Me Before You

by Jojo Moyes
Dec 22, 2013-Jan 5, 2014

What an unexpected surprise! Joanna highly recommended this book to me with the warning: don't be fooled into thinking this is chick lit. Because it sure starts out that way. And then suddenly you're drawn in and the emotion is real and raw.

Louisa has just lost her long-time, dead-end job that she actually loved. She's been dating the same guy for seven years and sees no real future with him. She is comfortable, plain and simple. Desperate to find a new job, she accepts work as an aide to a quadriplegic. With no experience, she is promised that her tasks are mainly to provide food, cleaning and a watchful eye over Will. Will had it all; a highly successful executive with a gorgeous girlfriend and a great urban apartment, when his life was changed in an instant. Now he reluctantly accepts Lou into his life, but it's not long before she cracks his hard exterior and develops real feelings for him. And that, my friends, is where the fluff ends.

The rest of the story is so emotional, surprising and even controversial that I absolutely couldn't put it down. The night I finished Me Before You, it was nearly 2am and I had to take short breaks because I couldn't read the words through my tears. Moyes succeeded in running the reader through the emotional gamut. Worth losing a good night's sleep over. Although I'm not a fan of book clubs, this one would be the perfect choice. I found myself thinking about it days after I finished reading. I'm usually pretty stingy with my star ratings, but this undoubtedly deserves four. Even four-and-a-half (I have to reserve those five-star ratings...there's a lot of years of reading ahead of me!).

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