Me Before You Review

Me Before You
Rating: 5/5
Buy or Borrow: Buy
Source: Bought

Lou Clark knows lots of things. She knows how many footsteps there are between the bus stop and home. She knows she likes working in The Buttered Bun tea shop and she knows she might not love her boyfriend Patrick.

What Lou doesn’t know is she’s about to lose her job or that knowing what’s coming is what keeps her sane.

Will Traynor knows his motorcycle accident took away his desire to live. He knows everything feels very small and rather joyless now and he knows exactly how he’s going to put a stop to that.

What Will doesn’t’ know is that Lou is about to burst into his world in a riot of colour. And neither of them knows they’re going to change the other for all time.



The release of the film has made this book explode so when I saw it sitting in a shelf in Sainsburys for £4, I couldn’t resist. I knew the general storyline, which is why I couldn’t bring myself to watch the film. Somehow I thought the book would be easier…HA. This book ripped my heart out of my chest and left me a heap on the floor. It’s one of the most powerful, heart-wrenching books I’ve ever read…but my god, it’s brilliant.

Me Before You is a novel written by Jojo Moyes. I’m sure everyone has heard of her because of what a big hit the film is. The sequel is released this week and I am so excited to get a copy, I really hope it’s just as beautiful as the first. I devoured this book in a day. I’d read so long my eyes were hurting and the infamous “book headache” had surfaced but there was no stopping me. Like Lou, I was a woman on a mission.

Me Before You is predominantly written from Lou Clark’s perspective; a 27 year old waitress from England. She’s content with her life and is satisfied with where she’s at. She’s been with her boyfriend Patrick for seven years; she has a stable job in a café and loves her family. That is until something comes tearing into her life and changes her perspective on everything: Will Traynor

Lou is the main earner in her family, so when she loses her job in the cafe, she doesn’t know what to do. She desperately searches for a job until one virtually falls into her lap. It’s a good wage, good hours, seems perfect. The job is caring for a long term sufferer of quadriplegia (total loss of all four limbs and torso). There’s just one small problem: he hates her. Well…Will Traynor hates everyone. He has gone from an ambitious, successful man to a man stuck in a wheelchair, unable to move much. He’s lost his job, his girlfriend…his life.

Lou signs up for the job for 6 months. One day, she overhears Will’s family discussing Will’s promise of staying around for another 6 months and then his family helping him to Switzerland so he can kill himself. Lou will not accept that and she makes it her mission to give Will Traynor a reason to live. She wants him to have new experiences and adventures but Will wants her to experience them too. They both have found something that they didn’t even realise they were looking for: someone to make them happy.

They turn each other’s world upside down and they both fall for each other, a little more with every day. Lou thinks she’s done enough to save him…but has she?

Lou is one of my all-time favourite characters. The things she does for Will and the time and effort she puts in to make him happy is admirable and the reader knows she’s fallen in love with him, long before she does. It’s beautiful to watch their relationship blossom and see hidden parts of their personalities flourish.

If you read one book this year, make it this one. It’s incredible. Make sure you have a box of tissues beside you and a nice cup of tea…it’s definitely a cry worthy book.


PS. I am now desperate for a pair of bumblebee tights. If anyone knows where I can get a pair, let me know. 

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