This book was clever, witty, and humorous all wrapped up in a heartbreakingly emotional romance. I loved the back and forth timelines and the main characters journey into trusting love once again. Bravo!

A romance set within the context of grief that is told through dual timelines.

What I Liked:
-Lauren’s relationship with her daughter, Lena
-Gabe and Chani reappearance from Funny You Should Ask
-Ben: his motorcycle, his accent, his empathy
-LGBTQIA+ representation

What I Didn’t Like:
-The pacing felt a little off… it took me a while to get invested in the story. The first half felt like a bit of a slog, but I really enjoyed the second half.

mmm mixed thoughts overall - i shipped her way more with her dead husband than this current guy. their relationship was almost all physical and our heroine was the worst communicator despite being older by 10 years!!! also the boy is hawaiian with an irish accent and that threw me off

Let’s just say the phrase Totally and Completely Fine is everywhere in this book and in the early reviews. But here’s the truth. This book was totally and completely… okay.

You don’t need to read Funny You Should Ask first, but it definitely helps. This is a companion novel, and while Lauren is our new main character, her brother Gabe and his love story with Chani do make an appearance. Their backstory gets a quick mention, but if you haven’t read the first book, it’s confusing and underexplained. A little more context would have gone a long way.

Totally and Completely Fine tries to juggle a lot and never quite pulls it off. It felt like Sussman had several ideas for what this book could be but couldn’t fully commit to one.

There’s a romance with a charming actor named Ben, but there’s no real connection until the final stretch. There’s a cozy small-town setting in Cooper, Montana, but Lauren doesn’t seem to enjoy it or her job running a book and craft store. There’s grief and healing as Lauren navigates life as a widow through dual timelines with her late husband Spencer, but the emotional depth is missing. There’s also a storyline about Ben and Gabe helping build a community theater (or is it a play?), but it barely gets any development.

The book floats somewhere between a lighthearted rom-com and a story about grief and identity. While those elements can absolutely work together, here they feel mismatched. The characters don’t really grow. Lauren’s mom, who lives in Cooper, is barely present. Her daughter Lena is constantly unhappy and hard to connect with. And in the end, I wasn’t sure what the book was really trying to say.

It’s not a bad read. It’s just not a great one. Totally and completely fine pretty much sums it up.

Thanks Netgalley & Random House for the ARC!

When I saw this sequel was being written I couldn’t wait to get my hands on it and it didn’t let me down!!! I love these characters so much and this entire world Elissa brings us into.

I didn't realize this book was interconnected with the author's other books, but it can be read as a standalone (I read and loved Funny You Should Ask and less so Once More with Feeling).

Then & now chapters give a good look into Lauren's (the FMC) past & relationship history. Her husband passed away 3 years ago, and she is left in her small hometown running a store with her mother. Her 13-year-old daughter is really going through it. And then of course we have her famous brother, Gabe.

She needs an escape and takes a week to visit her brother on his latest movie set where she meets Ben.

Major themes of grief, moving on and finding yourself. Totally bingeable!


Setting: Montana, some time spent in Philly and LA.

I picked up this book expecting a heartfelt exploration of a mother-daughter relationship, but it turned out to focus much more on romance. At its core, it’s a love story between Lauren—a woman still mourning the loss of her husband three years on—and Ben, a charismatic, much younger actor her brother happens to work with.

The romantic dynamic may appeal to readers who enjoy age-gap relationships, especially ones where the older partner is the woman. However, for me, the most authentic and engaging part of the story was the daughter’s journey through teenage angst—it was the one thread that felt grounded and emotionally true.

On a personal note, I found the frequent references to bisexual and gay characters, as well as the book’s occasional anti-Christian undertones, to be distracting and not to my taste.

If you’re a fan of older woman/younger man romances and don’t mind a strong emphasis on progressive themes, this might be a good fit for you.


Thank you NetGalley and Random House/Dell for this ARC in return for my honest opinion.

When I found out Elissa was releasing a book from Gabe’s sister’s POV, I was like I need to get my hands on an ARC ASAP!! Thank heavens to NetGalley and Random House Publishing group for making my wish come true.

Totally and Completely Fine was written in the same then and now format, focusing on Lauren’s first marriage and her new love interest. This book was more than just about finding new love but also about dealing with grief in different ways. One of my favorite lines from came from Ben (hot, Irish actor who is OBSESSED with Lauren) essentially saying that no one gets over grief, but you actually go through it and I could not agree more. I’ve deal with grief in a few ways and I think that is the perfect way to describe it.

Don’t worry, this isn’t a super sad book, I only cried during the epilogue. I laughed and swooned over the sweet (& spicy) moments. Ben is so sweet and just what Lauren needed after her husband passed. It was really nice to have cameos from Gabe and Chani (I missed them so much). Oh and Ollie too!

I really can’t find anything that I didn’t like about this book and that’s a good sign bc I’ve been in book slump for months.

Lauren is still grieving her husband when her actor brother invites her and her daughter to visit him on his latest movie set. There she meets the hottest new actor in town and she starts to feel things she hasn’t in years.

Complications are in abundance but sometimes they just can’t stop those feelings.

This book deals with grief, second chances and living life to the fullest. If that appeals to you, you’ll love it.

Thank you Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine for the ARC.

Okay sooooo good! More adult than her previous books in that it deals with more serious issues. It was the perfect mix of romance and true emotion with the story. Similar to When in Rome by Sarah Adams, this book is rich with fascinating characters! Elissa could focus on writing her next book on another character for a fun next step.

This title will go over well with our demographic and will be on the list for purchase. The author's other books have been popular, and I'd expect that this one will be too.

