This was such a great book about love after losing a spouse. Anything Elissa Sussman writes is so good. I love the relationship between Gabe and Lena and Lena’s relationship with her mom. There was so much growth I loved how realistic it was

First the positive: I like Elissa Sussman's writing. She rounds out side characters, her settings are compelling, descriptions are clear, and details are evocative. That said ...

I struggled to relate to Lauren. While we all make stupid choices in our teens - show me someone who doesn't - she seemed to swing wildly from stupid choice to stupid choice without much motivation or character development behind it. Granted, all of that is being recounted in the THEN timeline, which moves rapidly from her teenagehood through the initial romance and then through early parenthood with her now-dead husband.

Simultaneously, we are also following the NOW timeline where Lauren and her tween daughter go to visit her movie-star brother on set and she hooks up with her brother's younger, hotter co-star. I straight-up struggled to see what that guy would see in Lauren. She's 11 years his senior, a widow, dragging a sullen teenager around ... and he's a hot bisexual movie star. (If you need that wish-fulfillment. and no shade, then this book is for you!)

Post-hookup, Lauren continues texting him while struggling to date in her hometown, deals with her contemptuously religious mother-in-law, struggles to relate to her teen daughter, and continues to reveal past details about things like her brother's alcoholism and her father's death. It's all just ... messy. Which is life, so that's not necessarily a problem, it just felt like a lot to squeeze into 400 pages with the past and the present moving in parallel. Nothing really felt like it had the space to breath. When everything is important, it's almost like nothing is important.

Given how messy the first 95% of the book felt, it all comes together a little too cleanly and a little too quickly at the end. It didn't feel satisfyingly resolved.

I enjoyed this book and I felt that this was the best book by the author that I’ve read so far! I liked the characters and storyline

Totally and Completely Fine by Elissa Sussman is a heartfelt contemporary romance that skillfully blends grief and new love in a small-town setting. The story centers on Lauren Parker, a newly widowed single mother in rural Montana, who finds herself unexpectedly drawn to a charming Hollywood actor, Ben Walsh, when he arrives to help her famous brother stage a theater production.

I adored Elissa's book Funny You Should Ask so I was anticipating this release. I loved that this was a companion to that book by following Gabe's sister Lauren. Her grief was portrayed beautifully and I love celebrity x normal person so incredibly much as a trope! I enjoyed the dual timelines and small town dynamics too. I'm of the opinion that I will gladly read anything Elissa Sussman writes. Thank you so much to Netgalley and the publisher for my ARC.

2.75/5 Stars

Totally and Completely Fine didn’t live up to standard that was set by Funny You Should Ask.

I found the first half of this book to be quite boring. I actually found the flashbacks to Lauren’s past with Spencer to be more enjoyable and entertaining than present day. I didn’t like Ben nearly as much as I liked Spencer. However, in the back half of the book, the story picked up and I became more invested in Lauren and Ben’s relationship. Their sexual chemistry was repeatedly highlighted, but I found everything else to be a little too far-fetched and unrealistic. I was also confused as to why Gabe was such a focal point to this book when his story was already told.

I didn’t completely dislike this novel. It just felt unexciting and predictable. Overall, a quick to read, run-of-the-mill romcom. Nothing special here, but not the worst thing I’ve read by any means. Biggest thanks to Ballantine | Dell and Netgalley for this free ebook in exchange for an honest review! ❤️

Thank you Elissa Sussman, Random House Publishing, and Penguin Random House for a copy of this eARC in exchange for a review!
Publishing Date: 07/08/25

Full transparency, I received this ARC after publication date…and I’d just about given up hope that I’d be getting a copy. I’d still planned to get a physical copy as I own Elissa’s previous books (and love them both, as she’s become a favorite author of mine). Thankful I got the opportunity to read & review this one!

Totally and Completely Fine is a warm…yet sometimes messy, heartfelt story about grief, identity/coming out, love, and learning how to move forward when life doesn't go the way you thought it would.

The story centers on Lauren Parker, a single mom still navigating the grief of losing her husband a few years earlier. For my fellow Elissa Sussman fans, we previously met Lauren in “Funny You Should Ask” as the sister of Gabe Parker. She’s got a teenage daughter, a messy relationship with her past, and a general sense that she’s just…holding it all together. Enter Ben Walsh, a charming actor (and co-star of her brother’s new movie), and suddenly Lauren’s very controlled life starts to unravel—in ways that force her to ask what she really wants.

