Medwed brings us a thoughtful and yet at times comical look, into a women who fears the worst when she gets test results back from her doctor.

Annie is very happily married, but when she believes she is dying, she starts to prepare for her husband to be on his own writing a manual for him. However, through this process she has yet to share the news with her family and friends. You can imagine she makes unwise choices.

This story breaks down many relationships, marital, parent/child, and her closest of friends. As you might think that with deception there is much mis-communication which is what can be funny, but yet frustrating at times for the reader.

I really enjoyed this book, much more than I expected. When I started reading, I thought wow, this is going to be sad, however, this was truly heartwarming and Medwed really focuses on what matters most in life and it is nothing tangible.

Thank you NetGalley and Alcove Press for an Advanced Reader’s Copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Annie and Sam , owners of the Paul Bunyan Special, a popular sandwich featured in their local shop, is a lot like this story. It has a huge center and all the topppings necessary to get you through the day. Annie faces a serious health threat,and faced with mortality comes up with a survival plan for her husband Sam. Spouses often hold each other in one color light and given the chance for self description paint a totally different picture. Annie has no illusions about Sam and how she hopes he will survive after she is gone. So she makes a manual to help him along. Enter life in the form of Ursula, mom, free spirit, life untangled. Here is a story of an upended life, profound and funny and down to earth fun.

Thank you to the author, Alcove Press and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This was a quick and easy read, and a sweet story about a long-married couple and their communication struggles around a difficult life situation. I liked the small-town setting that the author did a great job of painting, and the relationships between the couple and their (mainly her) friends. Although the story touched on some deep issues, it didn't go deep but rather skimmed over them and ended up with everything tied up in a neat bow with absolutely no loose ends. Sweet, but a touch too saccharine to be truly believable.

Mameve Medwed's newest novel, Minus Me, revolves around a woman in her late 30s named Annie. She has faced heartbreak in her life in the form of several miscarriages and a still birth as well as the loss of her father. She and her husband Sam despite their losses have a solid relationship and are successful partners in their own business. Annie receives news from her doctor that she most likely has lung cancer. He advises her to get her affairs in order and to get more opinions on her condition. Instead of biting the bullet and telling her husband Sam about her illness, she instead decides to keep it from him. She loves him even though she knows that she and his mother have spoiled him by doing so much for him. She knows that he will have a hard time and starts to write a guide for him to use after she is gone in order to navigate life without her.

I liked this book. I liked the humor it was written with amidst the serious topics included in the story. I'll admit I was frustrated by Annie and the way she dealt with her situation, however, I reminded myself that when faced with cancer people all choose to deal in the best way they know how at the time. Who am I to judge. The book was written in a way that Annie's feelings felt genuine throughout. While I enjoyed the writing, I did get a little bogged down in a few spots. The ending was satisfying. 3.5 stars rounded up to 4. I would recommend this book. I think it would make an excellent book club selection with ample discussion options.

My sincere thanks to Alcove Press and NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read Minus Me and give my unbiased opinion of it.

Annie has just received a terrible diagnosis, and is struggling to deal with the ramifications. She is married to Sam, but she seems to think of him as a person unable to survive on his own, bumbling, forgetful, unmotivated. Instead of dealing with her diagnosis and sharing it with him, she hides it from him and is trying to manage his life after her death.

Annie also has a difficult relationship with her mother, Ursula, who lives in NY. Ursula does step in and tries to get Annie help, but that's a whole mess unto itself. Annie and Ursula do get some closure on their relationship, so that's a good thing.

I tried to like this book, it could have been filled with emotions, life lessons and the value of people who love you. Instead, I did not feel any empathy for Annie, and I'm an empathetic person. It just didn't work for me.

Minus Me // by Mameve Medwed

Despite telling myself that I needed to control my ARC requesting, I just couldn't not request Minus Me. The premise, while heart-rending, sounded very intriguing and I needed something realistic rather than another fantasy because I have several big fantasy novels coming up soon. Just a few chapters into this book, I felt the heart-break coming on strong. While I found some of Annie's decisions a little irrational sometimes, I also have to admit that they weren't so different from some of my recent decisions. Sam is adorable, albeit sometimes exasperating, and I can still understand why she did what she did even though as an outside observer it is easy to know better.

