1.05k reviews for:

Everything's Fine

Cecilia Rabess

3.57 AVERAGE

emotional funny sad tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
challenging reflective sad fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Strong character development: No
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

Disclaimer: Okay, so this is one of the books where I'm not a BIPOC so I absolutely cede the floor to opinions from BIPOC people about the racism here but I will offer more general thoughts.

I was interested in this book mostly because it's the story of a black woman dating a racist white dude and marketed as a romance. After finishing it, I think my biggest bit of advice would be to market this as a contemporary book, decenter the romance plot and be more about Jess' struggles as a black woman in heavily male-dominated fields. 

Jess has a very relatable and important experience that would be interesting to explore where she was raised by a black man who tried to steer her towards connecting with her community and blazing a trail as the black woman who does things as an example who will inspire other black girls in that industry. This wars with her desire to just have an easier life in general, be given respect by default at her workplace, and be paid a lot of money and live a cushy capitalist life like her counterparts. There's an important conversation to be had here about marginalised community members carrying the additional burden of being exemplary trailblazers and activists advocating for their community and others while just wanting to exist in a more comfortable life.

What this book actually ends up being about is a romance where Josh is a conservative who has zero empathy for any community other than his own (class-affected, to an extent). He fetishizes Jess from afar, finds her more intelligent and interesting than he had assumed she would be, is exasperated with her emotion-based arguments about racism and liberal viewpoints, and is generally a happy participant in an inappropriate workplace sexual relationship. 

On the other hand, we have Jess who is trapped in a vicious cycle of dating white men who help her invalidate feelings of inadequacy (the white men who are coveted by all the women and desire a black woman despite the established desirability order being blondes, brunettes, and then redheads apparently). Shockingly, these men turn out to be assholes. Josh is the latest white man who simply stops being an active asshole to Jess and managed to get her romantic interest as a result and what unfolds is a deeply cringeworthy toxic romance where neither of the participants is honest about their pasts or thoughts and they clash constantly about their political views. At the point at which Jess does not make enough money to rent her own place and lives in Josh's multi-million dollar apartment with him, she's essentially the poster child for Stockholm syndrome.

To step back a bit, with books like this (i.e. books where I am unsure what to think by the end), I consider what the authorial intent may have been and compare the outcome to it. In this case, based on the final product, I am forced to conclude that the author intended this to genuinely be a romance (Purple Hearts but for racists!) because while the main character is a black woman, nothing about her life of views suggests much that a person of color would appreciate reading. 

Anyway, an easy read but there isn't much else I can say to recommend it.
emotional tense medium-paced

I was absolutely locked in with this book. I really enjoyed it until the end. Omg the ending turned my stomach. I had such a visceral reaction to it. I didn’t think I’d finish it because it was all just way too close to home. No doubt my reaction is due to the current state of things in this country. 

Like, I am still trying to recover from the reaction I had to the end of that book. I have more I want to say but I need to calm down lol
emotional funny reflective sad fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: No
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Didn’t love, but didn’t hate. Josh and Jess’ relationship seemed to be missing everything except lust-addled pining for each other and was not very substantive (to me). The political aspect was interesting but the ending read like a horror novel IMO. Overall I felt it was missing that spark to tie everything together, but I didn’t hate it. 
emotional sad tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Enjoyable as a sexy workplace rom com until it took a turn into the horror genre with the 2016 election. 

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
challenging dark tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: No
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

I can’t decide if my rating is because I didn’t like the book OR that I liked the book but didn’t like the characters and not having a definitive ending. I do think it was well written and the pace kept me engaged; the social commentary was interesting considering we’re in a SECOND Trump presidency. It left me wondering if Josh and Jess’s relationship survived the first one? 
challenging emotional hopeful reflective tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes
challenging tense
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes
challenging medium-paced
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: No
Loveable characters: Complicated