Book Review- JoJo Moyes' One Plus One

I first discovered JoJo Moyes last year, when I read her smash hit, Me Before You. I really enjoyed Me Before You and was very excited to read all of her other novels, of which there are many. I've recently joined the review site NetGalley and I was very excited when Viking Press accepted my request to review Moyne's latest novel, One Plus One. Thanks Viking!

Jess is a twenty-something single mom trying to hold it together by working odd-jobs in a seaside resort town in England. Her estranged husband has depression issues and cannot support his children. Jess can barely make ends meet. She has informally adopted, Nick, a child from her husband's former relationship with a drug addict. As an outcast teenager, Nick is routinely beat up by kids in the neighborhood for being different. Her preteen daughter, Tanzie is a socially awkward math wiz, whose teachers have pushed to have her enter a math competition in Scotland. If she wins the competition, there is a huge cash prize which would allow her to attend a fancy private school and change the future for the entire family.

The problem is, they have no way to get to Scotland. Through a series of unlikely circumstances, the family embarks on a crazy road trip, driven by Ed, an owner of one of the luxury houses that Jess cleans. They look at Ed's life and imagine that his money makes him live carefree. What they don't realize is that he is under investigation for insider trading and is about to lose it all. 

I loved this story. It's funny, heartfelt and poignant. It reminded me of one of my favorite movies,  Little Miss Sunshine, with the quirky family on an unexpected journey. The plot is solid and entertaining, but what Moyes really hits the mark with is her creation of characters that are endearing. Each of the main characters affected me and I really cared about their fates in the story. This novel really got under my skin in a good way. Although plenty of terrible things happen, the overriding emotion that I was left with was one of joy. 

One small thing that I noticed, and I can't confirm this without the author or publisher chiming in, is I think some small things were changed for an American audience. My husband is British and one of the funny things that my mother-in-law pointed out when I visited (and when she visits America) is how American TJ Maxx stores are TK Maxx in the UK. In the book, the stores are called TJ. Also, a character refers to potato chips as chips, rather than crisps. They are such minor things, but they popped out at me enough for me to stop and point it out to my husband.

That was a minor nit, because I really loved the story and Moyes is a fantastic writer. As soon as I finished One Plus One, I went to Amazon and purchased a load of her books for my Kindle. I can't get enough. 

I highly, highly recommend One Plus One and Moyes as an author to check out. 

Book Review- Jojo Moyes' Me Before You

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Lou is in her mid-twenties, has never moved out of her parents house and is stuck in a rut in her small England village. Her own view of her life's possibilities is narrow and only becomes smaller when she loses her job as a waitress at a local cafe. Lou mourns the loss of a job that she enjoyed and finds herself on a employment hunt with little education or skills. 

Lou's whole life changes when she takes on a job as a companion to Will, a thirty-six year old paraplegic, who comes from a wealthy family that owns the castle in Lou's hometown. Will is a former jet-setting CEO, who's lifestyle was shattered when he was hit by a car. 

Will is counting down the days until he can head to Switzerland to commit assisted suicide. He has made a pact with his parents to wait six months in case he changes his mind and his parents have hired Lou in hopes that she can help him discover his will to live.  As Will and Lou develop a friendship, it becomes clear that Lou's life is the one in desperate need of saving. 

Jojo Moyes' novel, Me Before You, is a bit sneaky. The emotional punch creeps up on you. Overall, I found the plot to be very predictable, yet even when I could predict what was coming, I still felt left a little raw with the emotions. I connected with the characters on a deeper level than I realized while I reading the book. I felt for all of them

The story is mostly told from Lou's perspective. However, Moyes does a nice thing where she writes few chapters from the perspective of other characters. This was very clever, as it was easy to be heavily judgmental towards those characters, yet when I got into their minds, I felt more compassion towards them. There is very much a theme of judgment and learning to show compassion towards others. 

Occasionally, I felt a disconnect from the story, usually when Lou's family crept in. I felt like Lou was becoming a bit of a punching bag. It felt overbearing. However, the more that I read the book, the more realistic her family became. I started recognizing traits that Lou's family shared with my own family, which was probably what created my disconnect in the first place. It hit close to home. 

The biggest reason that the story works is that I found myself really rooting for the characters. They are stuck with impossible choices and I just want the outcome to be the best possible scenario. I read through it quickly just to find out how it was going to end. 

This story has a lot of heart and compassion. I finished it yesterday morning and it has lingered with me. The best stories are those that make an impact and this one is definitely impactful.