While I had never heard of this author before, I do know that I want to read more of her books in the future. I really enjoyed her writing and how much she made me care about her characters, even Ursula who made me cringe so much in the beginning. This book really shows how not knowing just a few things about someone can hugely influence your opinion of them. While the ending would usually be a bit too tidy for my taste, this once it was actually perfect. After some of my own recent struggles, it was heart-warming to see this book end on such a positive note. It seems this book found me right when I really needed it.

Thank you to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for providing me with a free copy in exchange for an honest review.

Annie and Sam had been in love since forever. They share their passion for their gourmet sandwich business among other things. They are happy together . And then one day Annie finds out she's sick. Brokenhearted and clueless about sharing her news with her beloved Sam, she decides to write a manual with some instructions about living his life once she's gone. It's then when everything starts.
I liked this book very much. The writing is lovely and the pace is good. The characters are very well developed and absolutely lovable.
It's my first book from this author and it will not be the last.
Thank you Netgalley for the chance to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

It took me bloody forever to get through this. The writing was fine, the story was fine, but it was depressing while still not engaging. I never *wanted* to read it but also didn't dislike it so I didn't want to DNF? The end was jarringly neat while the rest wasn't.

Title: Minus Me
Author: Mameve Medwed
Genre: Fiction
Rating: 3.5 out of 5

Annie and her devoted but comically incompetent childhood sweetheart Sam are the owners and operators of Annie's, a gourmet sandwich shop, home to the legendary Paul Bunyan Special Sandwich--their "nutritionally challenged continual source of income and marital harmony and local fame."

But into their mostly charmed marriage comes the scary medical diagnosis for Annie--and the overwhelming challenge of finding a way to help Sam go on without her. Annie decides to leave Sam step-by-step instructions for a future without her, and considers her own replacement in his heart and their bed. Her best-laid plans grind to a halt with the unexpected appearance of Ursula, Annie's Manhattan diva of a mother, who brings her own brand of chaos and disruption into their lives.

I didn’t really care for these characters, and that made it hard to enjoy this book. Solid writing, so this is clearly just a “me” issue, but the characters just didn’t work for me. Sam was so incompetent as to be almost a farce and Annie was over-the-top take charge and let him be incompetent, which was frustrating to read. Their complete lack of communication was also irritating. So much pain could have been avoided if either of them had had the tiniest bit of bravery.

Mameve Medwed is from Bangor, Maine. Minus Me is her newest novel.

(Galley courtesy of Alcove Press in exchange for an honest review.)

(Blog link live 1/8.)

A sad heartbreaking story but also uplifting at the same time! Annie and Sam are married and when Annie gets a terminal diagnosis, she wants to write everything down so Sam can go on without her. This book has amazing characters and all in all a book I thoroughly enjoyed! I received an advanced readers copy and all opinions are my own.

I loved the premise of this book. MINUS ME is a charming and poignant story about a woman who receives a terminal diagnosis but can’t bring herself to tell her husband. The book follows Annie’s emotional journey as she struggles to process her fate and tries to imagine how to help Sam cope after she’s gone.

With the right mix of humour and heart, Medwed navigates the choppy waters of a difficult subject to deliver a deeply emotional story about love, marriage and family.

Thank you to Alcove Press for the advance reading copy.

I received an ARC of this novel from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Sweet novel about young l9ve that lasts.

