I really enjoyed Lauren as the main character. Age gap relationships can be tricky but really enjoyed this one. It was realistic the way each family member has dealt with grief of a loved one.

- Lauren Parker, 40, widowed single mom to a teen daughter & Ben Walsh, early 30s, rising Hollywood movie star
- Lauren is Gabe Parker's sister; Gabe was the MMC in Funny You Should Ask. Ben Walsh is Gabe's friend and costar
- Dual timelines: the start of Lauren's relationship with her husband (now deceased) and her relationship with Ben.
-Some of this book happens in the same timeline as Funny You Should Ask
🌶️: yes, but limited, mostly off page

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this arc.

I haven’t read an ‘Elissa Sussman’ book I haven’t liked. This book had me in tears at the end.

This story falls Lauren as she navigates grief after losing her husband. The story hops back and forth between her time with her husband Spencer and her present. In present time, it’s been three years since Spencer passed. Her daughter Lena is still struggling, and Lauren is figuring out how to live again- especially after meeting Ben.

I thought the representation of grief was beautiful, as well as, Lauren getting to fall in love again. AND watching Lena heal herself as well as her relationships with her mom and uncle.

Such a nice, emotional, romantic read. Loved getting to revisit Gabe and Chani too! Full of complexity and emotion, family and friends. Very solid read

This book really ran me through the ringer of emotions. Devastating, funny, full of love.

I enjoyed how it flashed back to when Lauren was in school, first with Spencer, through Lena’s childhood, and when Gabe took his first interview with Chani. I loved the connections made throughout the book, tying it together with “Once More with Feeling”.

I felt like Lauren being emotional through the book gave a sort of realness to her and everyone around her. I felt those emotions while reading. I could connect with her through her loss and love. I felt her grief and joy in the best way possible.

I was able to take my time with this and enjoy every minute. 4.5 stars :)

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing for an early arc!

Lauren's learning to live with the grief of her husband's sudden and unexpected death while running a business and raising her teenage daughter. While on a trip to visit her brother on his movie set, she meets Ben - the mysterious actor staring in the film.

What started off as a casual fling quickly turns way more complicated. Lauren has a past and lives in a very very small town. Ben is an A-lister and has a reputation of his own. Using a dual timeline, we see all the events that had made Lauren into the woman she is, and how she processes love and loss.

To say I adored this novel would be an understatement. Elissa Sussman has become one of my favorite authors! I immediately fell in love with her writing style and quickly become completely immersed in her stories. She has you rooting for her characters from page one.

Totally and Completely Fine is a companion to Sussman's novel Funny You Should Ask and follows the same timeline, but from the point of view of Lauren (Gabe Parker's sister). I recommend reading (or in my case re-reading) Funny You Should Ask first to get the full experience and to fully enjoy this love story.

HUGE thank you to Elissa Sussman, Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine, and NetGalley for the advanced reader copy in exchange for my honest review. This was a 5 star read for me - I couldn't put it down!

I thoroughly enjoyed Sussman's newest novel. She handles the deep topic of grief with care while wrapping it in a wonderful love story. I fell in love with the characters and didn't want this one to end.

Thank you to NetGalley, Elissa Sussman, and Random House - Ballantine for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for my honest review!

So far, I have loved all of the books by this author and this one is no exception!
Totally and Completely Fine was a very heartfelt, moving story about grief and love. I love the way Elissa writes and builds these characters. I found myself wishing the "Now" relationship had more depth to it earlier than it did, but overall I truly enjoyed this one. This book was definitely emotional, but not in a way that felt heavy handed.

I liked so much about this book. The brief flashback chapters, how it handles grief, sexuality, and family. But what surprised me was, n my opinion, a lack of connection between the MCs. Yes, they had chemistry out the wazoo, and it was hot. But I struggled to find their deeper relationship. But that nitpick aside, I loved everything else and flew through this book in a few short hours. Thanks to Dell for the ARC.

