The saying goes ‘You should never judge a book by its cover’, and with JoJo Moyes’ Me Before You’ this is wise advice. From the outside it looks like another poorly written chick lit novel, but within its pages is a beautifully written love story that tackles issues such as disability and euthanasia delicately and with great dignity.

The protagonist Lou Clarke has settled, she has settled for existing rather than living. She is happy within the safe, mundane tasks her employment at the Buttered Bun Tea Shop provides, she lives with her parents and is in a loveless relationship. Lou knows how many steps there is between the bus stop and home and she certainly knows she will never leave the small town of Stortford.

In stark contrast Will Traynor thrives on living on the edge, he lives life to the highest and even higher. He is a successful businessman, sportsman and spends his spare time travelling the globe with his model-esque girlfriend.

That is until he is involved in a tragic motorcycle accident which leaves him paralysed from the waist down, the world he had one known had been taken through no fault of his own. He lost his career and relationship, coupled with having t move back into his parents house and receive around the clock care as he can no longer look after himself unaided. Will feels as though he has lost his ride, his dignity and his purpose in life. There is only one solution he can foresee, and that is euthanasia.

Little does Will know that Lou is about to burst into his world in a riot of colour, and change life as he knows it. She will teach him things a high end education never could and he will show her that to lie you have to experience and learn. These two strangers are about to learn the real value of life, but will Lou be in time to save Will from his euthanasia plans?

Moyes’ latest novel is a truly moving story of two lives affected by tragedy, and how the consequences of these tragedies can alter the value we place on life. It forces the reader to question what is important within their lives, and how the people we love can affect our lives and in some cases make them worth living. ‘Me Before You’ is beautiful tale filled with love, heartbreak and the harsh reality of the lives that some of us live with every single day. I could not put the book down, and often found myself in tears throughout the course of the story, I truly adore this book and would highly recommend it!