As Louisa has matured and grown, so too have Moyes’ novels, resulting in the best entry in the Me Before You trilogy yet. Here, Moyes seeks to plumb what it truly means to find oneself and build a life alongside others rather than solely in service to them … Past characters pop up with enough frequency to satisfy the most devoted readers, while Moyes’ ability to craft utterly unique and delightful new characters that spring off the page remains … Louisa herself is a heroine with whom you could spend endless hours – her generosity of spirit, sincerity, and gently self-deprecating inner monologue make it obvious why Moyes and readers have stuck with her through three books. For fans of the previous novels, Moyes has crafted a worthy conclusion to her trilogy, offering a finale brimming with pathos and warmth.
Still Me is the third installment in the adventures of Louisa Clark, she of the ditsy fashion sense and knack for sweetening up sourpusses … Agnes can’t bear going to all the social and top-dollar philanthropic events her station in life demands, and Louisa’s mission is to buck her up. And she does, treating us along the way to some nicely sardonic descriptions of high-net-worth Manhattan … While Moyes is an entertaining, often very funny, and pleasantly sappy writer, more and more of Louisa’s story takes place in her memory — a sign to us that she’s ready for retirement.
Louisa Clark, literary cousin to Bridget Jones, returns in Jojo Moyes’ Still Me, a romance that wraps up like a sparkling bow … There’s the pleasure of peeking in on New York’s skyscraper-high society: glamorous charity balls, exclusive luncheons, and a gleaming house buzzing with cleaners, florists, pet behaviorists, etc. However, these moments soon fizzle and predictable, stiff characters emerge, weighing down the excitement … Moyes doesn’t spend enough time with anyone in Louisa’s life and so their predicaments feel paper-thin.
Unfortunately, Lou no longer seems as fresh or endearing as she did in the earlier books. Her wit feels strained. Even her eccentric fashion sense has grown a bit annoying. Secondary characters—like the Gopniks’ elderly neighbor Mrs. DeWitt, devoted to her dog and not as mean as she seems; or Ashok, the doorman whose chaotically happy marriage provides contrast to the Gopniks’—end up more engaging than the protagonists. There is something lackadaisical about the writing here that makes getting through all the plot twists a slog.
