It has now got to the point where there is a lot going off at university with assignments and research and that dreaded dissertation! So, I felt that to keep me sane I needed a small break! For normal people that may mean a little trip somewhere, a small getaway. But no, I decided that my break away from all that uni reading had to be filled with oh, more reading. Yep, it’s come to that now. But I was bloody glad I did because this little gem was just the most amazing thing I had read in a really long time.

As some of you may already know that Me Before You has been adapted into a movie that’s going to be released later this year in June (starring Sam Claflin and Emilia Clarke) and it was from watching the trailer that willed me to buy the book. I’m still into the whole ‘reading the book before the movie’ kind of thing so I can then criticise the movie for missing out my favourite parts or changing little bits in the plot and ruining the overall magic of the book. But judging from the trailer I watched I have high hopes for it! Then again, Sam Claflin (who I adore. A lot!) is in it so I already know I’m going to love it.

So, without any spoilers here’s a bit about the story itself…

Jojo Moyes sets the scene in a cute, quiet, little town which is where we meet our protagonist, Louisa (Lou) Clark is currently living. For any girl in their twenties and trying to cope with life, you will find yourself instantly relating to Lou and everything she says and does. Believe me. Not only her but I love the way Moyes characterises the whole of the Clark family; a very close-knit family living a typical British lifestyle with their love, support, and many cups of teas just warmed my heart and makes the book feel so real. Then there’s Will Traynor. A quadriplegic patient bound to a chair for the rest of his life due to a motorcycle accident and is in need of twenty-four hour care. He’s sarcastic, grumpy and I quote from Moyes ‘a bit of an arse’ but through Lou’s perspective, somehow you fall completely in love with him. Although they both grew up in the same small village, Will and Lou have never encountered each other until now. They come from two very different worlds who need each other and begin to show each other all the thing they have been missing out on in life. I don’t know how Moyes does it but she perfectly captures the reality of the situations that Lou and Will find themselves in. There were times when I felt awkward and uncomfortable in some scenes but it was because you become so connected with these characters it is hard not to feel what they feel.

From start to finish the novel is completely full of ups and downs. Moyes has this sheer writing talent of being able to write with such wit where you’ll be laughing at one point but then you’ll turn the next page and be in floods of tears. (There may or may not have been a bit I was reading that caused me to cry, a lot, whilst sat on a train, in a carriage full of people, sniffling whilst pretending to check my phone but secretly looking to see that my mascara wasn’t halfway down my face.) Again, I don’t know how Moyes does it! The way she transitions her writing style from heartwarming to suddenly heartbreaking is a very talented thing to do indeed!

Buy your copy here

This book will inspire you and maybe make you appreciate life a little more. That sounded really cheesy but it’s the good kind of cheese, I promise you. The book is roughly 500 pages long and I read it in two days, I’m quite a slow reader so that is like a world record for me. I just couldn’t put it down. Then, after I had finished it I was in a slight daze, it was that stage where I was like ‘what the hell do I do with my life now?’ That was when I saw that magical word that every bookworm will appreciate – sequel – yes, the sequel to Me Before You is quite rightfully titled After You and one that I will be reading kind of immediately.

All I can say is reeeeaaad it. That’s all.

Emotionally unstable bookworm out xx