Book ~ "Someone Else's Shoes" (2023) Jojo Moyes

From Goodreads ~ Nisha Cantor lives the globetrotting life of the seriously wealthy, until her husband announces a divorce and cuts her off. Nisha is determined to hang onto her glamorous life. But in the meantime, she must scramble to cope - she doesn’t even have the shoes she was, until a moment ago, standing in.

That’s because Sam Kemp - in the bleakest point of her life - has accidentally taken Nisha’s gym bag. But Sam hardly has time to worry about a lost gym bag - she’s struggling to keep herself and her family afloat. When she tries on Nisha’s six-inch high Christian Louboutin red crocodile shoes, the resulting jolt of confidence that makes her realize something must change - and that thing is herself.

Sam's life is stressful. Phil, her husband, recently lost his father and his job and has sunk into a deep depression and won't do anything to help himself or around the house. Sam's company was recently bought out and her new boss hates her and is always looking for reasons to give her grief. One day at the gym, she's in a hurry heading off to a meeting and runs out with the wrong bag. In the bag, she discovers a pair of expensive high heel shoes which she's forced to wear that day because she left the gym in flip flops. When she tries to return the bag to the gym, she discovers it's closed down.

Nisha is married to Carl, an very rich man, and does everything for him. It's Nisha's bag that Sam has mistakenly taken at the gym and Nisha wants her shoes back!  As if her day isn't bad enough, that's the day that Carl cuts her off financially. He's not taking her calls, she has no money or friends, so she's forced to take a job working under the table at the hotel they were living while she schemes to get her clothes and passport from their room.

I thought this story was okay and there was a lot going on. There were a few things I found unbelievable, though. For example, why didn't Nisha go to the police or the U.S. Embassy (she's an American stuck in England) after Carl shut her down rather than lucking out and getting a menial job in the exact hotel she had been living in where she could work illegally? Or if Phil was that depressed, why did Sam and their daughter allow him to keep going as he was rather than making him help (I would have been afraid to leave him alone)? As if she didn't have enough going on with work and Phil, why did Sam put up with her demanding elderly parents for so long who were more sympathetic to Phil?

It's written in third person perspective bouncing back and forth with the focus on Sam and Nisha. As a head's up, there is swearing.

Book ~ "After You" (2015) Jojo Moyes

From Goodreads ~ 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.

This is the sequel to Me Before You, which I read last year.  It picks up with Louisa a couple years after Will has died.  She spent some time travelling and has returned to London, has bought an apartment and is working in an airport bar.  She's not happy and is drinking too much.  One night she has an accident and has to move back home with her parents for a while to recover.

In order to help her move on with her life, she joins a support group but doesn't feel like she has a lot in common with the others since she only spent six months with Will.  She starts seeing Sam, the paramedic who helped save her, but she can't let go of Will.  In the meantime, someone from Will's past shows up which brings her back in contact with Will's parents.

This is the fourth book I've read by this author and I thought it was okay.  I found the writing and the pacing was up and down ... sometimes I felt like I couldn't keep reading it and then something would happen to draw me back in.  It is written mostly in first person perspective from Lou's point of view.  I found some of the situations a bit extreme and unbelievable.

I know Lou was grieving and trying to find her life again but she is a bit of a drag and letting everyone walk over her.  She's in a job that's going nowhere with a new boss who is a jerk.  I liked Sam ... for some reason, I kept imagining nice guy actor Chris O'Dowd.  Lou's mom has discovered feminism and her dad doesn't like it.

Though it is a sequel, there is background (eventually) about what happened in the first book so you can figure it out but I found that it was drawn out ... so I would recommend you read Me Before You before you read this on so you know what's going on.

Book ~ "The Last Letter from Your Lover" (2011) Jojo Moyes

From Goodreads ~ When journalist Ellie looks through her newspaper’s archives for a story, she doesn’t think she’ll find anything of interest. Instead she discovers a letter from 1960, written by a man asking his lover to leave her husband - and Ellie is caught up in the intrigue of a past love affair. Despite, or perhaps because of her own romantic entanglements with a married man.

In 1960, Jennifer wakes up in hospital after a car accident. She can’t remember anything - her husband, her friends, who she used to be. And then, when she returns home, she uncovers a hidden letter and begins to remember the lover she was willing to risk everything for. 

Ellie and Jennifer’s stories of passion, adultery and loss are wound together in this richly emotive novel - interspersed with real ‘last letters’.

There are two stories that interconnect in this book.  The first one starts in October 1960 when Jennifer wakes up in the hospital.  She's been in a car accident and has lost her memory.  She eventually goes home with a husband she doesn't remember and tries to pick up her life again ... but something doesn't feel right.  Then she finds some letters written by a man who loves her and who she obviously loves and she tries to figure out who it could be.

