This book will end with tears. Sorry to lead like this, but it is undisputable. It’s The Fault in Our Stars meets British people and is a complete heart-breaking, emotion-strangling, mind-boggling mess of humor, pain, love and utter despair.

You’ll love it.

Author Jojo Moyes published Me Before You in the UK in early 2012, winning the Goodreads Choice Awards Best Fiction. Now, in June of 2016, a film adaption starring Emilia Clarke and Sam Claflin is hitting theaters, looking to be fantastic, the trailer showing as much. Looking to be an up and coming story on screen, I thought I’d share the perfection of the original ink and paper version.

There is, additionally, a second novel, called After You (try not to read into the title too much), released recently. A summary would be too spoiler-esque, so to keep the mystery alive, I am keeping my mouth shut. Or my typing fingers still. Whichever, really.

So let’s move back to the first novel. Louisa Clarke, small town girl working odd jobs, has no great ambition for her life. She is content; content with her steady marathon running boyfriend, with life in her crowded parents house, and with her job in the bakery down the street.

That is, until she gets fired and, on a whim, takes a job as a personal care assistant to a quadriplegic man. A very bitter, bad-tempered quadriplegic man, who may or may not be rich and attractive too. But that’s beside the point.

Will, aforementioned quadriplegic, is cynical and patronizing, and Louisa has had just about enough. But when she learns a horrible secret about Will, and his careful plans to end his own life, her world is turned upside down. Determined to change Will’s mind, Louisa embarks on a mission to give Will something to live for. With only six months, the deadline Will gave his parents, she has to change his mind.

Through the twists and turns, the potholes and roadblocks, and the absolute improvisation of her plan, Louisa is tossed into a relationship she never could have imagined, changing her own life immutably. Between her determination for Will to live, and his adamant argument for her to live, to see the world and have adventures, they experience feelings they never imagined.

And no, this isn’t a cheesy love story, transparent and predictable. This is no kiddie pool novel- more like a jungle cenote: deep, full of beauty and teeming with untold mysteries. With Will’s harsh comedy and cynical quips, Louisa’s quirky and sharp individuality, and the stark backdrop of their lives, I found myself reexamining my own life in a new light.

Without a doubt, this is a five star novel. Beautiful writing, combined with an enthralling plot and painful humor, Me Before You is a brilliant read. The characters have such a terrible realism, and a very true, innate selfishness that is reflected in the title, representing human nature honestly. It is their reality that makes the story so emotional and, well, heartbreaking.

Sigh. The heartbreak. Let’s just say, don’t get your hopes up in terms of miracles or general happiness after the last few pages. Sure, it is a “satisfying” ending or whatever, but my heart ripped open from it, tearing a wider hole after The Fault in Our Stars and many other of my CTAR books (Cry and Throw Across the Room Books).

But this is by no means a deterrent. I would do it again, and I already have. Before writing this, I read Me Before You three times, and I’m sure it won’t be my last. The writing is clever and funny, the story is authentic and compelling, and the characters come to life on the page, ensnaring your mind till the last words.