This was quite a book and I'm left not knowing exactly how to respond to it. I feel very out of my element when it comes to reviewing this book, to be honest. The original publishing blurb I read had me thinking this was an enemies-to-lovers chick lit type of book. It is definitely much more than a romance novel, and to advertise it as such seems a huge disservice to the book. A lot of it made me think and do some self-reflection, so for those reasons I think this can be a powerful book. At times it seemed almost caricatured and stereotypical in its depiction of polarizing politics and race relations, and then incredibly subtle and nuanced in others. That made it feel real. It was uncomfortable, as a white woman myself, to have a front row seat to so many instances of racist behaviors, micro aggressions, stereotypes, etc that were clearly part of Jess's every day. And it was equally uncomfortable to watch Jess have to try to navigate, justify, compartmentalize, or choose to ignore these situations. I did appreciate watching her evolve, develop some opinions, get brave about some of her stances and actions. I don't think Josh evolved at all though, and I genuinely couldn't force myself to see in him whatever it was that Jess saw in him. I hated that it felt like every time Jess addressed a hurt or an injustice or stood up for her political or social beliefs it seemed to result in fighting. I felt like Josh did a lot of deep sighing, condescending and half-heartedly apologizing, without doing any deep soul-searching as to how he actually might have been in the wrong. As far as the writing goes for this debut author, she told the story in a way that kept me reading, despite my discomfort and frustration. There were some occasionally abrupt shifts between scenes, and the math talk in the first 1/3 of the book was exhausting, but I glossed over and got through it. I think this book has the potential to really cause readers to think. But if they're expecting a fun romcom they'll be disappointed.
Thank you to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for the Advanced Reader Copy of this book.

Review here: https://www.instagram.com/p/Ctt3U89rnZP/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

Thank you to Net Galley and the Publisher for this Advanced Readers Copy of Everything's Fine by Cecilia Rabess!

Many thanks to Netgalley for the e-arc!

I really wish I had words to describe this book better and how it made me feel.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for providing me with an eARC of Everything's Fine in exchange for my honest review!

Yes, I made a choice to read this book. I did. There was a voyeuristic part of me that was interested in how this book would unfold, especially as someone who had already endured seeing Purple Hearts last year. As it turned out, Everything's Fine was as tone-deaf and insufferable as I'd expected it to be. I'm baffled that a Black woman wrote it. It doesn't help that the promotional blurb goes like this: "She's Black, he’s white; she’s liberal, he’s conservative; she thinks he’s a racist jerk, he finds her extremely immature." I almost want to commend whoever spun up that tagline for the bravery it took to say immaturity is the political antithesis of racism. Who knows, it also could have been due to simple idiocy on their part.

In any case, this whole book basically wants us to look at Jess and Josh, these two sweethearts who are meant to be together and overcome their political differences. But no, they're not meant to be together. Josh... oh dear, I just couldn't stand him. He does have a few cute moments, I'll give him that, but otherwise, he's a typical rich white conservative man who Jess needs to stay away from. I've seen quite a few reviews here call out Everything's Fine for being not enemies-to-lovers, but rather oppressed-vs.-oppressor, and I have to agree with that. I don't know why this book had to be marketed as a contemporary romance; it could have been much more successful as a dark comedy. In fact, there are segments where it feels like it's aiming for that subgenre. Too bad the writing lacks the sharpness it requires to be successful. As for the ending, it definitely feels like it's supposed to send out a certain cautionary message, but it doesn't mesh with the rest of the book. The more I think about it, the more unsatisfied I am with it.

Overall, I'm officially rating Everything's Fine 1.25 stars, which I'm rounding down to one star. Please, please avoid this book.

Thank you Netgalley, Simon & Schuster and Cecilia Rabess for the ARC!

This book was interesting and had me continuously talking to my coworker about it. It’s an insight into a Black woman trying to make it in a corporate White male dominated world while trying to maintain who her father taught her to be. Jess gets a job at Goldman Sachs and ends up running into her old college nemesis Josh, who Jess perceives as privileged white male that fought with her in the class they shared together. Jess reflects back on dealing with college Josh, who she first interacted with when Barack Obama was elected president, while also trying to work with this new Josh who she starts a friendship with. Friendship turns to relationship turns to fundamental differences that comes with Jess being not only a woman on Wall Street but a Black woman on Wall Street and Josh being somewhat stereotypical white man from Connecticut. The book follows their relationship through the years, how they try to grow together despite their differences and ends around the time they’re watching Trump get sworn into office.

This book isn’t just about the relationship between Jess and Josh but about Jess’s relationship with herself and her identity and her ideas about love and relationships in general. What was questionable about their relationship, and struck a chord that had me anxiously reading faster, was Jess’s concerns about Josh being racist/complicit in his friend’s racist/questionable comments and actions but the ultimate decision she made to attempt to overlook that. The book ends with Josh trying to convince Jess that “everything’s fine” while she’s watching her world start to burn down with Trump’s win.