This isn’t just a romance, though there is definitely romance. What makes it work is how grounded it feels. Lauren isn't your typical rom-com heroine. She’s older, emotionally complicated, sometimes difficult—and that makes her incredibly relatable. Her journey is about more than falling in love again; it’s about rediscovering who she is beyond grief, motherhood, and memories as we go between Sussman’s signature “Now & Then” dual storylines.

Sussman’s writing strikes a nice balance between humor and heartache. There’s a lot of emotional weight here, but it’s not heavy-handed. The flashbacks to Lauren’s life with her late husband add depth, and the chemistry between Lauren and Ben feels genuine without being overdone.

If you're in the mood for something that’s both emotional and affirming—something that acknowledges how complicated life and love can be—Totally and Completely Fine is worth your time. Plus, if you’re a fellow Sussman fan like myself, you’ll enjoy the cameos of characters from her previous books!

I wanted to like this SO much. I'm a fan (connoisseur?) of celebrity romances. But I just could not connect with this one at all. It might be me. It was too much a grief book for me to also be a romance. I'm that person who doesn't like those things mixed together. And I also didn't realize this was a companion book to Funny You Should Ask, which I have not read. So I'm rounding up my rating because I think this is an issue of it's me not the book!

Thank you to NetGalley for the advance review copy in return for an honest review. I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own. This book had a shaky beginning but by the end I was fully engaged in the characters. I love a book series in a small town. I also liked how it would go in the past and show the reader the depth of her past relationship and how that plays into her new one.

Elissa Sussman writes such great novels about Hollywood. I really did enjoy this one, it just felt quite disjointed to me - it is a romance novel, but half of the book (the flashbacks) are focused on her falling in love with her late husband, while the other half is her falling in love with her new love interest.

A reader will probably have a better reading expeirence if they are expecting contemporary fiction, rather than romance.

I am a huge fan of Elissa Sussman’s work. I think this was one of her best yet that I have had the pleasure of enjoying. The romance didn’t feel rushed. The grief felt real. And the twin timelines was incredibly well done.

Lauren Parker has everything I love in a main character: small-town trauma, unresolved rage, creative hobbies that could be reining Etsy shops if she believed in herself, and the kind of grief so potent it should come with a trigger warning and a snack. She is in mourning. She is confused. She is horny. Honestly, she is me after one sad girl playlist and two glasses of Pinot.

So naturally, when her movie star brother Gabe (yes, that Gabe, from "Funny You Should Ask," only now he’s slightly more insufferable and less endearing) brings Ben Walsh onto the scene, a hot, charming, bisexual actor who’s basically a walking cardigan of emotional support and cheekbones, Lauren does what any of us would do. She hooks up with him faster than you can say “emotional unavailability.”

And I wanted to be into it. This setup? It’s giving "The Idea of You." It wants to be Anne Hathaway riding a literal and emotional rollercoaster with a sexy man who respects women. But instead of sensual eye contact and lingering heartbreak, we get Ben delivering what I can only describe as a vaguely comforting shrug.

He is, in fact, bisexual. In case you forget, the book reminds you. A lot. Like it’s his Hogwarts house. Or his whole personality. It’s weirdly performative, like a Pride float made entirely of vibes and undercooked character development.

Now, Lauren and Ben’s chemistry… whew. It’s like when you microwave leftovers and only the edges are hot. We jump from “strangers with trauma” to “let’s build a life together” with no emotional scaffolding. The sex is fast, the feelings are foggy, and somehow we’re meant to believe he gives up a top-tier gig to temporarily play homeless Hamlet in Cooper, Montana? No. Absolutely not. Call the studio and tell them I quit.

Speaking of the daughter: Lena. Our grief-goblin teen. She is furious. Queer. Disrespectful in a way that screams has not been grounded in YEARS. And yet… somehow underwritten? I wanted more from her arc. I wanted the gritty mother-daughter heart-to-hearts where someone cries over a piece of jewelry. Instead, we get a lot of “you don’t understand me” and then boom, soft reconciliation via Ben, who becomes Lena’s emotional doula because Lauren is too busy spiral-knitting.

