One Plus One by Jojo Moyes

Suppose your life sucks. A lot. Your husband has done a vanishing act, your teenage stepson is being bullied and your math whiz daughter has a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that you can’t afford to pay for. That’s Jess’s life in a nutshell—until an unexpected knight-in-shining-armor offers to rescue them. 

Only Jess’s knight turns out to be Geeky Ed, the obnoxious tech millionaire whose vacation home she happens to clean. But Ed has big problems of his own, and driving the dysfunctional family to the Math Olympiad feels like his first unselfish act in ages...maybe ever.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I found this narrative to be humorous, entertaining, and a prime example of serendipity. I loved how each character had their own story line and how Moyes weaved them together to create a well developed story. I found myself laughing, tearing up, and cheering several times throughout the book, and loved how it all came together in the end. I thoroughly enjoyed the book from start to finish. Highly recommend this one.

After You (Me Before You #2) by Jojo Moyes

“You’re going to feel uncomfortable in your new world for a bit. But I hope you feel a bit exhilarated too. Live boldly. Push yourself. Don’t settle. Just live well. Just live. Love, Will.”

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 picks up shortly after Me Before You ends, and we get to see the fallout caused by Will’s death. Although the story promises some “bombshell” revelations, it was a fairly predictable story. This sequel is similar to the first novel in terms of humor and character, and I find that I rather enjoy Moyes’s writing style. It’s not the most sophisticated, but is is full of wit, humor, and heart. Even though I was able to foresee or figure out quickly most of the “twists” in the story, I still enjoyed reading this book. I would have liked a bit more at the end...to me, it felt like as soon as the story had finally come together, it veered off into another direction. I’m not sure if there is another sequel planned or not, but I think she definitely left it open for one.

Me Before You (Me Before You #1) by Jojo Moyes

Louisa Clark is an ordinary girl living an exceedingly ordinary life—steady boyfriend, close family—who has never been farther afield than their tiny village. She takes a badly needed job working for ex-Master of the Universe Will Traynor, who is wheelchair-bound after an accident. Will has always lived a huge life—big deals, extreme sports, worldwide travel—and now he’s pretty sure he cannot live the way he is.

Will is acerbic, moody, bossy—but Lou refuses to treat him with kid gloves, and soon his happiness means more to her than she expected. When she learns that Will has shocking plans of his own, she sets out to show him that life is still worth living.

A love story for this generation, Me Before You brings to life two people who couldn’t have less in common—a heartbreakingly romantic novel that asks, What do you do when making the person you love happy also means breaking your own heart?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I came across this book on a list to books to read before they become movies, and after checking out the movie’s trailer, I decided to give it a go. It is an unconventional love story about a girl named Louisa, who falls in love with quadriplegic after becoming his care companion, only to discover that he has made plans to end his life at an assisted suicide facility in six months time. Louisa sets out to change Will’s mind and in the process, the two fall in love and Louisa finds herself.

I liked Louisa’s character a lot. I found her to be charming and funny, and her personality is infectious. She is a surprisingly dynamic character who is easy to relate to and who you can't help but root for. The narrative is largely told from her perspective, but it does switch to other characters periodically. The author is British, so the narrative has that dry, self-deprecating humor and quite a few slang terms that I had to look up.

This story is much more than a traditional love story. It is a story that acknowledges love’s many facets and explores what it means to truly love someone through several different “love” relationships, not just Louisa and Will’s story.

In the end, it wasn't quite the emotional tearjerker I was expecting, but it was still a good story and worth the read. I liked it enough that I'm still interested in seeing the movie, which is scheduled for release this summer and checking out the book’s sequel.

2016 Reading Challenge: A book that's becoming a movie this year