Review of This Close Too Okay by Leesa Cross-Smith

 This Close Too Okay by Leesa Cross-Smith 

My heart! This book will stay with me for a long time. It was such a soothing and meaningful story that everyone should read. Cross-Smith handles such heavy and complicated topics with such beauty and grace. I found myself speechless when reading many of the pages. It was all beautiful and heartbreaking and uplifting all in one breathe. What makes this even better was the twists and turns the plot took that constantly made you rethink what you had read and reconsider things you thought you knew. This story is about trust, and the faith you put in people, it's about pain, grief, and unburdening yourself. It's about mental illness and how people deal with other people's mental illness. It's a complicated and messy storyline that doesn't forget there is always hope in the end. This is a story I won't easily forget. 

Our main characters are Talli and Emmett and they met in the most unlikely of ways. A chance meeting if you will. Tallie is driving and sees a man on a bridge. Maybe it's because she's a therapist or maybe it's because it's what anyone would do. But she stops and begs him to get down and to go with her for coffee. Over the course of a rainy Halloween weekend, the two discuss life and death and attempt to comfort each other as they unravel their grief and pain that they hold within themselves. it's truly a beautiful example of being there for someone in their darkest moment even if that person pushes and pushes everyone away. 

Stand out quote: 

"Unleashing in that safe space felt both dangerous and as freeing as speedily descending a hill on a bicycle and letting go of the handlebars, holding his arms out straight." p 92 

Some questions to ponder: 

1. Do you think Tallie handles the situation ethically? Does it make it a difference either way? 
2. What do Tallie and Emmett get out of each other over the weekend? 
3. What would you do in this situation? 
4. Is their relationship less or more really with all the lies and mistruths that are shared? 
5. What does this story say about healing? 
6. Did you like the ending? 

Thanks for stopping by! 

-MDB