This Close to Okay
Leesa Cross-Smith
320 pages
Expected publication: February 2nd, 2021
Grand Central Publishing
This was my BOTM pick for December. When the picks first came out I couldn’t decide on a book while there were a few that sounded interesting I just didn’t see one book that stood out as the obvious pick. I almost skipped the month but decided to go ahead and give this book a try and I am so glad I did! I devoured this book in three days and that is pretty quick for me. This book is actually set in Louisville, KY which is where I live. So I found that interesting as well!
SYNOPSIS:
On her way home from work Tallie sees a man about to commit suicide by jumping off a bridge. She stops and convinces him not to jump and instead to join her for a coffee at a cafe nearby. They share an instant connection that does seem fast but also authentic. They end up spending the weekend together. This book follows mostly what happened that weekend.
THE GOOD:
The characters were sooooo good. I really loved them. I was really in the mood for a deeper more emotional read and this book definitely hit a home run with that! It talks about mental health, suicide, and briefly about racism. It was the perfect time for this book to come out. With everyone staying inside and social distancing most of the time I think it’s really important to talk about mental health. This book also hits on the point of how people can come into your life at just the right time and how connecting with people can do so much good for your mental health.
I also thought the plot was a good idea. There are a lot of twists and turns revealed throughout the story. The book was well written. It is from both of the main 2 characters’ points of view. Also, things are revealed about each of the main characters past slowly as you keep reading, which I liked.
THE BAD:
I only have 2 negatives for this one! First, while I did like the plot overall I did find it a little unrealistic. I don’t know anyone who would take in a random stranger they found about to jump from a bridge so it was unbelievable that the female lead would do that. Secondly, The dialogue seemed unnatural at times in my opinion. There were multiple scenes where I couldn’t imagine two people actually communicating the way they were.
I was debating between giving this one 4 or 5 stars but ended up going with 5 because although there were flaws I had a hard time putting this one down and thoroughly enjoyed the read. Pick this book up if you are looking for an emotional read but readers are warned there will be a lot of tears throughout this book!
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