4.5⭐️

When it comes to celebrity romances, no one writes them like Elissa Sussman. I have been not so patiently waiting for this book since it was announced and I devoured it in less than 24 hours. I love that Sussman returns us to the world of the Parker family - I absolutely loved getting more peaks into Gabe and Chani’s story.

Typically I’m not an insta love/lust fan because I find there isn’t much in the way of emotional connection, friendship or intimacy, but my gosh, it worked phenomenally here because Sussman brought those important pieces into play after the initial fireworks and I couldn’t get enough. Lauren and Ben’s chemistry is undeniable - I LOVE that she’s older - and things are hot and heavy in the beginning, but then they pull things back and focus on their emotional connection and fostering intimacy.

This is the perfect read for the summer, but while you’re packing it in your beach or pool bag, you might want to add some tissues too. While this is a romance, it is very much a story about loving and grief being an extension of our hearts’ ability and capacity to love and care for others. It was beautiful and at times heart wrenching reading the ‘then’ chapters where Lauren and Spencer’s love story was unfolding and then jumping back to the present where Lauren and the family were trying to process their grief and figure out who to keep living following Spencer’s passing.

I appreciated how messy and layered this story is because it reflects the complexity of real life and how each of us are imperfect and a little broken, but worthy of loving and being loved.

I received this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. I really enjoyed this one. It was fun to return to the world of Funny You Should Ask and get to know some of the peripheral characters as well as seeing the main characters in supporting roles. I enjoy the way this author writes. She is able to imbue a story that has difficult issues with the right amount of humor and levity.

Thank you NetGalley, Elissa Sussman, and Randomhouse Publishing Group for this ARC!

Totally and Completely Fine is the first novel I’ve read by Elissa Sussman, and it certainly won’t be the last. The story follows Lauren Parker, a widowed single mother navigating life in her small Montana hometown. Sussman masterfully delves into the complexities of grief, portraying Lauren’s journey with authenticity and emotional depth.

The novel’s structure, alternating between past and present, allows readers to intimately experience Lauren’s memories with her late husband, Spencer, and her evolving relationship with Ben Walsh, a charming actor she meets on her brother’s film set. This dual timeline perfectly illustrates how grief intertwines with the process of starting over, highlighting the challenges and hope that come with opening oneself up to new possibilities.

Sussman’s writing is both heartfelt and nuanced, capturing the rawness of loss and the tentative steps toward healing. Lauren’s interactions with her teenage daughter, Lena, further enrich the narrative, showcasing the multifaceted nature of grief and the strength found in familial bonds.

While the romance between Lauren and Ben adds warmth to the story, it’s the exploration of self-discovery and resilience that truly stands out. As someone who met the love of their life at 19 and has built the life of their dreams with that person, I deeply felt for Lauren’s loss of Ben and empathized with her moving through her grief to find herself again. Totally and Completely Fine is a beautifully crafted novel that resonates with anyone who has faced loss and sought the courage to embrace life anew.

It was a fantastic romantic read that also spoke honestly about grief and how to move on afterwards. Revisiting familiar characters and learning more about the extended universe was also a fantastic touch.

Plotting was good and the pace of the novel felt lived in. Would absolutely recommend to purchase for library!

I really loved this one and I loved the descriptions of grief and moving on while not really moving on. Lauren and Ben were such well fleshed out characters and I loved their relationships with each other and those around them. I loved getting a little sneak peek back into Gabe and Chani’s relationship and seeing Gabe continue to be able to make amends for his past with those around him. Even Lena’s storyline just warmed my heart so much. I deducted a star because I just wish there was a smidge smidge more back story with Ben and Lauren besides just one almost hookup and one serious hookup in his trailer. It felt like maybe I would have bought into them saying I love you if they had met up a couple more times prior. But otherwise just loved this one. Thanks for the ARC!

