Book Review: Me Before You by Jojo Moyes

Title: Me Before You
Author: Jojo Moyes
Enjoyment Rating: *****
Source: Personal Copy
This book would be rated: PG-13 for references to sex, some language

Louisa Clark is twenty-six years old. She lives in the small English town where she was born, in the house where she was born. She's worked as a waitress at the same cafe for the last seven years, and dated the same guy for at least that long. And when the book opens, it seems likely that she'll eventually marry the boyfriend and die in the town where she's lived her whole life.

Then Lou loses the job, and the only new job she can find is to become the caretaker for a quadriplegic. The quadriplegic, it turns out, is Will, a 35 year-old who was run over by a motorcycle while waiting for a ride to his job as a wealthy powerbroker in London. Since his accident, Will has been living with his parents and generally mourning the fact that instead of deep-sea diving and climbing mountains, he will spend the rest of his life in a chair, cared for by others.

When Louisa discovers that she has been hired for a six-month trial period, and at the end of the six months Will plans to have an assisted suicide, she has a mission-- to show him that life is worth living and change his mind. But she ends up changed in the process as well.

I've only read eleven books so far this year, so it seems a little lame to proclaim this my favorite read of 2013, but of the books I've read so far, it's a definite favorite. In fact, I was barely done reading it before I texted a friend and told her she had to read it and pushed it into her hands that night. It's just that good. You'll love it. You'll cry. You'll make your friends read it. And then you'll want it back so you can read it again.