My Thoughts: Still Me by Jojo Moyes

Still Me
(Me Before You #3)
by Jojo Moyes
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Publication Date: January 30th 2018
Publisher: Penguin Random House
Pages: 390
ISBN: 9780399562457
Genre: Adult Fiction
Source: Own

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From the #1 New York Times bestselling author Jojo Moyes, a new book featuring her iconic heroine of Me Before You and After You, Louisa Clark

Louisa Clark arrives in New York ready to start a new life, confident that she can embrace this new adventure and keep her relationship with Ambulance Sam alive across several thousand miles. She steps into the world of the superrich, working for Leonard Gopnik and his much younger second wife, Agnes. Lou is determined to get the most out of the experience and throws herself into her new job and New York life.

As she begins to mix in New York high society, Lou meets Joshua Ryan, a man who brings with him a whisper of her past. Before long, Lou finds herself torn between Fifth Avenue where she works and the treasure-filled vintage clothing store where she actually feels at home. And when matters come to a head, she has to ask herself: Who is Louisa Clark? And how do you reconcile a heart that lives in two places?

Funny, romantic, and poignant, Still Me follows Lou as she navigates how to stay true to herself, while pushing to live boldly in her brave new world. (Goodreads)

Still Me is the third book in the Me Before You series by Jojo Moyes, and I added the book to my TBR the moment I discovered it. Unfortunately it has been sitting on my bookshelf for longer than I care to admit, as I totally meant to read the book back when it was released in January, and I even re-read Me Before You and After You beforehand to refresh my brain before starting the book. But, my overwhelming TBR kept getting in the way, and I kept pushing the book further and further down my TBR. I was determined to finally read the book spring, and I’m thrilled to have finally done so! I really enjoyed this book!

Still Me follows along the same storyline as the previous books. In this story we follow Louisa to New York, where she’s starting a new chapter in her life as an assistant/companion to a millionaire’s new, young wife. I have to admit, I was pretty curious to see Louisa’s reaction to New York, and how she would take living in the big city. (It’s definitely not a place my introverted self could handle, but I love reading other people’s stories of the city.) I enjoyed following her along on her adventures, as, there’s never a dull moment in Louisa’s life, as I’m sure you know if you’ve read any of the previous books. I really enjoyed following her along on her adventures, the ending of the book was perfect for her.

As I said in my thoughts for After You, I enjoyed this book in a completely different way than I did for Me Before You. I know they are all books in the same series, and they have many of the same characters, but I have completely different feelings than Me Before You than I do for After You and Still Me. It’s so weird that I do this, and I guess it could be than one of the main things I loved about the first is missing from the second and third books, or maybe it’s because I had such strong feelings for the first book. I’m not sure. That’s not saying that I didn’t enjoyed the second and third books extremely, because I did, I just feel completely different about them than I did about the first book. It’s super hard to describe, especially since this is basically the only series that I feel this way about. Sigh.

Overall; I really enjoyed Still Me!! It was a great addition to this wonderful series, and I’m thrilled for how things worked out for Louisa. I’m assuming that this is the last story in the series, but I totally wouldn’t mind continuing Louisa’s journey. She’s such a great character, one of my favorites, and I could never get enough of her adventures. If you love a good contemporary story, or if you’ve read Me Before You and After You in the past and enjoyed those, do check out Still Me as well!  If you’ve not yet picked up this series, you totally should!

Waiting on Wednesday #292 - Still Me by Jojo Moyes

Still Me
(Me Before You #3)
by Jojo Moyes
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Publication Date: January 23rd 2018
Publisher: Pamela Dorman Books
ISBN: 9780399562457

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Available for Pre-Order:
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From the sensational #1 New York Times bestselling author Jojo Moyes, a new book featuring her iconic heroine of Me Before You and After You, Louisa Clark

Louisa Clark arrives in New York ready to start a new life, confident that she can embrace this new adventure and keep her relationship with Ambulance Sam alive across several thousand miles. She is thrown into the world of the superrich Gopniks: Leonard and his much younger second wife, Agnes, and a never-ending array of household staff and hangers-on. Lou is determined to get the most out of the experience and throws herself into her job and New York life within this privileged world.

Before she knows what's happening, Lou is mixing in New York high society, where she meets Joshua Ryan, a man who brings with him a whisper of her past. In Still Me, as Lou tries to keep the two sides of her world together, she finds herself carrying secrets--not all her own--that cause a catastrophic change in her circumstances. And when matters come to a head, she has to ask herself Who is Louisa Clark? And how do you reconcile a heart that lives in two places? (Goodreads)

Did you know that there's going to be a third book in the Me Before You series?
There is!
I am SO super excited to read Still Me, as I loved both Me Before You and After You.
I'm planning to re-read both books this Fall before this new one is released in January,
and I can't wait to get back into the story!

**"Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted by Jill at Breaking The Spine,
that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.**

Review: After You by Jojo Moyes

After You
(Me Before You #2)
by Jojo Moyes
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Publication Date: September 29th 2015
Publisher: Pamela Dorman Books
Pages: 368
ISBN: 9780525426592
Genre: Fiction | Chick-Lit | Contemporary
Source: Netgalley

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How do you move on after losing the person you loved? How do you build a life worth living?

Louisa Clark is no longer just an ordinary girl living an ordinary life. After the transformative six months spent with Will Traynor, she is struggling without him. 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.

Her body heals, but Lou herself knows that she needs to be kick-started back to life. 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. 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. Then a figure from Will’s past appears and hijacks all her plans, propelling her into a very different future. . . .

For Lou Clark, life after Will Traynor means learning to fall in love again, with all the risks that brings. But here Jojo Moyes gives us two families, as real as our own, whose joys and sorrows will touch you deeply, and where both changes and surprises await.

