This month I have been busy haven’t I? 😀
Me Before You was another book, like Fault in our Stars that I had wanted to read for quite a while. I have refrained from watching the film with this one, but only just (Its next on my list of things to after reading this book).
I had an idea that I would like this book after reading such good reviews (spoiler free) and so I opened the first page and set out to find out what people loved about it. The first chapter hooked me and reeled me in! The writing flowed brilliantly; JoJo Moyes has a wonderful way with her words and I found myself falling in love with Louisa. She was a wonderful, bubbly breath of fresh air. I loved her quirky approach and adored how close her and her family were; relating to the family get togethers and the sibling rivalry.
Lets take a little peek at the author before I leave you my review. 🙂
About the Author
Jojo Moyes was born in 1969 and grew up in London. After a varied career including stints as a minicab controller, typer of braille statements for blind people for NatWest, and brochure writer for Club 18-30, she did a degree at Royal Holloway and Bedford New College, London University.
In 1992, she won a bursary financed by The Independent newspaper to attend the postgraduate newspaper journalism course at City University.
Jojo worked as a journalist for ten years, including a year at South China Morning Post in Hong Kong, and nine at The Independent where she worked variously as News Reporter, Assistant News Editor and Arts and Media Correspondent.
Jojo has been a full time novelist since 2002, when her first book, Sheltering Rain was published. Since then she has written a further eleven novels, all of which have been widely critically acclaimed.
Jojo has won the Romantic Novelist’s Award twice, and Me Before You has been nominated for Book of the Year at the UK Galaxy Book Awards. Me Before You has since gone on to sell over 8 million copies worldwide.
The film adaptation of Me Before You starring Sam Claflin (The Hunger Games) and Emilia Clarke (Game of Thrones) was released in June 2016 and was a huge box-office success. The screenplay was written by Jojo.
Jojo lives (and writes!) on a farm in Essex, England with her husband, journalist Charles Arthur, and their three children.
About the Book
Louisa Clark is an ordinary young woman living an exceedingly ordinary life—steady boyfriend, close family—who has never 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.
A love story for this generation, Me Before You brings to life two people who couldn’t have less in common—a heartbreakingly romantic novel that asks, What do you do when making the person you love happy also means breaking your own heart?
My Review
If I aspire to do anything in my life, it is to create a book like this with a story that creates a plethora of feelings.
Could I give this book anything less than 5 stars?
I know some dislike this book as they feel like it glorifies suicide or that it is too insensitive but all I saw was a heart-breaking story of a young man who has had his life cruelly limited and who is feeling suffocated by the life he is now forced to live. I read the pain he felt and understood the anger he had towards a life he was now having to endure. And yet I also felt the ache his mother must have felt as she tried to reach out to her son. I related to this and thought about my own two young sons.Â
Louisa was a wonderful character and I fell in love with her and her family. They were a fantastic family unit and I related to the many arguments or issues that they faced between them. The sibling rivalry between Louisa and her sister made me smile as I could see me and my sister. The jealousy and rivalry is there, but beyond that is a deep love that no friends can penetrate.
I loved the character interaction in this book; I fell in love with Louisa, I loved her family and I enjoyed the flirting between her and Will.
I laughed at this book, I cringed at this book (the race-course trip) and then towards the end I cried! Not just teary eyed, I mean…big, ugly sobs! I was distraught and read a loft of the final words through bleary blurred vision.
This was both wonderfully charming and achingly heart-breaking all in one!
Conclusion
This is only ever going to be a 5 star book for me! Amazing!
S x
Writing from the Heart 
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