After You by Jojo Moyes

Title: After You
Author: Jojo Moyes

Read by: Anna Acton

Publisher: Penguin Audio

Length: Approximately 11 hours and 6 minutes (9 CDs)
Source: Kewaunee Public Library – Thank-you!

JoJo Moyes’ novel Me Before You was a book club favorite from last year.  The storyline was riveting, and the characters were realistic and moving.  When I discovered Moyes was writing a sequel, I couldn’t wait to get my hands on it! 

Louisa Clark is still reeling after the death of Will Traynor.  As she says in brief, sometimes a story ends with a tragedy that has somehow put everyone’s life in a good spot, but that is not real life. Louisa has taken the money left to her by Will and traveled the world, but everywhere she went she was lonely, and missing Will.  She buys a sad flat in London with the money left and gets a job at a pub within an airport.  She is not happy at her job, especially when she gets a new boss whose sole purpose seems to be to make her miserable.

After an unfortunate accident that may have been caused by a lethal combination of alcohol and regret, Louisa is confronted with hard truths from her family and vows to put her life back on track.  She joins a group that deals with the loss of loved ones, the Moving On Support Group, and she meets a new man that finally make her think about starting a new relationship.  She also meets someone she never expected to meet that she spends a lot of time helping out (I don’t want to ruin the surprise by saying who this is).  Ultimately Louisa needs to determine whether she should take a risk and move on with her life, or if she is going to hide behind everyone else and remain stagnant.

I loved reading about Louisa and the cast of characters I grew to love in Me Before You.  I also loved the new characters.  There was a giant Will sized hole through the entire book and I’m glad it was addressed and the real feeling of loss was present.  Louisa seems real as she has her struggles, but she is not lost to them.  I did feel there were a couple of tragedy plot points, especially one near the end that took things a bit too far – it felt like a soap opera instead of a real characters and a comedy of manners as the rest of the novel felt.  That aside, I want to read more about Louisa, the Clarks, and the Traynors and I so hope there will be another book in this series.

The audiobook was a joy to listen to on my daily commute.  Anna Acton was a good narrator and was the voice of Louisa for me.

Overall, a good sequel for Me Before You, but I would definitely read or listen to the first book before I attempt this one.  Before You had riveting characters, but a storyline that used tragedy one too many times too move things along.