After seeing the trailer for the movie based on Me Before You by Jojo Moyes, I was expecting a love story reminiscent of A Walk to Remember. I was expecting the tears and to rate it 4.5 stars. When I read the book, which kept me reading till 4 a.m., I was hit with a quirky, funny, and heartbreaking book that just so happened to have a little romance in it.

Lou Clark starts job hunting to support her quirky family and ends up becoming caretaker to Will Traynor, a quadriplegic who has given up on life. Lou decides to try and change that. This story was about choices and widening horizons. Before meeting Will, Lou had no idea who she really was or what she wanted to do with her life and constantly compared herself to her sister. The more he warmed up to her, the more he encouraged her to go outside of her comfort zone. With this push, she changes completely from the person she was at the beginning of the book.

Contrary to the cover of the book and the editing of the trailer, this book is not straight romance. If I had to describe it in one word it would be “real.” The romance that there is, is not the center focus and tends to be very pure and light. The characters react in realistic ways and the choices they make are never just black or white. The story could be predictable at times, but always had something up it’s sleeve.

I hope that the movie captures the true themes of the story and doesn’t sugar coat anything. I laughed, I cried and left the book feeling changed. If the movie can capture that, then it will have succeeded completely. The movie, which is starring Emilia Clarke and Sam Claflin, will be released in theaters on June 3.