Me Before You by Jojo Moyes

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.

What a lovely novel this was. It’s a unique love story with lots of heart.

I haven’t read many books that are quite like this one, especially when it comes to the romance aspect of the novel. Yes, it is mainly a love story, but there is much more than that to this novel. Or I should say, there is more to the love story than just the romantic aspect of it. It goes beyond that. It includes love of family and love of life in general. Love, and mercy, in all its guises.

 I will not give the end away, but despite everything to the contrary, the reader just doesn’t expect it. The whole novel is well written, without the maudlin tone that I expected when I read the synopsis. The one thing that did make me cock my head like a dog at a strange noise was that some of the chapters are told from different characters’ perspectives. Since we get the majority of the story from Louisa’s viewpoint, it is very strange to be thrown into someone else’s head for a few pages, especially when it really wasn’t necessary.

I do recommend this book to all of you who enjoy love stories. It would also be a good book for book clubs, since it does bring up quite a lot of issues to discuss. Definitely an enjoyable read.