After You is quintessential Jojo Moyes—a novel that will make you laugh, cry, and rejoice at being back in the world she creates. Here she does what few novelists can do—revisits beloved characters and takes them to places neither they nor we ever expected. (Goodreads)

As soon as I discovered there would be a sequel to Me Before You, I knew I had to read the book, and After You quickly became one of my most anticipated reads for 2015. I was super curious to see what happens for Lou after the events in the end of Me Before You. I went into the book almost blind, having completely avoided most of the summaries for the book. I didn't know what to expect, and honestly, I didn't know if I was going to enjoy the book considering that it would be missing one of the things I loved so very much in the first book. In the end, I did enjoy the book, albeit in a different way than the first book, but I did still found it to be a very enjoyable read.

I started reading this book just moments after rereading Me Before You, which I was already a complete emotional mess over. Because of this, the first few chapters were hard for me to read, and I found myself in tears pretty quickly. I couldn't help but relate and sympathize with Lou for her grief, which was so much stronger than I expected it to be. I can't say that I wouldn't have handled things the same way she did. But Lou is such a really great character, one that I've loved since I first met her in Me Before You, and in the story we watch her learn to live with that grief, and to also find herself again.

Almost all of the characters that I fell in love with in the first book are back in this sequel. I absolutely adored Lou's family in the first book, and they are even more wonderful this time around. I loved being able to check in with them, and also with the Traynor's, to see what they were up to and how they had learned to cope.

While there are some parts in the book that were super hard to read, ones that had my heart breaking in two, there are also some moments that are going to have you rolling on the floor laughing as well. That's another thing that I loved about the book, it really had me feeling all the different emotions as I turned the pages, and I love when a book does that!

Overall; I really enjoyed the book, but in a completely different way than I enjoyed After You. There was obviously something missing from the second book that I loved so very much in the first book, and it was hard not having that there. But despite that, I really enjoyed the book. I'm super excited to read more by Moyes as soon as possible, and I have the audio book of One Plus One, just waiting for me to start it.

Waiting on Wednesday #198 - After You by JoJo Moyes

After You
(Me Before You #2)
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Publication Date: September 29th 2015
Publisher: Penguin Books
ISBN:



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***THE SEQUEL TO THE WORLDWIDE PHENOMENON ME BEFORE YOU ***


Jojo Moyes says: "I hadn't planned to write a sequel to Me Before You. But working on the movie script, and reading the sheer volume of tweets and emails every day asking what Lou did with her life, meant that the characters never left me. 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 again." (Goodreads)

Sooooooo...
Who isn't pretty darn excited for this book?
I loooooove Me Before You.
And while I know one important thing will be missing from this book,
I still can't wait to read it!! :)

**"Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted by Jill at Breaking The Spine,
that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.**

Sisterhood of the Traveling Book Club Review: Me Before You by Jojo Moyes

Me Before You
by JoJo Moyes
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Publication Date:
Publisher: Pamela Dorman Books/ Viking
Pages: 369
ISBN: 9780670026609
Genre: Adult Fiction | Romance | Chick Lit
Source: Book Club Read

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Lou Clark knows lots of things. She knows how many footsteps there are between the bus stop and home. She knows she likes working in The Buttered Bun tea shop and she knows she might not love her boyfriend Patrick.

What Lou doesn't know is she's about to lose her job or that knowing what's coming is what keeps her sane.

Will Traynor knows his motorcycle accident took away his desire to live. He knows everything feels very small and rather joyless now and he knows exactly how he's going to put a stop to that.

What Will doesn't know is that Lou is about to burst into his world in a riot of colour. And neither of them knows they're going to change the other for all time. (Goodreads)

Me Before You was the book club pick for the Sisterhood of the Traveling Book Club for February. I was having a bit of trouble deciding on what to read, and my dear friend Kathy suggested that we give this book a try. I immediately agreed, and did so just by going off the ratings that I had seen for the book at that point. I was definitely not disappointed.

I knew this was going to be an emotional read even before I started it, and to be quite honest, the book broke me. I was able to keep my emotions in check for the most part, but in the last half of the book, I was an emotional mess.

You will fall in love with the characters in this story, especially the two main characters, Louisa and Will. Lou was lots of fun and a bit snarky at times, which I love in a character. When we first meet her she has no idea what she wants from her life or her future. But she grows and matures so much throughout the novel, she really felt like a completely different person by the end of the book, in a good way!  As for Will, you just couldn’t help but sympathize with him for what he had been through, and for the decisions that he makes in the novel. But you’ll totally fall in love with him as well.  Lou and Will have a wonderful chemistry together that makes this book so insanely special.

But they aren’t the only characters that you will love in the novel. There is also Lou’s family; her parents, grandfather, sister and nephew. Her family is one that grew on me more and more throughout the novel, and by the end, I was pretty much in love with them as well, especially with her parents. Nathan, Will’s health care worker was also a really great character.

The storyline for this book is one that will really, really make you stop and think... Think about the choices you make in your life, and how those choices can be taken away from you in a heartbeat. It’s about learning to love and to accept things that you can’t change. As I mentioned above, this book was a really emotional read. Sometimes you just need to read something that will give you a really good cry, and this book will definitely do that.

Overall; I’m SO very glad to have read this book with my book club. We all agree that it was so good, and in our discussion we pretty much flailed over all the awesomeness that is this book. It really is a great read, so if you haven’t picked it up, please do so! Now that there the sequel has been announced, I am really looking forward to it as well.

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Don't forget to check out the reviews for the book from my fellow book club members!!

Kathy at A Glass of Wine | Kimmy at Pingwing's Bookshelf | Kelly at KellyVision