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We are-two crazy teenagers-Raven and Beez and on this blog we hope to enlighten you with our hilarious comments on the countless books we have read ;)

Sunday, December 22, 2013

Raven + Beez - 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.


I know its terribly cliche to begin a review with a sobbing picture or rants about sobbing but....
My heart is bleeding!
This book is beautifully devastating.
Sometimes I feel like killing the author Jojo Moyes for doing this to me.

This is one book that I could read a million times but still feel torn and heart broken.
In fact I think I should stop writing this review now because no matter what I write I can never do this book any justice.

This is one of those books that just pulls you in, slowly mesmerizing you, making you break into smiles every few seconds and makes you grow such a bond with the characters you didn't think possible!

The story: Lou is a 20 something girl who is satisfied with her life. She does not really yearn to live fully and crazily. While Will would kill to be able to just have the option and the choice of doing so much with his life.

As it happens Lou begins working for will!

And in all that time, Lou learns how to live, how to be full spirited while trying to remind a man that life is worth living. With several twists and heart wrenching scenes in this book, Jojo Moyes completely makes you fall in love with Will, the arse, and Lou the girl with the striped legs.

Their journey in this been written in this astoundingly real way and not made it feel like make believe. There are no magical coincidences and there is a lot of sarcasm and normalness.

There are various truths and understandings along the journeys and some terrible and truths and then finally those twists that twist your heart. This book tells us to live a little bolder and never settle for less because it may be taken away from you any time. This book also tells that sometimes things don't go like you think they will and that change and taking risks are very frightening but very needed as well. Out there is a world waiting for you to open it and take all what you want from it.

This story was written in an amazing way with the perfect plot to connect with you. When this book surprises you, it feels like those times when you feel as if life has slapped you on the face and it stings. Perfect in every way.

As for the ending, I don't know if I would have changed the ending. Probably not. As much as I want what happened not to have happened, the ending was perfect and made me sob my lungs out. This is actually my second time reading this book. I STILL CANT GET OVER IT.

What makes this book even more amazing are those little moments. In Alicia's wedding the dance between will and Lou, the storm night in Mauritius, Lou's birthday party, the various concerts they attend, the foreign films will makes Lou watch.

This is a beautiful book and I suggest every one that read it once in your life even the guys out there. I mean it, there's soo much more to this book than falling in love. There's the bitter truth and all that. 
On an ending note I should probably warn you that this book gives out dangerous emotions and guarantees outbursts and depression periods. Totally worth it though!

Lots of love & chocolate marshmallow pizza
Beez.


As usual, this is just another one of the books that Beez forced me to read and I'm glad she did. This isn't your typical romance novel, even though the beginning may fool you into thinking so. I don't really know what genre to put it in since it has almost everything except for supernatural and fantasy stuff.

Me before You was released last year and everyone knows that Twilight was all the rage at the time. This book went unnoticed among almost everyone. Why? Because the publishing market was craving for more vamps and werewolves. But thank the lord that this book was published. If such a book remained as a draft then it would be a crime. A crime towards all the people who cherish a beautiful, heart-touching book. 

The story might sound confusing but I think that's what makes this book something you can relate to. Since life is one huge pile of schist. 

Louisa was a really happy and satisfied woman. She had the best job, a hot/rich boyfriend, a small house with her bedroom (or closet) being the smallest, financial problems, a younger sister, Katrina who is always smarter than her, an old grandfather who is just a burden... okay so maybe I should cut off the "Happy" part about her life.

And I should probably mention that unlike any other "normal" individual she has no desire what so ever to explore the world around her, to gain fame or whatever.  She just wants to  work since she loses her great job at a tea shop. She wants to support her family again because she was the only one who was working. 

After going through the options of working at a chicken fast food restaurant and working as a stripper she finally decides to try for the job of taking care of a quadriplegic, even though she was afraid that she would have to wipe butts.

She ends up getting the job and all she has to do is keep Will happy. Easy right? Wrong. 

Will has lived every moment of his life to the fullest until his accident. He doesn't regret anything he ever did but he was a man who wanted to live more and here comes along a woman who is actually satisfied with her boring, imperfect life and is responsible for giving him a reason to live.

On one hand, Lou is helping Will see a whole new perspective of life through his wheelchair and on the other hand, Will is trying his best to make Lou attain something in life. In a way you could say that while Will is bound to his chair physically, Lou is bound to her fear of unfamiliarity which restrains both of them from gaining more than what they actually can.

Also it's funny how two people see things in a completely different perspective. While I thought that Will was more like a gentleman, Beez considered him more of an arse (a good arse of course) 

I just love how funny the whole book is. The sarcasm and the extent to which we can relate to almost everything that happens in the book is just wonderful. It's like a bonus to the awesome plot of the story. I can't imagine anyone not liking this book. The immaturity of Lou is hilarious and the sibling rivalry is expressed perfectly.

There is no part that I can mention in particular because there are many tiny and special moments that I cherished. Like Beez said, it's those little moments that make this book amazing. Another thing that separates this book from all the other ones out there is the "This is life not fiction" feel of it. Half of the time I expected Will to get up from his wheely and hold Lou tight but of course nothing like that happens in real life. 

Now about the ending, I wouldn't want it to change no matter what. Even though I laid the book aside and cried my eyes out into the pillow, I still wouldn't want the ending to change. It's just another specialty of this book. It's got one of the most perfect ending in the history of perfect fiction endings. 

Usually, no matter how much I love fangirling about a book, I won't read it again unless required but this book... I won't mind opening this book on any cold, rainy day with hot chocolate and tissues. In fact if anyone asks me for a good book I will smack their face with this one and force them to read it. Yes, it is THAT good.

I would gladly rate it a 5. 

Lots of love & Pasta,
Raven
Here's a few of our favourite quotes:

‘I just . . . want to be a man who has been to a concert with a girl in a red dress. Just for a few minutes more.’
"It has been, the best six months of my entire life."

"Funnily enough, Clark, mine too." 
“I will never, ever regret the things I've done. Because most days, all you have are places in your memory that you can go to.” 

“... if you're going to wear a dress like that you need to wear it with confidence. You need to fill it out mentally as well as physically.” 
“There are normal hours, and then there are invalid hours, where time stalls and slips, where life---real life---seems to exist at one remove.” 
“It's complicated.'

'So's quantitative easing. But I still get that it means printing money.” 
“How could you live each day knowing that you were simply whiling away the days until your own death?” 


Yeah! Cinco!!

And here is our Dream Cast for this beautiful book!

Hugh Dancy as Will, Zooey Deschanel as Louisa, Ginifer gooodwin as Treena, Eric winters as Patrick, Hayden Christensen as Nathan