Still Me (Me Before You, #3) in Around the World in 80 Books

Feb 17, 2021 Colleen Chi-Girl rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: women-centered, audiobooks, england, us-no-amer, 2021, new-york-new-jersey

First, I LOVED the first novel in this series by Jojo Moyes. I mean, didn't everyone?! LOL I haven't read the 2nd one (yet), because it is packed away in the attic for now. But easy enough to go straight to #3 - especially based on the outstanding reviews.

This is such a fun story about a young (28-ish) English woman, Louisa, who comes to NYC for a job to an elite, wealthy, and very dysfunctional couple. Louisa works as a personal assistant to Agnes, the wife, who has 'married up', from being a P First, I LOVED the first novel in this series by Jojo Moyes. I mean, didn't everyone?! LOL I haven't read the 2nd one (yet), because it is packed away in the attic for now. But easy enough to go straight to #3 - especially based on the outstanding reviews.

This is such a fun story about a young (28-ish) English woman, Louisa, who comes to NYC for a job to an elite, wealthy, and very dysfunctional couple. Louisa works as a personal assistant to Agnes, the wife, who has 'married up', from being a Polish, immigrant, masseuse (sorry for all the adjectives) to Leonard, her very wealthy, elitist, husband who adores the beautiful and fiesty Agnes, but he has as many issues with his adult daughter and his first/ex-wife. It's well-done even though as I describe it, it sounds like a bad soap opera - it's not. Or maybe it is but in a good way.

The main character, however, is really Louisa. She has left behind her family, in England, along with her fairly new-ish, handsome, paramedic, boyfriend, and the story focuses on how they carry-on a long distance romance and her learning about life and adjusting to her job and new life in NYC.

Louisa is making her way in a new country and dealing with new friendships, maintaining her relationship, and the novel is lightly about wealth and classism. There's a brief bit of attention to her sister's coming out story, and her introduction to her girlfriend at Christmastime, when Louisa goes home for the Christmas holiday. I'm really glad there are more LGBTQ people in novels the past few years, since it is so real and important in our lives, but I often question if it's more about tokenism. In this novel, it is tokenism. However, humor is frequently in the typical Jojo Moyes novel. For instance, the the gay sister is Tina and her new partner/gf is Edwina - called Eddie (so parents expected a male). Moyes dialogue is playful and fun, but serious and careful.

Pros: The narrator is DELIGHTFUL with a wonderful English accent, and as I said, Jojo Moyes, author, has a wonderful sense of humor so the story is rarely dull. If I were 25 years younger this would have resonated even more so, hanging in bars, dealing with cabs, non-COVID, although we can all relate to relationship issues and new jobs regardless of how old we are.

Have fun with this one! It gets you out of your COVID-19, stuck in the house, can't fly anywhere, kind of existance, or at least it did for me! ...more

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Apr 29, 2019 Jana rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: x2019-reading-challenge

Another great listen while driving, knitting, cooking and cleaning. So much growth in this book. She (and others) continued to learn lessons. I especially like how Louisa tied it together in the end by saying how you take your cues in life from the people who surround you. So you really need to be careful who you choose allow into your inner circle.

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May 27, 2019 Polly-Alida rated it liked it · review of another edition

A fun followup/ending to the other books in this series, with NYC as the star of the book. Just the light fare I needed right now.

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Apr 13, 2021 Susan rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Wonderful third book in this series, could hardly put it down. Once again, the author brought in interesting characters as a backdrop to Louisa's ups and downs, her setbacks and struggles and her desire to be true to herself. Love this author's writing style. ...more

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Feb 11, 2019 Jillian rated it really liked it

While nothing can top “Me Before You” I was pleasantly surprised by how poignant this third installment was. I think Jojo Moyes is a great writer and I thoroughly enjoyed following Louisa Clark around on another adventure.

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