Me Before You by Jojo Moyes

I thoroughly enjoyed Me Before You. It's been a while since I read a love story. Like, I know most books have an underlying love story, but this is 100% romance. I love the genre, but it takes a lot out of a person; they're so emotional. But this one I wanted to read right away since the movie is out now and I really want to see the movie, and I am always for reading the book before seeing the movie.

So my deep dark secret: I didn't shed a single tear. Sure, my eyes welled up a little bit, but that was it. According to my best friend, this means my heart is frozen. Maybe it does. That doesn't take away my love for the book though.

5 Sentence Summary

Two years ago, Will Traynor was in a motorcycle accident that has left him paralyzed from the neck down, with limited function in one of his hands; he has gone from a powerful business man who loves adventures and women to becoming completely dependent upon other people for everything and living with constant pain. Louisa Clark is a very simple girl who lives with her parents, has mixed feeling about her boyfriend of 7 years and has just lost her job at a bakery. Lou takes a 6 month contract of being a caretaker to Will, and when she discovers that the reason the contract is only 6 months because he plans on ending his life, she takes it upon herself to give Will a reason to live, and ends up falling for him. Although their relationship is rocky in the beginning, they warm up to each other; Lou bring life back into Will and Will inspires Lou to go outside of her comfort zone and try new things. But will new adventures and the possibility of love be enough to save Will in the end?

What I Liked

• The characters in the book are stunning! Jojo Moyes did a wonderful job of bring them to life, giving them qualities that people can see in themselves, and making every reader fall in love with them. Although not a major character, I love Nathan. I feel like he is a strong, caring man with so much to give and he brought an interesting perspective to Lou when she needed to see a different light.
• The writing style was brilliant! Although most chapters are from Lou's point of view, every few chapters we would hear from Will, Nathan, Camilla, Steven and Katrina. These chapters add just a little extra to the book to know how other characters lives are being effected by Will and Lou without taking away from the overall story.
• As morbid as this is about to sound, it's pro-euthanasia. *Spoiler* Will dies in the end the way he wanted to. I know, I know, we're supposed to want Will to live because he's found love, but love, as Will says, isn't enough. He is a shell of the man he used to be and would want to be for Lou. He died with dignity, which is what he wanted, and which is what I would want for myself and my loved ones were we in similar circumstances. 
• "I told him a story of two people. Two people who shouldn't have met, and who didn't like each other very much when they did, but who found they were the only tow people in the world who could have possibly understood each other." (pp. 358-359) Find me a more beautiful quote! I dare you!

What I Didn't Like

• Patrick is a tosser. Like seriously. I had complete respect for him until he sold the story to The Globe. Before that, he was completely in the right. Lou had planned a very romantic vacation, even if it wasn't her intention to be that way, and I would have been pissed if my boyfriend planned something like that. But he lost any chance of being redeemable when he gave up the story. What really breaks my heart about this is in the movie, he's played by one of the Hogwarts Hotties, Matthew Lewis. I really don't want to see Matt be evil. 50 points from Gryffindor.

• Steven's affair. The affair started even before Will's accident. I've said it before and I'll say it a million more times. If you aren't happy, just leave! Do not put your family through the stress of an affair. Have enough respect for your partner to leave them before entering into another relationship. Do not make yourself the bad guy/girl.

Overall Thought

I love that this is a perfect example of "if you love someone, let them go." I know, it's a cliche, but it's a cliche for a reason. It doesn't matter who you're looking at, everyone let someone go in this story. Lou let go of Will, but she also let go of her family when they didn't support her decision (although I would assume they have since worked out their differences). The Traynor's let go of their son and then each other. Everyone did what was right for each other and for themselves, and through this, they are all now capable of reaching their fullest potential, or in Will's case, letting go of the life he would never be able to have.

You know what my most favorite part of this entire book is? Louisa learns to live! She finds her passion in life, and with the help of Will, she is achieving it! She didn't "save" Will, but she saved herself, and if that isn't powerful, I don't know what is!

I excited to be able to start After You and find out what's in store next for my new favorite heroine. 

Rating: 9/10

Pages: 369 (paperback)

Genre(s): Fiction, Romance, Contemporary