*All reviews I write are spoiler free*
I feel like everyone is reading this book lately thanks to the movie trailer being released, and while I don’t usually like contemporary books, I had to jump on the bandwagon with this one. I watched the trailer more times than I cared to admit, so I ordered the book as soon as I could and dove into it the very same day it arrived at my door.
So let’s talk about Me Before You!
Title: Me Before You
Author: Jojo Moyes
Publisher: Penguin
Series Status: The 1st book in a duology
Number of Pages: 481
My Rating: 5/5 stars!
(Found on back cover and Goodreads)
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.
It’s probably a good job I didn’t have to write this review as soon as I finished the book, because my keyboard would’ve been covered in tears. I know everybody mentions how heartbreaking this book is, but I’m telling you – as a person who rarely cares about contemporary books – it’s not a lie. By the end of this book I was full on ugly-sobbing.
Even going into this book, I pretty much knew how it was going to end, judging from everybody’s reactions and the fact that the title of the second book is pretty much a spoiler itself (if you don’t know the title of the second book yet, DON’T look for it). I did actually think this was a standalone, but then saw on Goodreads that it’s a duology. Anyway, despite guessing how it ended, it didn’t seem to ruin the book at all. The entire story just captured my heart and brought out all the emotions. So I’m appealing to you guys who haven’t read this book yet, and are kind of put off from guessing how the story ends – PLEASE just go ahead and read it. Half the beauty in this book is the journey, rather than the ending.
From the very beginning I was engrossed. The majority of the story is written from Louisa’s point of view, and her personality is just so lively and quirky, I couldn’t help but get pulled along into her story. There were a few chapters (literally about six chapters in the entire book) that seemed slightly out of place, since they were written from the view of a different character, and while I found these a bit random and slightly less interesting, I understood why they were relevant. They just provided that little bit more information, which you wouldn’t necessarily see from Lou’s point of view.
More often than not, I forgot I was reading. I was no longer reading words on a page – I was living the story. That’s probably why it affected me so much. I felt so strongly towards the characters and the events, it was like the book was toying with my emotions. One minute I’d be laughing at the sarcasm (trust me, there was plenty of it), the next I’d be cringing at an especially awkward moment. Even though the pace was slow, I never found it boring, with the ups and downs keeping it interesting and also realistic.
I really do applaud Jojo Moyes for having enough courage to write about such a sensitive topic. It’d be so easy to write something wrong and cause offense, and although I hardly know anything about this topic myself, it seemed so close to the truth that I can’t really doubt anything that was mentioned. It was so thorough, showing both the ups and downs of living as a quadriplegic, the feelings of constant paranoia and the medical issues involved with every journey. It was actually pretty mind-blowing, and the sort of book where I now feel enlightened after finishing the story.
So now I’ll say this: If you haven’t already read this book, and even have the vaguest slither of interest in reading it…READ IT. Please. Coming from a person who rarely enjoys contemporary books (but is trying to get into them more), I can honestly say this has become a favourite of mine, and I dearly hope it’ll affect you just as much.
Rated 5/5 stars!
Order from Amazon!
(It’s only £3.49 from Amazon – it’s where I got my copy from)
Let me know you’re thoughts!
Have you read this book? What did you think?
Did you cry, like I did? (don’t mention spoilers!)
If you haven’t read it, is it on your TBR?
Do you plan on watching the movie once it’s released?
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Come and visit me!
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Love your review! I love the sarcasm and wit that Will displayed throughout the book. I think my favorite humor moment by far was the tattoo. I cannot tell you how much I loved that part I laughed out loud and would laugh again as I was telling my bf about it.
I wasn’t that much of a mess while reading, I was sad and bummed out and I had hope that things would change at the last second but no. I do think that I will be more emotional during the move because I ❤ Sam Claflin and I was ugly sobbing during Mockingjay!
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Thank you! Sarcasm is probably my favourite kind of humour, so this book was great for me 😀 The tattoo scene was great. I didn’t think I’d get into that much of a mess but apparently I did haha!
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Even more excited to read this now i’ve read your review 😀 A little less excited for all the emotions to come though!
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Watch, you’ll not even be affected now, after I’ve hyped it up so much ahah xD Hopefully you do though!
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I’m sure I will, i’m a very emotional person anyway haha!
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Since the movie trailer made me cry I’m pretty sure the book will have me in hysterics 😭
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It did with me so that’s very likely haha!
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Great review!! You did the book justice!
I was bawling by the end of it!!! The trailer was what lead me to find the book, plus I didnt watch the whole trailer, I just saw the first few seconds and I had to read the book first!!!! When I did finish the book, I was watching the trailer on replay!!! I cannot take how it ends!!
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Thank you so much! 😀 There’s so many people who were left crying at this book, it’s unbelievable! I saw the trailer first too and decided to read the book from that, and I’m so glad I did.
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Me too 🙂 I cant wait for the movie!
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I’m so glad you liked it. One of my faves. And while I didn’t cry, that ending got me bad. 😢 Love these character so much. I can’t wait to see them on screen.
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Me too, I can’t wait for the film to come out!
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I definitely need to jump on this bandwagon too, especially after reading this! Fantastic review, Ashleigh!
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Thank you! And you really should, it’s great on this bandwagon!
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i ACTUALLY havent finished it yet. I’m 2 chapters away and hes made the decision but if i finish the last two chapters and he doesn’t change his mind i will have no hope and i already spent a couple hours crying so
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Yepp, tissues are very much needed with this book – as shown through the couple of hours of crying you’ve already had!
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