Don't worry- everything is 𝐓𝐎𝐓𝐀𝐋𝐋𝐘 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐂𝐎𝐌𝐏𝐋𝐄𝐓𝐄𝐋𝐘 𝐅𝐈𝐍𝐄 (Pub 07.08) Based on the cover (yes- I know better), I was expecting a lightish rom-com. What I got was a poignant look at grief and starting over while finding the courage to love again. It's a "romance with heft" and I loved it.

MORE: Small town Montana
13 yr old daughter
Her: Widow
Him: Actor
Then & Now structure
Emotional & captivating
Sizzling chemistry/Open Door
Companion novel to 𝘍𝘶𝘯𝘯𝘺 𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘚𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘈𝘴𝘬 (I read FYSA but had book amnesia and still enjoyed T&CFine)
--

This book is filled with heavy themes of grief and identity. It felt a lot more about the characters than the plot, like crawling into their lives and sitting with them for awhile. I can see this book being very poignant for someone processing grief themselves. I don’t think it carries the same feel as Funny You Should Ask, however. 3.5 stars overall.

Okay so I didn’t fully read the blurb to this book, I just saw Elissa Sussman and requested immediately! (I also have it pre-ordered) I didn’t realize it was a spin off of Funny You Should Ask 🥹 i loved that book so much, so I ate this book up as well, and got my Gabe/Chani cameos for dessert.

This novel invoked a lot of emotions, it was cute, funny, sad, so sad, small town vibes, with a taste of Hollywood! I enjoyed the format with the duel timelines as well.

I wasn't a big fan of how the ending played out, I feel like we could have reached the same ending a bit differently, but overall I loved it!

Thank you so much Netgalley and Dell for the eARC!

I am a sucker for an Elissa Sussman book and Totally and Completely Fine did not disappoint. While Lauren and her family made me a little nutso because of their inability to talk about how they feel about almost anything, I was rooting for them all to get their shit together and figure some stuff out. These completely likable people were making me crazy because I wanted them to be okay (or more okay) and to quit repressing everything. I wanted them to not just survive, but thrive. Enter Ben. The perfect disrupter. He charmed his way into the hearts and lives of all of them and you couldn't help but hope that somehow, someway he'd manage to make them (and him) all okay. He wasn't the savior, but he was a source of conflict and action and the only thing that would've made him better in this novel, is if I'd had a look into what was going on in his mind.

I enjoyed the cross over between Gabe and Lauren. I enjoyed the flashbacks mixed in with the current day story. I enjoyed the secondary characters and all they brought to the novel....essentially I enjoyed it all. I'll definitely read anything Elissa Sussman writes, so here's to hoping she has something new out soon.

This book was powerfully written. I thought the story-telling aspect was incredible and the development of characters was well-done. Personally, I thought the Christian mother-in-law stereotype was a bit heavy handed. It was as if we couldn’t get away from the blatant Christian hate via ragging on the antagonist role the MIL played. The consistent disdain took away from the power of the plot. I have loved all of Elissa’s books so far, this one was a little less enjoyable.

This book was a heartfelt look at family, grief, mental health and support systems. I enjoyed the THEN chapters a lot and thought the author did a nice job dealing with moving forward and living again after an immense loss. I did not read the first book and struggled with knowing and getting attached to the characters at first so would recommend reading it, even though this is a standalone.

Thank you to NetGalley, the author and publisher for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for my honest review!

My favorite Elissa Sussman book yet (and I've loved them all!) This book is sexy and moving and full of heart and also funny and all the things the best rom coms should be. It tackles grief in multiple forms in such a nuanced way that doesn't ever take away from the romance. It was so so great. Thank you so much to Dell and NetGalley for my early copy. I can't wait to tell everyone I know they need to read this book.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Totally and Completely Fine by Elissa Sussman (out July 8, 2025) is an emotional, captivating, and deeply moving story about grief, love, and second chances. It’s about finding healing and happiness when you least expect it.

