Joint Audio Discussion: Still me - Jojo Moyes

Hello all! Carole and I will be discussing "Still Me" by Jojo Moyes. I am in black and Carole in purple/

Author: Jojo Moyes

Narrator: Anna Acton

Title: Still Me (Me Before You #3)

Genre: Fiction, Romance

Pages: Audiobook

Published: January 30th 2018 

Where I Got It: library

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.

This was my favorite Moyes so far, and that is saying much since I got so pissed at it too ;) But the previous book was just soooo dreadful. And I did like that this was audio for me, book 2 was print and book 1 was movie. Pretty cool.

Yesss the 2nd book was so bad. This was my 2nd favorite of the series. Book 1 will always hold a special place in my heart. It was so sad. This one was good but I did not cry. I did feel for Lou. I feel like she always gets bad luck!

It is starting to feel like MOyes is milking this too much, and I do hope this was the end...wait no I don’t. Cos of that thing you know. But I liked this one because it felt more relaxed. Just a girl in the city.

I am curious to see if there is another one. She left it a little open-ended. What is next? Or will she leave it to us to decide. And I know what I want to happen. Not THAT. I am so angry that Lou just let him come back. No. 

She gave us a happy little ending, with more that could come. Making it in the city. But yes, I was pissed. Sam is not right for Lou. I hated it. F grand gestures. No, why did Moyes have to go and do that. It did ruin the book for me.

I adored Sam in book 2 and the beginning of book 3. But he F’ed up and I loathe him. Lou deserves better. He needed to really do more than that. He needed to really do a lot and sure that “grand gesture” is a nice beginning, but I would make him earn me. And I would still probably tell him no after all of that. LOL

Some things can not be forgiven. And her other guy, sigh, Josh was so nice in the beginning, but then suddenly he was a jerk. Like I said to you I did feel the author changed that too quickly. We should have seen something from the start and not make him into an arsehole all the sudden. So that she could get her other man

It was all of a sudden. I can see if it had been a few months and then he starts having enough of Lou’s weirdo-ness. I am bummed but we should’ve known better. He looked like Will but he is not Will whatsoever. Will would’ve kicked his butt. 

I am finding it hard to discuss this book. It was really good one, I enjoyed it, but other than the men and Agnes, fu Agnes! I do not have a lot to say. As for the Agnes thing, I would not have been that nice, I would have taken her down with me.

It is SOOOOOO hard to not give away spoilers. So mannnyyyy of them. And yes F Agnes too. I felt bad for her at the beginning, but she just used Lou. I would’ve easily tossed her under the bus. No, I will not take that graciously. But maybe that makes Lou better than us. I am glad it happened though, because I am glad we got to learn more about the old lady. I actually ended up loving her and that little Pug. Super cute!

Haha, the pug with the shifty eyes, yes he was a darling...after a while,and the old lady too. Agnes, I got her, but at the same time as she was so supposedly in love she did that. But I guess all is forgiven in love in this book.

I do wish that the author gave us more of a conclusion with that whole story. Because that is a huge thing to lie about. I am curious. 

I do want to know. And I do not know why he did not just sent Elaria to work for his wife. She kept calling Agnes a whore, i mean that is not cool. The household would sure have been happier.

He was just blind to it all. I would not be cool with a person working for me calling my BF names. And that daughter? No….she needed a slap in the face. A little snot, but realistic. That happens all the time. It is more common for a step child to hate the new, young bride/husband. Especially if they were older when the parents break up. 

Still, you are 24. Get a job and shut up. I get being resentful, but I do feel these two could have been happy if everyone hadn’t been a dick about it.

Right??? I am glad that she was finally put in her place. She was a little beyotch. Like I said...I felt bad for Agnus...but then she did what she did and I was pissed. Not cool. Sure things worked out, but I can’t imagine doing that to one of my friends. 

Right! Not cool Agnes.

Ok so the narrator whose name I do not remember did a great job. I really felt like I liked the story more cos of her.

I adored the narrator. I loved all of her accents. So fun!

Would I have liked the print as much...doubtful. A good narrator makes everything so much better :)

Mhmmm I am not sure. I think I would’ve liked the story, but the narrator for sure added more to it so it made me like it better. She was the perfect Lou. 

