Me Before You

Me Before You

By Jojo Moyes

The main character of the book is Louisa "Lou" Clark, a twenty-six years old that lives in a small and boring town with her family, and she has a boyfriend, Patrick who works as a personal trainer. They've been together for 7 years now.

She feels constantly outshone by her sister, that even though had a baby when she was still in college, seems to be more smart, ambitious than Lou, according to her.

Unambitious and with a few qualifications, she lose her job at the local café, so she has to "restart" from the beginning.

She start looking for a job but there aren't really so many opportunities in there. But one day she is offered a unique job opportunity: help to take care of Will Traynor, a young, successful and once-active man that now has a quadriplegia due to a pedestrian-motorcycle accident of two years ago.

Will's mother, Camilla, hires Lou thinking that she can brighten his spirit.

Here Lou meets Nathan, Will's nurse and Steven, Will's father, whose marriage with Camilla seems to be strained.

Louisa and Will's relationship starts out rocky due to his behaviour and bitterness because of the situation he is in.

Things get worse when Will finds out that his ex-girlfriend, Alicia, and best friend, Rupert, they're getting married.

Thanks to Louisa, Will becomes more open-minded and talkative and they start sharing experiences together.

At some point Louisa then notices his scarred wrists and overhears Mrs. Traynor and Will's sister's conversation about his attempted suicide when she refused him to go to Dignitas (a Swiss-based assisted suicide organisation).

She's obviously shocked by it and she then realizes why she was hired. To help him not commit suicide anymore.

Horrified by his attempt, Camilla agreed to help go to Dignitas, but only if he would have give her another six months, because she believes that in time, he will understand that his life can be worth it.

At first she doesn't understand how could a mother do that, but she accepts to try to help him change his mind.

Will will then accept to be shaved by Louisa and he will let her cut his hair too. The two will get closer, because she starts to take him out.

«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.»

Thanks to their conversations, Louisa will find out that Will travelled a lot and that his favourite place is a café in Paris. Noticing how limited her life is and that she didn't have so many experiences, Will tries to motivate her somehow to help her change.

What will their relationship entail? Will Louisa be able to change his mind? 

The book is highly recommended as it is very realistic, which is why I give it a 5/5 rating. It is very smooth and not with many pages. It will keep you hooked until the very end :)

The author also wrote two other books connected with this story, "After You" and the new one "Still Me", but the first remains the best one.

This month's recommended books:

Hey!!!

I've decided to recommend three books that I appreaciated every month. Here are the first three for the month of February. Hope you'll like them as much as I do.

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«The Girl On The Train» by Paula Hawkins

If you still haven't read it yet then what are you waiting for?
The book is narrated by three different women: Rachel, the main character, Megan and Anna. This can make it difficult to read because the dates at the beginning of every chapter can confuse you, but you'll get used to it.
Whether we agree or not we all observe people. On the train, while walking, while shopping. It's kind of part of the human nature. Obviously Rachel's curiosity was another level of curiosity for sure. It was totally extreme. She interjected herself into lives that didn't belong to her.
There's a lot of lying in this book, a lot of secrets. Everyone is lying to everyone else, and you don't really understand what is actually happening till the end.
And with all those lies you will start to ask yourself: "Who should I trust? Who trusted whom?"
If you love psychological books, then this is the rest one for you.

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«The Hunger Games» by Suzanne Collins (all the three books)

With the three books "The Hunger Games", "Catching Fire" and "The Mockingjay", the Hunger Games is probably the best written teen saga after Harry Potter.
Way more better than the movies, these books will get into you. You'll feel attached to the characters, you'll live their pain, their happiness.
It will feel like you're part of Panem, like you're one of them.
And that's exactly what the writer wanted, to make you feel a part of it.
When you finish the first book, you think that nothing can beat it but that's exactly where you're wrong, because the second two books are formidable.