Lauren is in her 40s, a single mom still grieving the loss of her high school sweetheart and husband, Spencer. When she visits her famous actor brother, Gabe, on set, she has a one-night stand with charming actor Ben Walsh—who happens to be nine years younger. What starts as flirty texts turns into something deeper when Ben comes to Montana to work on a local play.

This book gave me all the feels. Lauren is bold, unapologetic, and strong, even when people try to tear her down. Her relationship with her daughter, Lena, is so real and raw, and the way Ben shows up for them melted my heart. Seeing them navigate grief, love, and self-discovery made me laugh, cry, and cheer them on the whole way.

I was totally and completely un-fine after reading this one. 😭💛 Highly recommend!

Thanks to NetGalley and Penguin Random House for the advanced galley in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you to Random House—Ballantine and Netgalley for an ARC of this book which I voluntarily read and reviewed. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I went into TOTALLY AND COMPLETELY FINE without any knowledge about it other than it was a companion novel to FUNNY YOU SHOULD ASK, which I loved. But having read quite a few of Elissa Sussman’s books, I was excited to jump in. Though I would suggest re-reading FYSA before starting TACF (especially if it’s been a few years and a couple hundred books in between readings!), the story of Lauren, Gabe from FUNNY YOU SHOULD ASK’s big sister, and Ben, a big-time TV and movie star, was just as bingeable and heartwrenching as its predecessor. The books are almost interconnected, the timelines weaving through one another in a way that allowed me to revisit characters and circumstances.

TOTALLY AND COMPLETELY FINE deals with grief and moving forward rather than moving on in such a beautiful way, while also exploring Lauren’s loves and losses and her struggle to come to terms with those experiences. There were so many relatable topics, such as alcoholism and sexuality and, again, the death of loved ones that a lot of people will be able to see themselves in these characters, some we’ve already met and fell in love with.

The only complaint I have is that I would have loved TACF to have been longer, to get to spend even more time in Cooper with Lauren, Ben, Lena, Gabe, and Chani!

This is one of those books that is so beautiful and enjoyable that you find yourself sad when it’s over. Totally & Completely Fine is reminiscent of Elissa Sussman’s other books in the way that it is smart, funny, entertaining, and leaves you relating to the main characters more than you expected.

Lauren Parker was one of my favorite narrators that I’ve seen from Sussman. Her journey with grief and guilt while also learning how to live her life and raise a thirteen year old was harrowing and inspiring to read.

Ben Walsh was loving and adorable, but at the end of the day showed how Sussman really knows how to write human characters. These are not perfect characters with perfect endings, but people who we see change and grow throughout a book and inevitably, fall in love with. Plus, him being Irish - huge bonus for me.

This is one of my favorite books by Sussman so far and I can’t wait for the world to fall in love with the Parkers and Cooper, Montana like I did.

A huge thank you to NetGalley and the author for the advanced copy of this novel and for letting me read it early!

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review!
I am not totally and completely fine after reading this book. I am, however, really much better off for it. Sussman includes some really great subplots about grief, human sexuality, and identity in general through her narration of past and present. It's a trend in her novels, to show the change in a person through years, experiences, and completely human events. There's always an element of incredulity with the Hollywood stuff, but at the core, her characters are very real.
I really appreciated how Lauren's character continued to subvert some of the typical expectations of the romance genre with her unabashed honesty and pride in who she was, young and old. Her daughter, Ben, Ollie and everyone's sexualities played an important and meaningful role in the novel, not just for the plot. Stories that invite discussion and bring into context social issues in the world right now will always be valuable in turning a story about fictional characters into a story about real people.
The grief component was what tied together the Then and Now of it all, making the love story undeniably more complicated but also so much richer. Sussman shows us how grief is everlasting, but also shifts into love and fondness as time heals. Her writing is powerful in taking us through these important themes and leaving us with so much positivity. I truly enjoyed getting to see Lauren's story from childhood to adulthood and all that came with it.