Cova Reviews | Me Before You, by Jojo Moyes

Hello there! Today's post will be a review of the super famous novel Me Before You, by Jojo Moyes. It is a contemporary romance about family, love and overcoming hard situations. 

"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." (Goodreads)

Lou's family is in a hard economic situation at the moment - Lou just lost her job at the nicest coffee shop in the village, her dad is about to lose his, and her sister Treena works at a flower shop, which doesn't get the family much to hold on to. She has been trying really hard to find a job, but she doesn't seem to fit in any of them. Surprisingly for her, she receives a well-paid job offer keeping a paraplegic guy -Will- company. She is excited at first, but she soon realises Will doesn't really want her (or anyone for that matter) wandering around him, even though she tries really hard to make him like her. 

This book is something different from what I've read before, it's not the typical boy-meets-girl contemporary read. I started this book with great expectations - the movie was coming out and everyone in the book blogging community was so madly in love with it, so I went out and bought a copy. I really enjoyed it, but sadly not as much as I thought I would!

The story is heart-warming. Lou is the strangest girl you can find in a village where everybody knows everybody. She's nervous and clumsy, and the last person you could think of  to hire to take care of someone in Will's situation. But she's the happiest, most colourful girl, and really her mission is just to remind Will of the pleasure of living.  I think I got to know her pretty well, and although I sometimes didn't like her overthinking or her exaggerated reactions, I believe Jojo Moyes did a very good job showing us her development. Lou is definitely one of those characters that will stay with you long after reading the book :) Same happens with Will. His transition is so smooth you don't even notice it, but still you are able to see his growth throughout the story, which is really rewarding. I found the characters to be very genuine and real in general :) 

However, I think the scenes occurred too fast. I found everything the characters did told as if it was a summary. Jojo Moye's writing is not very descriptive except for Lou's bizarre clothing. I think this is one of the things that made me not love this novel. Also, I went to watch the movie a few days after I read the book, and even though I knew I wouldn't enjoy it as much as if I hadn't read the book as I already knew the story, I felt like there was little in the book that wasn't pictured in the film, which is odd. 

Overall, I enjoyed reading this book. Even though I thought I was going to love it, Me Before You didn't completely lift up to my expectations. But I did like it a lot, and I shed a tear or two ;)

Are you one of those who absolutely loved this novel? Tell me what you thought!

Happy reading!

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