Book Review: Me Before You by Jojo Moyes

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Me Before You
Me Before You #1
Author: Jojo Moyes
Reading Level: Adult
Genre: Contemporary
Released: April 26th 2016 (Movie Tie-In)
Review Source: Penguin Books

The beloved New York Times bestseller—with more than five million copies sold—by the author of One Plus One and The Girl You Left Behind

They had nothing in common until love gave them everything to lose . . .

Louisa Clark is an ordinary girl living an exceedingly ordinary life—steady boyfriend, close family—who has barely been farther afield than their tiny village. She takes a badly needed job working for ex–Master of the Universe Will Traynor, who is wheelchair bound after an accident. Will has always lived a huge life—big deals, extreme sports, worldwide travel—and now he’s pretty sure he cannot live the way he is.

Will is acerbic, moody, bossy—but Lou refuses to treat him with kid gloves, and soon his happiness means more to her than she expected. When she learns that Will has shocking plans of his own, she sets out to show him that life is still worth living.

“I’m not employed by you, I’m employed by your mother. And unless she tells me she doesn’t want me here anymore, I’m staying. Not because I particularly care about you, or like this stupid job, or want to change your life one way or another, but because I need the money. Okay? I really need the money.”

Will Traynor’s expression hadn’t outwardly changed much but I thought I saw astonishment in there, as if he were unused to anyone disagreeing with him.

“Oh hell, I thought, as the reality of what I had just done began to sink in. I’ve really blown it this time” 

(CH. 4, pg.57)

Louisa Clark had a pretty normal life – so when she is called upon by a Job Center advertisement for what she thought might be a nursing home job, she was definitely caught off guard. For someone who liked living a seemingly normal life and liked the simplicity of a low key, uncomplicated life, she never expected to have to care for someone like Will Traynor, whose life was going to collide with hers in a way that was unimaginable to Louisa.

The more time that Louisa spends caring for Will, she shows him that there are still so many things in life that are too beautiful to miss out on, and Will helps her become more daring, and that she should take risks and chances she normally wouldn’t think of doing. Life is too short to stay stuck in a comfort zone.

Reading this book left me feeling mixed emotions. First off, it really made me think about how fragile anyone can be, and that although we want our loved ones to live a full life, it truly is every person’s individual decision how they want to live their life. We can only control ourselves and take it day by day.

If you’re looking for the Disney-type, fairy-tale ending, youre not going to find it in this book. But what you are going to find is a book that makes you look deep inside yourself and you will question who you are as a person and you’ll ask yourself, “What would I do in that situation?” I think it’s going to take me some time to get over this book – it’s the type to stick with you. Jojo Moyes – you sure know how to enrapture your readers! 5/5 stars for this incredible, heartfelt book.