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.

Take a shot every time it was mentioned that the male love interest was bisexual and then gave nothing to the plot. I felt like the author was hitting me over the head screaming, "Representation!!" with it contributing absolutely nothing. Honestly, this book just didn't do it for me. There was a whole lot of telling and not showing, and the love interests had zero chemistry. Their conversations gave off the vibe of someone who ChatGPT'd, "Write flirting dialogue between two strangers."

Unrelated to the quality of this book, why was this not marketed as a companion novel to Funny You Should Ask (which I LOVED btw), similar to Abby Jimenez's Part of Your World series? I feel like that was a massive missed opportunity since Funny You Should Ask was such a bit hit.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine | Dell for sending me this book!

I did not expect such an emotional journey for this book, but I’ve read the other books in this interconnected series and I should have LEARNED MY LESSON THEN.

Lauren’s husband passed away three years ago, and ever since, she’s tried to convince everyone (and herself) that she’s totally and completely fine. Even though the grief consumes her at times. Everything reminds her of Spencer, and she misses him deeply, but she also knows that she’s lonely, and misses affection, intimacy, and connection. Enter 30 year old hot, bisexual, slutty earring-wearing movie star Ben Walsh. Lauren instantly connects with Ben, he makes her feel something again, which she hasn’t experienced in a long time.

After a steamy encounter in Philly when she visits the set of the movie Ben is filming with her brother, Gabe, Lauren decides it was a onetime thing. That is, until Ben is in her hometown a few months later working on opening a play with Gabe.

Told through flashbacks to the past, and the events of the present, this book tells the story of a woman trying to find herself again amidst the grief she feels, heal her relationship with her daughter, and believe that she’s deserving of another shot at love with someone who truly sees her, because life is just too short.

This book was a little slow to start, and there really wasn’t MUCH action with Ben for the first 40%, but when I tell you I am sitting here on my couch ugly crying by the end. This book was beautiful. The flashbacks added such a connection to Spencer that inevitably led to a greater emotional payoff at the end of the book. Lauren is such a wonderful character, flawed in ways we all are but nonetheless a loving mom, friend, and sister who’s just doing her best (and who among us isn’t?)Ben is the SWEETEST man there ever was. I think this is Elissa’s best work yet (that I’ve read anyway), and I’ll never forgive her for what she’s reduced me to (jk, ily Elissa THANK YOU).

If you’ve read Funny You Should Ask, or even if you haven’t, PLEASE pick this up when it’s out!

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group for the advanced copy to review!

Thank you net galley and publisher for this ARC. I enjoyed this book and seeing how each character progressed through different life experiences.

Oh... I wanted to like this, really, I did. Something about it was just so uninspiring and monotonous. It wasn't bad by any means, just not good. I think the main reason I didn't like it was how inherently sexual it was. There was a sexual comment every other line, and when books are like that, I immediately know I'll hate them. To me, love stories shouldn't be about lust, but rather about actual human connection. I also have started to lose my taste for celebrity romance novels, specifically because they're mostly lustful instead of cute. I suppose it's more of a me thing than the book's thing.

“She didn’t know that grief felt like the slowest moving quicksand, pulling me down inch by inch, rib by rib”.

I really enjoyed this story and I loved the authors writing style. Grief certainly isn’t easy. It’s really hard to process it. How do you know when it’s the right time to move on? When Lauren meets Ben, they have instant chemistry! I was rooting for them!

I loved how relatable the book is when it comes to grief, finding yourself again and love. This book was beautifully written. I’m planning on reading Funny You Should Ask.

Thank you so much NetGalley, Elissa and
Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine for the E-ARC!

Publication Date: July 8th 2025
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

#NetGalley #TotallyandCompletelyFine

I really loved Elissa's first novel, Funny You Should Ask, so I was excited to read this book. I didn't love it and found myself forcing myself to finishing reading. I'd say the best part of the book is the last 10-15%. It was a lot of nothing happening for most of the book which I can understand for the reader to understand the journey the main character is on but it wasn't fun or interesting to read.

4.25 out of 5. Yes I will read the phonebook if Elissa Sussman writes it. I also kind of wish i had more of the previous book in my head, because it was great to revisit Gabe in another context. Although there were some absurd moments, in general it is a fabulous love story and very in the moment with all these movies like The Idea of You and A Family Affair. A hot mother getting her grove on with a hot movie star - i was there for it. The characters are mature, the problems are real and the emotions so true.

Oh the way I just adored every inch of thie book!!!! Elissa Sussman has been an auto buy author for me since Funny You Should Ask and the fact that I loved every character in this book including Gabe and Chani (!!!) is no surprise! I feel so lucky to get to see where they ended up while falling in love with Lauren’s story.

I had high hopes for this book based off the synopsis, but I was unfortunately let down.

I liked the writing style, but the storyline fell flat. I thought the connection between Lauren and Ben was too instant. I know it was supposed to be lust-based, especially based off Lauren’s past, but it didn’t work for me.

Too many things were happening at once. We have daddy issues, relationship trust issues, a moody teenager, and just a ton of women-based conflict issues. I think the author should have narrowed it down a bit.

Is this even a romance? Like truly a romance? In my opinion, no it’s not. I would advertise it as women’s fiction.

*An ARC was received by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.