Review: Me Before You by JoJo Moyes

Synopsis from Goodreads:

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.

Review:
 

Me Before You by JoJo Moyes will stay with me forever. When Will Traynor becomes a paraplegic after an accident, he thinks his life is over. All his dreams; his career, his love-life and most importantly, his independence are taken away from him in an instant. By the time he meets Lou Clarke, his new carer; Will is jaded. However, Lou surprises him. It soon becomes Lou’s mission to make Will love life. 

I devoured Me Before You in a day. It was a beautiful, heart-breaking story. There were many instances where I was crying (which is totally unlike me) or had a lump in my throat. It was a highly-charged emotional story. I was expecting a light, fluffy romance from the cover but what I got was a gritty and honest story about serious ethical situations (euthanasia) with a side-helping of romance. 

Me Before You was depressing at times but I'm glad that it was because it was truthful. Moyes didn't sugarcoat anything which I'm thankful for. Me Before You, whilst fictitious, rings true. I loved Will and Lou. They were real people to me, with real lives and real problems. They helped each other to overcome so many barriers. I loved how Will’s paraplegia was dealt with in such a sensitive, emotional and realistic way. No patronising or preaching.

The story was mainly told from Lou’s point of view. However, a few chapters were narrated from other characters viewpoints, such as Will’s parents. I did wish that some of the story was narrated from Will’s point of view; however, Moyes is such an eloquent and accomplished writer that I bore the full emotional brunt of Will’s situation even when told from other people’s points of view. Actually, Me Before You may have had a greater impact on me because we are held a short distance away from Will's innermost complex thoughts.

As Moyes wanted, I felt as conflicted about the issues in the story as it was possible to be. After becoming so emotionally close to the characters, it made it everything very personal and real. Overall, Me Before You by JoJo Moyes was an amazing, unforgettable story which everyone needs to read. I cannot wait to read more from the brilliant JoJo Moyes. 

Rating: 5/5
Author: JoJo Moyes

Review: The Breakaway by Michelle Davidson Argyle

Synopsis from Goodreads:

When Naomi Jensen is kidnapped, it takes her parents two days to realize she's missing. Escape isn't high on her list of priorities when all she has to return to is an abusive boyfriend and parents who never paid much attention to her. For the first time in her life she's part of a family-even if it is a family of criminals. But she's still a captive. In a desperate attempt to regain some control in her life, Naomi embarks on a dangerous plan to make one of her kidnappers think she's falling in love with him. The plan works too well, and when faced with the chance to escape, Naomi isn't sure she wants to take it.

Review:

As soon as I read the blurb for THE BREAKAWAY, I knew I had to read it. It sounded really intriguing. My gut instinct didn't let me down; The Breakaway was a fantastic story and the ending left me craving for more. Argyle writes wonderfully; I felt like I was in Naomi's head throughout the course of the story and could understand how and why her feelings changed as the story went on. I actually wish the story was longer as I would liked to have read more about her imprisonment and developing relationships (particularly with Jesse) than the few hundred pages allowed.

The story opens when Naomi wakes up in a motel. She has just been kidnapped. She has no idea why she has been kidnapped but her kidnappers inform her that she has seen too much of whatever criminal activities they were doing. Rather than kill her, they grudgingly take her with them and lock her in a room in an innocent-looking suburban house.

Over the course of her captivity, Naomi has to come to terms with the life and people that she has lost; her uncaring parents and her overbearing boyfriend. Slowly, her feelings about her abductors begins to change to something more positive... but will she ever be free?

The characters were complex and puzzling. Though I never did like Naomi's parents, I could understand why they were the way they were. Naomi's four kidnappers were mysterious. I really wanted to figure them out. What reasons could they have for kidnapping?

They were threatening and violent and almost at the same time comforting and sympathetic. Argyle was great at portraying these complex paradoxical behaviours in her characters by making it believable. I wanted to understand Eric, Evelyn and Jesse and while I did come to know them better throughout the story, I believe there was a lot more Argyle left unsaid (unwritten).