I am so conflicted regarding this book.. I was expecting an electrifying romance with lots of chemistry between Jess and Josh. Their relationship is an enigma to me-Jess is a liberal (and I understood some of her struggles) and Josh is portrayed as a typical white conservative (who hasn't known one of these?) I didn't find anything interesting or exciting about them as a couple. Their dialogs and assumptions about the other are thought-provoking and did keep me reading the book. I was just expecting a different type of story based on the publisher's blurb . Thank you to #NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for this ARC in exchange for my honest opinion!

What a coup by the author, a woman of color who describes the conflicting feelings her protagonist is experiencing. Jess is on track to become a high powered fund manager at Goldman Sachs. Jess starts a relationship with Josh, a White man who is fiscally conservative and although not necessarily racist, attributes much to class over racial inequities. Their hot and steamy relationship becomes difficult as Jess finds it hard to compartmentalize how important social issues are to her, particularly as the Trump era begins, and her feelings for Josh. The author does a great job of defining all the inconsistencies and complications inherent in life in these turbulent and often divisive times. I highly recommend reading Everything’s Fine to see for yourself without being swayed by all the negative reviews. by people who have not read the book. Thank you) to NetGalley for this controversial and important book.

Everything's Fine is an impactful novel with an important message: love knows no boundaries. A black woman falls in love with a conservative white man -- or as I like to frame it, the conservative white man falls for a black woman (and actually fell for her the moment he saw her at college). I think this books is incredibly important -- you can still love somebody and be attracted to somebody that has a completely different political ideology. This book touches on the question of: how do you reconcile your love for somebody with some of their beliefs? I am still thinking about the ending of this book. I will definitely be on the look out for more writings by Cecilia Rabess.

1.5 stars.

"Everything's Fine" by Cecilia Rabess is, first and foremost, not a romance, and it was entirely mismarketed as such. It is an exploration of a toxic relationship between a white, conservative man who has no problem simultaneously flourishing in and ignoring a system that upholds white supremacy, and a progressive black woman who shrinks herself and falls into hypocrisy for the sake of a relationship with an imbalanced power dynamic that she should not be in in the first place, one that offers her comfort and security due to her proximity to the power that system upholds. The story seems to lack the conviction to take a firm stance on the issues it presents, instead, falling into the middle ground fallacy (where the truth falls in the middle of any argument). This book tries to make the audience understand both sides of the issues it presents. There can be no middle ground when someone's personhood and identity are on the line. There can be no "both sides" on issues of white supremacy. For some readers, the ending will come off as ironic, but for others, it will be affirming in the notion that everything *is* and *has been* fine when nothing could be further from the truth. We are meant to empathize with both characters, but I wound up hating them both. Josh does and says microaggression after outward aggression after gaslighty comment after overtly racist statement...and we're supposed to root for him to be with Jess because, why, exactly? Because he's a rich capitalist finance bro and he will keep her spineless and comfortable in a life where she is forced to diminish her thoughts and feelings and wants and needs and blackness and femininity so she can keep her proximity to the systems that oppress her? On top of this, they have virtually no chemistry with one another and seemingly hate (or at the very least, actively dislike) each other, which makes me wonder if Josh was only dating Jess because she's black! I struggled deeply to understand who this book's target audience was. It was very tiresome to read, and if I hadn't checked out the audiobook from Libby, I wouldn't have finished it. I don't think it's fair to the author that people have been rating this book 1 star without reading it first, but having read it, I almost wished I hadn't. I didn't find it to be ironic or sardonic, nor do I think it offers anything other than an excuse for brushing off people's racist tendencies under the guise of love or obligation. I'll say it again: there can be no "both sides" when it comes to racism. I can ascertain no deeper meaning here. I didn't like this book at all.

Thank you to Simon and Schuster, NetGalley, and Cecilia Rabess for the ARC of this book. All opinions are my own. I was not compensated for my review.

Jess Jones is black but has been raised in the mainly white world of Lincoln, Nebraska. Now she works in the ultimate “old white boys” network of Goldman Sachs. She becomes involved with Josh, an acquaintance from college, and follows him to a new hedge fund. Having a daughter who worked in investment banking and now private equity, I know how few women are in the ranks. I can’t imagine being a black woman in such a world. The only negative for me was the strong liberal political bias. I’m not sure everyone in hedge funds is conservative nor everyone who is black, a liberal. This was an enjoyable read. I thank NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this ARC.

Thank you to NetGalley and Simon and Schuster for the advanced copy to review!

Rounded up from a 1.5/5 stars. I could not get into this book. Based on the title, description, and cover artwork, I was excited to read this novel, but this was nothing like what I expected.

