October Book Club - After You by Jojo Moyes

Finished and as usual with Jo Jos style you cant put the book down. Wont spoil it for anyone still reading.

For anyone who is picking up a JO JO Moyes book for the first time and have enjoyed After you please try The Girl you left behind and Last letter from your lover, these are two of my favourites.

Jo Jo thank you for another great read, have you purposefully left the story line open with possibilities of returning to explore Louisa? I hope so.
Is it intentional for all your story lines to be so different from the one before so you dont become pigeon holed.

I have not read "Me Before You", but was able to get an idea what it may have been about through reading "After You". Nor had I read anything by JoJo Moyes previously. The characters were so well drawn one could imagine their appearance, at least I could! I like to "visualise" characters as I am reading. I would categorise this as being in the "Chick Lit" genre which normally does not appeal to me, however I found this book a pleasurable read. Many thanks for introducing me to a hitherto unknown author, also for the gift of the book.

Have now finished "After You" and loved it. I hadn't read " Me Before You " and wondered if I should have, but it stood well on it's own. I am a new convert to Jojo Moyes, having only read one before, but she will be on my Christmas list now. A couple of friends recommended her, but was wary as although our tastes are similar, sometimes I can just not ' get' the characters. Not so with Jojo. The way that Lou dealt with Lily was great, but I could have strangled her at times. I hope that there is another book coming as I want to see what will happen with Lou and Sam. Thanks so much for the book, it was a lovely surprise through the post.

OMG I could hardly put this down, I think it was as good as You before me

Am now surging through Me Before You, it having arrived from Amazon on Monday. I thought I should buy it so I can pass the books on as a pair, I know DiL will love them.

What a great read. I took it with me on a long train journey. I wish I had read Me before you first,I am going to read it now even though it's in the wrong order! A very good book,thank you gransnet

Lou is a very believable character both in the first book and in 'After You'. I struggled tokeep up the necessary interest in Lily and her shenanigans, and the ending. The ending got distinctly daft as Sam, I'm sure, would have lost his job having Lou riding in the ambulance. Grandpa, as the book's minor character, was wonderful!

I hadn't read Me Before You and wondered whether there would be gaps in my understanding of After You. There was no need to worry, After You was a thoroughly good stand alone read and I immersed myself in it for several days to the detriment of housework etc., always the sign of a good book! The Jojo Moyes books I have read all seem to differ and her ideas are usually fresh and readable. Well done Jojo, another good one!

Not having yet read Me Before You, I wondered how I'd find reading its sequel first, but I thoroughly enjoyed it in its own right.

I found all the characters to be believable, except perhaps Lily's mother, but maybe her type exists too only I've never come across it.

I wonder where the author looks for inspiration for her main characters and if any of them are based on 'real' people?

Thank you, Gransnet, for introducing me to another excellent writer, and I've already ordered Me Before You so I can catch up on Lou's back story.

Having read Me Before You,I was eagerly anticipating this book and was not disappointed.The introduction of Lily kept something of Will alive and gave Lou a new challenge to help her come to terms with her grief.Will's family were given an unexpected legacy of a grandchild and,as their lives intertwined,they all gained some comfort from this and Lily began to find her way in life.
I agree with the many comments about the "open" ending and do hope that there will be a third book.I would like to know what happens in Lou's life next and also how Lily and the rest of the characters develop.
A great read from Jo-Jo!

I was thrilled to be one of the people that got the book as I had previously loved 'Me before You', and was looking forward to reading about Lou Clark and how she was getting on after Will's death. I think that it would be essential to read back story. Initially Lou seems to be really struggling and has forgotten much that she gained through her relationship with Will. It takes an accident and a surprise to get her going again, and she does, recapturing her own quirky charm and energy in time.
This is good read but for me had less of the poignant sweetness of 'Me before You', which captivated me (and my daughter) through to the last page. I am not sure about the ending, it feels like it needs another book?

This is a beautifully written book. It's got characters of various ages so not all about 20 somethings! It deals with very deep emotions and I have really enjoyed reading it

Thank you GN so much for a complimentary copy of 'After You'.
'Brilliant'! 'Absorbing'!
Once again Jojo Moyes has gifted us with a wonderful, poignant story of love and loss.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book and have been recommending it to others.
It's a 10/10 from me!

Sorry, typo - should have been liked in the last para!

