Review: Honeymoon in Paris by Jojo Moyes

Honeymoon in Paris is a prequel to The Girl You Left Behind.  It’s a short story, or rather, novella, about two couples, early in their marriage and very much in love, but struggling to adjust to married life.  They’re trying to figure out how to balance work and marriage and issues from their past.  But as upset as they get, they realize they’ll make things work.

 

As a stand alone story, there isn’t much to it.  However, when read before The Girl You Left Behind, it adds quite a bit to the story.  While I understand that it was released before Girl You Left Behind as sort of a teaser for what to expect, I think it would be of move value if it was included as the first part of Girl You Left Behind, not a separate novella.

 

Girl You Left Behind focuses on the two women in Honeymoon in Paris, who as the title indicates, have now been "left behind."  It's the story of what happens to them after their husbands are gone – one because of death, the other because of war.  Knowing how they felt about their husbands, and having read about them when they were with their husbands, rather than simply relying on their memories enhances the emotional aspect of the story.  I think you have a better understanding of why the women did the things they did after having read Honeymoon in Paris.

 

So I very much recommend reading Honeymoon in Paris before reading Girl You Left Behind.  If you don’t plan to read Girl You Left Behind, not any reason to read this, however, I very much recommend reading Girl You Left Behind, because it’s a great book.  (Will post review of that book separately.)

 

I received a review copy of this via NetGalley.