I want to say thank you to Cecilia Rabess and Simon and Schuster for allowing me to read the arc of Everything’s Fine. This story was so entertaining, and heartfelt, with a blazing hot attraction between the two main characters. I have read the Goodreads reviews and I don’t see the story as the enemies to lovers. It was two people from two different worlds learning to co-exist and it led to an attraction that was bound to happen. The comments are a bit harsh and when it comes to topics of race and politics, people aren’t open on different points of view. There were scenes that were difficult to read, but it gave way to how both characters cope with what’s going on. Jess is black and Josh is white. He’s conservative, she’s liberal. There were so many instances where Josh and Jess challenged each other intellectually. there were times in society with so many social issues came to light that Jess wondered where she and Josh can have a future together.
I saw Jess as someone who wanted to find out who she is while also wanting to please the people around her. She’s an Ivy League graduate and she’s wanting to make her mark in the world of finance. She has a lot of growing up and there were instances where Josh needed to not be so uptight and learn to let loose and have fun. Josh is also in finance and both he and Jess started not liking one another due to their different thoughts and views on the world around them. Then once their at the same job, they grow closer together. Once they grow closer together and learn more about one another, they begin to fall in love.
I saw two people learning to love one another and find ways to work together and not have a care about what their friends and family think about them together. With Josh, he needed to understand that not everything is resolved around numbers and facts. With Jess, she needed to learn that not all men were the same. She learned to accept who she is and want what she’s passionate about. Reading this novel with what was going on, falling in love, two people couldn’t help but feel strong feelings, and I was clutching my invisible pearls.
There isn’t a book written like this before and I enjoyed reading it. Regarding interracial relationships, there are topics of racism and there’ll be times when people will disapprove of two people being together where there is so much hatred and one-sided POVS on how two different races can’t and shouldn’t be together. Politics played a huge role in their back-and-forths with debates, and Celilia gave us a touch of that with Josh and Jess in the wake of the 2016 presidential debate. To be honest, that was the most nerve-wracking presidential race I have seen. The reader is seeing a black woman survive and work to make her mark in a business that’s dominated by white men and I loved every minute I spent reading this novel. I laughed, cried, and was applauding them for coming to the crossroads and learning to coexist as one. I gave this book a 4 out of 5 stars. It was a great read and I loved how the story unfolded and ended. I’d like to know how Josh and Jess dealt with the first 4 years of Donald Trump as president and where they are now, but that’s just me. I’ll be adding the book to my library when it comes out in June.
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