Me Before You by Jojo Moyles

I had a vague recollection of having read Jojo Moyle’s books before, and I think I liked them but nothing could spring to mind for definite. Me before you on the other hand, is one of those books I will never forget having read.

Will was an active young man, who went on adventure holidays and who loved nothing more than pushing his body to extremes. Until one day, when a chance accident leaves him not only in a wheelchair but completely paralysed. Now living at home with his parents, he has surrounded by anything and everything that he could possibly wish for, apart from the one thing he wants – his freedom.

Lou still lives at home with her parents and works in the local café. She loves to dress up in eclectic clothes and has no idea of where she wants to go in life. After the café, which has been her job for a number of years, closes, she struggles to find a job which she would enjoy. In desperation she attends an interview for a carer for Will. Her job it seems is to act as a companion to him, which would be easy if it wasn’t for the obvious fact that he seems to hate her and doesn’t even want her in the same room.



A few chapters into the book and I began to feel smug – I know where this is going. Even when the characters start to drop hints that Will has attempted suicide recently and needs to be under close surveillance, I still felt confidently I knew where this book was heading. Will and Lou will gradually learn to like each other and to become friends. Then there will be a slight romance and maybe even something more. Perhaps a medical breakthrough as well? And it will all end happily ever after.

And in some ways I was right. Will gradually becomes accustomed to Lou and her crazy ways. Lou gradually begins to understand Will and together the two start to become friends. Then Lou overhears a chance conversation between Will’s mum and sister and I realised how wrong I could be. Will has asked to die. After his failed suicide attempt, he started look at a specialist clinic in Switzerland, designed to help people end their lives, and has asked his parents to take him there. Initially horrified and disgusted by the idea, his parents have no choice but to consider his request, as the option is to live with the threat of him trying to kill himself again and again. As a compromise, they have given Will 6 months. After that, if he still wishes, they will take him to Switzerland. Lou is horrified and unable to understand that she has been brought in to try and offer Will hope, and to try and change his mind.

It is at that point that I realised not only had I completely mis-judged this book and the story but that ultimately, there are only a few directions that this story can take. Either he goes or he stays. He either lives or dies.

This must have been an incredibly difficult book to write and it is very very hard to read. There have been a few high profile cases in the media of assisted suicide and the clinic in Switzerland has come under focus of TV documentaries and newspapers. A reader coming to the book may already have their beliefs in place. They might believe suicide is wrong under any circumstances. They may believe it is wrong but in some circumstances it is right. They might even be able to identify with the characters and their dilemmas. But none of this can prepare you for the emotional impact of seeing life through Will’s eyes and seeing it through Lou’s. And nothing could have prepared me for reading the final chapter of the book. It really wasn’t what I was expecting. And no one else in my family was prepared for the crying that went on for some time after having read it.

This book is sad, it’s poignant, it’s funny and it’s real. Will himself maybe a figment of Jojo’s imagination but there are countless cases of people in similar situations to him and there are sadly many families and friends in the UK who are having to make a similar decision to Will’s family. There is no attempt at starting a debate on assisted suicide in the Uk. Jojo wisely makes the decision not to focus on the legal side of things, and doesn’t use the book as a platform to try and change people’s minds or to open up a discussion. But this book is still desperately compelling and never have I ever felt so confused at an ending before. Because by the end of the book, you don’t know how you feel about it all either.

Separate Lives by Kathryn Flett

There are two kinds of chick-lit books – the first focuses on the twenty somethings and their trials and tribulations. The second is more for the thirty/forty somethings – the yummy mummies if you like, married with children.

Separate lives falls into the latter category of chick lit and focuses on the lives of Susie and Alex, together for ten years with two children and Pippa, divorced with one son. Told through Susie and Pippa, with a few emails from Alex, the story follows their lives and the direction they take.

The book starts as Susie reads a text message on Alex’s phone that reads 'Start living a different kind of life ... P :-) xxx'. Susie doesn’t know anyone called P and doesn’t know why her partner has received this text. I personally loved this opening paragraph. It had me hooked with the line “if you dared look me in the eye and tell me you had never done the same thing, I wouldn’t believe you, because we all have”. As my friend said, when I showed her the book, it was so completely true, you had to laugh! And with that candidly honest opening, it's hard not to like Susie as she begins to tell you about how she realised her partner was being unfaithful.
BR> And yet at the same time, what is interesting, is that Susie begins to flesh out and as the book progresses you realise that she’s not the holier-than-thou person you think she is. The text message turns out not to be as clear cut as you’d think, but neither is Susie. She’s been having an affair too and ironically that’s the reason that Alex and Pippa get together. The real affairs and imagined affairs twist and turn beautifully around the characters to the point that it’s hard to know who started what when. It definitely isn’t what you think it will be that’s for sure.

The characters in the book are very well written and are brought to life through their narration. What I enjoyed most was the twists in the characters as you discover something about them you didn’t realise. The author uses the now familiar trick of multiple narration from characters and yet it somehow seems to feel new and fresh in this book. I also liked the way she would write about an event from one person’s perspective and wasn’t afraid to leap back in time and write again from someone else’s point of view. Again, this isn’t a new style of writing but it doesn’t feel clichéd in this book and it works well.

