I read "Me Before You" around the time the movie came out, and I had conflicting feelings the entire time I read it. I enjoyed Louisa’s progression as a character and how she addressed moving past a traumatic event from her past. What I did not enjoy was the love story between Louisa and Will because Will ultimately ended his life with assisted suicide. I can see where Will was coming from with his decision, but it was still a hard concept to grasp. However, I disliked Louisa's ending in the novel even more.

"Me Before You" left Louisa sitting at a café in Paris while she reads a letter from Will telling her to live her life. I found this completely unsatisfying because Louisa went through a dramatic few months of her life after going to care for Will. She went through relationship changes, confronted demons from her past, faced family conflict and fell in love with a man that stopped having the will to live. All of these things would have a great effect on a person, but the ending made it seem like Louisa would simply be fine. This, in my opinion, was unrealistic.

And I thought that was the end of Louisa’s journey.

Then I discovered that there was a sequel called "After You." It revealed that Louisa was struggling in her life without Will. She struggled with letting him go and moving on. It was not until after she met new people that she finally learned how to move her life forward.

"After You" was basically the ending I was looking for "Me Before You" to have. "Me Before You" was more than a story about Will ending his life. It was a story about Louisa finding herself and learning to do things that make her happy. "After You" progresses the journey of Louisa’s characterization that the movie "Me Before You" opened up.

Ultimately, the ending of "After You" was much more satisfying. Like the first novel, it leaves an ambiguous ending as to whether Louisa will end up fine or not. However, the difference this time is that she now has the support of her family and new friends to help her stay on track with her life. This support makes it much more believable that she will end up OK. She addresses the fact that not everyday will be easy, but she has a support group to lean on when she needs to.

I think "After You" is a good novel to read because many people can relate to feelings of grief or of struggling to move on from certain events in their lives. The novel presents both of these topics and discusses how it is OK to struggle with these topics.