I’ve loved all the books I’ve read by this author and this one was no exception. I’ll definitely be looking into her work in the future and I really enjoy the way she takes creative plots to the next level.

SUCH AN AMAZING BOOK! I love all of Elissa Sussman's books, and I thought that this captured the idea of love and grief in a digestable and poignant way. The characters were all well developed and I loved to see their evolution into better versions of themselves. Exploring the topic of grief in a romcom is something that is so rarely done because it does not take much for it to come off distasteful, but I was very impressed with Susssman's ability to pay homage and respect to the past marriage and celebrate it for how it changed the MC and then also supported the blossoming relationship as well.

Huge thanks to Elissa Sussman, Netgalley, and to Random House Publishing for an advance copy in exchange for an honest review!

This was really cute and also really heartfelt. Raising a teenager as a new widow, deciding whether you want to love again. I really enjoyed this novel.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for allowing me to read this arc in exchange for an honest review!

Thank you for the ARC!

I love me some Elissa Sussman but unfortunately this one just turned out to be a totally and completely fine read. It’s a tie-in to Funny You Should Ask as Lauren, the main character, is the older sister of Gabe from that and Chani also featured. Lauren lost her husband a few years ago and is living in her small town with her teen daughter and meets Gabe’s co-star Ben, who is 10 years younger than her, and sparks fly. Yet that seems to be it because unfortunately the book doesn’t do a great job with the rest of the attraction… they keep having sex and that’s about it? There’s no depth to the relationship. And Ben’s personality is just being a younger, hot British actor who happens to be bi? The dual storyline also features Lauren’s relationship with her dead husband but again, that story seems to skip the major parts and rushes to the end.
There was so much potential here but it seems like having spiciness was preferred over an actual story, sorry to say.

Totally and Completely Fine is a heartfelt exploration of grief, healing, and second chances. The story follows a widowed single mother as she navigates the aftermath of loss, while also helping her daughter cope with their shared sorrow. The book beautifully captures the emotional complexities of grief, portraying the protagonist’s struggle to find herself again while facing the possibility of new love.

This was such a cute celebrity romance. Very fast read with likeable characters who grow as the book progresses.

3.5 *. This is a story that follows Gabe’s sister from the author’s previous book Funny You Should Ask. The story follows Ben and Lauren’s romance. Lauren is a widowed mother of a teenage daughter, and there is a fair amount of story line focused on their fraught relationship. Ben is a town to act in a play (with Funny You Should ask characters Gage and Ollie) and starts a casual dating relationship with Lauren. The story follows their deepening relationship and how they overcome their complicated current and past relationships to move forward. This is not my favorite of the authors books. To me it was trying to tackle too many characters and subplots. I found myself losing interest one the storyline jumped into the past.

WOW. This felt like one of the most gut wrenching, heartfelt, intimate love stories. You could physically feel Lauren and Lena's grief for Spencer. The romance was so authentically done where it never once felt forced or disingenuous. I wanted to crawl into the pages of this book and give everyone a hug for all they've endured. I think the LGBTQ representation was so beautifully done and added such a here and now perspective. I loved the way the characters grew as people throughout this story. I will be thinking about this one for a long while to come.

A fantastic companion to Funny You Should Ask, featuring movie star Gabe Parker's sister Lauren, a single mum after her husband Spencer died three years prior. I how it cleverly weaved itself around FYSA (yay for more Gabe and Chani), examining Gabe and Lauren wrestling with decades of unaddressed grief and anger. I stayed up til 2am reading this book.

Present-day Lauren is strong and independent but vulnerable and frayed at the edges from a lifetime of loss. There's a sizzling chemistry with Ben, but feels pushes him away for being too young for her and on the verge of stardom which she's seen swallow Gabe whole.

It was so heartbreaking, poignant (omg the scarf had me tearing up) but also heartwarming with beautifully well-rounded characters. Its wonderful to see a female character who is sex positive and not some poor celibate widow. In flashbacks we see young Lauren and Gabe losing their father at a young age and subliminating their grief and anger with Lauren being a pot-smoking wild child slut-shamed by small town small mindedness, while Gabe developing an alcohol problem. Spencer also remains larger than life and gosh my heart broke for them to lose this sweet, dependable gorgeous man controlled by his pious mother. Ben was also another perfect match for the Lauren of today, patient, kind and letting Lauren set the pace.

A perfect ending for all the Parkers and yet, goddamnit I want more!

Thanks to Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine/Del Rey and NetGalley for the ARC.

Elissa Sussman does. Not. Miss!!!!! I am a rabid Elissa Sussman fan, and this is yet another 5-star read. Her exploration of grief is so beautifully done, and god do I love the two love stories. I love this so much.

