book!