She’s older than him and widowed; he’s an up and coming actor. Told through two timelines, we get the full picture of the relationship between Lauren and her deceased husband Spencer as well as the new one developing between Lauren and Ben. This is a romance with heavy topics such as grief around losing a spouse/parent and alcoholism all set in a small Montana town.

I appreciated seeing how each family member handled their loss differently and it was portrayed how that grief affects relationships and family dynamics. On the romance side, I wanted to see more of it, more of Ben specifically. There are some spicy scenes but I did not get a good sense of how Ben falls for Lauren.

This book overlaps with Funny You Should Ask (Lauren is Gabe’s sister) but can be read as a standalone.

Thank you Random House Publishing Group for providing this book for review consideration via NetGalley.

Read This Book If…you love a healing journey within a love story!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5
Totally and Completely Fine by Elissa Sussman

Genre: romance
Spice Level: 1/5🌶, closed door
Setting: small town in Montana
POV: single, 1st person, past tense
Tropes: single mom, widow, celebrity, age gap (she’s 11 years older)

My Thoughts:
I will start by saying this is not your typical romance! Most of this book was Lauren’s healing journey with grief. She is very emotional unavailable for most of this book, so we don’t get a ton of time with the main characters as a couple.

This was a dual timeline story where we got to see the relationship with her dead husband, spanning from their childhood to the day he died. At times, I thought there were too many flashbacks, but everything came full circle in the end.

I looooved Gabe, the big-time actor who waltzes into Lauren’s life and refuses to leave. It’s rare to have an openly bisexual MMC and I really enjoyed how that was woven into the story.

I would recommend reading Funny You Should Ask before this, simply because the MMC is Lauren’s brother and we see a lot of that couple in TACF. Plus, it’s a fantastic book!

Overall, I really enjoyed this emotional read and a few tears were shed!

Memorable Quote: “I don’t mind the pain. It reminds me that I still have a heart to break.”

Thank you to the publisher for my advance copy!

This was a somewhat lighthearted easy read! If you’d like a fun romance perfect to take to the beach, this one may be it! I really enjoyed the relationships between the characters and how they overcame their issues.

Totally and completely fine is exactly how I would describe this book. There was a lot of potential, it just didn’t feel fleshed out and the pacing felt off. Lauren and Ben’s romance felt like it was much more of a physical connection than a romantic/emotional connection. By the time they started sipping their toe into the romantic/emotional territory the book was already at 90%. It didn’t feel believable to me that these two people were actually in love and would last long term. I also did not realize that this was a companion book to Funny You Should Ask, so I was confused why they kept talking about Gabe and Chani and bits of their story, until I double checked that they were the main characters in the own book.

⭐️: 4/5

I was not expecting Totally and Completely Fine to be a tie-in to Funny You Should Ask, since it was totally not advertised that way. I literally had to Google the main character’s names from Funny You Should ask to make sure I wasn’t imagining the connection, because I obviously can’t remember character names once I finish a book 😂 I was pleasantly surprised that it was so closely related to Funny You Should Ask, since that’s the book that made me an Elissa Sussman fan, but I also feel like it should have been more advertised that this is a book about Lauren, Gabe’s sister.

The back and forth, past to present chapter switches made this book so binge-able. It kept me wanting to read one more chapter, and kept the plot moving forward really smoothly. I don’t EXACTLY remember where Funny You Should Ask ended, plot and epilogue wise, so I don’t know how much of this book we already knew about, but I think that worked in my favor this time, since it all felt like new information due to my bad memory!

One of my favorite things about this book was the matter-of-fact narrative voice for the main character of Lauren. It made her so likable in my opinion, as a woman unapologetic about what may have happened in her past, as well as her current needs. There was a lot more grief present in the story of this one than I was expecting for a romcom book (definitely a TW), and I also found the immediacy of the sexual chemistry between the main couple kind of…random? The ending felt a little too unrealistic to me as well, and I know that realism isn’t really a trait of romcoms, but still. Overall though, a really good, entertaining, and well written read!

Thank you to @netgalley and @dellromance for providing this eARC for my review!!

This book was such a roller coaster of emotions and I could tell that Sussman poured her heart into writing it.

Lauren is a single mom, a widow. Her brother Gabe is a famous actor and introduces her to a costar from one of his films, Ben. Ben and Lauren have undeniable chemistry.

The book flashes back between THEN (Lauren’s husband is still alive)and NOW (three years after his death).

This book has it all: grief exploration, falling in love, family dynamics, queer representation, and parenting. I really felt for these characters in their grief and in their joy. This book had me choked up and then bursting with happiness at the ending.

3.5 stars! I had high hopes for this one having been a fan of Sussman’s previous novels but I felt like it fell a little short of my expectations. The plot seemed like it ~wanted~ to go somewhere but never really made it off the ground. Despite the pacing feeling off, I loved the characters and was excited to see some familiar faces as well as meet some new personalities. Also always love a small town setting.

One thing I feel like Sussman does really well, and this book is no different, is find the balance between the light fluffiness of your traditional rom-com and heavier themes like grief and loss and identity. Much like life, her writing demonstrates that two things can be true and coexist!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a copy of this ARC in exchange for an honest review. Out 7/8/25!

Elissa Sussman does it again. I was immediately captivated by her characters. Between their banter, self-discovery, and dealing with the complexities of grief, I could not wait to see how everything unraveled.

A lovely read that dives into the messiness of real life, including the intertwining of grief, old love, new love, what it means to be a woman who breaks the rules, how to be strong and also vulnerable, and the costs of reaching for what you want, even if you're not totally sure yourself. Dual timelines mean the author doesn't shorthand the dead husband, and that's very nice to see.

ARC provided in exchange for an honest review.