Me Before You by Jojo Moyes

Me Before You by Jojo Moyes
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Reading this broke me. It never had a chance to build me up. From the very beginning it just grabbed me by the heartstrings and started tugging me around like a puppy that couldn’t keep up. Me Before You was just that sort of story. I fell in love with it and wanted things to go well for the characters that we followed.

There are a lot of people out there who said that this book made them cry. I unfortunately am one of them. Here is the thing, generally if I know something will be sad and crying is expected, I don’t. Something just clicks in my brain and my heartlessness kicks into overgear. This is only one of two books that has bucked against that trend and I believe it is because of how well this book sucks you into this story. It does what it sets out to do well. It tells the story of Louisa and how her life could change so suddenly and unexpectedly.

The real heart of this book is the characters. Louisa is quirky, but not overly so. She’s quaint and sweet. It was painful to see the position she was in. The butt of all jokes within her home. Hopelessly neglected by her boyfriend. Worst of all she had settled into a state of content that she didn’t feel comfortable breaking out of to the point that she didn’t really think that was what she wanted. Maybe it was because I connected to Louisa on a deep level, I really wanted the best for her. I felt myself drowning with her. Examining my own life and the choices I had made. That was the moment that I knew it had me.

Then we met Will and my life began to crumble. Maybe it’s because I love a grumpy person. Will is the epitome of confrontational and a curmudgeon. I loved him for it in every way. The more we saw of him the harder and faster I fell for him. The situation he was in only made it worse. There was this dangling weight and sense of impending doom looming over him. It hurt me to watch him open up and things to change.

The relationship between Will and Louisa was beautiful to see play out. I don’t wish to spoil anything, but they way they managed to compliment each other really worked. They were a competent team. Quickly, I found myself longing for and loving the scenes of them together. They were my loves and I didn’t care.

The story is straightforward. There is a goal that is well defined that propels the story forward. As it progresses you a sense of urgency drives it forward, but you also get so caught up in the simple mundane and beautiful interactions the pair of them are having. It really is a story of Louisa’s journey and it at times was heartbreaking. Thankfully it also had moments that were so sweet they could make your teeth hurt and it really balanced the book.

Overall, I loved this book. It’s one of those that I would recommend to almost everyone.

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