After You is a well crafted, thoroughly enjoyable and funny read with some sharply observed and very pertinent things to say about modern family life. If you’re a Moyes fan and were blown away by Lou and Will’s heartwrenching story and haven’t yet picked up this one, reluctant to venture back into this world just in case it simply isn’t good enough – don’t worry. Once more this book gripped me and wouldn’t let go – and while it doesn’t quite have the emotional intensity or the pitch-perfect storyline and balance of characters that makes Me Before You Moyes’ strongest book to date, in my opinion – this book tucks in to be a very close second. But what if they find that adjustment really hard? What if they had bonded with the parent who is now no longer in their lives? What happens to them, then? It’s a scenario that Moyes brings to the fore with chilling clarity as Lily bounces into Louisa’s life. However, I felt one of the huge strengths of this story, was Moyes very accurate depiction of blended families – where a second marriage brings in children from first relationships, and they have to acclimatise to a new parent and often, new half-siblings. Lou is certainly taken on an amazing journey – to the extent that I wished that maybe some of the events that seemed to mushroom out of the ether whenever she was around would just calm down a tad.

I wondered if she could continue to depict the general messiness of family life, or if she would somehow tidy everyone up, as often happens in fiction. And given she is at a very low ebb at the start of this book, this is harder to pull off than Moyes makes it look. Again, Lou sprang off the page as a wonderfully vibrant character, quirky and vulnerable without being overly irritating or victimised. I’ve tweaked the blurb somewhat, as I’m reluctant to lurch into spoiler territory for those of you who haven’t yet read the first book. Then a figure from Will’s past appears and hijacks all her plans, propelling her into a very different future. They will also lead her to the strong, capable Sam Fielding-the paramedic, whose business is life and death, and the one man who might be able to understand her. Which is how she ends up in a church basement with the members of the Moving On support group, who share insights, laughter, frustrations, and terrible cookies. Her body heals, but Lou herself knows that she needs to be kick-started back to life. When an extraordinary accident forces Lou to return home to her family, she can’t help but feel she’s right back where she started. As luck would have it, Himself had ordered this from the library, so I was able to immediately pick up this offering to find out what happens next… It was a wonderful read, managing to deal with some hefty issues while avoiding any kind of sentimentality. In July, I finally got around to reading JoJo Moyes bestselling book Me Before You – see my review here.

Me before you book 2