Minus Me by Mameve Medwed
Source: NetGalley and Alcove Press
Rating: 4½/5 stars

**MINI REVIEW**

The Bottom Line: Well, dear reader, once again I find myself on the opposite side of the star review ratings on Goodreads. I found Minus Me to be a poignant and heartfelt read about two people who have completely devoted their lives to one another through hard work, dedication, and a love that many in this world can only ever imagine. While I generally get very angry and “not communicating/keeping big secrets” books, I found myself completely accepting of the situation in this particular read. Annie’s insistence on not telling Sam everything the second she knows comes from a place of love and understanding that only the two of them can truly comprehend. Annie knows Sam so well that she chooses to spare him the hurt, pain, and worry until the moment when she knows the full scope of her situation. I don’t necessarily agree with every step of Annie’s master plan, but I have a true understanding and sympathy for her actions. This is something of a roller coaster of a read, but I navigated every hill and valley willingly and enjoyed the ride. Quite frankly, I don’t much care that I am in the minority on this one; Minus Me is fine read and though it deals with some very heavy topics, it is well worth the time and effort.

Annie runs her sandwich shop along with her husband, Sam. They are the perfect couple.
Then suddenly, Annie is diagnosed with lung cancer and their little world topples.

I did have a few questions about Annie's behaviour with Sam. But overall, the story gives off warm vibes of love, trust, and resilience.

3/5 for me. A good book for a quick afternoon read.

Thanks to Netgalley and Alcove Press for the ARC.

I enjoyed this cleverly written story of Annie and Sam, a young couple with a seemingly perfect marriage. Already having suffered a loss, Annie is facing a diagnosis which prompts her to start writing a manual for her husband, Sam. Annie’s relationship with her over the top actress mother, Ursula, has always been strained, but as Annie faces some hard truths, the relationship evolves. I recommend this book and thank NetGalley for the ARC.

Annie Stevens-Strauss is happy in her small-town life, running her small business alongside her loving but kind of clueless husband Sam. Everything seems to be going alright in life, despite some obstacles and annoyances which the reader gets to discover as they read along, until a scary medical diagnoses comes her way out of the blue. So begins Annie's journey to facing her mortality, breaking out of her comfort zone, and rediscovering what family and love means to her... all the while trying not to spill the beans to those she loves.

This isn't the type of book I have taken to reading in recent times, but reading the summary about Minus Me made me think of another book all about love, loss, and moving on that I adored. So I had to give it a go! Thank you to Alcove Press for the e-ARC!

I really enjoyed the lightheartedness of the storytelling despite the more serious and somber core dilemma at hand, and the story got some laughs out of me as I read Annie's internal thoughts. At the beginning of the story, I liked Annie, Rachel, and Sam (despite also feeling a bit annoyed at how dependent he seemed) and appreciated that there was definite character growth between Annie and Sam. The best characters in Minus Me (in my opinion) are Ursula and Rachel, however. Mameve Medwed did a fantastic job bringing to life such energetic and hilarious personalities! Overall, the story was generally believable and makes for good "slice of life"/"happy-feels" relaxing reading. It also made me think about how life can really turn on you quick and you never know how you would react in those moments.

There were some parts of the story that were somewhat frustrating, but definitely did not make Minus Me difficult to read or unenjoyable. Annie's stubbornness, how unbending Sam was at crucial times, and also some of the comments from Annie about her life did make me roll my eyes a little at these characters. Some of her reactions to trying/discovering new things/places also were mildly frustrating and jumped out at me. But these are supposed to be relatable, flawed characters so definitely not major hindrances to the story.

In general, I think this is a funny, quirky, and heartwarming book. An easy, chill read for times when you just want to have a laugh, sigh along with the drama and happy moments, and enjoy something sweet.

Minus Me started out with so much promise but about half way through took a turn and ended predictably. I wouldn’t discount it completely but it wouldn’t be at the top of my TBR pile.

This was a sweet book that centers around how to prepare your loved one for when your not there anymore.

Annie tries to tell Sam her heart wrenching news but he doesn't give her the chance. Until she is able to actually tell him, Annie decides she has to do the best she can to leave him prepared for when she's gone.

This book was the perfect escape. It was lovely and fun. It was my first book by this author and I will definitely be on the look out for more!!

This story of love by Mameve Medwed is a book that will take you into yourself and your family relationships. Minus Me takes something that we often think about to another level. It is told with great insight into the feelings we harbor deep in our hearts.