So my plan, as I've not read Me Before You, was to get it out of the library and read it first, But the problem was, when I opened After You, just to get an idea of what Jojo Moyes was like as a writer, I couldn't stop reading!
I finished it last night and enjoyed this book so much. It's not one I'd ever choose to read, but has made me see that by sticking to my favourites I'm probably missing out on a lot of good reading.
I thought all the characters had a lot of depth to them and the book covered a lot of issues so I would imagine book groups would find this a good choice.
Having had a family bereavement this summer and with my husband v ill, so that this year I've become his full time carer, I did wonder how I'd react, but the writing was so sensitively written that I actually found it quite comforting. I liked that the support group members, although fairly minor characters, had all moved on in the end.
I thought Jojo writes dialogue particularly well. The conversations seemed very real and she also creates very believable characters of all ages.
I particularly likes the ending. Another book maybe? Thanks Gransnet for a lovely read.

My local book club had chosen 'Me Before You' for their August book so I decided to read it again as it is such a wonderful story and deserves to be made into a film. So when I received my copy from Gransnet of 'After You', I had Louisa's story fresh in my mind and am now halfway through her continuing tale of life after Will. Thoroughly enjoying the book thus far.

I've just returned from a lovely holiday in Turkey and was hoping that I would have won a copy of After You but it looks like a trip to the library! I read Me Before You while I was away and thoroughly enjoyed it. I both laughed and cried and can't wait to read the next one.

Thank you for my copy of 'Me After You'
I did read 'Me Before You' some time ago on the recommendation of a friend and I found it to be an extremely brave book, well written - the characters were well drawn.

I did wonder what happened to Lou and was eager to read the next instalment of her life. Lou was obviously coming out of depression really -and not making much progress until Lily came along - she gave Lou the distraction she needed. Followed by Sam the fireman. I did feel that there was more than one story in the book which JoJo managed to keep a grip of - but sometimes I felt there were too many characters and threads running.
I liked the fact that Lou was given the chance to really develop herself alone - at the end, and for me that was the strength of the book. A cliche avoided - I hope! (and they lived happily ever after)

Now I am off to my book group where were are discussing'The Circle' by Dave Eggars (my choice)

Have just finished reading After You and thoroughly enjoyed it. I think Me Before You was slightly better with not so many characters to get to grips with. This book made me laugh and made me cry, I particularly loved the telephone interview which took place in the toilet in the Irish Bar at the airport, this takes an awful lot of imagination and the description of it was just perfect. I have read most of Jojo's books and can't get enough of them. Please keep them coming and thanks again Gransnet for my copy which I will now pass onto a friend.

Just finished After you - didn't want it to end! Thank you so much Gransnet/ Penguin Random House. A pleasure to read ,big book with easy to read print.
The characters in the story were interesting, I sometimes lost patience with Lou for letting Lily get away with such bad behaviour, I would not have been so kind. The relationship between her parents, lots of us oldies can relate to that!
As,has been suggested previously, we would love the next installment of Lou's life.
Many thanks Jojo for a good read.

I loved this book, read it faster than anything I have recently. I would like to ask why it took so long to bring out this sequel? Was it deliberate, or did stuff get in the way? Also, if there is a book 3 (I hope so), will I have to wait a few years?

Not such an emotional book as previous but well written with Louisa's character being extremely well written. I found the story gripping and wanted to keep reading but was a little disappointed by the end and just wondered if author had left it like this for a further book?.

I've now read 'After You' and really enjoyed it. It was great to follow the next stage of Louisa's journey. I wonder where Jo Jo Moyes gets her inspiration from for the characters. They are all so identifiable.
I really did not want the book to end and wonder if there'll be a sequel to 'After You'.

I had not read Me Before You so only knew what had happened by references in Me After You. I may well read it now. I read Me After You very quickly and found it quite engaging although I agree that the party on the roof was a bit silly.
Some of what happened was a bit predictable, it was obvious that Sam was going to get hurt and equally obvious that he wouldn't die.

I do think that the ending has been left so that there could be another book.

I have never read any JoJo Moyes books before so this was a new experience for me. It explored the issues of moral responsibility very well, how she felt she owed it to Will to look after his daughter even though she had no blood or legal ties to Lily. I have known many young people like Lily and her problems are more common that you may believe. All the characters had great depth and the book explores well the contrasting ways people are affected by and have to deal with grief. Humourous parts added to the enjoyment. A comfort is offered to those in grief by making it very clear there is no set time-limit and each person recovers in their own way, in their own time. Excellent book thank you.