SO even with that THING, I felt the book was really good. I wanted to know what would happen to Lou and I liked the narrator. I call that a success, hehe ;)

I am glad we decided to read this. I know we were both unsure because of how BAD book 2 was. I’m happy with this choice. The story was really good even though Sam and Agnus were aholes. But it does give us a reminder that life is not fair and Lou has bad luck. I miss Will D: 

A good solid choice. Yay. That means the next one will probably suck. Is it your turn?

It is your turn m’am. ;) But yes, I am pleasantly surprised with this pick. I was worried because the last book was good too. Two good, solid picks??????? Makes me worried for December’s choice!

I kind of want to go xmsssy but that is doomed to fail

That sounds like a good plan, but knowing our luck it will fail. Hahahaha

The end! I need to take in S and wake her.

Okay! I am helping Gma move today. Ugh. It is soooo cold out there. 

About the Authors

Carole and Blodeuedd have been blogging a long while now. The last couple of years the epic duo have been discussing books, watching movies, and even wetting the pen and sharing their stories with the worldwide web. They both love cats, chocolate, and a good story.

Discussion: After you - Jojo Moyes

Happy end of October everyone! This week Carole and I are discussing, "After You" by Jojo Moyes. 

Author: Jojo Moyes

Title: After You (Me Before You #2)

Genre: Fiction and Romance

Pages: 353

First Published: September 2015

Where I Got It: My Shelf (Bought from Grocery store - totally on sale)

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.

**FOREWARNING - THERE MAYBE A COUPLE WEE SPOILERS ESPECIALLY IF YOU HAVE NOT READ THE FIRST ONE**

B: I need to rant first. See, someone was holding on to the English version and I had to borrow the Swedish translation. God! Blergh. Translation rant!

When you translate a book you can’t just directly translate things, well at least not in literature, and this book was badly done. Of course I could be wrong and the book itself could be really bad, but the thing here was language. First it sounded like a 80 year old tried to be cool, when everyone spoke! One word I yelled out to bf and he laughed, it sure was not a word anyone has used in ages. So many sentences and words made me cringe, and conversations that are totally normal should not make you cringe. One word I even had to check the definition of! I have never ever heard anyone use it in rl, tv, books, never! There were other normal definitions of that word that people would use 100% of the time. I mean honestly!

But that was not all. All conversations sounded like the same person spoke. The language was stilted, the nuances lost. I am not saying I am a translator (sure I did take classes in uni, but not in literary translation). But I know literature, I have read amazing English books translated from other languages, books whose language sang. Here it was grey and lifeless. The whole book lost its meaning cos all I thought of was the language. And that is why as soon as I knew enough English I started to read in English. Because I have read too many books like this. Especially fantasy books, those all sounded like they were made for 10 year olds. I could write pages about this, but let’s talk about the story and see what Carole thought. It might just be that the book sucked ass.

C: Holy rant! I’m sorry the translation sucked!!! But the story wasn’t too bad. It was a little rough at the beginning...it felt like the author hadn’t written in a while and was getting back on her feet. But after a while she found her baring and I was hooked.

B: Oh, I was never hooked :/ I just could not get over the language and nitpicked everything. I would def have dnfed this stupid translation, but read it to the end.

C: Oh no! I thought the story was decent. Nothing compared to the first one, but it was interesting. I’m really upset about the road Lou took. Sure...nothing is ever perfect, but she really fell off the wagon of what Will wanted for her. :(

B: The feel of the movie was gone for me, here I just wondered how she could have been in love that fast. Also she really went, not crazy, but honestly girl! You effed up your life. Bohoo, you are sad, but think of Will! She was a mess.

C: Yes and that pissed me off. AT the end of the last book she was happy and ready to take the world by storm in honor of Will. But no - this was annoying. I wanted to punch her. I felt like everything was stripped away and she was nothing. The character was destroyed….she didn’t wear her funky outfits until near the end. Ugh...and I hated Lily. Like - the character was okay - but I freakin’ hated her role in the story and who she was to Will. Like...why? Ugh.

B: It felt like the author wanted some easy cash and wrote a book and just made her sad again so she would have a book. And yes Lily felt unnecessary. Also if her mother had told her, why not check them out sooner, why on earth go for Lou? Also Lou, you are not a social worker, that kid needed help.

C: Completely agree. I think it would have been more entertaining if the author kept Lou happy and then Lily came out of nowhere. However, I did like the story with Sam. Sam was a sweetie.

