By: Jojo Moyes
Narrator: Anna Action
Series: Me Before You #2
ASIN: B013XCW9XC
Publisher: Penguin Audio
Publication Date: 9/29/2015
Format: Audio
My Rating: 5 Stars
After You, the sequel to the beloved New York Times million-copy bestseller, Me Before You. A Note from JoJo Moyes about her exciting new novel, After You Dear Reader, I wasn't going to write a sequel to Me Before You. But for years, readers kept asking and I kept wondering what Lou did with her life. In the end the idea came, as they sometimes do, at 5:30 in the morning, leaving me sitting bolt upright in my bed and scrambling for my pen. It has been such a pleasure revisiting Lou and her family, and the Traynors, and confronting them with a whole new set of issues. As ever, they have made me laugh, and cry. I hope readers feel the same way at meeting them—especially Lou—again. And I'm hoping that those who love Will will find plenty to enjoy. —Jojo Moyes
My Review
AFTER YOU, the "hold your breath", much anticipated sequel to the five-million-copy bestseller "Me Before You", we all fell in love with-- What happened to Louisa Clark eighteen months later? What can you say about a famous British author, JoJo Moyes,over the top, loved by Americans, as much as her own Country? A master storyteller - writing about the everyday woman (we all sympathize with), down on her luck, scraping the bottom; tragedy, humor, wit; comedy, chick-lit and romance – all rolled into a novel. The most talked about Before and After has arrived! She pulls out all the stops with every book she writes, like a "rock star." It is worth the wait. It is like peanut butter and jelly, or a horse and carriage. You cannot have one without the other. Thank you, from your fans. We wanted, you granted. AFTER YOU. Brilliant. JoJo Moyes has provided us the laughs we needed after the intense emotions and tears of Me Before You. Pull up your knickers . . Life must go on. First, let me say, the audiobook is a "given" for me. You cannot fully experience the range of emotions from reading the book alone. You need audio, and better still, a movie. My fingers hit PRE-ORDER the minute I see Moyes, on an upcoming book. Anna Acton delivers an award-winning laugh-out-loud performance; a perfect Moyes/Acton duo! (Yes, I am aware they did not use the six multi-narrators as the previous book);however, one narrator worked this time around. We all loved Louisa (Lou) Clark, who was down on her luck, with dead end jobs. She was desperate. After taking a job with a man named Will Traynor, a quadriplegic, they fall in love; however, Will cannot live with his handicap, and ends his life. Lou is left with her memories, her grief, and has tried to take Will’s gift of travel – to live. She is unsure she can follow his instructions to, Live Well. As we move into After You, we pick up with Lou. She is still unsettled, and still feels guilt and is grieving. She struggles daily if she could have said, or done something to keep him with her. Will she ever be able to love again? She has traveled around Europe, and has purchased a flat, in London with the money Will left her. Lou is depressed and miserable without her love. She is back working at an Irish airport pub as a barmaid in a crazy outfit, cleaning toilets, and listening to men’s problems. At night she goes home alone stargazing on her patio with her wine. Of course, she loses her balance and has a bit of an accident on the roof top. Next, a few new characters, a funny therapy support group, Moving On, Sam, a paramedic, and Lily, a sixteen-year-old delinquent, which pulls at her heart strings. We hear from Will's parents, and of course Lou’s family--which offers about as many laughs as Janet Evanovich’s Stephanie Plum’s Grandma Mazur and Lula. What is next for Lou? Well, there is plenty, in store for all you Moyes’ fans. You will not be disappointed. Entertaining. Hilarious! Now, we are waiting for Book Three. How about "NOW ME", or "ITS’ ALL ABOUT ME" ? Can’t wait for the movie! Until then, be sure and shave your legs, water your plants, and stay off the roof with wine.
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About the Author
Jojo Moyes was born in 1969 and grew up in London. After a varied career including stints as a minicab controller, typer of braille statements for blind people for NatWest, and brochure writer for Club 18-30, she did a degree at Royal Holloway and Bedford New College, London University. In 1992, she won a bursary financed by The Independent newspaper to attend the postgraduate newspaper journalism course at City University.
Jojo worked as a journalist for ten years, including a year at South China Morning Post in Hong Kong, and nine at The Independent where she worked variously as News Reporter, Assistant News Editor and Arts and Media Correspondent.
Jojo has been a full time novelist since 2002, when her first book, Sheltering Rain was published. Since then she has written a further eleven novels, all of which have been widely critically acclaimed.
Jojo has won the Romantic Novelist’s Award twice, and Me Before You has been nominated for Book of the Year at the UK Galaxy Book Awards. Me Before You has since gone on to sell over 3 million copies worldwide. Jojo lives (and writes!) on a farm in Essex, England with her husband, journalist Charles Arthur, and their three children. Website Twitter
Me Before You #1
5 Stars
They had nothing in common until love gave them everything to lose . . .
Louisa Clark is an ordinary girl living an exceedingly ordinary life—steady boyfriend, close family—who has never been farther afield than their tiny village. She takes a badly needed job working for ex–Master of the Universe Will Traynor, who is wheelchair bound after an accident. Will has always lived a huge life—big deals, extreme sports, worldwide travel—and now he’s pretty sure he cannot live the way he is.
Will is acerbic, moody, bossy—but Lou refuses to treat him with kid gloves, and soon his happiness means more to her than she expected. When she learns that Will has shocking plans of his own, she sets out to show him that life is still worth living.
A Love Story for this generation, Me Before You brings to life two people who couldn’t have less in common—a heartbreakingly romantic novel that asks, What do you do when making the person you love happy also means breaking your own heart?
