Still Me - JoJo Moyes

Louisa Clark knows too many things.

She knows how many miles lie between her new home in New York and her new boyfriend Sam in London.

She knows her employer is a good man and she knows his wife is keeping a secret from him.

What Lou doesn't know is she's about to meet someone who's going to turn her whole life upside down.

Because Josh will remind her so much of a man she used to know that it'll hurt.

Lou won't know what to do next, but she knows that whatever she chooses is going to change everything. 

We first met Louisa Clark with her quirky clothes and close knit family in Me before you a fabulous book by this author that went onto be made into a film of the same name and thankfully for the most part kept to the original story, and if you read the book or saw the film then you'll remember how much you cried. In After You 18 months have past and Louisa is still trying to pick up the pieces of her life and seeking forgiveness from her family.  Louisa still has questions and when a stranger knocks on her door she has to make a decision whether to close the door and continue her simple, safe and ordered life or open it and let the stranger in, who knows  they may hold the answers to her questions but it could also mean she risks everything.  Still Me is the third in the trilogy of books written by JoJo Moyes that follows life's journey of Louisa Clark.  Louisa's life has moved on and we now find her in a new relationship with Sam, a paramedic who she met after having an accident and his ambulance attended the call.  Louisa has landed herself a job in New York for the next 12 months the downside to this being that she will have to leave Sam behind,  so whilst Sam remains in the UK Louisa flies off to the big apple to work for the Gopniks. Leonard Gopnik is a wealthy businessman and well known in New York. Agnes Gopnik is the much younger  second wife of Leonard and not highly regarded by the staff of the household or those within the circles of high society, she can have anything money can buy but still she is not happy.   Louisa is taken on as her assistant and soon finds that Agnes has secrets which Agnes confides and as we all know you can't unknow something one you know it.  This puts our poor Lou in some tricky situations, but as per usual Louisa remains loyal and shows a lot of tenacity whilst staying true to her unique and quirky self.   

There are some of the old characters from the previous books, such as Nathan and the Traynors and of course the Clarks.  There are also some new, Ashok the doorman and his wife Meena, the girls at the Vintage Emporium and the dashing Josh who reminds her so much of Will. Then there is Mrs De Witt the old lady across the hall and of course Dean Martin not forgetting Sam her knight in shining armour who picked her up when she was down.....

Yet again JoJo Moyes has pulled it out the bag with this one.  My colleague at the office said she thought it was so good that she could see this being made into a film as the sequel to Me Before You and I think she is probably right.  I was a little cautious about reading the third book.  The first was so utterly brilliant that I thought it would be a hard act to follow and found the second book a little disappointing in comparison when in reality I think it was setting the scene ready for the third and final story.    If you have not read the previous books I would recommend you do so before embarking on this one as you get so much of the back story.  Still Me won't have you weeping into your hanker-chief but will have you hooked from the very first page.  Its quite sad that this is the last in the series of books.  As one reviewer put it  farewell Louisa it's been a blast and it certainly has.

Mx