If was a different time in London back in the early 1960s ... you couldn't just get a divorce, you needed proof of infidelity, etc.  Jennifer was raised to become a rich man's wife and she doesn't know any other life, which plays on her confidence. This makes it hard for her to considering leaving this life for her love.

Forty years later, Ellie is working for a newspaper and comes across the letters stored away in the paper's library.  She has been dating John for the last year and is hoping that he'll leave his wife for her.  Because of her situation, Ellie relates to the letters and makes it her mission to find out who the lovers were and if they ended up together.  I found Ellie a bit annoying because all she thought and talk about was John, even to the point of almost losing her job.

This is the third book I've read by this author and I enjoyed it.  I liked the writing style and found the story interesting.  The story jumps back and forth in time but the chapters are labeled so you know where you are ... I found this added to the suspense.  It's written in third person perspective ... when it was back in 1960s, it was written in past tense and and when it was in 2003, it was written in present tense.

It was interesting to compare the modes of communication in the 1960s (handwritten letters) and in 2003 (texts and emails).

While I enjoyed the book, I hated the title ... it sounds like it should be a Harlequin Romance.

Book ~ "One Plus One" (2014) Jojo Moyes

From Goodreads ~ 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.

Jess cleans houses for a living and also has a part-time job in a pub.  Her husband, Marty, claimed he was depressed and needed to get away for a while and moved back with his mother.  This left Jess to raise their daughter, Tanzie, and Marty's teenage son, Nicky, who getting bullied because he's different (he wears mascara and dresses in black).

Tanzie is a math whiz and gets offered a scholarship at a private school and Jess just has to come up with the difference, which she can't afford.  If Tanzie wins the Math Olympiad, though, the prize will more than cover their cost for the private school.  The Olympiad, though, is in Scotland and Jess can't afford to get her, the kids and their huge dog, Norman, there.

One of Jess' clients, Ed, is a computer geek who became a tech millionaire.  Unfortunately he is being investigated for insider trading so has to lay low and stay away from the company he'd created.  With nothing else to do, he offers to drive Jess and her family to Scotland.  It takes a lot longer than necessary for various reasons and by the end, Ed's once pristine fancy car is full of dog hair and drool, barf, chocolate and lots more.

This is the second book I've read by this author and I liked it.  I liked the writing style and thought it moved at a good pace.  It's written in third person perspective, though there are a couple chapters that are in first person point of view (and it's obvious why).  The interactions between the characters was good ... funny and serious, depending on the situation.  As a head's up, there is some swearing (the "F-bomb", etc.).

I liked Jess and Ed ... they have incredibly different lifestyles.  Ed is used to eating out all the time, having a couple cars, a nice house, etc. and has an Italian model for an ex-wife.  Jess, on the other hand, has to watch every penny and make it last.  On their roadtrip, Ed wants to eat in restaurants while Jess has the kids take extra food from a breakfast buffet which lasts a couple days or she buys the fixings to make sandwiches.  Though Ed does offer to pay so they can all eat in a restaurant, Jess is too proud to take him up on his offer.  It was interesting to watch Ed evolve as he's forced to live someone else's lifestyle.  I usually find kids' characters annoying but I liked Tanzie and Nicky.  And Norman was a hoot!

Book ~ "Me Before You" (2012) Jojo Moyes

From Goodreads ~ 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.

Lou is 26-years-old, lives at home with her parents in a small town and happily works in a tea shop.  She's been dating fitness-obsessed Patrick for seven years and it's going nowhere but she's okay with that.  She's out of a job when her boss decides to close down the shop.

Lou gets a six month contract taking care of Will.  Two years ago Will was a successful 33-year-old businessman who had it all until he was in an accident and became a quadriplegic.  Now he bitterly lives his life in a wheelchair being taken care of by others.

Lou is like a busy bee coming into Will's life and he initially resists.  Eventually as she's adding life to his, he is showing Lou all the potential she could have with her life and encouraging her to live life to the fullest.

This is the first book I've read by this author and I enjoyed it.  I liked the writing style and thought it moved at a good pace.  It's written in first person perspective, mainly from Lou's point of voice but at times it is from Will's parents and Lou's sister's point of view (these chapters are marked at the beginning so you know).  I thought the shift in perspectives worked so you can understand exactly how they are feeling.  As a head's up, there is some swearing (the "F-bomb").

I liked Lou and Will.  Lou feels she has no other options other than living at home so she can help contribute to the household because her parents don't make enough money and they are supporting Katrina, her sister, who is going to school and her sister's young son.  Will's frustration and pain are obvious.  He used to have an active life that he has no chance of ever having again.  I thought Lou and Will interacted well.  Rather than being intimidated by Will, Lou stands up to him and their banters are amusing.  I didn't like Katrina ... I thought she was very selfish in assuming that everyone would put their lives on hold to accommodate her ... providing for her financially, babysitting her son and even giving up a bedroom for her.  Nathan, Will's medical care provider, was a good guy.

I would recommend this book.