Naomi and her love interest's relationship was what gripped me. As Naomi's feelings for him morphed, I didn't know whether it was her real feelings or Stockholm Syndrome in play. I guess I was feeling exactly how Naomi was feeling; confused.

Naomi was a strong and brave character. She was put into a nightmare situation and tries to deal with it in the best way that she can. The Breakaway was suspenseful and gripping. I read it in one night. Though the ending was fulfilling, I still wish I was given a few more answers at the end. I dislike loose endings/open-endings in most cases. Luckily, Argyle is planning to write a sequel for The Breakaway which will be out next year, entitles Pieces. I have subscribed to her newsletter so I can be informed about this.

Overall, The Breakaway was a terrific book, not one I will forget soon. Most of all, I loved the characters and their interactions. I felt that there was so much more under the surface. Survival is every human's most natural and primitive instinct. It is amazing how much a human can endure to ultimately survive. I would like to read more books like this. I would recommend everyone read The Breakaway.

Rating: 5/5
Author: Michelle Davidson Argyle 

Review: On The Island by Tracey Garvis Graves

Synopsis from Goodreads:

When thirty-year-old English teacher Anna Emerson is offered a job tutoring T.J. Callahan at his family's summer rental in the Maldives, she accepts without hesitation; a working vacation on a tropical island trumps the library any day. T.J. Callahan has no desire to leave town, not that anyone asked him. He's almost seventeen and if having cancer wasn't bad enough, now he has to spend his first summer in remission with his family - and a stack of overdue assignments - instead of his friends.

Anna and T.J. are en route to join T.J.'s family in the Maldives when the pilot of their seaplane suffers a fatal heart attack and crash-lands in the Indian Ocean. Adrift in shark-infested waters, their life jackets keep them afloat until they make it to the shore of an uninhabited island.

Now Anna and T.J. just want to survive and they must work together to obtain water, food, fire, and shelter. Their basic needs might be met but as the days turn to weeks, and then months, the castaways encounter plenty of other obstacles, including violent tropical storms, the many dangers lurking in the sea, and the possibility that T.J.'s cancer could return. As T.J. celebrates yet another birthday on the island, Anna begins to wonder if the biggest challenge of all might be living with a boy who is gradually becoming a man.

   
Review:

 ON THE ISLAND is one of the best books I have read this year.

I can’t stop thinking about it.

Actually, I think I’ll read it again after I’ve written this review.

On The Island blew me away because of how incredible it was. I love it when you go into a book feeling uncertain whether you’ll like it because the blurb is so unassuming and then stay up all night reading obsessively, devouring page after page.

The story opens when the plane on which TJ (a sixteen year old cancer survivor) and Anna (his thirty year old tutor) crashes into the Indian Ocean after the pilot suffers a heart attack. Through sheer fear and determination, the pair make it to an uninhabited island. Hoping for rescue, Anna and TJ must try their best to survive on the island with their limited resources. As the days turn into months, they try to survive in their unforgiving surroundings, deal with danger and understand their growing and complex relationship.

On The Island was a phenomenal book for a number of reasons. Graves wrote a well-researched and thus believable story about survival. I appreciated all the layers of detail. I sympathised with Anna and TJ from the outset. They were such great, realistic characters. I loved them. Their reactions to the different situations throughout the story rang true. I had to keep reading to find out what would happen next. I never felt annoyed by any decisions made by the characters in the story. They were well-rounded, loveable characters who thought through their choices before making them. I loved their maturity.

Most of all, I loved the relationship between Anna and TJ. Graves wrote it in such a sensitive, sophisticated and realistic way that it took my breath away. I won’t go into it for fear of spoiling it, but seriously, wow. I also loved the suspense. I felt like I was there with Anna and TJ on the island going through their many trials and tribulations with them. I asked the same questions that were going through their heads. What will they eat? What happens if one of them is seriously injured? Will they make it?

The fact that the story is embedded into reality just made it all the more perfect. On The Island is a sensational book, one that I will be reading time and again. I can’t believe I haven’t heard about this book long before now, but I am so glad that I have read it now. On The Island is a definite must-read! Go and read it now!

Rating: 5/5
Author: Tracey Garvis Graves