If you have not read Jojo Moyes' Me Before You, you should not read her After You. In fact, you might not want to read this review. I would never want to include any spoilers, but it could happen accidentally.
After You continues the story of Louisa Clark after her six months with Will Traynor. She no longer lives an ordinary life with her parents in her small town. She is living in London, but her life has not taken the leap of faith that Will had made her promise to do. She is working a dead end job and her social life seems to be the people that she meets in a grief counselling group.
When a nearly fatal accident sends her back to her parent's home, she knows that she can not go back to how she was before Will and so she decides that it is time to make some changes. The changes do not come about so much through her choices, but more through the people who show up in her life... some from the past and some that might be in her future
This is a book that you must read if you have read Me Before You, and I strongly suggest that you read the first one. Moyes can throw some neat plot surprises your way, but her strength is in the strength of her characters. Louisa is well developed. She does make changes in her life but never at the cost of who she is.
It was fun to meet old friends from the first book and to see how they have coped with life. The people that she meets along the way are also stand outs. Again author Moyes gives us some lessons about life through them. Not only do the members of the grief group become three dimensional, but we learn how grief can be devastating, but a way of growing.
Probably the reason that I will look for other books by Jojo Moyes is that I like to read of strong people facing life with bravery and a slightly twisted viewpoint. Louisa Clark is such a character and the ending of After You could lead to a third book involving her.
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