B: Sam was ok, I did not feel any sparks, but hey that could have been the translation and everyone having the same voice

C: Maybe, but I didn’t feel any sparks for the vast majority of the book, because Lou was sooooooooooooo miserable all of the time. Why would Sam stay? She treated him like dirt! I felt so bad. He was legit so nice to her and did all that for her. But Lou is still obsessed with Will (which whatever) and how could Sam want to stay? I just don’t get and I don’t think it’s realistic at all. The vast majority of this book was not realistic and it frustrated me. However, I was hooked, because it was like a car accident….you can’t help but move forward and watch in curiosity!

B: Lol, well those wrecks are fun to watch, and maybe I could have felt like that too. Sigh. But yes, honestly Sam, you should have run way. Also I so did not get the end….oh and the whole Lily thing, you know, the thing, helllo! Call real people, if you get what I mean

C: Oh! Don’t forget the slutty red-head secretary that Will’s dad left the mom for. Big check there. This was SUCH a soap opera. I feel it really went off track from the first one. This...was a wreck.

B: LOL yeah. No...the whole Lily thing should have been dealt with differently. Her mom and stepdad should have child services called on them, because they are TERRIBLE parents. The mom was a total beeeee-word. With that parenting style and the way they treated her, DUH she was going to grow up to be a mess and want nothing to do with them.

B: What else could we talk about, hmmm, miserable Lou, strange Lily, not coping and moving on. Check. Bad parents, check. Nice guy being all nice, check…

B: I hope they do not make a movie. What a depressing mess that would be.

C: 100% agree. If they do make it, I’ll probably watch it because I am one for self-torture. I think we should put a “possible spoiler” at the beginning ;) I’m so bummed that this not nearly as good as the first one. That one was awesome, this? Wreck.

B: I do not even know how to rate it, dang, I wish I had read it in English :/

C: I think the story would’ve been better in English and the characters’ convos better, but the whole plot and layout would not have changed I think.

B: Thanks, but no thanks, I do not want to take the risk.

B: True, but at least I could have enjoyed the story, and thought if it as a train wreck then ;) C: Hahaha, maybe track down an English version or I can send you mine because I will not be re-reading it. xD C: Alriiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight whatever you say ;). Anything you want to add??

C: May the Book Gods be with you!

B: I am good, translations suck! ;) Whose turn next? C: Yours? IDK honestly. LOL XD B: Omg, I will TRY AND PICK SOMETHING GOOD!

Book Discussion: The girl you left behind - Jojo Moyes

This month Carole and I will be discussing "The Girl You Left Behind" by Mojo Moyes.

Author: Jojo Moyes

Title: The Girl You Left Behind

Genre: Historical Fiction

Pages: 544

First Published: September 2012

Where I Got It: Borrowed from library

France, 1916. Sophie Lefevre must keep her family safe whilst her adored husband Edouard fights at the front. When she is ordered to serve the German officers who descend on her hotel each evening, her home becomes riven by fierce tensions. And from the moment the new Kommandant sets eyes on Sophie's portrait - painted by Edouard - a dangerous obsession is born, which will lead Sophie to make a dark and terrible decision.

Almost a century later, and Sophie's portrait hangs in the home of Liv Halston, a wedding gift from her young husband before he died. A chance encounter reveals the painting's true worth, and its troubled history. A history that is about to resurface and turn Liv's life upside down all over again . . .

B: I had not read the blurb so I admit, this was not what I expected, I wanted stuff in the trenches, my bad ;) I was a bit disappointed, but as long the book is good it is good. How about you? Did you want some trench action?

C:  Happy Near First of February. ;) But yes, I did NOT expect anything that happened. I was thinking there would be more historical fiction with maybe a touch of POV from Sophie’s hubby.

B: I was so disappointed when Liv’s story began, I just love historical fiction! Yes Liv’s story turned out to be good, but damn, I wanted Sophie’s.

 C: Ugh I agree. I wanted to read Sophie’s. I totally skimmed the majority of Liv’s story until about halfway when the court trial began, then my interest was piqued again! But I was looking forward to when Sophie’s POV would come back.

 B: Yes, that was the best part and the one that made me angry. But I did hate that Sophie’s story was told through that.Sophie should have had another chapter.