Not only does this book tick all of the chick lit clichés (laugher – yes, tears –yes, shock – yes, cheesy ending – yes) but it highlights the best of the genre. In some ways it is exactly what you would expect, and in others, not at all – in particular the depth of character the author has added to Susie and Pippa.

Despite tending to normally prefer the younger focus of chick lit books, I found this book highly enjoyable. The story flows well and despite the frequent changes of author, maintains the pace of the novel and the storyline flows well. The differences in narration between Pippa and Susie are subtle but enough to feel each character. Alex’s narration is carried out through emails to his twin brother, and this difference helps to highlight his character versus Susie.

Stay Close by Harlan Coben

17 years ago a man disappeared. The police have yet to find out where he is or what happened to him. Now, on the anniversary of his disappearance, another local man has disappeared and Detective Broome is beginning to suspect a possible pattern. Megan is a mum with two kids and a husband and is happily playing at being a soccer mum. Her family don’t know about her past though and despite her best efforts, this may all be about to change. Ray, a one-time documentary maker and now in a dead end job, happened to take a photo of a local beauty spot and accidently got a picture of the missing man, mere hours before he disappeared. Now the police want to know what he was doing there and why.

I read this book pretty much within a few days and I struggled to put it down, wanting to know what was going to happen next. I found the book was gripping and the story was told well. It moved at a fast pace, but not too fast and it allowed you to get your head around the twists and turns before moving on. The ending was suitably shocking and I certainly didn’t guess the ending, which always makes a book more enjoyable. It contained less actual violence and more hints of violence, for example the activities of Barbie and Ken, the preppy torturers, are hinted at and suggested, rather than given in graphic detail. Which cleverly makes them seem even more chilling. I’m not again violence as such but it made a change not to have to read gruesome accounts of torture and killing.

My one criticism, and the reason I haven’t given more stars, was that I couldn’t really engage with the characters. I didn’t really like, nor care particularly about their actions and whilst it wasn’t enough to detract from me wanting to carry on reading, it did mean I wasn’t quite so bothered about what happened to Megan and Ray. The characters seemed to be more stereotypes, a little more 2D than 3D and I found it hard to picture them as real people. I was very aware that this was merely a book and they were part of it, rather than being able to see it as more alive. I’ve not read any of Harlan’s other books but I am now certainly interested in picking them up to see if they are as good.

Island of Bones by Imogen Robertson

Island of Bones is the third novel in a series set in the 1780s. Harriet Westerman and Gabriel Crowther are called to the Lake District to investigate a dead body found in the tomb of the Earl of Greta. The Earl’s tomb resided on the Island of Bones, which was previously owned by Crowther’s family. His own family has a violent and murky past and Gabriel, formerly the Baron of Keswick, renounced his title after his brother was hung for the murder of their father in 1751. Crowther has not returned home since giving up his title and it is a difficult and painful journey for him to return to his family home. Ghosts of his past seem to be present everywhere in Keswick and he will need to overcome his emotions in order to solve the mystery of the dead body. As the body count climbs higher, Westerman and Crowther seem to be fighting against the odds to resolve an ancient crime. This book was a delight to read. Despite my misgivings about it being the third in a series which I hadn’t read, the novel flowed easily and previous events were referred in a way that the reader felt they hadn’t missed out on anything. The events were cleverly described so that new readers would be able to go back and read the previous books without too much of the story being given away, and at the same time, readers who had read the previous books weren’t too bored with the recap.

The two main characters Harriet Westerman and Gabriel Crowther are written really well. I liked Harriet and she came across as a very warm and friendly character. She was feisty enough to be a suitable heroine, without stepping out of the times she lived in too much. She was a believable woman of society in 1783. Crowther is just as well described, and comes across as a recluse and a hermit who is more interested in the dead rather than the living. I felt the historical side of the story fitted in excellently. The author has clearly gone to a great deal of research and the descriptions feel authentic, without it reading like a history lesson. I felt the author had opened a window into the past and I was able to experience it at close hand. The setting of the Lake District was interesting as this is an area I know well but it was a very different place in the 1780s and it was fascinating to see how different the area was then. Whilst capturing the mood of the times and the history, the sheer beauty of Keswick and Derwent Water manages to shine through at all times.

The story itself is full of twists and turns. There are several characters all interlinked and some relationships take a while to be revealed. I felt some of those relationships were easy to see, for example I felt it was quite obvious who Miss Hurt’s husband was, but this didn’t detract from the story. One of the final reveals was so unexpected I did find myself open mouthed at one point.

Overall this was an excellent book, beautifully fitting in my love of crime, regency novels and the Lake District! I will definitely be seeking out the first two books in the series and just as eagerly expecting future instalments.

