Book Review: "You and Me and Us" By Allison Hammer

“I cycle through the list of things that should make me smile, just thinking about them. If I can fill my head with enough happy thoughts, maybe the sad ones will go away.”

― Alison Hammer, You and Me and Us
“I feel like I don't want to take a single second for granted, I want to make the most of the time I have left.

...It's like I want to live as many moments as I can, like I'm filling my heart and my mind with all the memories I can get, so I can take them with me.”

“All those years ago, you told me to stay, to stop running away. You said life is going to be tough no matter where I went, and that some things were worth sticking around for. And that's you, You're worth sticking around for, and I want to spend the rest of the time we have together as your wife.”

“Life is too damn short to stay mad at the people you love.”

So, truth be told this was a tear jerker that will keep you up long after you finish reading.

It was emotionally riveting with characters like the daughter Ce-Ce that made you want to scream and holler but then Tommy's story was told and the tears began until Alexis entered the scene and you knew this was a real winner because of the entire situation that is at hand.

Tommy has stage 4 lung cancer (non smoker) and it's noted that 20% of people who don't smoke have this dreadful illness.

His past life with Monica comes into play as she's the ex-wife of Cece.

We are told that Tommy simply wants to spend the last of his time at his beach house in Destin Florida as he doesn't want to fight the illness any longer.

As his condition worsens we see the powerful dynamic from being the one being taken care of to being the caretaker for Alexis, while dealing with the resentment from the daughter, while also dealing with the daughter's issues, and the medical problems of Tommy all at once.

I lost my niece at 12 yo June 21st 2016 so this will be our 4th yr anniversary without her and these emotions are still raw as she was the only child who passed in a 7 car accident in Clermont, Florida from an alleged drag racer on I4 the main highway that Tuesday morning.

I cannot begin to tell you the pain of losing someone especially in this manner as the truck the individual was driving landed on top of her car after going airborn.

Please don't take one day for granted.

A great read that I highly recommend from a new author for me.

Thank you to Allison Hammer, the pub, NetGalley, and Amazon Kindle for this ARC in exchange for this honest review.