Review: One Plus One

One Plus One
by Jojo Moyes
Contemporary fiction
Amazon  /  Goodreads

Plot Summary:

One single mom. One chaotic family. One quirky stranger. One irresistible love story from the New York Times bestselling author of Me Before You.

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.

One Plus One is Jojo Moyes at her astounding best. You’ll laugh, you’ll weep, and when you flip the last page, you’ll want to start all over again.

Review:

Jojo Moyes's particular genius for tender, character-driven drama and romance comes through in this story yet again.  The personalities of all the members of this motley family and the Ed Nicholls mesh so well, and add dimension and believability to the character drama.

Each chapter of the story switches perspective between the four main characters, which worked very well in my opinion, and I usually don't like switching POV's in books.  The characters are all so different from each other and it was important to get their own perspective in certain scenes that it made what is mostly a straightforward road trip romance, very poignant and emotional.  And when I realized that the road trip portion only comprised about three days in the character's lives, I was surprised that I felt like I had gone through so much with these characters because I was so invested in their lives.  I was impressed by how much depth there was to their relationship, after so short a time.

Which also helped make me completely invested in the sort of whirlwind romance between Jess and Ed.  I believed that they could feel that strongly for each other after so short of time, because the development of the characters was excellent, and the intensity of being cooped up in a car for hours on end, with that forced intimacy, made it very convincing.

All of the characters have hardships to overcome in this story, and  the fact that they all help each other through their traumas made this a wonderfully uplifting story to read.  Even through the parts of devastating emotion.  There's a message that if you are a good person, things will come out right and it's a message I very much believe in, and was glad to see made such a particular point in the story.  This book is heartwarming, emotional and beautifully told, I would highly recommend it!

(I received this book from the publisher or author for a fair and honest review.  I was not compensated for this review.)

Review: Me Before You

Me Before You
by Jojo Moyes
Contemporary Romance/ Women's Fiction
Amazon  /  Goodreads

Plot Summary:

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.

Review:

Me Before You is an incredible, poignant story and one I think that will stay with me for a long time.  Actually I think this story has scarred me a little because I am already getting emotional as I write this review.  This isn't the usual kind of book I am interested in, but I am glad I picked it up and gave it a chance.

What I found really lovely about this story is that while at first it seems like it is about how Lou changes Will's life for the better, there is this running undercurrent as the reader gradually discovers it's also the other way around as issues that seemed just quirks with Lou is revealed to have been the result of something that had a deep affect on her life and Will helps her overcome what has been holding her back.  I also loved how the romance was so layered - very slow building, taking many realistic turns because it was not an easy journey for these characters.  But this is a wonderful, tender story about two people getting to know each other and finding inspiration in their relationship.

I was very impressed by the realism in all the characters as well - including Lou and Will's families who are each dealing with difficult and very different situations which helped enhance the main story and gave more depth to these characters' lives.  The book does change the POV sometimes to that of a different character for key scenes which I was not particularly fond of, as there were times when I definitely still wanted to remain in Lou's head.  It didn't feel that necessary, except perhaps for getting into Will's mother's head.  As she is faced with such a terrible situation and she puts up so many walls with Lou.  But I was glad to really understand her character because she is not as cold as she sometimes seemed.

I don't know if this is a story for everyone.  There are morality issues that can be difficult to deal with and understand.  It is heartbreaking and emotional and there's this huge sense of calamity looming over the whole story.  I often felt like taking a break from reading because I felt so saddened by the possibilities of the ending.  But I didn't stop because the writing and the characters were so compelling.  Despite the tragic circumstances, there is an appreciation for life that is very inspiring, and that determination to fulfill your potential is a beautiful aspect of this novel.  I was really very moved by this story and I am so glad I met these characters.

(Over on The Duchesses, we reviewed this book as a group as a part of our monthly feature - Duchess High Tea.  There's a little bit more flailing over the story over there!)