Totally and Completely Fine

• Author: Elissa Sussman
• Genre: Romance
• Publication Date: July 8, 2025 
• Publisher: Dell

Thank you to NetGalley and Dell for providing me with an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

From the bestselling author of Funny You Should Ask comes an inspiring romance novel about honoring the past, living in the present, and loving for the future.

In her small Montana hometown, Lauren Parker has assumed a few different roles: teenage hellraiser; sister of superstar Gabe Parker; and most recently, tragically widowed single mother. She’s never cared much about labels or what people thought about her, but dealing with her grief has slowly revealed that she’s become adrift in her own life.

Then she meets the devilishly handsome actor Ben Walsh on the set of her brother’s new movie. They have instant chemistry, and Lauren realizes that it has been far too long since someone has really and truly seen her. Her rebellious spirit spurs her to dive headfirst into her desire, but when a sexy encounter becomes something more, Lauren finds herself balancing old roles and new possibilities.

There’s still plenty to contend with: small-town rumors, the complications of Ben’s fame, and her daughter’s unpredictable moods. An unexpected fling seemed simple at the time—so when did everything with Ben get so complicated? And is there enough room in her life for the woman Lauren wants to be? Alternating between Lauren’s past with Spencer and her present with Ben, Totally and Completely Fine illuminates what it means to find a life-changing love and be true to oneself in the process.

I loved Funny You Should Ask, so I was determined to read this one as soon as I could. It took longer than I thought to get to it, but once I started reading I realized that this book is actually sort of a companion novel to her other book. Also, since I was running late while reading this, I listened to part of it on audiobook.

While this is very much a romance novel, it also delves into some heavier topics than many, including grief, addiction, death of a parent, and loss, while also adding in the draw of not one, but two romances in the life of one endearing woman that occur in separate timelines. There are flashback chapters to Lauren’s romance with her now-deceased husband, juxtaposed with her current reality and how an unexpected meeting gave her the opportunity for a second chance at love. 

That is, if she can manage to get out of her own way. I loved Lauren’s character and the way she grew across both timelines, in very different ways. Her inability to stop self-sabotaging, however, was incredibly frustrating, and I wanted to reach into the book and shake some sense into her. It wasn’t tough to empathize with what she was going through and her fears, especially knowing what she was thinking and feeling. That kept my frustration from bubbling over too much, although I had some serious empathy for Ben as well, seeing how he didn’t know what she was thinking.

One of the things that I loved the most about this book is that it focused on more than just the romance. It also zoomed in on the entire life arc of a woman, from her teen years into her early forties, and the ways that her interactions with loved ones has changed, as well as clearly showing a family in crisis, one in the past timeline and one in the present.

I could see how in some ways, Lauren as a grieving teen is mirrored in her own daughter Lena’s grief. It sort of allows Lauren a bit of insight to know how much leeway to give Lena. Lauren’s ability to respond in a neutral way when Lena shouts how much she hates her was one of the most admirable qualities she possessed, as well as not pushing Lena to talk before she was ready. Additionally, the relationship between Lauren and Gabe changes immensely over the course of the story. 

The story is complicated also by the fact that Cooper, Montana is a really small town, and Lauren wasn’t quite ready to open up her entire life to town gossip. Plus, she’s still got the mother-in-law from hell, who continues to try new methods to get Lena involved with the church they belong to. I still didn’t think it necessarily required Lauren to go to the lengths that she did in search of some privacy, but then again I’ve never lived in a small town where I knew the names of my neighbors (and everyone else) and all of their business. Then again, that might also be due to the fact that I’m a New Yorker.

Now on to some of the things that didn’t quite resonate with me. First of all, I wasn’t expecting there to be a Jewish character in the majority of the book. Actually, I was hoping for a Jewish main character, which we typically only see in romance written by Jewish authors. Unfortunately, the only Jewish character in sight was Gabe’s girlfriend Chani, and she played a small role, her Jewishness an even smaller role. In spite of this, I was impressed that the audiobook narrator Patti Murin could correctly pronounce the throaty ‘ch’ sound in Chani’s name properly, since audiobooks of even Jewish romance aren’t always narrated by people who can pronounce the words properly. Another thing that I didn’t like was the way Ben’s bisexuality felt shoehorned into the story except for one small scene where it came in handy. It was mentioned quite a few times, yet it didn’t really seem to move the plot forward or show particularly good representation. However, other queer characters didn’t feel forced, like Ollie! I didn’t realize how much I had missed him. 

Overall, it still wound up being a great book, even with the two small things that didn’t resonate as strongly for me. It features some awesome tropes that I haven’t seen much of before, including an age gap romance with the woman being older than the man, Lauren being in her forties, and dating as a widowed mother of a teenager. These are of course mixed with some of romance’s favorite tropes, including a second chance romance, a small town setting, and also getting to see the romance she had with her brother’s best friend in her past timeline. This is a strong read, but Jewish readers beware: there are only so many Jews in the state of Montana and the author had to be realistic here, so only one was featured in that part. There were some positives and some things I wasn’t as fond of, but the book was still good and I’m probably going to automatically read all of her future works because she’s a great writer. This talent was further demonstrated by the sensitive way that she wrote about grief, death, loss, and addiction. 

Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links, and I may earn a small commission at no cost to you if you purchase through my links.