C:  It bugged me too and I feel like it took away from her story. I wish that Liv’s story was a couple chapters long at the very end or something. 

B: What did you think of Sophie’s story then?

C: I liked it a lot! SUPER, SUPER sad. I get the hatred towards the Germans since they have taken over your town and are aholes because it is war, but I don’t get why they treat people who have to act nice to them so they don’t lose their lives or stuff. Like that Lillien character. I felt so bad for both Sophie and the Lillien character...the town people were jerks to them.

B: Such jerks! When that woman said something about how she would not serve them, sorry now, but Sophie and her sister did NOT have a choice. Sorry we wont do that, oh well we will just die all of us instead. That woman would so need a kick in the butt. So yes townspeople are jerks. Poor Lillien, that was a tough one, and then how they turned later on too. Grrrrrrr. Group mob mentality. And yes Sophie’s story was great. The choices they had to make, the tough one too. My heart! And then then it stopped at the good part!!!

C: Such a tough one. :( And it broke my heart I had to wait SO long to wait and see what happened to Sophie and Edouard (her hubby). I’m glad all the lose ends were tied up at  the end, but I hated how it happened. I liked the end, but I didn’t like delivery of the ending - if that makes sense. haha

B: Truthfully, I did not even get the ending. Happy or not happy? Yes happy, but then? I really wanted a Sophie chapter there. I got no closure. Should we move on to Liv then?

 C: Liv...she was okay….at first I didn’t get why she wanted to keep the portrait SO bad she would go to court….but then it made sense. At first I was in opposition and then I found myself being on Liv’s team and rooted for her to custody of the portrait. 

B: I was totally Liv’s team. I hated how the press and strangers treated her. It was NOT Nazi loot, I hated how people dragged in that and then made her SO much worse than she was. yes yes it was still a painting with a shady past, but, srsl, lots of stuff was taken. And most importantly, those jerks should not have the painting. They only wanted to sell it! If anyone should have had the painting it should be Sophie’s family, and I did feel like Liv felt like that too. Like if she had to give it up she would have done just that. I kept waiting for like that grandson, wait son, whatever he was to Aurelien to show up and be all like, back off!

C: I wanted the family to have it, but then family - the WHOLE family - turned out to be NO better than the townfolk, even generations later. Jerks the lot of them. And it was NOT Nazi loot...I HATE how everything relating WWI or WWII is automatically stemmed to Nazis ugh - so annoying. Ugh...Aureliein smh he upset me.

B: He was such a jerk. Ahole, I liked the son better. Speaking of loot. I was at my grandparents once and was all, weird painting. And grandma was all, yes her dad brought it home from the war. Sorry, but my family have loot on their wall. To be fair, it is from our own people when they left everything behind to flee from the land Russia stole.

C: I think everyone who fought in the war has a piece of loot. Both my grandpas have something small too. That is what happens during war on both sides. Ugh, I am still mad and feel so bad for Sophie….for everything she did for everyone. I also kinda felt bad for the little piggie. xD What did you think of the Kommandant? 

B: Conflicted!!!! I like him cos he saw everything and saw between his fingers. So many things, like the piggie. But at the same time, he did bad things too. But but, oh, it is so hard. But then he was just a man. If the French had occupied a German village they would have done everything the same. War is always written from the winner’s POV. War makes everyone assholes. It’s like with WWII fiction and every German is a nazi...eh no. That is like saying that every American is a racist cos there used to be slavery, or well it’s that with every country.  I have totally lost my train of thought now…

C: I liked him, but then he did bad things. But like you said...it's war...war makes even good men do bad things, but the winner writes history and now the good guy. 

B: Final thoughts? It was good and it made me ANGRY. Made me sad. A good book does bring out emotions so I would say it was a good pick :) Even if I had written it differently, like ditching Liv all together.

C: It was good. I wanted to love it, but I just liked it thanks to Liv’s tale. Best pick in a while though!!! ;D And if I had written it I would have done Sophie’s story and then do a couple chapters at the end of Liv and the battle of the painting just so we can find out what happened to it. 

B: Your turn next then. Just...do not pick a story about a village occupied by Germans, it was my 3rd in 6 months. oooops.

C: I’ll also have to not do a PNR since I’ve read three in the last month and a half. xI We’ll find something ;) The end?

B: The end :)