Title: Me Before You by Jojo Moyes
Published:
December 31st, 2013 by Viking
Source:
Purchased
Format: eBook
Genre: Romance
Group age:
Adult
Grade rate: A-
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.
My Review
Oh my
goodness! This book should come with a
warning or at least a book of tissues!
Now I need to tell you why I think this book was full of pure
awesomeness.
I read this book
during my winter vacation, while I was in Puerto Rico, and thus my whole family
got to see me with red, swollen after I finished it. This, my dear readers, is a sure sign that
this was a great story. What’s so great,
you ask? Everything!
I loved these
characters, most specially Lou. It
is always so good to see so much character growth within the pages of a
story. Lou has settled for everything in
life, her job, her love life, family dynamics, and her beliefs. That all changes (eventually) when she meets
Will. Even though Will can barely move
physically, he manages to induce joy, awareness, and much needed change in
Lou. It is so nice to see the
interactions and the banter between the two of them.
Poor Will. Prior to the accident, he was so active and
he had such a fulfilling and amazing life that he just couldn’t adjust to life
after the accident. Nevertheless, it
brought him a clearer understanding of what means to fully live life. I think that’s why he saw Lou’s potential and it bothers
him to see how even though she’s whole, she wastes her life by conforming to
what others think of her and limiting her potential. The overall character development is really
good.
The plot is so
good and unexpected. I have to say that
while I was reading, I kept wishing for a miracle, for that magic pill or
at least for Will’s attitude towards life to change. I truly understand his decision, but it doesn’t
make it any easier to accept. The
writing is easy to read, funny, quirky and so insightful and heart felt. Me Before You is the first book I’ve
read by Moyes and it will not be the last. It is a true gem.
To recap, Me
Before You, is a story of finding inner strength, finding a purpose and not settling
in life. It’s a story of reaching out to
the sky and grabbing what you want. It’s
a story of knowing when to let go.
About the cover:
This cover really doesn’t to a lot for me, it’s probably the reason why
it took me so long to read the book in the first place.