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«The Book Thief» by Markus Zusak

This one is my favorite book between all three that I mentioned in this post. The writer was able to actually make you live in that moment, to make you feel like a friend of Liesel, like you're there with her. Her friendship with Max is just amazing. She doesn't have any prejudice for him, not like everyone else did, instead. She treated him as a normal person, because it was just who he was, a person, a friend. 
The way that Rudy acted when he was practicing for running against the other children was terrific. He was a fan of Jesse Owens and he wasn't afraid of showing it, even though the other dispaised him for it and treated him bad. 
This book will make you laugh, but it will also make you cry because those things should had never have happened but they will never be forgotten.

Jane Eyre

Jane Eyre

by Charlotte Brontë

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The first book I’m going to review is one of my favourite ones: Jane Eyre.

It was written by the English writer Charlotte Brontë, under the pen name of “Currer Bell” on 16 October 1847.

Probably the most known of the Brontë’s sister, Charlotte start her writing career with the novel “The Professor”, that was firstly rejected by the publishers. She also wrote other two novels: “Shirley” and “Villette”, but her most known and loved novel remains “Jane Eyre”.

The book follows the life experience of a girl, Jane, who sooner became a real icon of feminism and girl power for the new generations.

It starts with talking about her childhood in Gateshead. Jane has to live with Mrs. Reed, her aunt, who doesn’t love her, and so her children, because her parents died for typhus. They didn’t recognize her at the same level as them, even though she was from a pretty known family, the Eyre. The only person in that mansion to actually don’t hate Jane, seems to be Bessie, the nursemaid.

Because of this not returned love from her family, Mrs. Reed decide to send her to a catholic school, Lowood, where they will teach her to be a good girl, and not someone who, as her aunt always said, always has been a bad and ugly person.

Here she will spend eight years of her life, six as a student and two as a teacher. She will mature, and learn a lot of new things, as French, drawing and playing the piano. This part of her life was needed for her to grow, but she soon got tired of it, once Ms. Temple, the principal of the school left. She was like a figure of example for her, an inspiration.

The fulcrum of the story comes when Jane finally leave Lowood to look for another work. She will find an opportunity at Thornfield Hall, as a teacher to the young French girl, Adele. Here Jane will be greeted by the housekeeper, Alice Fairfax, a nice and kind old lady.

One night, while Jane is walking to a nearby town, a horseman passes her. The horse slips on ice and throws the rider. Despite the rider’s surliness, Jane decides to help him to get back onto his horse. Later, back at Thornfield, she discovers that this man is Edward Rochester, master of the house. Adele is his ward, left in his care when her mother, a French actress, abandoned her.

At first she didn’t like him because he seems to be cold and arrogant, but soon they start to love each other’s company.

Odd things start to happen such as  a strange laugh, a mysterious fire in Mr. Rochester’s room, from which Jane will save him, and an attack on a house guest named Mr. Mason.

«I would always rather be happy than dignified.»

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«I am no bird; and no net ensnares me;

 I am a free human being with an independent will, 

which I now exert to leave you.»

«I am not an angel, 

and I will not be one till I die: 

I will be myself.»

To conclude this review, Jane is an inspirational character. She has the courage to stand for herself against the cruelty of her aunt, and she manage to take the lead in a conversation with a man. She's smart, a good friend, a good listener, a good girl. She's not the typical girl of every novel, but a real feminine heroine from the 19th century. The love story with Mr. Rochester is one of the greatest ever written, because even though the age gap is huge, they're meant to be together and that makes you realize that age is just a number.

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Hi!

Hey everyone.

This is my first post in here.

My name is Alexis and I openeded this blog with the purpose of doing reviews about the books I'm reading and suggesting you the one I loved the most.

I've been reading all my life and I'm not planning to stop. Reading is what keeps your mind active and it lets you "enter" in worlds that seem to be completely ours. That's what I really like about it, other than the fact that it's relaxing, but also because you can be someone else for a while. Leave all that boring life that is surrounding you.

I also have a fan account for books on Instagram, if you want to check it out the name is: thegalaxybooks and I have a Goodreads account too, my username is: Ale N
If you want to follow some of my stories on Wattpad, here's the link: alexisb1997
You can also check out my Pinterest account: AleN1121997

Thanks for your time, and until next time.

Have a nice day.