The Giver of Stars – by Jojo Moyes

24 02 2025

I’d only read Moyes’ Me Before You trilogy before now, but mum leant me this to try after she enjoyed it. I picked it up a little reluctantly as the blurb didn’t massively inspire me, but I really got into it and quickly learned to love the characters (well, the ones that aren’t awful!).

It’s the 1930s, Alice has married an American man and moved across the Atlantic to Kentucky to live with her new husband and his less than pleasant father. To get out of the house, she helps out with the new “Packhorse Library”, where women ride out up the mountains, taking books out to those who live up there, to give them the chance to access recipes, books, magazines, and even children’s books so that they can learn to read. This isn’t a popular decision with her father-in-law, and he tries to turn the town against the library with mixed success.

Much more goes on with the personal lives of the girls who work at the library, they’re the heart of the story, but to tell you what they go through would be to spoil the book – you’ll have to find out for yourself.


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Still Me – by Jojo Moyes

5 04 2018

Two years ago I read Me Before You, swiftly followed by After You, and said I’d happily read a third if it was ever written – good news, it has been!

Louisa has just arrived in New York to be a live-in assistant for a wealthy lady in society. It’s a huge lifestyle adjustment, alongside trying to manage a long distance relationship.

It’s a combination of warm fuzzy moments one minute, and heartbreaking ones the next. Predictable in places, some of the major plot points I saw coming a mile off, but there are surprises too. With 50 pages to go before the end I had NO idea how it was going to tie together!


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After You – by Jojo Moyes

17 05 2016

Having read Me Before You earlier this year, I didn’t last long before reading the sequel having borrowed it from a friend.

I wasn’t really sure where the story could go after the first book, but it turns out there’s plenty more to happen! We pick up with Louisa 18 months after the end of the first book, she’s travelled a bit and is now working at an airport bar in London. We keep up with most characters from the first book too, and meet some significant new ones.

There’s really not much I can say without spoilers for this or the original book, but needless to say this is just as excellent as the first, and I’d happily read a third if it appears!

after-you


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Me Before You – by Jojo Moyes

5 03 2016

This is definitely one of those books you can’t put down. This week I’ve taken it pretty much everywhere with me, just incase I could find 2 minutes to read a bit more.

We meet Louisa who needs a new job, and ends up as a minder/carer sort of role for Will, who is a quadriplegic which basically means he only has use of his neck and head, and ever so slightly one thumb. Will is incredibly bitter about the life he now faces compared with the lifestyle of a rich city boy that he had become used to, and Louisa’s role is to convince him that life is worth living after all.

Most of the book is written in the first person from Louisa’s point of view, but a few of the other main characters get one chapter to speak throughout the book – her sister, the medical carer, and each of Will’s parents. I found it confusing at times because I’d pick up the book halfway through a chapter and forget someone else was speaking, but it was good to round out the picture a little.

I got so involved with the characters as I read this book, getting angry at some, feeling sorry for others, and wanting to give them a hug when things were tough. Jojo Moyes really is an excellent writer! I can’t wait to try the sequel…

me before you


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