The tent, the bucket and me by Emma Kennedy

For anyone that’s ever had to under go the dreaded “family holiday” then this book is for you. Emma Kennedy and her parents have suffered quite possibly the worst luck on a family holiday again and again and again. There is a gruesome satisfaction in reading about each year’s attempts at a family holiday and waiting for that moment when it goes horribly wrong! From their first holiday in the 1970s (where the tent and the bucket first meet our intrepid author Emma) onwards, Emma and her parents seem dogged by bad weather, near death experiences, car troubles and more excrement than you can shake a bucket at! Not for the faint hearted, this book is for those who have had to huddle in their tent in a thunderstorm, who have had to pee in a bucket and who have ever been camping in France.

I admire Emma for being so brutally honest in her descriptions of her family holidays. Aside from the trauma of recounting her families inability to enjoy a family holiday without some form of disaster, Emma seems to come off worst in the majority of the stories. In particular her first visit to France which leaves a strong smell in the air! thunderstorm, who have had to pee in a bucket and who have ever been camping in France.

This book holds the distinction of being the funniest book in the world. Or at least the funniest book I’ve ever read (and I’ve read a few). I’ve read books which have made me smile, or laugh inside my head. There’s books where I’ve sniggered outloud, and books where I’ve laughed outloud, even when on the bus (Thanks Danny Wallace!) but this book had me laughing so hard that I couldn’t speak or breathe. I was laughing so hard that the book fell out of my hands, and tears rolled down my face. My mum walked in and thought I was crying. And due to my inability to talk, and the fact the book had fallen by the side of my chair, it was a full five minutes before we established that I was laughing at a book. And the best thing of all, was that this was after the first few chapters. thunderstorm, who have had to pee in a bucket and who have ever been camping in France.

Needless to say, after this experience, I wasn’t popular for a while. Especially since the book continued to get funnier. I actually thought I would need hospital treatment after finishing the book. In fact even now….. yup… I’m laughing again.

The Book of Summers by Emylia Hall

I think everyone must have memories of that one perfect summer. The one where you look back and the sun was always shining, the sky always blue and everything was just perfect. Beth had seven perfect summers spent in Hungary and then, she chose to forget them. That is until her father brings her a package, sent from Hungary. The package contains a book entitled “The book of summers” and contains photos and memories from her 7 childhood summers, from the age of 9 to 16. After years of forgetting and pushing back the memories, Beth needs to go through the book to confront her past.
The highest praise I can give is that this book is a pure delight to read from beginning to end. The story moves along at a steady pace, encouraging the reader and drawing you in further and further with each summer that is remembered. From the very start you know that it is building up to something and the author keeps the tension just right, with just a few hints of foreboding, so that when the conclusion comes, along with the shock, is the relief of the knowing. Rather like a summer thunderstorm.
One of the things I enjoyed the most about the book was the author’s colourful descriptions of summers spent in Hungary versus the grey and bland life in Devon. This not only vividly brings Beth’s memories to life but allows the reader to feel and see what Beth experienced and helps to understand the division between her “Hungarian Summers” and the rest of her life in between. All the characters are described beautifully and come to life within the pages of the book. The author doesn’t drag out the memories or the act of remembering them. Instead it’s a quick breather between each summer and then the next, which means the story keeps its flow. This was another page turner for me, and the only consolation my family has is that now I’ve stopped reading and raving about it, they get to read it to see what all the fuss is all about.

Hector & the Serets of Love, by Francois Lelord

The idea behind the book is Hector is on the search for a previous colleague who has gone missing whilst researching a pill that helps you fall in love. He sets off across the world, leaving his girlfriend behind, and his quest takes him into Asia and the arms of Vayla. According to the blurb, it's a book designed to give us insightful thoughts into the human desire to find love. I was subjected to the less insightful thought that I would be a happier person without this book and without Hector in my life. I really can’t tell you a great deal more about the plot because the above two sentences actually sum up ¾ of the book. It seems to take the author an awful long time to write not very much. Or for not very much to happen. In case you can’t tell - I really really disliked this book. From the very start, I did not like Hector, which is a major issue since the book is told from Hector’s point of view. We are given a great deal of insight into Hector’s thoughts and feelings and his contemplation of the age old question “what is love”. Unfortunately, despite the blurb on the back, I don’t feel I gained any insigh I did not like the way the book was written and I did not like the style of language that was used. Although the book was quite clearly for adults, it was written in a tone of voice as though someone very clever was talking down to someone they considered not so clever. And all in all, I felt patronised and irritated by the novel. And just for the record, I read a lot of books written for and aimed at children, and I rarely feel as patronised and as belittled as I did whilst reading this book. Even taking the style of the novel into account, and taking into account the fact there had been a previous book (Hector's search for happiness) which I hadn't read (and will never read) - the story itself was ridiculous and really not my cup of tea at all. It’s hard to find anything to like about Hector (who has to be the most boring character I’ve ever met) and I really couldn’t have cared less about his quest. It’s very rare I dislike a book so much, and whilst I have read some boring books in my time, I tend to think at least it’s a book ticked off my to-read list and at least it means I won’t have to read it again. In this case, I wish I had never wasted my time reading it in the first place.