Fall In Love with: Me Before You by Jo-Jo Moyes

I left you all again – I’m so sorry! I need to stop doing that, but I’m sure you all understand how busy I am revising and everything, so hopefully you’ve all forgiven me for not posting (again) for what, ten days?!! Oh my goodness – I’ve missed you all.

While I have been gone, I have fallen in love with this book (which, by the way, is seriously amazing) – it is Me Before You by Jo-Jo Moyes, a book, which on picking up and spontaneously buying, I completely underestimated.

The reason why I buy it, was, well, because it sounded so nice – the blurb led me to believe that it was going to be a story focussed on a lovely little tea-shop and maybe a failed relationship, but I did not know what I was letting myself in for.

Me Before You is a story about a girl called Louisa who loses her job at a teashop, and gets a new job caring for a man who has been in an accident and is now confined to a wheelchair. Louisa is a really colourful and lively person. She wears shockingly individual clothes and she has an amazing sense of humour, but when she meets her new employer, Will, a thirty-five year old disabled man, she reconsiders her ability to work with him. He is quite reserved at first, and he is sarcastic, and sometimes quite rude, but I actually liked him from the start. Behind his sarcasm, I could see his great sense of humour.

The contract that Louisa accepts is only going to last for 6 months, and for a while, this remains unexplained to Louisa, but then she overhears a conversation which sheds a lot of light on the subject. Will is seriously depressed as a result of being confined to his wheelchair for the last few years. Before the accident, he was the most outgoing and adventurous person, and having new restrictions was really upsetting him. He wanted to end his own life, and had agreed to live, just for his mother’s sake, for 6 months. Louisa’s role was to try and get him to change his mind.

Learning of this, Louisa is on a mission to give Will the best time possible in order to try and get him to change his mind and the book relates the journey they embark on and how their lives become entwined and their friendship becomes closer and closer.

It sounds so sad, but the story is very enjoyable, actually, and the reader gets really caught up in the events. I enjoyed the book much more than I thought I would. It’s heart-breaking, funny, and charming all at the same time, which makes you appreciate your abilities, and want to get out there and face the world.

It’s uplifting as well as being sad and poignant, and I would highly recommend it. I am contemplating getting hold of a copy of the sequel: After You – would anyone recommend it? I love Jo-Jo Moyes writing style – it is easy to read, and fuelled by excellent dialogue and beautiful description, but I would urge you to read the conclusion when you are alone – with a box of tissues at hand.

This book definitely deserves 4.5 stars because it carries such a strong message, and it makes the reader think about things a lot and explore a new perspective. Also, the characters were very well-developed and the pace of the book was perfect.

Have you read this book – and if so, what did you think (and did it make you cry?!)

Thanks for reading my review, everyone!