The dual timelines should be delivering emotional devastation. We flip between Lauren’s past with Spencer (her late husband, A++ emotional tenderness, big sad-boy energy) and her present with Ben, which only makes it more obvious that Spencer was the plot twist and Ben is just... the rebound montage. Spencer is written with softness and memory. Ben is written like a Tinder date who brought soup one time.

The grief content? Honestly great. That part felt lived-in. You can feel the author’s hands shaking on the keyboard. There are moments where Lauren’s emotions crack through the page and it hurts in a good way, like massaging a bruise. I loved watching her claw her way back into a version of herself that isn’t just “widow running a craft store.” That emotional journey deserved more from the rest of the book.

Because everything else? It’s a grab bag of half-baked subplots. Small-town drama that never really explodes. A community theater production that exists purely so Ben can wear flannel and have something to do between sex scenes. Family dynamics that get teased, then dropped like bad improv. And Gabe and Chani’s cameo? You can feel them sliding in like “Hey remember us from a better book?” Yes. We do.

Final take? This is a story about a woman healing after unspeakable loss. It’s also a story about a man who exists to make healing sexually viable. And while it tries to be emotionally layered, it ends up like a charcuterie board made by someone who watched half a TikTok. Technically there’s cheese, but the vibes are off.

3.5 stars for the grief arc, a bisexual himbo with a soft core, and that one scene where Lauren finally stops apologizing for wanting more. Would I recommend it? Sure. But only if you go in knowing this is "The Idea of You"’s messier cousin who impulse-buys crystals, journals in scented gel pen, and thinks emotional closure can be found backstage at a local production of "Our Town."

Thank you to Random House Publishing Group – Ballantine and NetGalley for the ARC! Now please explain how you expect me to emotionally recover and return to regular life after this chaos.

Thank you for the copy of Totally and Completely Fine. I had enjoyed Funny You Should Ask and was excited to dive back into the same world. I was disappointed in the portrayal of Gabe - it made me wonder why I ever rooted for him and Chani in the previous book. I found the romance between the lead characters to be unbelievable. That said, the banter and dialogue was well done.

I love Elissa Sussman’s books and it was great to see some recurring characters! Love the Hollywood setting.

This is the second romance exploring grief I’ve read this summer and it did that part very well. I was excited to pick this up because it’s a celebrity-normal person romance (which is my fave romance trope) and that’s what kept me reading. I did most of it in a day but never felt particularly sucked in. The romance took a back seat to the relationship between mother and daughter which was interesting but I wanted more from the romance storyline. The romance was very slow to unfold and then got very deep very fast in a way that didn’t work for me. I received an ARC of this book from Netgalley in exchange for a review.

This book had poor character and plot development. I couldn't relate to and felt no emotional investment in any of the characters.

Really liked it! The grief topic in the book it's definitely something that I wasn't expecting but that it was so well written and I could tell the author has been through it to explain it that well and respectfully. The romance was a little cliche but I loved it. Those 2 last chapters didn't disappointed. Through all the book I was giggling at Lauren's thoughts about Ben.
I just didn't liked how much Lauren is always second guessing and that can get tiring to read over and over, and the way the relationship with Ben felt of a little bit forced.

Overall I enjoyed it and my rating is 3.5.

Thank you team! it was such a fun reading.

WOAH! This was breathtaking amazing. Falling in love again after heartbreak and tragedy is never easy but this was the perfect pace and story to share how love regrows again and how life is never easy or goes as expected. I fell in love with the main characters right away and loved the energy… one of my top favorite books and will constantly think about this!

This book was not for me, the writing just didn’t click with me and there were so many characters I kept getting confused who and what and when are we following now. The characters were decent in this one but the writing and the pacing just left a lot to be desired. This is my second book from this author that I did not care for so I feel like this author may just not be for me so if you like their past works I could be wrong. I would like to thank NetGalley and the publishers for a chance to read this book for an honest review.

I couldn't wait to get my hands on this book after reading Funny You Should Ask which I loved. I enjoyed Totally and Completely Fine; but not quite as much as its predecessor. The two books are more sister books rather than a series but share many of the same characters. The plot of this book was bit less fluid and the romance didn't really build; instead it sometimes felt a little abrupt. Regardless, it was entertaining, well-written, and I would definitely recommend to those who want to follow the story arcs of the characters in Funny You Should ask.

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC!