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lostinfrance's review against another edition
5.0
I dragged my feet to read this book...I enjoyed the first Me Before You so much....and I didn't want the sequel to ruin the first....and I didn't want to be sad. I needed to mourn the loss of the book and their relationship. About a year later....I decided to pick it up. I needed a book that made me want to read...and had me thinking about it positively after I put it down....so I reached for this book at the library.
The book takes us back to Louisa....some time after Will is gone, she is settled in London and trying to survive without him...and doing a bad job at it. One night, on her roof, she has an accident and the events after her accident leave her to reassess her life and make some changes. A young, troubled teenage girl is in this book--- and her family is back. I found the book spent a bit too much time on Lily (the teenager), but I guess by the end it was back to concentrating on Lou.
I enjoyed the sequel. I didn't love it as much as the first, but it was nice to see Louisa surviving and getting past her loss. I enjoyed some of the new characters (Sam and the support group crew) and couldn't help wanted to kick Louisa to get her moving.
Read--- but only if you read the first....and read curled up under your duvet with a Fox or some kittens to keep you safe.
The book takes us back to Louisa....some time after Will is gone, she is settled in London and trying to survive without him...and doing a bad job at it. One night, on her roof, she has an accident and the events after her accident leave her to reassess her life and make some changes. A young, troubled teenage girl is in this book--- and her family is back. I found the book spent a bit too much time on Lily (the teenager), but I guess by the end it was back to concentrating on Lou.
I enjoyed the sequel. I didn't love it as much as the first, but it was nice to see Louisa surviving and getting past her loss. I enjoyed some of the new characters (Sam and the support group crew) and couldn't help wanted to kick Louisa to get her moving.
Read--- but only if you read the first....and read curled up under your duvet with a Fox or some kittens to keep you safe.
katepowell_c25's review against another edition
5.0
Love it
Great follow on from Me Before You hooked until the last word. Really hope there is more to come in this series
Great follow on from Me Before You hooked until the last word. Really hope there is more to come in this series
kasija's review against another edition
2.0
The first few chapters were really slow and for a while regretted picking this up, since [b:Me Before You|15507958|Me Before You (Me Before You, #1)|Jojo Moyes|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1357108762s/15507958.jpg|17763198] was amazing. I continued reading though, hoping Lou would eventually get through her grief and grow, which she had done tremendously in the prior book. In my opinion it took forever for her to get there though.
The new character was interesting, although at first I was not impressed by the idea.
Ultimately, this book missed a lot of the lightness of the first, which was one of the things I had liked so much about it (I see that it would have been odd had it been the same, given that she had so recently suffered a loss, but still).
The new character was interesting, although at first I was not impressed by the idea.
Ultimately, this book missed a lot of the lightness of the first, which was one of the things I had liked so much about it (I see that it would have been odd had it been the same, given that she had so recently suffered a loss, but still).
mari_yawa's review against another edition
4.0
4.5!
I really loved watching Louise grow and get through grieving over Will. Also I truly felt for Lily, no child should go through what she went through
I really loved watching Louise grow and get through grieving over Will. Also I truly felt for Lily, no child should go through what she went through
zutsie's review against another edition
2.0
It has taken me forever to get to this, procrastination reigned supreme. Now I can say I have read it, and while I enjoyed it, I definitely didn't like it as much as the first. Not because all sequels suck, blah, blah, blah, because that is not the general consensus for book series, but because this one just didn't speak to me, and Me Before You didn't really need a sequel. Let me explain all of that.
Louisa really annoyed me in this one. Really. I get that death and loss can really ruin people, so on that front I was fine. But I was annoyed by how useless she was. She was just existing, which is pretty much what she was doing before Will came along too, so there is no way you can tell me she is like this just because of Will. She is also intent on sabotaging herself, and I really get annoyed with people who are content to play the victim, and not to strive for more in life. That's a personal feeling of mine, but yeah. It coloured her in the book. Then there were the characters again - I liked some, I resented others, that's just how it was.
The frenemies relationship between Lou and Treena was highlighted here again, and it is something that you can like and dislike in equal measure. I found the tone of this book to be totally different from the last, the writing style, the characters, they just seemed so loosely related to Me Before You, and I didn't much like that. Way too different. I enjoyed reading about Josie's feminist awakenings, but felt that they were handled terribly and the idea never really found its feet, thus making it very awkward at the best of times. It didn't flow right. There was so much more potential to that than was realised. That being said, there were still times where this provided a smile.
The humour was greatly lacking in this book, if we are being honest. There were one or two moments where I had a good laugh (the waxing, good gracious!), but for the most part, I just read this. There was also Lily, a character that I frequently disliked. She came across as a brat. I know she was going through rough stuff and all that, but jeesh. I don't know, I think I just wanted something of substance from this book, as the last really gave you something to chew on. This one reads like a breeze, but it also feels like it never really takes off and gets going. I liked it, but I certainly didn't love it.
I enjoyed Sam and Donna quite a bit as characters, and found them to be interesting and entertaining. I thought a lot of the antics in this book were crazy. I was pleased to see Nathan return, as he was a character that I enjoyed. I must say that while the book brought back a lot of characters and all that, it felt like quite the generic romance novel, so I was quite let down about that. It also got really crass at times (looking specifically at Lily and how she talks to people, but also all the ways that sex was addressed in this book).
I thought After You to be unnecessary, if we are being honest. So much more could have been done, though a sequel was totally unnecessary in the first place. Instead of making this an inspiring story, adding humour, making it amazing, it is ultimately quite a bland and flat affair. I was really hoping for more, but this was really not that.
Louisa really annoyed me in this one. Really. I get that death and loss can really ruin people, so on that front I was fine. But I was annoyed by how useless she was. She was just existing, which is pretty much what she was doing before Will came along too, so there is no way you can tell me she is like this just because of Will. She is also intent on sabotaging herself, and I really get annoyed with people who are content to play the victim, and not to strive for more in life. That's a personal feeling of mine, but yeah. It coloured her in the book. Then there were the characters again - I liked some, I resented others, that's just how it was.
The frenemies relationship between Lou and Treena was highlighted here again, and it is something that you can like and dislike in equal measure. I found the tone of this book to be totally different from the last, the writing style, the characters, they just seemed so loosely related to Me Before You, and I didn't much like that. Way too different. I enjoyed reading about Josie's feminist awakenings, but felt that they were handled terribly and the idea never really found its feet, thus making it very awkward at the best of times. It didn't flow right. There was so much more potential to that than was realised. That being said, there were still times where this provided a smile.
The humour was greatly lacking in this book, if we are being honest. There were one or two moments where I had a good laugh (the waxing, good gracious!), but for the most part, I just read this. There was also Lily, a character that I frequently disliked. She came across as a brat. I know she was going through rough stuff and all that, but jeesh. I don't know, I think I just wanted something of substance from this book, as the last really gave you something to chew on. This one reads like a breeze, but it also feels like it never really takes off and gets going. I liked it, but I certainly didn't love it.
I enjoyed Sam and Donna quite a bit as characters, and found them to be interesting and entertaining. I thought a lot of the antics in this book were crazy. I was pleased to see Nathan return, as he was a character that I enjoyed. I must say that while the book brought back a lot of characters and all that, it felt like quite the generic romance novel, so I was quite let down about that. It also got really crass at times (looking specifically at Lily and how she talks to people, but also all the ways that sex was addressed in this book).