My main gripe with this book is that none of the characters spoke or acted like real, actual, human people. I'd be hard-pressed to find a single conversation where the characters actually said what they meant or were actually thinking. This drives the central conflict in the story, which could have been avoided (or written better) if the characters actually had a singular meaningful conversation instead of kind of, maybe, sort of saying what they meant. These are adults, but they act like toddlers who do not know how to function in society. Josh is ONLY attracted to Jess based on her looks, which he points out constantly throughout the novel. Instead of appreciating her intellect, thoughts, or opinions, he always gets out of an argument by telling her how pretty she is. You can't love someone or be connected to them on a cellular level (or whatever BS Josh was spilling) if you literally can't appreciate that person, yet Jess falls for it every time.

This all comes to a head at the end of the novel when Trump is inaugurated. Josh once again pushes Jess' feelings and opinions to the side and while Jess is in utter turmoil, the book just ends. Did she learn anything from the past few years of "dating" Josh? Who knows, because the book just ends with no resolution. It left me wondering what the actual point of the novel was. There are no lessons learned. There is really no real ending. We are left with a character that really hasn't grown much in the entirety of the novel and is in the same spot as before. So what was the point of this story? Because as a reader, I'm really struggling to understand why this book was even written at all.

In my opinion, I would skip this book. The characters are so unrelatable they don't seem real and nothing gets resolved in the end. It is just frustrating to read.

Thank you Netgalley and Simon & Schuster for the arc of Everything’s Fine by Cecilia Rabess. It’s about a black women who starts at a financial bank after college and all her coworkers are white and male. One of her coworkers is a white guy from college who she has big debates with over race issues and they end up dating post college. Can she get him to see things different and open up more? Loved the book, but hated the ending.

Everything's Fine...or is it?? Depicts an African American woman striving to "make it" in a man's world, only to find herself questioning everything, including her, and society's beliefs about what will make her truly happy.

Ultimately, she makes the predictable choice, but I will avoid a spoiler.

A quick, entertaining read, but doesn't give full service to the weightly subject touched upon.

First, this is not, in any way, an “electrifying” romance. The content is not “painfully funny” or “poignant.”

Josh is such a stereotypical, conservative, entitled, clueless white male that I couldn’t even take his character seriously.

Jess’s character is sad. She runs hot and cold, drastically moving from vociferously self-righteous to zero self-esteem and back again. I could have rolled with it, had her character arc been one that showed emotional growth. It didn’t.

In between the blatant and implied racism and insulting banter, we have a whole lot of talk about the inner workings of finance careers. I understand that this is the author’s own field, but I didn’t want to read a book about the daily minutiae of working at Goldman Sachs. (And how did the author even get away with slamming the company like she did?)

And, finally, I didn’t find anything about the writing engaging. I just kept wondering, What’s the point? Is there a story here, or is this just a thinly veiled author rant?

I’m sorry, but for me there was absolutely nothing good about anything in these pages.

I hate to say it but this was a disappointment. I really thought we were going to get a solid interracial love story but it almost felt to me that the MC was fetishized and that their "differences" were straight up racist, and the MC just had to be okay with that. The writing missed the mark too- but keep the workplace books coming.

This is not my usual genre - I'm more of a mystery reader but something in the description caught my interest and I decided to give it a try. I'm so glad I did. I would call this more a relationship book than a romance, although there is romance. I love the way the author explores some of the polarizing forces in the today's world through the eyes of an interracial relationship, Great characters, a fast paced plot, and intriguing insights kept me reading late into the night. Highly recommended.

Thanks to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for an advanced reader copy.

This book has been described as a funny love story.  But, this book didn’t give me romantic or comedic vibes. 
Jess is being overlooked professionally and minimized in her relationship with Josh.  She is either quiet and says nothing, or she seems to cosign how she’s being treated.  When she had occasion to find her voice, it was exhibited through what came off as fake outrage.  There’s a disconnect between what the characters were supposed to be affecting and what is on the page.  A messy main character works sometimes, but in this case, it really didn’t work for me.  

It was frustrating to witness how this Jess was perpetuated page after page.  A narrative that upheld all of the negative things happening and being said to her, coupled with how she portrayed herself and what she subjected herself to, did not sit well with me.  Maybe I wanted Jess to find herself.  Maybe I was looking for Josh (who is clearly racist) to see the error of his ways.  Maybe I was looking for a redemption of sorts.  I am aware of the author’s intention with this story, but it did not translate for me.  Overall, I thought this story was missing its arc and its opportunity for a teachable moment… or few.

This is definitely a thought-provoking book. It was marketed as a romance with the enemies to lovers trope which is one of my favorites. This is not what this book is. Nothing about their relationship seemed feasible. They both needed therapy before entering any relationship. I think it was suppose to be a political satire, but it missed the mark in all areas for me.

I've seen some terrible reviews on Goodreads about this one calling the book problematic and the love interest a racist so I've decided not to give it a try.