Totally and Completely fine is the sister novel to Funny You Should Ask also by Elissa Sussman, and follows Gabe's sister Lauren while she navigates raising her daughter, grief, loneliness and dating after losing her husband. Told through two timelines; Then - Lauren growing up, meeting, and falling in love with her late husband and Now - A widowed Lauren meeting and falling for the famous and younger Ben. We're talking age gap (older woman, younger man), we're talking 40+ yo FMC, we're talking hot, Irish, dirty talking MMC, we're talking small town vibes (the good and the bad). This book has it all!
This book is full of great new characters and old (that we met in Funny You Should Ask) - and I loved being on the other side and seeing the continuation of Gabe and Chani's story. And as always, Sussman wraps heartache in humor and the sweetest romance.
Huge thank you to NetGalley and Random House for the ARC!
4.5/5 stars

loved this romance and finding love and remembering love before the one. love the friends and the chemistry between the couple was on fire and loved the banter.

Thank you netgalley for the chance to read this!

This story is a romance between a celebrity and a 'normal person' but its so much deeper than that, as you realize early on how gritty and messy Lauren is, and in turn SO relatable. In the current timeline, 3 years off the unexpected death of her husband, Lauren is a single mom trying her best to navigate living in the shadow of her famous brother, small town, and less-than-virtuous past. She has an instant-chemistry with Ben, the next James Bond, and has to handle the duality of their attraction for each other physically and her barriers to opening up emotionally. In the past timeline, we get these beautiful glimpses of her romance with Spencer, two complete opposites who find stability and love together. It's heartbreaking since you KNOW how it ends, but also really lovely.

I love everything about this: it's deep dives into parenthood, small-town gossip, death and religion, sobriety, grief, LGBTQ+...this touches on some serious topics with a sense of realism and care that really work. I thought the relationships in this, particularly those outside of the romance, were beautifully done. Lauren and her daughter are struggling but also so understanding and nurturing of each other. As a child of an alcoholic, the conversation between Gabe and his niece WAS my family life. It felt like looking into a mirror.

I wanted the slow burn to move a bit more quickly and I think I really wanted even MORE of Spencer/Lauren finally coming together in the past storyline, but it was truly moving from cover to cover.

Thanks to NetGalley and Random House Ballantine for sharing this ARC!

Totally and Completely Fine did not live up to it's predecessor, Funny You Should Ask. This book was more character driven and I was not able to connect with the story. This is told in dual timelines and I think that made following the plot confusing.

listen… i loved it. another book that fits perfectly into the being with a famous celebrity and all the details inbetween etc etc etc. it was different than i expected with the different povs but i actually really loved that. it was 2 love stories in one really. between her falling in love with spencer to the present being with ben, it definitely made me tear up. a solid 4 star read.

4.5 ⭐️ What a beautiful story about love, grief, and taking chances. Also, Ben is swoonworthy! I wish I could’ve heard his accent in an audiobook. Oof.

Elissa Sussman’s Totally and Completely Fine is a heartfelt companion to Funny You Should Ask, centered on Lauren Parker—a widowed single mom in her 40s navigating grief, motherhood, and a surprise romance with her brother’s charming co-star, Ben.

Told in dual timelines, the novel explores Lauren’s past with her late husband Spencer and her present with Ben. While the emotional depth of her grief and family dynamics (especially with her brother Gabe) really resonated, the romance sometimes felt underdeveloped—likely due to the split narrative. Similarly, the resolution of Lauren’s conflict with her daughter Lena felt rushed, missing the weight it deserved.

Still, this is a poignant and nuanced look at love, loss, and rediscovering who you are. Recommended for readers who enjoy single parent stories, age-gap romance, and a touch of Hollywood glitz.

Thanks to Dell, Random House Publishing and NetGalley for the ARC!

This reminded me so much of One True Loves by Taylor Jenkins Reid well without the whole "your husband came back from being presumed dead" thing. Overall it was a story about grief and moving on but also having it be okay that there are bad days but life also moves on at some point. It was also a story about falling for a famous man while having a child behind you from a previous relationship which reminded me of the Anne Hathaway movie The Idea of You.

I love, love Elissa Sussman's writing. Will read anything and everything she writes as soon as I can get my hands on it (and thank you so much for the ARC). I've been looking forward to this for a long time.

