Still Me by Jojo Moyes

Blurb

"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 has been hired by the superrich Gopniks—Leonard and his unhappy, much younger second wife, Agnes—and finds herself amid a never-ending array of household staff and hangers-on. But Lou is determined to get the most out of the experience and throws herself into her job and this very privileged New York life.

As Lou tries to keep the two sides of her world together, she finds herself carrying secrets—not all her own—that cause a catastrophic change in her circumstances. 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?"

Hardcover, 475 pages
Published January 25th 2018 by Michael Joseph

My Review

We had our hearts broken with Lou is Me Before You, and stumbled through a world without Will in After You, now in Still Me, Lou is starting to become the best and bravest version of herself. The story continues directly from the last book as Lou has just arrived in New York to start her new adventure working with the Gopniks, a family caught up in a whirlwind of socialite events and backstabbing among the elite of New York.

Lou has grown so much as a character by the time she's in this book; she stands up for herself, fights for what she wants and still does it all with a unique sense of fashion!

I was gripped by the way her relationship developed with Sam, still living back in London. I also enjoyed her family's antics. However, the relationship I enjoyed reading most of all was between Lou and Margot De Witt. Does anyone else wish they could meet a smart, sassy older lady to be their mentor and friend?

I think it's a mark of how good this book is that I bought it a year after it's release and it was still only available in hardback - I just couldn't wait any longer! It was definitely worth the wait and I can't recommend it enough as a moving and satisfying conclusion to Lou's story. 5 out of 5


The Author

Jojo Moyes is a British novelist.

Moyes studied at Royal Holloway, University of London. She won a bursary financed by The Independent newspaper to study journalism at City University and subsequently worked for The Independent for 10 years. In 2001 she became a full time novelist.

Moyes' novel Foreign Fruit won the Romantic Novelists' Association (RNA) Romantic Novel of the Year in 2004.

She is married to journalist Charles Arthur and has three children.

This is Going to Hurt by Adam Kay

The Blurb

"Adam Kay was a junior doctor from 2004 until 2010, before a devastating experience on a ward caused him to reconsider his future. He kept a diary throughout his training, and This Is Going to Hurt intersperses tales from the front line of the NHS with reflections on the current crisis. The result is a first-hand account of life as a junior doctor in all its joy, pain, sacrifice and maddening bureaucracy, and a love letter to those who might at any moment be holding our lives in their hands."

Paperback, 280 pages

Published April 19th 2018 by Picador (first published September 7th 2017)

With thanks to Stacey for lending me her copy!



My Review

Told in short, sharp diary entries, this is a blistering examination of life as a junior doctor. I gasped, laughed and winced my way through the book. I actually laughed out loud a lot at the way Adam Kay describes the mishaps and awkward situations he encountered as a junior doctor, so I had to keep stopping to read each section to my partner so he knew why I was laughing.

That said, there are some heartbreaking moments in this book, both in terms of events that happened to his patients and the rigorous and isolating life that he was leading as a junior doctor. It was devastating reading how someone so dedicated, like so many healthcare professionals, was driven to the point where he felt he could no longer continue in the profession after years of training and hard-work.
A must read for anyone and everyone! 5 out of 5 from me.

The Author

Adam Kay is a writer and comedian.

He writes extensively for TV and film. His first book "This is Going to Hurt" is out now.