This Close to Okay by Leesa Cross-Smith @LeesaCrossSmith #fiction #contemporaryfiction #bookreview #libraryloan

Susanne’s Review:

You can’t always get what you want

You can’t always get what you want

You can’t always get what you want

But if you try sometimes, well, you might find

You get what you need

• The Rolling Stones, Let it Bleed, 1969

The Day Tallie Clark drives by a bridge and sees a man standing on it precariously, her senses tell her to take action. Stopping the car, she immediately rushes to his side. The fact that it’s pouring rain doesn’t phase her. All that matters is him. Somehow, Tallie convinces him to step down and join her for a cup of coffee and that moment changes everything.

Befriending Emmett and even inviting him into her home, the two form a bond, an unbreakable one you might say, formed over a weekend. Though technically Tallie saves Emmett, the two end up helping each other more than they know.

Going into this novel, I truly had no idea what to expect. I knew that several of my Goodreads friends had read it and loved it so I added it to my library queue and here we are. At first, I was surprised and honestly found this storyline to be a bit shocking and over the top. I can’t honestly see a scenario where a woman would invite a strange man to stay in her home. To me, this seems wholly implausible, and yet, I kept going as something about this was also compelling and endearing to boot. Tallie, extending this invitation, and Emmett, accepting. Each and every one of their interactions gave me hope.  

Powerful, impactful, and thought-provoking, This Close to Okay, packs a punch. 

As a disclaimer, this novel covered some extremely heavy-duty topics: suicide, grief, adultery, divorce, infertility, adoption, therapy, family, friendship, love and mental health (to name a few) and it did with grace.

If you’re looking for a novel that will give you exactly what you need, and then some, this is it.

Thank you to my local library for loaning me a copy of this stellar novel.

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