As always, the writing is beautiful. It's a complicated, nuanced picture of grief, parenting, and what moving on can look like. I loved the Lauren/Lena dynamic, and the last act of the book really hit for me.

I believed in Lauren and Ben's chemistry, but at the end of things I was craving more of each of them sharing their inner lives with each other -- another few conversations that felt like they were really connecting. The "Past" sections were powerful and good but felt like they took some narrative oxygen away from Lauren and Ben, especially in the first 2/3 of the book, and Ben ended up feeling enigmatic to me. Lauren trying to avoid Ben early on also contributed to the feeling of knowing him less. It was an interesting contrast from "Funny You Should Ask," where Chani's whole job was to try to figure Gabe out, and she was paying very close attention and describing him in her piece -- I felt like I knew him much better.

Things that really hit, though: the pizza dough, the kitchen conversation, fixing the chairs, the Montana stars, the almond extract scene, Ollie, the return of Teddy. This one is going to stay with me.

I gotta be honest...I didn't need the sex. Or the crude references to it. I am no prude and I read my share of smut for that purpose, but I felt like the use of the F word, specifically, did not flow in this context at all. It seemed forced from Lauren's character. The language of touch would have been much more fitting, as I enjoyed that a great deal. Truly, the reference to the act was what I found crude and off-putting, not the dirty talk during.

Cuz I really loved this book in general. Like, the discussion of grief and "how" to do it was really well done. Cuz, like, there's no way to do it. It's a get through it thing. I cried in the end, more than once. I adored Ollie and Chani as secondary-ish characters. And the MCs are lovely. I love the idea of a 40-ish woman being hit on and then loved by a ridiculously hot 30 year old movie star...though I had to suspend some disbelief to get there. And the struggles of literally every character were very real and centering. I dug it. ♥

This book was a heartfelt and emotional ride from beginning to end. The chemistry between the main characters was electric, and their relationship felt both real and deeply moving. With just the right balance of sweetness, tension, and heartfelt moments, it’s the kind of love story that lingers long after the final page. Perfect for romance lovers!

Totally and Completely fine was TOTALLY worth reading! I finished this one in about 24 hours, and I cannot emphasize enough how much I absolutely adored this one. AH. All the freaking feels.

This book. Ah. It weaves back and forth from the past to the present. In the past, we learn about Lauren's childhood, teenage years, and her life with her late husband, Spencer. We grieve with Lauren as she loses her dad and faces the complex feelings of a struggling teenager. In the present, Lauren is grieving her late husband while parenting a sully, father-less teenager. Lauren is merely surviving the present with the support of her mom and her famous brother.

When Lauren and her daughter decide to visit Philadelphia, where Gabe (her brother) is filming, Lauren meets a hot younger man (Ben) who makes her toes curl.

There was so much I loved about this book. Ben and his black henleys and combat boots. Lauren's wild and scandalous teenage years. Gabe finding love with Chani. Ben not backing down.

I 100% recommend this book and hope I have a chance to review the audio version. I just adored so much about it. There was a little spice, a whole lotta tenderness. I just really, really liked it!

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group-Ballentine for the ARC in exchange for my honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

5 Stars! Recommend!

DNF at 30% - Grieving widow trying to move on with movie star and learn how to connect with her angsty teenage daughter. Thought I would love it but I couldn’t get into it. Dual time line one that follows her as a teenager. That may have been the problem. I really don’t love teenage flashbacks and there were some very cringy moments. Also very insta love. I get it he’s a hot movie star but...

Thanks to NetGalley for this advanced copy. I really wished I enjoyed it more.

This book felt so different from Sussman’s others, but still an excellent read. Sussman does reflection so well— you understand her main characters’ thoughts and feelings so well without losing any of their dynamics. I will say, Ben was a little too perfect and I would have liked to see some flaws, but overall, a very enjoyable read.

This was an interesting book. I would call it more of a contemporary fiction than a romance book.

The book switched viewpoints between chapters chapters from the main character in the present and in the past. I found myself rooting more for her and her husband in the past than the current story unfolding in the present.

Thank you to Random House Publishing and NetGalley for the advanced release copy