Title: Me Before You
Author: Jojo Moyes
Genre: Fiction, Romance
Source: Charity Shop, Previous Read
Rating: 5/5

My favourite quote; “’Throw the doors open.’ Will nodded towards the outside. ‘I want to see it.’ I hesitated, then slowly opened the glass doors out on to the terrace. The rain hammered down on to the hotel complex, dripping from our roof, sending rivers running away from our terrace and out towards the sea. I felt the moisture on my face, the electricity in the air. The hairs on my arms stood bolt upright. ‘Can you feel it?’ he said, from behind me. ‘It’s like the end of the world.’”

I cried. It’s the second time I’ve read this book now and the second time it’s brought tears seeping from my eyes.
I first borrowed this book from my friend who insisted it was worth a read and that I needed to get lost in the pages as soon as possible. She was right. I can’t fault it.
It takes a lot for me to cry, I say that in the sense that it takes alot for me to shed tears in my everyday life, even when things seem too far gone and I feel close to breaking point. However, stick me in front of Extreme Makeover – Home Edition, and I’ll be sat there crying like a baby. I don’t know what that really says about me tbh. Maybe I just don’t let situations in my life overwhelm me to the point of tears, but I let it all my emotions out in a fictional sanctuary canopy. Whatever gets you through life I suppose!

Louisa Clark, a 27 year old fashion eccentric who lives in her own comfortable bubble, finds herself at the job centre after being made redundant at her beloved cafe after 6 years of employment. With very little options available to her, she miraculously succeeds in getting a job as a carer for a 35 year old quadriplegic, Will Traynor, who sees her as nothing more than a frustrating irritation who talks too much. The more time they spend together, the more she gets to know who he was before his accident and begins to understand his cold demeanour, not just towards her, but to others also. Louisa soon realises that what Will wants, is to have a life with his own choices, rather than having people make decision for him. Two years since the accident, he’s still not emotionally adapted to his confined wheelchair life and resents every single day in it, compared to his previous independent life full of travel, adventure, business and pleasure.

Louisa accidentally gets caught up in the family’s secret that Will wishes to end his life in Switzerland and then makes it her life’s mission to ensure that Will can see that life is still worth living, even in a wheelchair.
It’s a very uplifting, deeply emotional love story that you can’t put down until you reach the last page.
What I love most about this book is that it allows you time to get to know both characters, who they were before and how they adapt throughout the story together. You’ll spend the whole time sharing Louisa’s determination to fight for Will’s life, but at the same time seeing the world through Will’s eye and wishing it was all over.

‘It has been,’ I told him, ‘the best six months of my entire life.’
There was a long silence.
‘Funnily enough, Clark, mine too.’ 
And then, just like that, my heart broke.

All I can really say to anyone reading this, is that you need to read this book, even if you have watched the film first. It actually follows the story really well.
I found this book to be beautifully written and without fault. It’s definitely in my favourites!

Goodreads Review:
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?