This was a fun easy read. I loved the characters and the romance of Lauren and Ben. Such a cute celebrity themed touch. Overall a win and did not disappoint.

This was a pleasure to read. I have been waiting for the next Elissa Sussman novel to come out and it just didn't disappoint. I devoured this in 24 hours and it really just gripped me immediately. What a fun celebrity romance. I also loved the heartfelt topic of grief for the main characters with a touch of alcoholism. This just had real depth for a romcom and I'm here for it!

I have loved every book by Elissa Sussman thus far, and this is no exception, though it was a different reading experience than I was expecting.

As usual, Elissa delivers beautiful writing in this book, and I’m very glad I received an arc. I had my doubts in the first quarter of the book or so — I wasn’t buying into the relationship between Ben and Lauren for a while. I wasn’t as invested into their love story as I expected to be, but they grew on me throughout the book. And I realized that the real story was one of healing from grief. The character development for Lauren and Lena (with some major cameos from Gabe) were really interesting, and I realized that though the romance aspect of this book was nice, I didn’t need it to cry my eyes out at the deeper themes included in it. I’m so glad I kept reading — it really is a beautiful story!

2.5/5 stars

I think this book was a letdown for me after enjoying Elissa Sussman’s other two works. It was hard to root for the current main characters while reading about the dual timeline of Lauren, the FMC, and her late husband’s relationship. Unfortunately, I didn’t enjoy reading about her being a single mom and although it was heartbreaking how she dealt with her grief, I just couldn’t feel that sense of connection and empathy for her. The chemistry between her and Ben was also very fast-paced and unrealistic, so I had a difficult time believing in their love story. However, I thought the perception of Gabe from Lauren’s perspective as an older sibling was quite interesting. At first, it felt like the dynamic between him and Chani felt unfamiliar and unlike what we know from Funny You Should Ask. The same goes for all of the side characters we met. I realized it was due to Lauren’s POV and experiences, and that was quite refreshing to see how she interacted with each of them.

Ultimately, this romance was kind of a miss for me. I think the element of grief was compelling and even navigating fame by proxy was unique. I just don’t think this particular couple had the wow factor that I was wanting.

Thank you to NetGalley, Random House Publishing Group, and Elissa Sussman for this ARC.

I really liked Sussman's first book and was happy to receive this one. Her writing is great and it was nice to revisit familiar characters. I thought the Then and Now storylines both read honestly and give a realistic picture of grief from all angles and viewpoints. I think the last 10% felt rushed and then slammed to the ending and I'm not sure I really bought the connection between the two leads - how they went from seeing each other on a set to where they ended up so quickly - but overall I enjoyed the writing and am going to go back and read the novel by Sussman that I missed.

I’m obsessed with everything Elissa Sussman writes. This book was so well-written with beautifully developed, complex characters. There’s so much love in this story - between romantic partners but also siblings, parent/child, and friends - counterbalanced with grief and trauma, and it combines to make a book I would love to read over and over again.

I think overall, this was a beautiful book about love and grief. If you are looking for a fun romantic comedy, this is not your book. This book at its core is about grief and finding love after a loss. It follows mother and daughter learning to navigate life after losing their husband/father. I often found myself getting annoyed with the FMC, Lauren and her daughter Lena for the way they were acting. I felt there was a lot of back and forth between whether they wanted to open up and let new people in or stay closed off. Obviously, this goes back to losing a loved one unexpectedly which I understood. Grief is complex and everyone handles it differently. I think this book does a great job of showing that. I also enjoyed seeing Gabe and Chani from Funny You Should Ask make appearances. It was nice to see how their story evolved and ended up. If you are looking for a more emotional and character centered book, I would definitely check it out!

Lauren is a reformed slut, now widow and mother of an angry teenage girl. She meets a young, hot Irish actor, but has a list of reasons why it would never work - his fame, her small town, her chaotic family, her dead husband. She slowly learns to open herself up to a new relationship while finally coming to terms with her grief. The story alternates between the current timeline and a look back at the budding love with her husband and their marriage. This book is full of emotions, and I felt every single one of them. I did not read 'Funny You Should Ask' and did not even realize this was a sequel, so there was a little background to the characters that I didn't have. Regardless, I loved this book and thought the ending was perfect.

Having gone in blind to this ARC, my expectations were that it would be similar to others from the author, which I thoroughly enjoyed. I didn’t feel that special charm with this one, and that’s okay. It will be for someone, maybe someone who needs to connect with a book that centers grieving or similar themes.

This one gave me “Nora Goes Offscript” vibes in the sense of small town woman with kid(s) falls for big Hollywood star.

Except in this case, she’s a widow, there’s a good old age gap between them and you’ve got the grief aspect. Solid read - lots of heart - good sexy scenes. Left me with some relatable tears when it comes to processing the death of a loved one.