I thought After You to be unnecessary, if we are being honest. So much more could have been done, though a sequel was totally unnecessary in the first place. Instead of making this an inspiring story, adding humour, making it amazing, it is ultimately quite a bland and flat affair. I was really hoping for more, but this was really not that.
jennyfields76's review against another edition
emotional
funny
hopeful
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
linaver's review against another edition
3.0
(If you haven't read this or the first book in the series (namely "Me Before You"), this review might spoil some things for you. You've been warned :))
"After You" is a sufficiently great follow up to a marvelous first book. It's written, as always, in an easy flowing hand of Jojo Moyes, and makes for a great page-turner. It shows you the aftermath of lives of the people Will leaves behind, focusing of course on Louisa, and introduces some new great characters.
However, I found that the book picks up a lot of important topics (like grief, letting go, moving on, coming of age, s*xual, emotional and financial ab*se, guilt, falling in love again after great heartbreak, women emancipation etc) and, unfortunately, explores them only half-heartedly.
I mean, Jojo Moyes is a master in showing normal, every day kind of people with full, fleshed-out and (mostly) believable lives. Their writing makes you feel like you're reading about people you might know or meet in real life. I've come to admire that about their books.
That said, I think this book had slightly too many characters and slightly too many topics. I wish Lou's grief was explored more and deeper. Had we sat in it with her a little while longer, moving on from it would have felt a bit more true as well. Some of her decision making was literally making me sweat and my blood boil, the way it felt random and forced just so that we would see her as this lost and boring, no-life-having person. But didn't we explore that enough in the first book already? Didn't we see her grow from there in that same first book already?
Lily's story was interesting but the ab*se felt not really necessary (again, already touched upon in the first book), and her character arc and sudden growth at the end felt rushed to me as well. I understand it might have felt like the writer had/wanted to fit a lot in a book, but wouldn't it then mean that editing some things out might have worked better?
Adding different POVs that sparsely was unnecessary either (this stuck out to me in the first book as well). I mean, we're 256 pages in and suddenly we get first POV change to Lily's? Why?
And, well, to not end the review on a negative note (because despite all this I really enjoyed the book), here's a beautiful quote that really touched me, and kind of summed up my thoughts about "Me Before You" (the 1st book in the series):
"I loved a man who had opened up a world to me but hadn't loved me enough to stay in it."
"After You" is a sufficiently great follow up to a marvelous first book. It's written, as always, in an easy flowing hand of Jojo Moyes, and makes for a great page-turner. It shows you the aftermath of lives of the people Will leaves behind, focusing of course on Louisa, and introduces some new great characters.
However, I found that the book picks up a lot of important topics (like grief, letting go, moving on, coming of age, s*xual, emotional and financial ab*se, guilt, falling in love again after great heartbreak, women emancipation etc) and, unfortunately, explores them only half-heartedly.
I mean, Jojo Moyes is a master in showing normal, every day kind of people with full, fleshed-out and (mostly) believable lives. Their writing makes you feel like you're reading about people you might know or meet in real life. I've come to admire that about their books.
That said, I think this book had slightly too many characters and slightly too many topics. I wish Lou's grief was explored more and deeper. Had we sat in it with her a little while longer, moving on from it would have felt a bit more true as well. Some of her decision making was literally making me sweat and my blood boil, the way it felt random and forced just so that we would see her as this lost and boring, no-life-having person. But didn't we explore that enough in the first book already? Didn't we see her grow from there in that same first book already?
Lily's story was interesting but the ab*se felt not really necessary (again, already touched upon in the first book), and her character arc and sudden growth at the end felt rushed to me as well. I understand it might have felt like the writer had/wanted to fit a lot in a book, but wouldn't it then mean that editing some things out might have worked better?
Adding different POVs that sparsely was unnecessary either (this stuck out to me in the first book as well). I mean, we're 256 pages in and suddenly we get first POV change to Lily's? Why?
And, well, to not end the review on a negative note (because despite all this I really enjoyed the book), here's a beautiful quote that really touched me, and kind of summed up my thoughts about "Me Before You" (the 1st book in the series):
"I loved a man who had opened up a world to me but hadn't loved me enough to stay in it."
honey_sineke's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75