Book Club: You Before Me by Jojo Moyes

The Blurb

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 Review

This book was sat on my bedside table for a while before I picked it up and started reading it. I had read a few reviews and on those I purchased it. My usual read tends to go towards cheesy chick lit and I think that’s why it took me a while to start it. As although from the Blurb you’d assume it was going to be a romance novel, this is not a love story or at least not a love story in the typical sense.

All that being said, I can’t rave about this book enough, it took me a little while to get into it but as soon as Lou meets Will I was hooked to see what was going to happen and let me tell you Jojo Moyes doesn’t disappoint. The last 50 pages had me sobbing at 4 in the morning, I couldn’t put it down. Jojo Moyes definitely made this stone heart melt and I’ve never felt such a strong emotional reaction to a book before.

She writes about a very sensitive and controversial subject without being judgmental or turning it into a political piece. You get a real sense of everyone’s views and feeling which really pulls at the heart strings. The six months they spend together really gets you fighting in everyone’s corner. The sub characters, all Will and Lou’s family members, added to the humor and were realistic at some points I felt like I was reading about my own family.

Overall this book is so beautifully written, it is warm, funny, touching, poignant and thought provoking. Be warned though, this book is distracting, when you're not reading it you either can't wait to get back to it or you're thinking about the characters and their story.

This is the best book I’ve read in a long time and strongly recommend it (Make sure you have plenty of tissues on hand!). I will definitely be taking a look at Jojo Moyes other literary goods and will let you know what I think!